# 6404-08 / mementos ~ the fog of memory

June 26, 2024

I’M AN OLD GUY, WELL INTO MY 7TH DECADE approaching my 8th. So, I have a lifetime of memories and fortunately my memory is very sound. That written, I have been thinking about memory + photography cuz…

… it has been postulated by serious thinkers-in academia-on the subject that, with the incredible magnitude of photographs being made, photographs are somehow replacing human memory and becoming the memory. Consider this from an essay in the book, A MATTER OF MEMORY ~ Photography As A Object in the Digital Age:

“…photography and memory have been intertwined for so long that their inextricable linkage has become a platitude. Most of us recognize that many of our childhood memories are more likely the result of seeing photographs of ourselves as children than they are actual recollections recovered from the memory centers in our brains….in recent years there has been a surge of interest in the omnipresence of photography and its effect on memory.”

iMo, this concept, re: photography effecting memory, is a bit of an academic dalliance; they gotta have something to do. But, be that as it may, that concept is not much on my mind. What is on my mind is popular idea that photographs preserve memories…

… right from the get-go, let me state for the record that I lean toward the idea that photographs are a fine visual reminder of a moment in the past but, despite their ability to present a picture of that moment complete with a lot of visual detail, they are, at best, an inciter of memories stored in the human brain. However, to be precise, only in the human brain of a viewer who was a participant in that moment. And, the memories that may rise to the fore upon viewing a photograph are, due to the nature of human memory, rather generalized, i.e, vague / “foggy” / imprecise, at best.

On the other hand, consider the photo of me in my pajamas… I know it’s a photo of me cuz the depicted face in the photo looks like the face I have seen in other photos from that time that I know to be photos of me. I can assuredly deduce that the picture was made in the attic-which my father renovated-bedroom cuz of the sloping ceiling line behind me. But, I have no idea who made the photo-probably my father but it could have been taken by my mother or my grandfather (he was an avid amateur photographer)-nor do I have even the vaguest idea the why photo was made. I do know that photo was not made in March 1960-as printed on the border-cuz we were not living in that house in 1960. March’60 was the date the photo was printed and considering the fact that my dad was frugal in his picture making-a roll of film could be in the camera for year or 2-the photo could have been made more than a year or more before that March ‘60 date.

All of written, here’s the thing about that photo…I have absolutely no memory associated with that moment in time. None. Nada. Zip. The image, and in this example also the actual print, is little more than a visual artifact about a past moment in time. It does not cause me to manufacture a memory. It is, primarily, just a picture.

That written, the photograph does, in fact, stir up a memory. Not of the moment but rather of someone not depicted - my father. The instigator of that memory-a memory that is very broad and generalized-is a detail in the photo that only I might notice, the aforementioned slanting ceiling line that testifies to the fact that the photo was make in the bedroom that my father made in our attic that he renovated. However, strangely enough, I have no memory of him renovating the attic.

In any event, all of the above written, I do have many photographs of a past moments in time that incite memories associated with that moment in time. And, to be honest, I have quite a number of photographs of past moments in time that remind me of moments that I might never have thought of if not for the photographic evidence. On the other hand I have far more memories for which there is no photographic evidence other than the pictures in my head: I am primarily a visual thinker after all.

In either case, and in my experience (your experience might vary), memory and the memories associated with them are rather enigmatic / ambiguous / insubstantial. And, iMo / experience, having a highly detailed photograph of a past moment in time does not make a memory any more detailed, memory wise. That is, beyond the detail of the literally depicted visual content. However, that written, what might appear to be an insignificant detail in a photography-think about the ceiling line in the above photo-could, in deed, incite a memory about something / someone / someplace that is not part of that moment.

Ok. I’m starting to ramble on. That’s in part, cuz I am still trying to sort a lot of this stuff out. But part of that sorting out is the 4 “ghosted” photos in this entry. I intend to make a photo book about photography + memory in which all of the photos will be ghosted in order to support my idea that memories-even those incited by highly detailed photos-are rather “foggy”.

# 6835-45 / all things considered ~ life squared-a year in the making

January 3, 2024

(all photos embiggenable) ~ ***adirondack scenic***

***quite possibly my favorite picture from 2023***

AT THE END OF THE OLD / START OF THE NEW year, it customary in some quarters to do a year-in-review thing. In many cases it is a a “best-of” kinda thing. In any event, here is my take on it…

Inasmuch as, in an overall scheme of picture making things, I toil in the discursive promiscuity garden of picture making, I nevertheless feel compelled, by the medium’s custom of organizing itself into recognizable, theme-based bodies of work, to relegate my pictures to separate / definable bodies of work - 10 bodies of work as presented above.

That written, re: the pictures in this entry, while they are presented as the “best-of” each category, they are not necessarily my favorite pictures of 2023. If I were to discard the limits imposed by adhering to separate theme classification, it is possible that some of these pictures would not make the cut. Case in point, the adirondack scenic picture would be nowhere to been seen.

That’s cuz, to be honest, that genre-“beautiful” scenery pictures-is not something that I pursue with any passion. The simple fact of the matter, picture making passion wise, is that the only dictate that drives my shutter activation finger is the making of pictures of selected segments of quotidian life which prick my eye and sensibilities.

# 6285-89 / common places • common things • ordinary life ~ my ode to autumn

October 18, 2022

LAST FRIDAY PAST THE WIFE AND I WERE IN THE very tony town of Saratoga Springs, sitting at a bar in an upscale restaurant having drinks while waiting for the wife’s brother and family to arrive in town for our dinner at a different restaurant. When the text came, signaling the family’s arrival, I motioned to the young-ish, hipster, female bartender-with whom I had shared a few eye contact glances-to bring our check. A few minutes later she arrived, check in hand, leaned across the bar toward me and said, “Do you shoot?”

As the woman-not the wife-sitting next to me moved slightly away from me, I hesitated for a moment trying to figure out what she meant…was she offering me a shot of bourbon to ”shoot”? did look like I was packin’ heat? Whereupon, noting my hesitancy, she said, “I noticed your hat.” Ah yes, my hat. That would be my hat with the KODAK logo on it.

So, of course, my slightly delayed answer was, “Yes. I shoot.”, which instigated a response of…”Just thought you might like to know that film is coming back with us younger crowd.” As she walked away, I turned to the the woman next to me and told her I was not going to shoot her. She smiled and said, “I appreciate that very much.”

# 6282-84 / common places • common things ~ that is not what I mean

October 12, 2022

“Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy.” ~ Susan Sontag

“Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the eye traffics in feelings, not thoughts.” ~ Walker Evans.

THE IDEA OF MEANING, RE: AS AN INTRINSIC CONSTRUCT TO BE found in a photograph, has been kicking about the photo sphere of late. So I thought I would contribute my 4 cents (inflation) to the conversation.

Simply written, I do not believe that most photographs have any meaning(s). Hence, my use of the 2 quotes found on the top of this entry. To wit, “photographs…cannot themselves explain anything”, and, …”the eye traffics in feelings, not thoughts.”

Consider this from Susan Sontag:

“The fact is, all Western consciousness of and reflection upon art have remained within the confines staked out by the Greek theory of art as mimesis or representation. It is through this theory that art…becomes problematic, in need of defense. And it is the defense of art which gives birth to the odd vision by which something we have learned to call “form” is separated off from something we have learned to call “content,” and to the well-intentioned move which makes content essential and form accessory…it is still assumed that a work of art is its content. Or, as it's usually put today, that a work of art by definition says something.”

To be perfectly clear, I am a joyous sensualist and proud of it. My photographs are meant to display / celebrate the the joy / pleasure of seeing. That’s cuz photography is a visual art. Consequently, I have devoted my picture making to the Art of Observation…

”…the matter of art in photography may come down to this: it is the capture and projection of the delights of seeing; it is the defining of observation full and felt.” ~ Walker Evans

While there are a zillion essays, treatises, and dissertations regarding “content”, aka: what a piece of art says, the cynic in me-or is it the realist in me….I get the 2 confused at times-thinks that it all comes down to one thing; the idea of imbuing art with meaning came about cuz artists want the populous to believe that making art is difficult, all in the cause of covering up the fact that making art is a fun / pleasurable undertaking.

I mean, ya know, how can anyone take art seriously if it comes about from artists just having fun?

Me. I just try to keep it simple and always remember the words of Yogi Berra:

“You can observe a lot by just watching.”

# 6262-66 / ordinary life • common places • common things ~ a funy thing happened on the way to the forum

October 3, 2022

RE; THE TITLE OF THIS ENTRY: I WAS NOT ACTUALLY on my way to a forum. But the name of that movie popped in my head when I was thinking about how a funny thing happened while I was working my way through my photo library folder looking for a few pictures for submission to a juried exhibition titled, The Poetry of the Ordinary.

It is also worth noting that what happened was not really “funny” but it was arguably laughable that, once again, I discovered a body of work lurking / hiding in my photo library. A body of work that I am titling, Ordinary Life.

Background: As I have previously noted, I have been “experimenting"“ with the concept of making full-frame pictures with the iPhone PORTRAIT setting. About a month ago, I put together 12 such pictures and made a POD photo book titled, A Random Sense of Form, in which is this Statement:

Every day after arising, I move about my house engaging in daily activities which some might consider to be the humdrum of an ordinary life. In doing so, my eye and sensibilities are often pricked by intimate tableaux which evince the potential, when isolated within the frame I impose upon it with my picture making device, for the making of a photograph with interesting visual form.

Even though these pictures are anchored by a truthfully rendered referent, they are rarely about the thing so depicted. Rather, it is the perceived form-the coming together of color, line, shape, space, texture, and value-that I see and photograph which, for me, emerges in my photographs as interesting visual energy and form. Energy and form as found in the, seemingly, most unlikely of places in the everyday world.

When the book arrived from POD source, I showed it to a few interested parties who liked it very much. However, it was not until a few days ago that I picked the book up on my way to bed, settled into bed, and spent some time looking through it. As self-important / egotistical as it might sound, I was both impressed and surprised by the impression it made upon my eye and sensibilities when the pictures were viewed as images on paper, aka: prints, as opposed to viewing them, as I had been doing, on-screen. That experience caused me to think that I was onto something, picture making wise, and that I should concentrate on making a conscious effort-as opposed to my “normal” picture making MO of discursive promiscuity-to create a body of work of such pictures.

That written, it was the next day that a funny thing happened on my way to the forum (sorry, yet another metaphor) during which I “discovered” 40 full-frame pictures in my library made utilizing the iPhone PORTRAIT setting. A happening which made realize how utterly clueless I can be, every now and again, of the fact that I have been creating a body of work without the knowledge that I have been doing so.

In any event, it should be noted there were 2 things saved my picture making ass, unified seeing wise, in the “making” of this body of work. First and foremost, I remained true to my vision. That is, I pictured what I see (form) how I see it. And, second (completely as a result of using the iPhone PORTRAIT setting), the fact that the iPhone PORTRAIT setting requires, a requirement that I sometimes find annoying, that the focused upon referent be within 8 feet of the iPhone. This demand results in the fact that the plane of focus in my pictures all fall within a fairly uniform distance from my picture making position. And, of course, the use of the PORTRAIT setting results in an (apparent) visually similar limited DOF (the visual point of this exercise).

In conclusion, I can write with a firm conviction-and my tongue firmly embedded in my cheek-that I am sure glad that I had the right camera with me when I made these pictures.