What makes an image new?

Table at San Jose. The photographs that created this image were taken in the fall of 2006 in San Antonio, Texas. One of my better selling images , The Cat and the Cross, was taken on the same trip. Up until recently I had only viewed the raw files for Table at San Jose on my computer. I had taken three different exposures because the light in the window was much brighter than the rest of the interior. With my new knowledge and software for creating HDR images, I combined the three exposures. I converted to black and white and then gave it a very slight sepia tone. Some people feel the art is created with the camera, but actually that is only the first step. The art is not finished until you are through in the darkroom. This is just as true in a chemical darkroom as it is with a digital darkroom. I call this a new image despite the fact that I started working on it 27 months ago.
Hope you like it.
Clark