We all have some kind of ritual, habits, whatever, when playing with photos, painting, creating any piece of art... In my very early days (before my first encounter with any decent graphic computer) while drawing or painting (be it oil, or miniatures!), I used to listen to some folkish, northern ambient classical music (!!!), Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors... A couple of years later, late 90s, when I started to play with photoshop, vista pro and bryce 3d, on a very experimental level should I add, I was driven by the black ambient madness of early works by Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor... (and I'm still a fan, the spectrum has just widened a lot)... But still, there was something missing...
My true inspiration that helped define my current style came when I first heard the Cold Meat Industry sampler, '...And even the wolves hid their teeth...' (
www.discogs.com/Various-And-Ev…) Sometimes, you know when a lifechanging event occurs in your life while it happens, and I can tell you, this is one of those.
Still today, when I sit in front of the computer and browse my photos intent on doing some manip, I really enter my 'zone' having Raison d'Être, Arcana, Peter Barjo, early Sephiroth and The Protagonist and other great Dark Ambient Acts playing in the background. (more on the 'zone' or 'flow' later, I've found something very interesting on this subject).