Peter Funch takes a hell of a photograph. These photos have exactly that indefinable essence that I'm constantly striving to capture in my own photos but very rarely manage to. I can't describe exactly what makes his photos so awesome and mine not so. Perhaps if I could, I'd know how to go about accomplishing it myself.

A big part of it of course is simply having a good eye for composition, which he most definitely has, but it's not just that. The photos have a feel to them that I've always loved. Slightly surreal — the colors are not outright fantastic, but some shots seem like they must be altered in some way. One contributing factor is simply sharpness, and another is high contrast. For example, image 04 of the Las Vegas series, the shot of the trucks, is very contrasty. But check out image 10 of the same series, the parking garage with the buildings in the background. That bluish tint doesn't seem like it can be natural. Likewise for 11.

I wish I could have a conversation with a photographer like Funch, and find out just how it is that that 'feel' is accomplished. Is it film selection? Post processing? Filters?

I feel just like I did when I started learning to play guitar and wondered how the hell these musicians make their guitars sound so distorted and cool. I speculated that it had to do with the way you held the pick, or something like that; some technique to be learned and practiced. Then it turned out that it's just a distortion pedal you plug into. I sort of suspect this is the same deal; I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what technique is needed to can make my camera render these slightly unnatural colors directly, when there is probably some relatively simple tool or device that brings about the effect. I wish I could have had the opportunity to take a photography class or two at Clemson. I suspect I would have learned about a lot of these mysteries that baffle me.