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THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO SEE during the Autumn color extravaganza than just vast expanses of color saturated landscapes. The natural world is so much more interesting than just that.
the view from the porch ~ (embiggenable)
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SO, I’M EVER SO HAPPY TO BE BACK IN THE REAL WORLD as opposed to being in New Jersey. I consider New Jersey to be something of an aberration along the lines of:
I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey. ~ Woody Allen (as Miles Monroe in Sleeper)
That aside, I have arrived at this place with 50-60 INSTAX prints made at the Jersey Shore - fewer than I expected to make but more than I know what to do with. The solution to that situation might be found in editing.
While there is a very high number of good / interesting referent pictures, I do believe it is possible to narrow the field down to 16 (=/- a few) that can at least provide a solid hint at the feel of the event. 16 would a good number cuz 2 frames with a cluster of 8 pictures each would look good. Add a nearby bowl with the balance of the prints for easy browsing and it’s good to go.
Re: easy browsing - I can attest to the fact that people find it nearly impossible to resist the urge to browse when confronted with a pile of INSTAX prints. At the Shore, I would leave a pile of prints on a table at our house and within a few hours most of them had disappeared. They were apparently as tempting and tasty as a bowl full of candy.
On a more tragic note, I discovered that the version of PS that I have been using for years on my lap top is no longer supported by ADOBE, and, if I want to continue using a currently supported PS version I have to buy a new lap top. That’s cuz my long-in-the-tooth lap top air can not support an updated OS that will support the currently available PS versions.
This situation really pisses me off. I don’t want a bloated updated version of PS. My use of PS is centered around a handful of “simple” tools and capabilities. I don’t want no AI. I don’t want no video tools. And, “older” versions have always been more than fast enough for my needs.
In a nut shell, I can write that I really hate-yes, genuinely hate-software companies who constantly update software with “improvements”. “Improvements” designed to keep consumers on the ever-revolving treadmill of “improvements” so they can get into our coffers.
looking toward Europe ~ (embiggenable)
the new normal ~ (embiggenable)
the old normal ~ (embiggenable)
HALF WAY THROUGH HELL WEEK. Although, to be honest, my misery has been tempered by my position at the top of the golf event Leader Board-helped along by an eagle on a par 5 and a birdie on a par 3-and by garnering the longest drive award. However, that consolation was compromised by playing golf in 100% humidity / 86º heat (feels like 92º) during which I rinsed my face, neck, arms and torso with cold bottled water 5 times.
I mentioned in a previous entry that 1 of the things I dislike about the South Jersey Shore was the fact that it is being overrun with the ultra rich and their grossly ostentatious McMansions. See the above old/new normal pictures to see what I mean…it must have been a really quaint unpretentious beach community at one time.
Making lots of INSTAX print pictures. And surprise, surprise - they have kitchen sinks in New Jersey.
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.
from the Mountain Course 1st tee ~ (embiggenable)
Hugo + Maggie ~ (embiggenable)
weekend activities ~ (embiggenable)
SOMETHING I DO NOT UNDERSTAND…why would anyone interested in the medium of photography bother to follow a (obstensibly) photo site / blog wherein the author constantly loads it up with chit-chat about swimming / pool / other non-photo activities, coffee, broken refrigerators, audio equipment..hell…even the weather. Reminds me of the few times I was the speaker at some camera club events-do actual go-to-meetin’ camera clubs even still exist?-where the assembled crowd mingled about (pre-speechifying) sipping wine and chit-chatting about all kinds of things other than photography. The exception being, of course, showing off and or talking about a new camera or piece of gear.
Now I’m not suggesting that a camera club meet up should be all photo-talk / business and no play. It is, in fact, a social gathering and it’s normal (almost natural) that people might want to talk-faceo a faceo-about their recent skid into a snowbank, how they got right with their maker or some such conversion before they get down to the business at hand. I get it cuz, unlike visiting a blog, it’s an actual face-to-face gathering / event. I been there, done that.
That written and at least for me, when I am on the interweb looking for interesting photography or interesting writing about the medium and its apparatus (aka: conventions, traditions, and practices), I have no use for those sites that are little more than a (chit) chatroom wherein it becomes all about the author and the inconsequential (photo wise) minutia-verbal, not visual-of his/her daily life.
Quite a while back-3-4 years?-when I was contemplating the direction I wanted to pursue, re: this blog, the one thing I promised my self and readers was that I would never turn it into a my-life chatroom. So far, mission accomplished.
And that is why, as an example, I could write all about my weekend…
…like how the wife and had breakfast in Lake Placid with our daughter and soon-to-depart for college (where he will play college hockey) grandson and describe in detail the bloody mary with pickle I had with breakfast after which I picked up some meds and then went to the framing shop to order a frame for an INSTAX picture a local craft gallery wants to display for sale OR like how on Saturday evening the wife and I went to a newly opened, renovated former ski lodge for a drink and live music and write about the sangria I had and how it compared to the sangria(s) I had in Portugal OR like how on Sunday I played golf on the Lake Placid Club Links Course with the aforementioned about-to-depart grandson and give a detailed account of the course conditions (to include the weather), my score (and how it might effect my USGA handicap index) vs my grandson’s score and whine and complain some more about the idiot 4-some in front of us who refused to let us play through even though there was no one on the course ahead of them…
..but I won’t.
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IT IS SOMEWHAT COINCIDENTAL THAT AFTER POSTING AN entry about creativity that, today, I was told that I have a wonderfully creative idea. To wit…
…2 entiries back, I mentioned that I had assembled a collection of my photographs of my home town-made after the first The Forks ~ there’s no place like home gallery exhibition. I had done so “in anticipation of a gallery exhibition titled, The Forks ~ it really is a small town.” Well, as it turns out that, today, after presenting the idea to the Tahawus Cultural Center gallery director, the only anticipation in play is the anticipation associated with selecting the exhibition opening date.
Quite obviously (or should be), it was the gallery director who mentioned “the wonderfully creative” idea. He thought that the idea of exhibiting small prints-INSTAX prints in 8x10 black metal gallery frame-of a small town in a small gallery-the small gallery is the ground floor, tiny store front* of the cultural center-was both creative and somewhat subversive. But what he especially liked was my interactive idea to, during the opening, print out Instax prints for individual gallery goer requests (for specific pictures) for $1.00US per print. Of course, framed prints and a companion book will be for sale at more conventional price points.
All of the above written, since I recently addressed the topic, you might be wondering where this idea came from, aka: the source of my creativity…
…truth be written, there was no single source of inspiration. Although, it could be reasonably argued that my acquisition of the INSTAX Mini Link Printer-and my subsequent infatuation with the prints-was what ignited the whole endeavour. It started a chain reaction which went something like this….
….buy the printer and start making some “test’ prints of existing pictures on my iPhone library…one of which was a picture of my hometown and, I liked what I saw…a picture which got me to thinking that I have a fair number of pictures made of my hometown since the original 2010 THE FORKS exhibition…so, I culled out another 35 hometown pictures and started making some prints…the more I made, the more I liked them…the more I liked them, the more I began to think about a possible exhibition…which got me to thinking about a title for the work…hmmmm, small prints? hey! it’s a small town, and, guess what? there’s a really small gallery in town…of course there has to be a book…and then the thought occurred to me that, since I don’t need to make any money from the exhibition, why not sell, for next to nothing, INSTAX prints made on the spot?…bada bing, bada boom…a few short weeks later, I’m scheduling an exhibition date.
FYI, I have never bought into the idea that, if you are in need of a spark to get the creative juices flowing, get a new piece of gear-camera, lens, etc. An idea, that, iMo, is right up there with the-if ya wanna make better pictures, get a better camera-nonsense.
I also believe, or at least know (in my case), that while I have always had a reputation of being a creative type-after all, I was a Creative Director at one time-I can honestly write that I never had a sudden, spontaneous, out-of-the-blue moment of creative inspiration. For me, creativity was a result of rather mundane, sorta plodding along, moment to moment / day to day immersion over the course of letting an idea germinate and seeing where it goes. That, and begining each thought with “what if….?”
That’s cuz I believe it ain’t what you eat, it’s the why how you chew it.
*she wanted to have the exhibition in the large 2nd floor gallery but I insisted that it had to be in the small store front gallery.
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a part of the 01/21 exhibition - not (embiggenable)
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I HAVE BEEN PREOCCUPIED RECENTLY IN THE MAKING of 32 INSTAX prints of pictures of my home town. The effort has been made in anticipation of a gallery exhibition titled. The Forks ~ it really is a small town. The exhibition would be a redux / revival of my 2011 exhibition The Forks ~ there’s no place like home - about which this review was written:
Last Friday, I went to the new Tahawus Cultural Center – currently under renovation as part of an ongoing rehab project. On display was "The Forks - there's no place like home" by photographer Mark Hobson, which features intimate and intriguing portraits of the local community ... you can see Hobson's great photos right through the great shop front windows ... you might have seen Hobson's work recently in the Lake Placid Center for the Arts Annual Juried Exhibition .…. Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words, so the best way to experience Hobson's evocative work is to head over to Ausable Forks and check it out ... It is a great photography show in an exciting new gem of a space and I recommend stopping by for a visit.
2 years after the exhibition, Adirondack Life Magazine published an 8 page feature-presented monograph style-of pictures from the exhibition. Added bonus - the magazine (and I) won an Award of Merit in the annual International Regional Magazine Awards event, the judges noting that the pictures were a “refreshing look at home”, “everyday scenes that many people overlook”, and how they were struck by how beautifully the series captured everyday life in a small town.
It should go without writing but, no surprise, since the exhibition, I have continued to make pictures of my small town. No particular reason for doing so other than the fact that here it is and so am I. But, as fate would have it, enter the INSTAX Mini Printer.
To wit, my acquisition of the INSTAX Mini Printer got me to thinking that the small prints-a tiny bit over 2x3 inches-would be a perfect format for pictures of a small town (we’re talking 600 people here). And, what better place to exhibit them than in a really small gallery.
Wow. What a creative cosmic convergence - really small photographs of a really small town in a really small gallery. The only thing that could make it even better would be if I were 4 foot tall.
PS meanwhile life goes on in my kitchen
street lights ~ Saranac Lake, NY (embiggenable)
mode de rue ~ Paris, France (embiggenable)
Old Montreal, Canada (embiggenable)
IF COMMENTS FROM THOMAS AND DENNIS ON my last entry are any indication, I apparently created confusion, re: my idea of street photography. While I thought that the pictures in the entry might make my what is street photography? idea fairly clear, I believe the confusion culprit is the phrase “…can be done anywhere and people do not have to be present in the photo”. So, let me give it another go using my own words, as opposed to quoting those from some else. Smiply put…
iMo, to my eye and sensibilities, street photography is the surreptitious act of making candid pictures which depict people, in public places (primarily man-made environments), displaying gestures, expressions, body language, including quirky / spontaneous / curious situations and relationships to others and/or their immediate environment, and the like.
No. I do not believe any of Sir Ansel’s pictures of the natural world are street photographs. They are landscape photographs. While I appreciate-and make-street scenes devoid of people, I do not consider them to be street photography. No. They are urban landscapes.
All of that written, it should go without writing (as he writes it while writing it nevertheless) that street photography can be many different things to many different people. Ultimately, that’s OK with me cuz, I don’t give a damn what a picture might be labeled as. I care only about whether, or not, any picture (any genre) is, iMo and to my eye and sensibilities, a good picture.