# 5747-49 / still life•sink•around the house ~ familiar things made new

April 29, 2021

THREE OF MY CARVED-IN-STONE, BEDROCK BELIEFS, re: the medium of photography and its apparatus:

"If a medium is representational by nature of the realistic image formed by a lens, I see no reason why we should stand on our heads to distort that function. On the contrary, we should take hold of that very quality, make use of it, and explore it to the fullest." ~ Berenice Abbott

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place.... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." ~ Elliott Erwitt

"The two most engaging powers of a photograph are to make new things familiar and familiar things new." ~ William Thackeray

I also have a "warning"-a reminder of sorts-belief that I keep tucked in my back pocket for use in those occasions when I might be tempted to partake in the never ending prattling and nattering-re: gear, technicals and technique...

"Of what use are lens and light
To those who lack mind and sight?"

...a quote often used in in the context of photography conversations. It is derived from an inscription-written in Old German-on a Brunswick Thaler (coin) in 1589- which reads: ""Torch and glasses will not help the old man who will not help and know himself."

In any event, if a picture maker has "mind and sight", there is no need to get involved with stuff that is best left to those who would not recognize a good picture-or what it takes to make one-even if they were to walk face-first into it on a wall.

# 5720-25 / flora•around the house ~ inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy

April 14, 2021

PICTURE MAKING WISE, I AM, WITHOUT A DOUBT, A DEVOTEE OF facts clearly described...

"There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I like to think of photographing as a two way act of respect. Respect for the medium, by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject, by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both." ~ Garry Winogrand

...but, nevertheless, I believe that a clearly described fact, as described by a photograph, can, in the best of cases, introduce a fair amount of mystery. Even if the intial mystery is simply incited by nothing more than a feeling of, "it is a mystery to me why the picture maker made this photograph." However, once a viewer gets beyond that "mystery" (if she/he can), there remains the idea that...

"Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy... The very muteness of what is, hypothetically, comprehensible in photographs is what constitutes their attraction and provocativeness. ~ Susan Sontag

All of that written and getting back to "facts clearly described", I have always believed that the medium of photography and its apparatus are inexorably and intrintically linked to the real. That idea fits nicely into my concept of the real - I see it, therfore, it is. However, when I make a picture of "it", followed by the making of print of "it", then viewing that "it" in a photograph of "it", I sense a change going on. A change something along the lines of...

"Instead of just recording reality, photographs have become the norm for the way things appear to us, thereby changing the very idea of reality and of realism. ~ Susan Sontag

In any event, I do not want to go too far down this rabbit hole. So, just let me write that, to a certain extent, it is all a mystery to me.

# 5692-93 / kitchen sink•flora ~ out with the old, in with the new

March 27, 2021

GOT A SURPRISING TEXT FROM THE WIFE which read "I need a new phone." It was only slightly more surprising than her text from 4 months ago ... "Let's get that new car you've been talking about." Both texts were a break with her long-held position on both items which is was to hold on to both then-owned items until they broke. So, being the dutiful husband that I am, her text wish was my command.

Off I went to the phone store. After obtaining the object of the wife's desire-an iPhone 12 Mini-I explored the possibility of my desire to acquire the new iPhone 12 Pro Max. That desire was driven solely by the introduction of a new/bigger sensor(s?) (physical size not more mp). An improvement that moves the iPhone camera module closer to being a "real" camera...or maybe even a "serious" camera.

In any event, the possiibility of acquiring the 12 Pro Max advanced into the category of actually acquiring the 12 Pro Max. As a result of my visit to the phone store, not only did the wife and I have our phone desires satiated, but so did my good friend, who accompanied me to the phone store.

While my friend did not seem to harbor any desire for a new phone, as I was faced with making a decsion, re: to trade in my 11 Pro Max or pay off the balance of payments on it and keep it, he piped up with the idea that he could pay off the balance and then he could could keep my "old" but, nevertheless, new-to-him phone. Sounded good to me, so....

....everybody seems to be-whatever their individual phone desires-iPhone happy.

# 5549-51 / flora•kitchen life•kitchen sink ~ is it out there waiting to happen?

October 28, 2020

ARGUABLY, ALTHOUGH iMo UNARGUABLY, THE LAST BIG THING in the picture making world was the emergence of the New Color picture making movement. And quite a number of "big name" picture makers rose to the fore during that era.

Names such as Eggleston, Meyerowitz and Shore (amongst many others) who not only pioneered the use of color picture making in the fine art photography world but also made manifest the idea that any thing was suitable as a referent for picture making. For decades to follow, the work of those pioneers inspired / influenced a generation or two of picture makers who, with their own variations / vision, stood firmly on the shoulders of the earlier pioneers...Mossimo Vitali, Edward Burtynski and Andreas Gursky as examples.

Within the borders of any thing goes, there was a minor movement of straight photography minicry which was actually staged tableau vivant...Gregory Crewdson, David Hilliard, Jeff Wall and Aaron Hobson (my son) come to mind. Lots of interesting work to been seen in this genre.

In any event and all of that written, I have been increasingly struck by the fact that there has not been, nor can I see one on the horizon, another / next Big Thing, picture making wise. One could suggest that the emergence of smartphone picture making is a Big Thing, and it is, but it is more of a change in how pictures are made rather than a change in how picture makers see the world.

On the other hand, it could be argued that smartphone picture making has truly embraced, like no other movement, the idea that any thing and ever thing is, indeed, ripe for picture making thereof. Within that picture making world is the selfie. A genre which is loaded with picture making trash but, nevertheless, in which there is a significant amount of gold.

Who knows? Maybe a major art instition will, as MOMA did with the New Color Photographers, mount a ground breaking exhibition of selfie gold and, as a result, launch the next Big Thing.

# 5538 / natrual world•flora ~ sorta same as it ever was

October 19, 2020

ON A RECENT ENTRY, # 5532 / Here we go again, A COMMENT WAS LEFT by Markus Spring...

"Hmm, AI in image processing doesn't really attract me..."

Markus went on to explain why AI image processing does not attract him. ASIDE my rsponse to Markus is in no way to be considered as a rejoinder / contrarian response cuz it is not.END OF ASIDE.

Since my dawn of picture making time, I have avoided any thing that might be considered as an "automatic", aka: not controlled by me, function or accoutrement. As an example, from day one, I always used a handheld light meter, normally with a spot metering attachment. None of that who-knows-what-it's-doing in-camera metering for me.

When I adopted digital picture making, I continued to be a control freak ... RAW format only (none of those crappy JPEGS for me). As I worked my way up the ever-improving sensor capability's ladder, I worked my ass off processing my image files to obtained my desired result. Not because I wanted to but cuz, given the shifting state of the art, I had to.

So, my embrace of Ai-based picture making-together with an, at first, skeptical embrace of JPEG image files-could be considered by some who know my history as a rather strange development (might be a pun there).

But here's the thing. I have come full-circle to a point of same-as-it-ever-was, picture making wise. To wit, back in the analogue days,you chose your poison (color film / paper), made an exposure, took the result into the darkroom and made a print, using the very limited range of control available to do so, and lived with the result. Which is not to write that the result could not be a very nice color print cuz, most often it was.

Compare that to my current picture making M.O. I have picked my poison (an iPhone), make an exposure (Ai hard at work), open the jpeg in my "darkroom", make a few minor adjustments (work-arounds, side-steps, "tricks", flat out ignoring some conventional processing wisdom), make a print and live with the result. Which is not to write that the result could not be a very nice color print cuz the result is always> remarkably close, if not not perfectly matched, to my desired result.

And, have no doubt about it. My desired result, print wise, conforms to a very high standard. Back in the analogue days, my C prints were very often perceived to be dye transfer prints-in large part due the fact I printed with condenser-head enlargers, not diffusion-head enlargers.

My digital era prints are produced to mimic the best qualities of analogue era C prints. Soft detailed highlights and deep but detailed shadows with smooth tonal transitions and "clean" natural color. Prints are sharp but not state-of-the-art (so called) eye-bleeding sharp. In short, a pleasing / easy to look at picture.

CAVEAT All of the above written, it should be understood that, while it might seem that I just breeze my way through some quick and easy picture making steps, especially at the prcessing stage, that is simply not the case. I bring 30 years of Photoshop image processing skills and experience to every image file I process.

There is no question that the iPhone Ai gets me remarkedly close to where I want to be (90% of the time), it still requires a significant amount of applied skill and knowledge, Photoshop image file processing wise, to achieve my desired end result. To be sure, it is not rocket science level wise but most certainly it is not click the button / move the slider wise simple.END OF CAVEAT

# 5508-19 / still life•kitchen life•flora ~ re: the shallow end of the gene pool

September 30, 2020

AS I WADE THROUGH THE AUTUMN COLOR SEASON OF WRETCHED EXCESS, picture making wise, I am reminded of a few of Brooks Jensen's 100 Things I've Learned About Photography...

• If you want to sell a lot of photographs, use color and lots of it. If you want to sell even more, photograph mountains, oceans, fall leaves, and animals.

• We are fast approaching critical mass on photographs of nudes on a sand dune, sand dunes with no nudes, Yosemite, weathered barns, the church at Taos, New Mexico, lacy waterfalls, fields of cut hay in the afternoon sun, abandoned houses, crashing waves, sunsets in color, and reflected peaks in a mountain lake.

• Finding great subject matter is an art in itself.

I mean, seriously, there is much more to Autumn than standing by your car on the roadside, pointing a picture making device at a hillside covered with autumn color, then printing or posting online the resultant picture with color saturation pushed to 11 (on a scale of 1-10).

Or, on the other hand, maybe not. After all, 50% of people (including picture makers) are below average.

flora / kitchen life / # 3646-48 ~ waiting game

July 2, 2020

outside ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3rd — ***outside*** ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3rd

ephemera ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone — ***ephemera*** ~ (emvigeenable) • iPhone

inside ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone — ***inside*** ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

IF MY INFORMATION IS CORRECT, YESTERDAY WAS CAMERA DAY. That is not a date which is marked on my calender. Although, truth be told, I do not have any dates marked on my calender simply because I do not have a calender.

In any event, as it happens, I have actually been thinking about a camera. An Olympus Pen F to be exact. That's cuz, now that Olympus (my long-time camera brand of choice) is getting out of the camera business, I am thinking now is the time to purchase a new body which, hopefully, will last me until I pass over to the the big darkroom in the sky.

However, it is still early in the game, re: the new entity that will acquire the Olympus photo gear operation, to know what kind of ongoing support will be available for what remains of the photo product line. Panasonic is an option but it remains to be seen what their commitment to the µ4/3rd format will be without Olympus in the game. That written, with the advanced-amateur camera market in free-fall, who knows where any camera maker is headed.

All of that written, you might wonder why, with my nearly exclusive use of my iPhone for my picture making, I am even considering a new camera. The answer is quite simple: 1.) I can not ever imagine giving up making pictures with a real camera. There are some picture making requirements that the iPhone does not meet to my satisfaction, and, 2.) there is at least one picture making project I wish to undertake that the iPhone can not give me the look I am seeking, i.e. narrow depth of field with a wide angle lens-see the above outside picture which was made with a 24mm (equivalent) lens on one of my µ4/3rd camera.

All things considered, re: a new camera body, I think a waiting game is in order to determine how things will shake out. In the meantime, my current µ4/3rd gear is giving me exactly what I want, so, it's on with the show.

flora / kitchen life / # 3627-28 ~ whistle while you work

June 19, 2020

THE PHRASE "WORK HARD", re: MAKING PICTURES, SEEMS TO ME TO be a rather ridiculous misnomer when mentioned / written in that context. However, that is exactly how it is being used in a 3-part entry on T.O.P.

Let me begin on this topic with one of my favorite quotes from Bill Jay ....

"...photographers who carry 60 pounds of equipment up a hill to photograph a view are not suffering enough, although their whining causes enough suffering among their listeners. No, if they really expect us to respect their search for enlightenment and artistic expression, in [the] future they will drag the equipment up the hill by their genitals and take the view with a tripod leg stuck through their foot."

Now, to be fair, Mike Johnston does begin his series with writing that "no one cares how hard you worked", to which I would add, that is cuz it is all about the pictures you make, stupid. However, my point, re: working hard while making a picture, is that, if one is working hard at it, then that's cuz: a) he/she does not have their own unique vision, and/ or, b) he/she does not have a firm, yet relaxed, grip on the mechanics / technicals of making a picture.

Re: a) he/she does not have their own unique vision - assuming that one understands the concept of vision as knowing how one sees, literally and figuratively, the world and how that knowledge is the basis upon which you make pictures, then making pictures is as easy as just about anything gets. That's cuz, all you are doing is making pictures of what you see.

You only have to work hard when making pictures when you are making pictures of what you have been told is a "good" picture. As in, picturing a "good" referent using "proper" techniques. Or, in other words, when you are working to someone else's standards rather than your own. To which I write, "Screw that."

Re: he/she does not have a firm, yet relaxed, grip on the mechanics / technicals of making a picture - if you are "hauling around 60 pounds of equipment", you are burdening yourself, literally and figuratively, with too much crap which will only get in the way of picturing what you see. If you understand and have idenitified your own unique vision and use that knowledge as the basis upon which you make pictures, then it should be understood that, at this point, you should have narrowed your equipment list down to 1 camera / 1 lens.

Essentially, what that-1 camera / 1 lens-means is that for every unique vision there is a single unique lens. Really. Trust me-and the overwhelming majority of unique-vision driven pictures makers-on this one. It is as simple as that when it comes to making it easy, no working hard required, when making pictures. Or, in other words, when the picture making device in your hands becomes invisible, no thinking required, then all of your other senses can be focused upon the seeing.

All of that witten, I have never, in my picture making life (personal and professional), associated the phrase "working hard" with picture making. Applying my efforts with diligence, focus and determination? Sure. However, that written, the phrase I associate with my picture making is "having fun".

Or, in other words, it's never "working hard" when you are whistling while you work.