As humans we tend to believe what we see, our eyes are often considered the truth providers that determine reality as what we can witness.

As a passionate photographer, I have spent many years trying, very hard, to capture with my camera exactly what my eyes could see; the same colours the same perspective, the same depth of field, the same angle amplitude.

It was, of course, a futile exercise as the camera is a much different tool than the eye, and as such reality looks very different through the camera, and different still through a negative film, or in the dark room or finally on the chosen printed paper.

At each step reality changed, at each step I had options to control reality in many different ways, and the more I tried different choices the more I learned about more possibilities, and even better realities.

One thing always remained true, every attempt gave life to a new outcome yet each outcome was as real as the one I witnessed when I took the shot. With digital photography things have changed a lot, opening even more opportunities and options than ever before; yet the process remained the same again and again.

It all start with a simple spark, like when I went visiting a friend that asked me to take pictures of his praised roses. Roses are indeed very beautiful and evocative and for that reason they are the subject of many photographs, so I started by exploring different angles and distances, and lenses, and settings, and focus; till I thought I had one or two exciting shots.

When I arrived home, I started processing the shots selecting the one that more than everyone else stirred something inside, and with that I tried different approaches: contrast, saturation, levels, filters, plug-ins and every time I thought I found a good outcome I let it be for a while, then few months later I would pick it up again and try something different again, and then again.

Almost a year later scrolling through my favourite shots the same rose caught my eye,and again I tried yet something different and a new reality even better than the others emerged this time a woman profile started to emerge on the left edge, something I never noticed before… 🙂

Now I wonder when will this rose reality stop changing? Is there a point in which that one rose will remain the same way for ever?… well I guess you all know the answer…  In all truth, that one rose I took the picture of a year ago, is no more… or is it?… 🙂