# 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.

# 6831-33 / common places • common things ~ surreal density and visual energy

December 20, 2023

OVER THE YEARS ON THIS BLOG I HAVE repeatedly mentioned my sought after picture-making concept of visual energy. That is, my seemingly preternatural disposition to make photographs chock full of visual information, and, I might add, to appreciate such photographs made by others. Best as I can tell, that’s cuz I enjoy it when my eye and sensibilities are invigorated / agitated / stimulated by the dance-instigated by a surfeit of visual information-required to navigate across the 2D surface of a visually complex print.

Coinciding with this disposition is the fact that I find this arousal of my visual apparatus’ erogenous zones to be heightened by the viewing of smallish-sized prints-as an example, my 8x10 color negative work was always printed as contact prints. And, it explains why I am so enamored of small INSTAX prints.

Stephen Shore has a related concept which he labels as “surreal density”:

“…what I found attractive about the contact print was the almost surreal density of information. That here’s this thing that you can take in, in a couple of seconds. But, to actually stand on that spot, and look at every branch on this tree, and every shadow on this building, and the pebbles on the road—this could take minutes of attention. It was, like, maybe fifteen minutes of attention had been compressed into this thing you can take in, in a few seconds. That’s what I mean by “surreal density” of information.”

iMo, and to my eye and sensibilities, a photograph with “surreal density” quite obviously invites-especially to those who are naturally curious-the eye to roam around the surface of the 2D print. As Shore also wrote:

“I don’t have to have a single point of emphasis in the picture. It can be complex, because it’s so detailed that the viewer can take time and read it, and look at something here, and look at something there, and they can pay attention to a lot more.”

All of that written, I strive to make complex pictures with “surreal density” which, when taken in, in a couple of seconds (easier to do viewing small prints), read as a meaningfully organized whole-the idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, cuz the surreal density of the photographs tend to invite a dive into the discrete parts of the whole, the viewer can “pay attention to a lot more”, all the while enjoying the visual pleasures of engaging with visual energy.

At least, that is how I see it.

# 6676-79 / common places • common things • landscape ~ 2 different neighborhoods

August 12, 2023

***yesterday evening in my neighborhood*** ~ (embiggenable)

***this afternoon in my neighborhood*** ~ (embiggenable)

***yesterday AM from my 2nd floor porch*** ~ (embiggenable)

***the then wife and I 56 years ago in our Japanese abode*** ~ (embiggenable) Canon 7s w Canon 19mm f3.5 lens

SPENT THE DAY ORGANIZING AND PACKING FOR MY so-called annual week in hell, aka: a week at the South Jersey Shore. Don’t like it for number of reasons; fast becoming an enclave for the ultra-rich and their truly gross McMansions, heat and extreme humidity, and people crammed elbow-to-elbow on the beach. This trip I am sharing the place with 110 of the wife’s relatives (both sides of the family). For many, whiskey and weed will be the order of the day (and night). Me, I’ll play some golf and make a lot of pictures - I’m toting 36 10-packs of INSTAX instant print film in my kit.

RE; the last evening in my neighborhood picture in this entry-I can walk to this place-points up the difference between where I live-a place where people visit to escape the extreme summer heat-and the oppressively hot South Jersey Shore. That and the fact that, while I live in an actual park, it nearly impossible to find a place to park at the Jersey Shore.

In any event, I will most likely survive the week cuz I can take solace in the fact that at the end of the week we go directly to our Adirondack Mountain retreat, Rist Camp, for a five week stay.

# 6636-44 / around the house • foliage • (un)common things ~ all backed up

July 10, 2023

OVER THE PAST WEEK OR SO I HAVE BEEN afflicted with a kinda constipation, i.e. the making of many discursive promiscuity pictures, placing them in a number of individual blog entry setups, and then not posting any of them them cuz I couldn’t come up with any words to accompany them. Add to that that I have been spending some time sitting out on our front porch and our back porch while contemplating the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address and there you have it - the recipe for letting time and other stuff slip by and backup.

The Haudenosaunee interest-the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy (People of the Longhouse)-Address-a Greetings to the Natural World-was instigated by a recent visit-I have been there a number of times-to the nearby Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center. The Address is kinda like a meditation which expresses and encourages gratitude for the earth, people, earth, waters, plants, animals, birds, bushes, trees, winds, sun, moon, stars, as well as the unseen spiritual forces. It recognizes that are a multitude of connections between human beings and all living things in the world and that we have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.

What I find very mysteriously attractive about the Address is the fact that, as one person expressed it, it…

…conjures up no image of a vassal bowing in thanks before his lord who grants blessing or apologies-as in the medieval world view that still frames much of our contemporary western world. Instead, this gratitude situates us in the great web of all life, with all being, and helps us remember the true miracle that it is to be alive and our deep relationship with all things.

FLASHING RED ALERT - before you start thinking that I’m going down a hippy-dippy, loopy-metaphysical, mystical rabbit hole, stop. That written, I call your attention to my recent entry, a river of time stopped in its tracks, wherein I wrote (and discounted) that “I wonder if my constant-near daily-making of photographs of seemingly inconsequential things in or around my house is a subconscious attempt to slow things / time down. To hold on to and appreciate every moment that is left to me.” END OF ALERT

The writer of the above comment suggested a writing exercise that express gratitude for something you have gratitude for. One such example given was to…

….write a piece expressing gratitude for this moment, just as it is, with all its ordinariness, imperfections, and/or wonderfulness.

In thinking about that idea I came to realize that that suggested subject matter comes pretty damn close to describing how I have been drawing with light* - making pictures of daily life, snatched from a moment in time, just as it is (straight photography), with all of its ordinariness, imperfections, and, as I see it, (potentially) wonderful form.

So, does that suggest that I have been expressing in my pictures a gratitude for the everyday? I have never thought of it that way but, on the other hand, I have thought of it as an expression of appreciation for the oft-overlooked “gifts” as found and seen in the commonplace. An appreciation that I hope might be a sorta contagious influence for others to become aware of that state of awareness.

On the other hand, as written in the aforementioned entry, I am just making pictures of what I see and how I see it. That is, making pictures that I hope are made in a fashion which others may find interesting, for reason or another, to look at.

*Ya know, photography-from the Greek words photos (light) and graphos (drawing).

FEATURED COMMENT from Garet Munger

I wonder if this from Poet Mary Oliver might be a statement of gratitude fitting the sentiment of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address you refer to….

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird — equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever. ~ Mary Oliver

# 6625-28 / around the house ~ a river of time stopped in its tracks

July 1, 2023

Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground - Talking Heads

Life flows by like a river. I think of it as a river of time - a metaphor of our lives as we experience it. When we make photographs, we have ability to snatch a moment-most often a mere fraction of a second-from the flow of time and render it indelibly for anyone to see at any time. And, perhaps, to experience it-the moment-vicariously again and again until the end of (their) allotted time.

That written, at my ripe-old age of 76 my life seems to be flowing by like speeding train. And, at times, I wonder if my constant-near daily-making of photographs of seemingly inconsequential things in or around my house is a subconscious attempt to slow things / time down. To hold on to and appreciate every moment that is left to me.

On the other hand, to avoid going down a self-analytical rabbit hole-ya know, like the Academic Lunatic Fringe who try to force-cram self-referential meaning into their pictures-I can write that I am just making pictures of what I see and how I see it, aka:my vision. It’s what I do and have done for a long, long time. That’s simply cuz I have not ever been able to locate the off button for my eye and sensibilities mechanism. It-my picture making propensity-is most likely nothing more than just that.

In any event, the actual point I am driving at in this entry is that I simply do not understand those picture makers who are constantly whining about a lack of “inspiration”. A shortage of which is keeping them from getting out making pictures. To which I write…

…get over it. iMo, “inspiration” has nothing to do with it. Rather, the “desire” to make pictures has everything to do with it. That and fostering one’s intrinsic / native vision. If you don’t have a recognized and understood (by you) vision, just get out there, start making pictures and find it.

When it comes right down to it, as in my case, one does not have to even “get out there”. I see enough picture making possibilities in and around my house to keep me busy for a lifetime.

FYI, the pictures in this entry are but a few of the around the house pictures I have made over the past week or so.

# 6602-05 / commmon places • common things ~ old dog, new tricks

June 10, 2023

I TOOK AN OATH THAT I WAS NOT GONNA do it but I gave in and did it nevertheless. Made a few iPhone Apple PRORAW pictures just to see what’s what and, damn it, it is even worse than I thought it might be. That is to write, the files are so superior to iPhone jpegs-which are very good-that I am now doomed to making PRORAW files forever.

What that means is extra processing steps-mainly adding CAMERA RAW processing to the workflow-and, in the case of making 48mp originals (main camera only), the resulting 210mb files will definitely require increasing my storage / backup needs. Fortunately, it seems that my desktop Mini Mac is up to the task of handling the bigger files. Although, that written, I have set my camera format preferences to making12 mp files - I’ll save the 48mp format for special picture making situations.

The 4 pictures in this entry are examples of the results from PRORAW files.

RE: “superior to iPhone jpegs” - the primary differences that I see in PRORAW files are; A. (obviously) the total lack of any AI applications that create a look that Apple developers think is what a picture should look like, B. hence, rather nice tonal smoothness, C. increased dynamic range (more shadow detail, smoother highlights), D. “natural” color and color saturation, E. increased but not exaggerated fine detail.

CAVEAT: Unlike that Texas based gear-head who actually believes that he can post jpegs online that illustrate the fine visual file qualities of different lens / camera sensors, et al, I realize that my sample images might not demonstrate fully the visual qualities of the PRORAW files.

My only suggestion to those of you who might be “serious” iPhone camera module users who “concentrate” when making your pictures, try PRORAW. You might like it.

# 6548 / around the house ~ meaning, schmeaning - what do you see?

April 20, 2023

SO, AS I WAS SITTING AT MY WORKSTATION CONTEMPLATING topics for my next entry, I was struck by the reflection on the glossy surface of a Polaroid picture sitting on my desktop.

As a matter of fact, my eyes were nearly fixated on it, meditation style, when I realized that the reflection impeded my ability to discern the subject matter of the picture; which, quite obviously functioned as an impediment to discerning any meaning that might be found in the picture. All of which lead me to land on the idea of meaning to be had in a photograph as an entry topic…

…I believe I have previously made it clear that I do not believe the medium of photography and its apparatus are well equipped to convey meaning(s) other than the most simple of emotional reactions. That is to write that, while a picture might be able to incite a viewer to feelings (a reaction different from discerning meanings) of sadness, happiness, anger, confusion, agitation, restfulness, et al, what it can not do is control the life experience / art sensibilities / attitude that a person brings to the viewing of a picture.

And it is those things-let’s call them an individual’s pre-existing conditions-that determine what a viewer might see and feel when viewing a picture. What one viewers deduces, meaning-wise, from what he/she “sees” and feels when viewing any given picture might be quite different from what another viewer of the same picture might deduce, meaning-wise, from what he/she “sees” and feels. Which, of course, leads to the adage that “one person’s art is another person’s falderol” (or any variation thereof).

Hence, in an effort to avoid divergent feelings and thoughts, the detailed artist statement appears on the scene. An attempt wherein a picture maker tries to direct a viewer’s attention-is a picture really “worth” a thousand words?-to the intended meaning to be found in his/her pictures(s).

All of the above written, I made a picture of what pricked my eye-an incongruous visual element, aka: the reflection, in an otherwise “soft” environment (“softness” aided by the use of the iPhone PORTRAIT mode and the subdued light). In addition, what pricked my sensibilities was the fact that that visual element, when arranged in the center of the 2D visual field, was able to anchor / be the focal point of the entire photograph. A photograph which has visual energy aplenty, encouraging the eye to explore the bathed-in-warm-light desktop artifacts as contrasted against the cool-colored surrounding picture segments. However, to my eye and sensibilities, I am ultimately drawn back to that reflection.

Upon viewing the picture (much more so than when I was making the picture), I conjured up the idea that the reflection was an apt metaphor for the pre-existing conditions a viewer might bring to the viewing of a picture. Pre-existing conditions that might mask or make difficult the discernment of any meaning(s) the picture maker might have tried to imbed in his/her photograph.

While there might be some who identify that metaphor as a road sign to discerning the “true” meaning to be found in the photograph, but that conclusion would be a product driven by their pre-existing conditions cuz that “meaning” was not part of-or, at most, a teeny-tiny part thereof-of my picture making intention. And, more to my point, re: meaning in a photograph, if I did not create an artist statement that mentioned the metaphor / intended meaning, I doubt if anyone would have noticed the reflection as such.

At best, that idea was an after thought cuz, in practice and in fact, I made the picture cuz it tickled and stroked my visual senses and I knew that viewing-not thinking about-the final print would do the same.

As Lyle Lovett asked (for a different reason), “That doesn’t make me a shallow person does it?”

# 6537-42 / roadside attractions • kitchen life • around the house ~ more is better?

April 14, 2023

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I MADE QUITE A number of diptychs. Even to the point that I put together an exhibition, Photographs In Conversation, wherein I invited a few blog followers and my son to participate. The idea was that I sent to them a couple of my photographs to which they would respond with one of their photographs. Ones which would create a “conversation” with my photograph. Alternately, they sent to me one of their photographs which I paired with one of my photographs. A good time was had by all.

Lately I have been noticing that, when I make a photograph, I often-at the same time and place-make another photograph which compliments the first photograph. But, to be honest, I never thought to pair them as a diptych.

However, I have been printing photographs for my An Adirondack Survey folio 2-up (just as they are presented here) on 14x24 inch paper to later be trimmed out to 11x11 inch size for the folio. And, surprise, surprise, I noticed that, pre-trimming, many of these pairings made interesting diptych possibilities. FYI, the pairings included in this entry were made from recently made photographs, not from An Adirondack Survey printing pairings.

iMo, this manner of pairing creates an impression wherein the cumulative expression is greater than the sum of its parts.

In any event, like it or not, you most likely will be viewing a number of diptychs on this blog.