# 6812-14 / autumn • landscape • common places ~ here it is

November 9, 2025

Given that true intellectual and emotional compatibility
are at the very least difficult if not impossible to come by
we could always opt for the more temporal gratification
of sheer physical attraction …. That wouldn't make you a shallow person would it? Lyle Lovett ~ Here I AM song lyrics

I HAVE LONG BEEN A FAN OF LYLE LOVETT’S MUSIC so, when I read this on TOP ….

“The stories behind what the pictures show are as important or even more important than the things you can see…..I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with pleasant little pictorial experiences, or wandering around to see what "catches your eye," or enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors ….”

…. I modified it to suit my purposes in this entry:

Given that true meaning and significance
are at the very least difficult if not impossible to come by in a photograph
we could always opt for the more temporal gratification
of sheer visual attraction …. That wouldn't make you a shallow person would it?

In the spirit of first things first, let me get my pique out of the way––re: the author’s, iMo, dismissive pejorative, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with pleasant little pictorial experiences, or wandering around to see what "catches your eye," or enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors, emphatically pissed me the hell off. I mean WTF, let me count the ways …..

…. let’s start with; “enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors” Really? denigrating 3 of the 7 elements of art? Then, let’s move on to “pleasant little pictorial experiences” I really do not know how to address this other than to ask, what the hell is wrong with a “little” (or “large” for that matter) pictorial experience? –– every photograph is a pictorial experience cuz, for fuck’s sake, photography is a visual medium. And, iMo, if the author is trying to convince the reader––or me in particular––that the “meaning” in a photograph is what elevates a picture from “little” to “large”, I would opine that his intellect has gotten out too far ahead of his eyes.

In the spirit of honest disclosure, the part of the author’s discourse that really annoyed me was the inferred suggestion that wandering around to see what "catches your eye" is a somewhat lazy(?), un-serious(?), mindless(?) manner of picture making. The reason that comment ruffled my feathers / got my dander up is simple––it’s cuz that is exactly how I photograph. And, I would strongly suggest that that––at least so In the Fine Art World of photography––is exactly the M.O. of most picture makers. Which, FYI, does mean that, in the service of expressing their picture making intent, they most likely do “wander around” looking for specific picture making opportunities that, no duh, “catch their eye”.

Moving on to “The stories behind what the pictures show are as important or even more important than the things you can see”, I call BS. Although this idea of content over image is the current mantra of the Academic Lunatic Fringe, as far as I am concerned, IFAW pictures are, first, meant to be seen and experience how/what they cause me to “feel”, and then, second, if at all, to be “read”. And, I might add, I don’t need no art-speaky drivel to tell me what to see, feel or think.

All of that written, I hope that opting for the more temporal gratification of sheer visual attraction doesn’t make me a shallow person.

In closing, an opinion from Susan Sontag:

“Standing alone, photographs …. which cannot themselves explain anything …. promise an understanding they cannot deliver. In the company of words, they take on meaning, but they slough off one meaning and take on another with alarming ease ….”

# 6808-11 / landscape • (late) autumn-ish ~ in between time

November 2, 2025

I RARELY LEAVE THE HOUSE FOR THE SOLE purpose of making photographs. That’s cuz I do not go to photographs, rather, I let photographs come to me. Or, to write in other words, while I always leave the house with a picture making device, my habit is not to search for photograph making opportunities but, rather, to make a photograph only when some thing pricks my eye and sensibilities as I am moving about the planet.

That written, there is, for me, one situation that violates that rule; that is, during what I call the 5th season––the season situated at the end of leaf-peeping season and the unset of winter.

I will admit that one of the reasons I enjoy making photographs during that time is that I get a great deal of satisfaction from creating such photographs which, for me, function as a sharp-stick/poke-in-the-eye, as it were, to the hordes of picture makers who salivate at the sight of a landscape chock full of wall-to-wall blazing colors, colors that are most often over saturated in processing cuz, ya know, nothing exceeds like excess. Apparently, they must believe that someone in the CREATION DEPARTMENT––quite possibly the Time Bandits*––screwed up, hue and saturation wise, and they need to assume the role of an ex post facto art director in order to '“correct” that mistake.

On the other hand, re: my photograph making fascination with the 5th Season, I tend to believe that life and the planet earth is in a constant state of transition / flux, or, in the case of the 5th Season, entropy: BTW, a progression that could also apply to my kitchen sink photographs inasmuch as the housewares in my sink are in a transitional condition–– pictured in the transition from clean > dirty > to clean again (or least one can assume so inasmuch as what a viewer “sees” in a photograph is based upon that viewer’s assumptions).

In fact, it could be reasonably stated that all photographs document a transition in that, even though a photograph depicts a static moment in time, every photograph contains, by inference, that there were moments before and after the photograph was made.

*When the Supreme Being finally catches up with the Time Bandits, he is rather pissed at them for having stolen the Map of Time which allowed them to travel through time portals on a looting spree…

Supreme Being: I should do something very extroverted and vengeful to you. Honestly, I'm too tired. So, I think I'll transfer you to the undergrowth department, brackens, more shrubs, that sort of thing... with a 19% cut in salary, backdated to the beginning of time.

Randall (one of the Bandits): Oh, thank you, sir.

Supreme Being: Yes, well, I am the nice one.

#6804-07 / landscape • around the house • sink ~ document as form

October 31, 2025

“There are no heroics in [his] images, but rather a poetics of the ordinary and the everyday and a refusal to create an effect for its own sake, echoing Walker Evans’s desire to reveal the “deep beauty of things as they are.” His approach can be tied to a long American tradition of elevating the simple and the commonplace, in form as well as content, to a certain poetry and a way of life, from Ralph Waldo Emerson writing that “I embrace the common, I explore and sit at the feet of familiar, the low,” to Walt Whitman championing “a transparent, plate-glassy style, artless”, characterized by “clearness, simplicity, no twisted or foggy sentences.” Despite its historic context, this enthusiasm for the vernacular, when expressed through photography, has been unsettling for some observers, and continues to this day.” ~ from Stephen Shore: Solving Pictures by Quintin Bajac

AS I BEGIN TO EMBARK UPON A PATH OF intense self-promotion, with the objective of creating recognition / awareness of my photography in the gallery / exhibition world, I am directed toward the necessity of writing an Artist Statement, one that could be universally applied to any work that I have created; i.e., to each and every one of my 20 individual bodies of work. It might be said that that task is fraught with complications given the diverse variety of referent matter depicted in my various bodies of work. However, I think not cuz, regardless of the depicted referent, all of my photographs are unified under the aegis of my singular vision, the identifiable manner–if one can see / grasp it–in which I see and photograph life and the real world––hence, the discursive promiscuity nomenclature that I ascribe to my cumulative body of work.

That written, an Artist Statement most often addresses two objectives, aka: the how and the why. The how is the easy part––at least for me cuz it will essentially be a derivation / variation on the quote included above; simply written, I make photographs of the quotidian world without effects or “twisted or foggy sentences.” The why part is, however, a different kettle of fish ….

…. that’s cuz, in large part, I am not attracted to a particular referent material of any particular kind, as in, being drawn to––per the medium’s directive to photograph the singular “thing” that interests you––the landscape (natural world or man-made), people, still life, nudes, events / human activities, et al. For example, I will never write the sentence, “I am attracted to the dirty dishes in my sink,” cuz, the fact of the matter (pun) is that I am not attracted to the stuff in my sink other than for it potential to be made into a photograph. So, that all-purpose answer to the why question has exited stage right, aka: out the window.

It is also fair to write that I do not photograph to espouse any “deep” meaning, re: my referents or my personal “beliefs” or involvement is a cause or ideology; my intent is to make photographs that instigate feeling / emotions, not thoughts, to wit, visual interest, not intellectual interest. So, an appeal to the Academic Lunatic Fringe is most certainly not in my future inasmuch as they probably consider me to be a picture-making simpleton.

What I can state could be a variation on the idea that I am attracted to “the common” and that I do “explore and sit at the feet of familiar, the low,” but that still begs the question of why I do so ….

It is my belief that to address that question I need to. A) embrace the Shakespeare-ian concept that “what’s past is prologue” inasmuch as I am coming to the the conclusion that my “baked in” picture making proclivities are a direct result of my past young-life experiences of sitting next to the window on the passenger-side, back seat of my parent’s car, staring out that window at the everyday, real world landscape as it scrolled past my eyes like an old-timey newsreel––especially so during those long-which I thought of as boring-1950's drives on the 2-lane roads through small towns and the rural country side on the way to the Adirondacks*––made an indelible imprint on my visual perception of how I see the real world ….

…. and, B) I can also state that I take great pleasure / satisfaction in making photographs that express the idea that a beautiful or, at the very least, a visually interesting object––aka: a photographic print––can be created from the from the most likely considered un-beautiful, un-visually interesting referents.

All of the above written, be forewarned that I will be continuing to write quite a bit more about the creating recognition / awareness of my photography endeavor I am pursuing.

*not to mention the fact that I now am a longtime resident of the Adirondacks

6802-03 / ~ how I found my groove

October 24, 2025

“Most photographers start with some core topic …. and slowly build up a body of work around that predetermined topic …. But (like me) there are a few people who photograph purely and simply the things that move them prick their eye and sensibilities and who think to categorize and to find a way to present them only after the fact of creation …. rather than filling in the blank space inside a a known perimeter / core idea we are working in area where neither core nor perimeter are know until after the fact …. But surely that is as it should be–– in any true exploration, there is no way to know what you’ve discovered until you’ve been there …. so, as I move forward in seemingly meandering fashion, making piles of unrelated images …. what I am becoming aware of is that through these images I am involved in uncovering, or identifying …. a widely spread locus of visual points that are the boundary of my Spirit unique vision.” ~ from a letter to Sally Mann from Ted Orland-Ansel Adams former assistant / printer

FINISHED READING SALLY MANN’S BOOK, Art Work ~ On the Creative life. I would still recommend it but, be forewarned, it is not a how-be-creative manual. It is more of a tale of life’s ups and downs––everyday life + things photographic thrown for good measure––that might actually be a good draft for a docu-drama motion picture; lots of drama, struggle, insecurity / self doubt, crying––she does not handle rejection well––serendipity, and adventure.

I did find a few nuggets of interest which tended to confirm / “validate” much of what has guided my picture making life inasmuch as I find it reassuring that I share similar thoughts and pursuits with other creatives. The above excerpt, case in point, is a perfect example of how my process of assembling after-the-fact bodies of work is not as uncommon as one might think.

One thing I did learn about Mann is that she is a bona fide, dyed-in-the-wool instigator / agitator; she admits to deliberately––in her words––”releasing into the world” pictures that were not her best work but that she knew would rattle a few walls / antagonize the status quo-ers. Although, one picture in particular, The Three Graces, was never exhibited in the US cuz she literally pulled it from the wall of a prestigious NYC gallery on the opening night of one of her exhibitions. Strangely, she writes about the picture at length but then teases the reader by not reproducing it in the book. Apparently she is worried about be arrested inasmuch as picturing a child peeing is actually illegal in some states. She even goes so far as to not naming the person who clicked the shutter––Mann is one of the pictured “graces” in the picture––for fear that he-she-it-they-them might be arrested.

In any event, my main takeaway from the book, advice to photographers-wise, is her repeated directive to work, work, work––aka: shoot, shoot shoot––making lots and lots of pictures and then ruthlessly editing out the losers. A process that she labels as “killing your darlings”. In the chapter entitled, Your Darlings accompanied by a Faulkner quote: “In writing, you must kill all your darling.” Mann states that if your pictures “are not good enough, send them straight to the choppy-chop.”

RE; the above excerpt: I have discovered yet another “hidden” body of work buried throughout my picture files; one I have labeled as the other Autumn color. FYI, the “other color” referenced here is Autumn color that is not slathered all over––essentially the entire image––the surface of the print. Rather, my eye and sensibilities are pricked by a more subtle visual indication of the change of season. Ya know, more of whisper than a scream.

6799-6801 / common places • landscape ~ school books

October 20, 2025

“This is a book about how to get shit done. Or, more particularly, how I got it done. And I guess that’s a big part of an artist’s life––getting other shit done besides the shit you are suppose to be doing––the art, that is.” ~ Sally Mann

WENT TO VERMONT LAST WEEK ON AN AUTOMOTIVE-based errand. While there I stopped at an actual bookstore––a serviving Barnes & Noble––to see if they had Sally Mann’s new book, Art Work ~ On the Creative Life. It was out of stock (ordered to be shipped and has since arrived) but, while perusing the (meager) photography section, I found a book published by MOMA with the simple title, Stephen Shore. According to the publisher’s blurb the book was….

Published to accompany the first comprehensive survey of Stephen Shore’s work in the US, this catalog reflects the full range of his contribution …. This book offers a fresh, kaleidoscopic vision of the artist’s extensive career, presenting more than 400 reproductions arranged in a thematic framework, each grouping accompanied by a short but wide-ranging essay.

Re: Sally Mann’s book:

“If it’s possible to learn fearlessness––or cussedness or dust-yourself-offedness or stick-to-itiveness––Sally Mann is the one who could teach it to you.” ~ dust jacket blurb

iMo, both books are recommended but for different reasons; re: the Shore book is a timeline overview of his picture making life with an emphasis on his varied, meandering picture making activities. It is also apparent that Shore was afforded the luxury of time––as director of a college photography department––and money––numerous, prestigious grants and financial awards––to pursue his tip-toe through the garden of picture making delights. That written, I would be remiss in not mentioning that book left me in very disturbed emotional and mental state, about which I will address in a future entry cuz I gotta first sort it out, re: the Mann book is, iMo, an entertaining read––in both content and prose––about her photography (no how-tos) and life as an artist. There are quite a few photographs therein (100 or more) but the reproduction thereof is rather iffy, standard uncoated novel paper an all. FYI, Mann’s favorite and oft used expletive is the word “shit” followed by her repeated use of the phrase “don’t give a flying fuck”.

While I am on the subject of books, specifically books about the medium and its apparatus, it is worth noting that I have quite a collection––approaching 100–– of such books. Most of that collection is composed of monographs of various picture maker’s work with a decent handful of “scholarly”––words only–– books thrown into the mix; most notably Robert Adams’ books on photography. That written, all of the monographs have essays, some voluminous, that accompany the photographs.

Without going into specific case details, I can write that both the photographs and, in particular, the writings in these books have contributed greatly to my imaginary / make-believe Doctorate in The Photographic Arts degree. It’s worth noting that I do have my sheepskin yet but I do expect it to be in my mailbox any day now.

Seriously though, all that “study” has helped me arrive at an expanded understanding of my own picture making endeavors. That is to write that by cherry-picking, from wide variety of sources, a collection of words, phrases, and ideas about the medium and its apparatus, I am to cobble together the following to use as an answer to the oft heard question, “What guides your approach to picture making?….

“I do not engage with any thing’s knowable identity, but with its visual mystique, its potential for being turned into a photograph …. I avoid mythic possibilities for purely pictorial meaning …. I do not use cliched pictorial packages to carry readymade meanings …. I avoid obvious picture making solutions …. inexplicable adjustments guide my work …. pictorial priorities supersede a devotion to what might constitute the subject’s truth …. objects, shadows, intervening spaces provide vital components of co-equal visual importance …. I regard the complexity of a given environment as potentially articulate aesthetic material and consider the subject and its visual essence as indivisible. “

If I were so inclined to be obtuse, I could also add to the above mix the idea that …

“…. my referent / subject matter is precisely what it appears to be––a scrupulous inventory of visible facts––but, I maneuver those facts to reveal epiphanic visual interdependencies.”

…. but I won’t add that cuz nobody would know what the fuck (nod to Mann) I was talking about.

ADDENDUM to my recent Everything, Everywhere, All At Once entry wherein I displayed 12 of my bodies of work. I belatedly realized that lurking in my photo library, I had 3 more previously un-culled and un-organized bodies of work;

# 6794-98 / autumn • common places • around the house ~ on point

October 13, 2025

“One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. It must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others … the talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace …. endowing the act not merely with intelligence, but with that quality of formal rigor that identifies a work of art, so that we would be uncertain, when remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement had come from the things pointed too and how much from a pattern created by the pointer.” ~ John Szarkowski

I HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THERE ARE, picturing genres aside, only 2 type of photographers; 1) those pointers who make pictures of–according to the well-worn advice–things they “love” or things that interest them deeply, or, 2) those pointers who make pictures simply cuz they “love” to make visually interesting-to-view objects, aka: photographic prints.

Or, think of it this way …. the #1 pointer is a documentarian–a person who creates photographs that document reality; photographs which grant a sense of pleasure from the thing pointed to. The #2 pointer is an artist–a person who creates photographs that are about some-thing other than the literally documented thing, something which grants a sense of pleasure from the pattern created by the pointer.

Another distinguishing feature that separates #1-ers from #2-ers is that #1-ers, in their picture making, tend to gravitate toward the more spectacular / dramatic things in the world whereas the #2-er, while not necessarily avoiding spectacular / dramatic things tend to gravitate toward more prosaic things in the world. The almost inevitable, universal result of that picture making dichotomy is that #1-er simply cannot fathom why anyone would make pictures of the the quotidian world–much less appreciate them–and #2-ers most often dismiss the work of the #1-ers as rather boring, cliche-ridden dreck.

And, let’s not forget one other difference: #1-ers are rather inclined to be gear-oriented, even gear obsessed in many cases. #2-ers tend to settle on a single picture making instrument that suits the way they see and stick with that.

All of the above written, I just thought I would throw it all out there for your consideration.

#6779-93 ~ everything, everywhere, all at once

October 10, 2025

“Whatever else a photograph may be about, it is inevitably about photography, the container and vehicle of all its meanings.” ~ John Szarkowski

IN MY LAST ENTRY I WROTE THAT “…. most, if not every, hardcore / driven-to-make-pictures photographer considers their bodies of work to be their “greatest” hit….”. Pursuant to that idea I set about making triptych assemblages––15 displayed above––of my various bodies of work which I thought could used to illustrate some ideas about bodies of work, so…..

….. re: the medium of photography and its apparatus wise, a body of work is most often organized around and incited by a particular referent-subject matter, a specific genre, a personal vision (both literal and figurative), or, most likely, a combination of all 3. An example of a combination-of-all-3 body of work, consider Sally Mann; her literal referent(s) was her children, her genre was candid environmental portraiture, and her expressed vision seemed to be, kids do the darnedest things (even if picturing it makes adults uneasy).

Of course, the medium is chock full of way too many to mention other splendid examples of combination-of-all-3 picture makers. That written, most of those practitioners have traditionally plied their trade and made their chops in a specific, single picture making genre. Unlike, say, as an example, Joel Meyerowitz who transitioned from 35mm-format, handheld camera work–street photography–to large-format, view camera man-made landscape work. To be clear, there is no criticism implied in either approach cuz, iMo, either way, it’s nice work if you can get it.

RE: my bodies of work - with 15 separate bodies of work, one might wonder, how the hell is that possible? Well, the first hint is that only 5–art reflects / decay / picture windows / poles / single women– were started from scratch as an intent to create separate bodies of work. With the exception of picture windows,and single women, the other 3 were concentrated upon objects of my picture making for a relatively short period of time (although I still add to all of them from time to time). The life without the APA work was assembled––literally assembled from hundreds of pieces extracted from existing pictures––over 2 months of intense computer / PS time. The remaining 10 bodies of work were created by culling out, from my large photo library, referent-related photos and organizing them into separate bodies of work–it is worth noting that the kitchen sink and the Adirondack survey bodies of work have taken on a life of their own.

However, all of that written, the fact is that I consideration all of the above work, taken all together, as my true, single body of work. A body of work that could be labeled / titled, discursive promiscuity ~ quotidian ubiquity. With that being the case, the question is, why bother creating separate bodies of work?

Simple answer: inasmuch as I pursue solo exhibition opportunities, it is a well-established tradition that Fine Art galleries, institutions, and the Fine Art World itself place a very high value / premium on unified––by referent, genre, vision––bodies of work. I believe that standard is due, primarily, to the idea that a unified body of work implies and displays a concerted effort and discipline by an artist; a seriousness of intent, if you will. So, if that’s they game they want to play, I can play that game too.

re: my all-inclusive discursive promiscuity ~ quotidian ubiquity body of work is, referent-wise––according to the “unified” standard––a rather messy affair. However, to my eye and sensibilities, it is all held together by the fact that all of the pictures were/are; a. made under the operational M.O. of straight photography, b. seen and presented within the constraints of the square format, c. independent of referent, all of the photos exhibit a very consistent attention to the “arrangement” of line, space, shape, color, form, all of which, taken together, create a sense of visual energy across the 2D plane of a print. d. there is nothing special about the literally depicted referents in the photographs––they are just the stuff of everyday life.

Setting aside a->d, I believe that the ultimate, single, unifying construct to the discursive promiscuity ~ quotidian ubiquity body of work is the fact that all of the photographs were created under the banner of a single premise of what I call the Winogrand M.O.–i.e. the photographs are all created to see what the world looks like when photographed. Or, to be an even finer point on it, to see what the world looks like when photographed by me. And, it is worth pointing out that all of the photographs are actually about photography.

Ok, enough about me …. why should you create a body of work?––emphasis on drawing photos from your existing cache of work. iMo, it is a way of discovering, if you do not already know, if there is an unrecognized yet relatively constant referent that pricks your eye and sensibilities, one that reappears in a number of photographs, or, if your work has a unifying look to it––in that there are a number of photographs that have a similar look, independent of referent, that seem to be somehow related or work together.

The point of the exercise is not to identify “greatest hits”. Rather, it is identify photographs that represent simple, honest, seeing. Photographs that capture the world in a manner of your own seeing, not ones made by the rules or expectations of what is conventionally considered to be a good photograph cuz what you are doing with this exercise is to find your own picture making self. Hint: consider looking at all of your outtakes rather than just your “finals”.

An operational tip: take Ricky’s (Nelson) Garden Party advice:

“You see, you can’t please everyone so you got to please yourself …. but if memories were all I sang I’d rather drive a truck ”

Or, in my words:

“… if making great hits were all I did I’d rather drive a truck ”

#6794-96 / common places-things • autumn • food ~ autumnal pleasures

October 8, 2025

I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON AN ENTRY FOR THE PAST 4-5 days that requires that I “get it right”. The entry is a follow up to my last entry wherein I suggested that I believe that most “…. hardcore / driven-to-make-pictures photographers consider their bodies of work to be their ‘greatest’ hit”. In the new entry I discuss general ideas about bodies of work and, here’s the get-it-right part, I also discuss my bodies of work and how they came into being. That written, the entry is about 70.85% complete and should be ready shortly.

In the meantime here are few pictures made over the past few days during an early-arriving Indian Summer–i.e. a period of unseasonably warm, sunny, and hazy weather that occurs in late autumn, usually late October and sometimes into November, after a period of cool temperatures.

Indian Summer is specially delightful when, after pulling out long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and turning on the household heat, we sit, lightly dressed / libations in hand, on our back screened-in porch at the end of the day, listen to the quiet, watch the sun go down and the moon, in this case, the harvest moon come up knowing full well what will follow, weather wise.

Coincidentally, round about Indian Summer time, the concord grapes are in. That means I must turn my attention to making several concord grape pies. There many things I like about Autumn but, near the top of the list is a slice of warm grape pie along with a glass of fresh, cold apple cider. FYI, all of the ingredients for the above are grown an harvested within a few miles of my home.