When it comes to editing, I do my best to honor the objective authenticity of the subject, as well as to convey my subjective memory of the experience. To me, this is a challenging and rewarding balancing act.

After composing and shooting a scene that I connect with, in post-processing, I’ll sometimes cool or warm some of the tones; experiment with saturation and contrast; or apply dodging and burning to accentuate depth. When color doesn’t contribute to a photograph, I like to see what the patterns, textures and overall composition have to say in black and white.

However, using more extreme techniques such as dropping in fake skies or employing various forms of compositing suck the joy out of photography for me (I’ve tried many). Physical experience and personal meaning, components that are far too valuable to counterfeit or shortchange, become easily lost.

For what I want to communicate, a lighter processing touch gets my message across far more authentically than heavy-handed techniques that yield images that appear over-baked or untrue.