Nowhere Newsletter 04: Alyssa Boehle
Editing a quiet world of inanimate objects
Nowhere Newsletter 04 takes a closer look at the technique and editing process of one of Nowhere Diary’s favorite photographers — Alyssa Boehle aka @microsoftserve.
I am 28 and have been working in advertising since college. It's a pretty time-consuming industry, so at 25 I took a year off and just walked miles and miles around New York City (where I live). That freedom was such a gift and I wanted to document all of it, so I started taking pictures of everything with my iPhone. As someone who had always been blindly future-oriented, being present and seeing the world became an obsession.
Last May (2019), I got my first camera and started applying myself more seriously. I've always loved directors who can turn dark, human concepts into hauntingly beautiful images (Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Nicholas Winding Refn), and more recently, photographers like Michael McCluskey, Gregory Crewdson, Mark Webber, and Benoit Paillé who prove a single shot can work its way into your psyche just as deeply. So between that rich image reservoir and my own tendencies toward darkness, a sort of style emerged.
I think where I've ended up for the moment is a study of the suburban worlds I grew up in, the horror and thrill of being alone, and the odd, almost aspartame-sweet aspirations you get swept away by on social media, which has essentially normalized image-worship even more than TV, tabloids, and religion did before. As someone who just missed fully growing up with social media, I think I will always be nostalgic for the quiet before that.
A lot of my shots center on neon structures, which are not only immediately visually appealing but also an odd reminder that despite everything, there is still a quiet world of inanimate objects and machines looking out for us from decades back. At some point, I will need to start adding characters, but for now I really just enjoy the rare solitude I get while shooting and editing and leaving those empty spaces alive and undisturbed.
NN: What camera gear / editing setup do you use?
AB: I shoot with a Fuji X100F that I bought second-hand from a dear friend last May. It's my first real camera and though I should experiment more, I'm quite in love. I often get asked if I use a tripod, which would make sense for nighttime, but I'm usually riding my bicycle when I shoot. So it's really just me, my bike, and my camera.
For editing, I use Lightroom on my 13" MacBook Pro. And a lot of new wave music.
NN: How do you achieve the look of your photographs and could you take us through the process?
AB: With regards to my look, because I don't have human subjects in my shots, all the conflict and emotion has to emerge through color and light, and I mostly get that done in editing. I usually start out with very similar shots of the same scene, do a quick pass of presets I've created over time, and then commit to one or two shots.
Once I've committed, I go into the process of fine-tuning the light and color settings, add gradients for more dramatic color and light shifts, and then go in with a brush to rework more specific areas to adjust the prominence of things. I do this multiple times and bounce back and forth until it feels right. By the end, it looks like a whole different photo, but it feels correct.
Overall, my process takes a lot of trial and error. For the most part, I do not know what I will end up with, especially when it comes to colors, until I actually edit. As someone who hasn't gone to school or taken classes for this, I'm oftentimes guessing and sometimes self-conscious about my dodgy process, but I started sharing short editing videos in my stories, because I think the photography community is very giving, and I wanted to give something back.
NN: Could you provide 3 before and after shots?
AB: Neither Good Nor Evil (below)
This one sat in my library for weeks. I made it different blues and greens, but it didn't feel whole until I pushed it toward this hellish red. I love the film Mandy with Nicholas Cage, so it felt like a sort of homage.
I Moonlight As Human (below)
I ended up pushing this one to purple in a sort of fit of frustration, because I really loved the structure, but nothing was working color-wise. So, even though I don't naturally like purple that much, its aggressive neon form made sense as a reflection of the process. Now I use it a lot more.
You Had Me In A Daze (below)
From the raw, this one would make more sense as a blue/purple-based shot, but the dreary green felt more ominous and challenging. Sometimes it's less about being pretty.
Overall, there's a real struggle and sense of frustration that happens during the editing process that ends up feeling meditative and productive. I hope I haven't shared any terrible habits, but I am grateful for being able to share this often hidden layer of what goes on in the apparent dark.