Collins Complete Photography Projects. John Garrett

emotionally, politically or aesthetically, and bring that quality out in your shots. When you are visualizing your pictures, be they memorials or any other subject, be aware that the photograph may be your stage one and the computer stage two.

      THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL

      I had seen the Lincoln Memorial hundreds of times in books and movies, so I was very familiar with it before I got there in reality. There is actually very little colour in the memorial, and it is rather mottled and stained. I was fairly sure that black and white was going to give a more emotional result than colour and that proved correct, as the black and white lent the memorial a dignity that was intended. The building is similar to the Parthenon in Athens, so I shot it from below looking up, much as one sees the Parthenon. This is a very simple picture, but that is all that I wanted. 1/500 second at f11, 38mm, 400 ISO. JG

      ABRAHAM LINCOLN

      After taking shots from every angle, I chose this one because it is different from other images that I have seen and I also think it is a powerful shot. It is always important for a photographer to try to interpret a subject in his or her own way. 1/125 second at f8, 44mm, 400 ISO. JG

      PORTRAIT SHOT

      The Memorial is a place of almost sacred pilgrimage to Americans, and in this portrait I tried to convey Lincoln’s status with his countrymen. The camera shot was stage one of the portrait. In stage two, I took the colour image into Lightroom and darkened it with the Exposure tool, then played with tones and contrasts until I reached this interpretation. I used the Split Tone Preset in Lightroom – the colour is really a matter of personal taste, and I felt that Lincoln looks powerful and dignified like this. I vignetted the edges to bring out Lincoln’s face against a darker background. 1/200 second at f5.6, 200mm, 400 ISO. JG

      THE AMERICAN FAMILY

      This picture is the one that sums up the Lincoln Memorial for me. I asked a Korean-American family to pose in front of Lincoln, making a symbolic image of the father of the nation looking down on his very patriotic children of different ethnicity. It was shot in colour, as were all the pictures here, but I felt that the monochrome image was more timeless. Using Antique grey in Lightroom for the final image strengthens that impression. 1/100 second at f8, 24mm, 400 ISO. JG