articles/Interviews/melvinnicholson-page2

Interviews Melvin Nicholson - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Paul Gallagher Published 01/06/2012

3. I see much of your work is taken in the dark hours. What is it about the night time that attracts you and do you ever feel threatened?

Well the night time interests me greatly and mainly because artificial light changes the look and feel of a city enormously and this presents many challenges when trying to capture the scene. I am also really a night owl, tending to come alive after the sun has set and I feel that my photography perhaps best reflects this. City life, however, has a completely different feel at night; whereas during the day when every street, alleyway and park is exposed and visible, with workers and shoppers filling up the city, at night it becomes a different creature altogether. Workers and shoppers are replaced by people who are seeking to be entertained and those who seek to entertain them.
But there is also a sinister element to most cities at night and if you havebeen fortunate enough to have never experienced this, simply set up a £2,000 camera on a large tripod in the depths of a dark alley or perhaps in the middle of a busy city centre and you suddenly become very, very aware of your surroundings, becoming very alert to everyone who is around you. I personally find this an adrenaline rush and it helps to enhance my experience of capturing a city in the dark and somehow heightens the satisfaction I get when I see an image printed and hanging on a wall.

However, there have been times when I think that I might have bitten off more than I can chew and been confronted with someone who seems to have a motive to have you parted from your equipment. Worse still, your tormentor may be somewhat incapacitated through alcohol or drugs or something else altogether in which case you might become more familiar with the local hospital. It is in these moments that I must demonstrate a calm and confident attitude and not give them what they want even if my whole body is urging me to walk away and return to capture that particular shot another time. Personally I've never had to walk away.

4. What is your general post-processing approach

to both colour and black and white? That's a really interesting question Paul, and one that would have brought forth a different answer just a year ago. I have been shooting for almost five years now and my approach to post-editing has changed as I have become more familiar with the software that I have used. Initially, very little editing occurred and some of my earlier work looks a little unfinished as a result. Then I tried creating HDR images, and while there is no doubt that applying that technique does work very well on certain subjects and the results it yields are impressive, personally it is not for me. These days I use Photoshop Elements 7 with the Nik range of software and I find that I use a limited range of options to bring out the elements in an image that I want to become noticeable.

The biggest improvement to my post-editing process involves my monochrome work. These days I use Nik's Silver Efex software. This produces images that almost perfectly recreate what I envisaged when on the ground, shooting. The results that I have obtained from internal and external competitions have improved tremendously with several of my monochrome images having been accepted into national exhibitions this year for the first time which brings me great satisfaction and clearly shows that I am improving. I find that monochrome suits my thought and viewing processes when out shooting and whilst I don't 'see' life in black and white (I'm quite a complex character), where my photography is concerned I do and overall this has been the biggest surprise to me on my photographic journey.

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