january 2007 - Professional Photographer Magazine

was a success, but the patient died. I don’t
run into that anymore.”
Heisler says the most significant change
in his images is how he conceptualizes them.
“With digital, it behooves you to think of your
photographs as elements,” he says. “If you have
all the ingredients, then you can actually re-cook
the meal. If you only have one ingredient, then
making changes to the image is like trying
to make a steak rarer. You just can’t do it.”
Heisler usually shoots a few frames of the
background and overall scene, sans subject.
If he chooses to change or fine-tune something
later, he has the necessary pieces to allow
that flexibility. Yet Heisler still tries to create
his images in-camera. “It’s a great pitfall to
work with an attitude that everything can be
fixed later in Photoshop,” he says.
For Heisler, the key to the digital world is
education. “There’s a common perception
that you have a finite number of neurons,
and any that are used for technical concerns
can’t be used for creativity,” he says. “I disagree.
I believe the more you have the technical
issues figured out, the more creative you can
be. When I was going digital, I was having
epiphanies every day. The possibilities are so
exciting. I love to do everything myself, and
digital offers an opportunity to be more
completely the author of my own work. So
the more I can learn about every part of this
new process, the better my images will be.”
With the digital wizardry of the 21st century at his disposal, Heisler’s greatest
inspiration still comes from the classic
works. He admires images by such masters
as Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Jay Maisel
and Mary Ellen Mark, and draws
inspiration as well from his collection of 19th century hand-painted photographs. Done
for the most part by anonymous artists, the
images are what he describes as “over-