by Peter Keefer

Using my digital photographs, I manipulate them in Photoshop to investigate the deconstruction and relocation of certain selected areas, adding more layers of transparent color and moving them around until I am satisfied with the results.

I use only material that is present in the original photograph.

Each selection made from the original image in the computer is moved and/or transformed before colors and transparency levels are chosen. The resultant layer is then rejected or retained according to its merits. Each layer leads to another decision as to what might occur in the next one. Every few layers the image gets saved as is, and additional work is done on a new copy. This leads to new challenges of density, value and clarity. If continuous layer work goes too far it is deleted and I go back to the previously saved version and continue working.

Changing the face of reality, reducing or restructuring that ‘camera perceived’ model through the use of computer based spatial decisions is a directional aspect of photography that I have been pursuing for a few years. The original image, manipulated and printed using a computer, is now a digital print. The pigmented inks and substrates are archival.