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JUST SOME PICTURES FROM my neighborhood. Stick season is coming and some white stuff has been comin’ and goin’ at higher elevations. Gotta get my winter backpacking gear together cuz I promised myself that I would- while I still can-spend a few days and nights in the back country this winter.
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A COMMENT FROM DENNIS ON my last entry:
“…what set you off this time? Just because it worked for you don't mean jack for anyone else. Falling Water is lovely but falling down…”
Cannot imagine what, in my last entry, caused Dennis to experience a “migraine inducing eyeroll”. That written, let me pass on my condolence. Hope you feel better. In any event, I thought I should respond to his “riptose” on 2 counts; re: Fallingwater (1 word, not 2), and, re: “don’t mean jack for anyone else”.
re: Fallingwater - fun fact, Fallingwater is not falling down. Nor was it in eminent danger of falling down. In 1995 it was determined that the concrete cantilevered balconies were insufficiently reinforced. What a surprise (sarcasm alert). Who could have guessed that a structure-an untested, never-before attempted, never-imagined construction technique, using materials available at that time-built 60 years prior might just need a bit of additional reinforcement? In any event, in 2002 additional reinforcement was installed leaving Fallingwater's interior and exterior appearance unchanged and the original construction engineering intact.
re: “don’t mean jack for anyone else” - I have no idea if the topics and/or ideas and opinions expressed on this blog have any meaning, applicability, or value to anyone else (other than M). And, I most emphatically make it known that, with my liberal and continued use of the acronym, “iMo”-note that M is both bold and italicized-I am not writing ex cathedra. So, Dennis, please accept my thanks for pointing out the obvious.
And, speaking of the obvious, I would never suggest that what works for me would necessarily work for anyone else cuz, ya know, statistically, half the population is below average.
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THERE WAS A TIME MANY YEARS AGO, DECADES in fact, that, on my several iterations ago blog, I was a stanch defender of truth-def: that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality-in photos. What was tiring about discussing that idea was the never-ending, dancing on the head of pin contrarian advocates who wanted wanted to take a deep dive into the philosophical meaning of “truth”. And, as an adjunct position, they also threw in the questioning of the idea of “real”. All of which I found rather unproductive inasmuch as I was interested in discussing the characteristics / conventions / apparatus of the medium, not the meaning of life.
Inasmuch as we photographers are going thru the motions of making simulacrum-def: something that replaces reality with its representation-I believe that the idea of so-called “truth” in a photograph might better be described as representational / visual veracity. That is to write that, if a casual viewer-aka: a non-“serious” amateur picture maker, were to view a straight photograph of some thing-people, place, thing, event, et al-made from the real world and see the same thing in situ, he/she would have no problem recognizing it as being related, reasonably accurately, to that thing as it was depicted in the previously viewed photograph.
That written, if one accepts the idea that photography is unique amongst the visual arts in its unique / intrinsic ability to accurately / convincingly / truthfully (there’s that word again) visually depict a segment of the real, why not employ that characteristic of the medium to create art?
Easy answer; iMo, the most difficult challenge in making art, Photography Division, is doing so without relying on art sauce / cheap tricks to garnish the real with a false pretense. Ya know, like making a “fake” photograph. Say, consider a picture of fall foliage so screamingly over-saturated, color wise, as to be a complete distortion of the real.
Some might ask if it is possible for a photograph to be able to convey a moral / cultural / emotional truth. The answer to that question is simply, “Maybe.” or, most probably, “No.” That is, at least not a clearly unambiguous, universal truth. That’s cuz the question legitimately opens the door to the idea of relativism-the doctrine that truth and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute. For instance, there are those who saw horror and tragedy in the photo of people plunging to their death from the two towers while there were others who, viewing the same photo, saw a scene that incited great joy /celebration and a sense of the fulfillment of their dreams.
In any event, in my picture making I try to stick to the facts of life on this planet. Call it what you will but I currently think of it as the real dinkum oil.
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IN MY REGION OF THE ADIRONDACKS PEEK (pun) leaf peeper season is about a week away. While I am not immune to the sight of the forest swathed in a red / yellow rainbow of color, I am adverse to the making of pictures thereof. To wit, the making of “standard”, color saturated, landscape calendar art.
On the contrary, bogs and swamps are my favored autumnal picture making venues. That’s cuz the biodiversity found in these wetlands creates a much expanded color palette than is commonly found in the red and yellow dominated forest palette. Throw in a wide variety of shapes and textures and, to my eye and sensibilities, there are picture making opportunities aplenty.
Often times, on my way to a bog / swamp, along the roadside I encounter scenes of pre-peek color. That is, a bit of autumnal color mingled in a greater scene of late summer, green-dominated, color. To my eye and sensibilities, these scenes have a great degree of visual energy; ya know what I mean….the opportunity to make one of those exhausting-to-read (sarcasm alert) photographs wherein the eye tends to dance-instead of falling asleep-across the 2D surface of the print.
All of that written, I would encourage the pursuit of shunning the grand autumnal landscape scenes in order to find those much more intimate tableaux of autumnal splendor.
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YESTERDAY MA NATURE SENT US A 1-inch REMINDER MEMO, re: what’s in our near future. The memo was short and sweet. Over by 1PM, no evidence left by 6PM.
the wife in a grove of birch
IN DECADES PAST WINTER WAS FOR ME A PLAYGROUND… XC skiing, ice skating, luge competition (2 silver medals), and backcountry / wilderness backpacking in the high peaks. However, with more than 3/4 of a century under my belt, not so much anymore.
These days my favorite winter past time is a comfortable chair in front of a warm fire, a good book and an Irish coffee or a mug of warm apple cider with a cinnamon stick. Although, short hikes with a picture making device are still part of the program.
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WOKE UP TO RAINY OVERCAST DAY. AFTER MY morning wake-up routine, I was overcome by an unusual desire…the need to get out and make photographs with a tele-only zoom lens. An activity which would, gasp!!!, require the use of a “real” camera.
I can write, for a fact, that I have no idea what came over me. Nevertheless, I pulled out one of my Olympus µ4/3 cameras and my Zuiko 50-200mm e100-400) f2.8 lens, donned rainy weather gear, and headed out the door for short, 3-4 mile picture making drive around the “neighborhood”.
I will admit to it feeling kinda weird hauling around what felt like a large brick, looking through a viewfinder, making aperture-mostly wide open cuz I was not looking for maximum DOF-and shutter speed adjustments, and checking for critical focus. FYI, most of the pictures were made with the zoom set to focal lengths somewhere between e300-400mm.
Despite the fact that using a “real” camera felt somewhat old-timely, I can write that I have always enjoyed making pictures with the use of long focal length lenses. That’s cuz the so-called perspective compressing effect captured by-but not created by-long focal length lenses helps emphasize the flat 2D field of a photographic print. To my eye and sensibilities, an emphasis that, with careful framing of selected sections of the real world, reveals the purely visual 2D viability of that 3D world. iMo, an emphasis that elevates a picture into the arena of fine art because it gives the eye and visual senses something to view, consider and appreciate beyond the mere literal depiction of a section of the real world.
SATURDAY PAST I TOOK A MEANDERING COUNTRYSIDE DRIVE TO a farm stand to procure some fresh apple cider, concord grapes, and some produce. The weather was absolutely enchanting with rain, mist, and a leaden overcast. The landscape provided a bounty of picture making opportunities.
The fall harvest bounty was put to good use. I made a grape pie with the concord grapes. On Sunday the wife made roasted acorn squash-cut in half to make bowls-filled them with her homemade beet borscht soup with dollop sour cream. Then served them for dinner with a side of pan fried kielbasa. All in all, it made for a great weekend during which we celebrated our 26 wedding anniversary.
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As always with the caveat of to-my-eye-and-sensibilities, I can write that I am quite satisfied with my Autumnal picture making. Virtually all of that picture making was accomplished while I was out and about dealing with various errands. Only a very few were made during an expressly for making pictures outing.
All of that picture making activity has resulted in a cohesive 30 (approximately) picture body of work which falls under the heading of Quotidian Autumn Color ~ without the screaming. The work, to my eye and sensibilities, is strong enough to warrant a POD book + limited edition-10 pieces-folio of 20 original INSTAX prints.
Re: INSTAX prints: I have become rather enamored, some might say obessed, with INSTAX prints. It would appear that, from what I have read and what I have experienced, FUJI has quite a hit on its hands with the INSTAX thing - both cameras and printers. Both items yield up prints; directly from an INSTAX camera or from an INSTAX printer. In either case, people-primarily non-”serious” snap shooters-are smitten by, a) instant photography, and, b) holding-and viewing-an actual print in the hand…another indication that photography is not dying.
Given my long standing practice of making instant pictures with various POLAROID cameras and materials-for commercial, editorial, and personal use-it should come as no surprise that I have taken up the making of INSTAX prints. That written, I believe there is a potential for INSTAX prints, as a distinct Fine Art medium, to start appearing on gallery walls - I already have a gallery commitment for an INSTAX print exhibition.
All of that written, in my next entry (or very soon) I will expound upon the idea of why I believe that the INSTAX medium is, or can be, an expressive medium for Fine Art Photography.