# 6084-94 / common places ~ 4 days in May

May 26, 2022

***returning from Vermont*** ~ (embiggenable)

“One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. It must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others. [...] The talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace, sense of timing, narrative sweep, and wit, thus endowing the act not merely with intelligence, but with that quality of formal rigor that identifies a work of art, so that we would be uncertain, when remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement had come from the things pointed to and how much from a pattern created by the pointer.” ~ John Szarkowski

WHEN I AM OUT AND ABOUT / TRAVELING I MAKE A FAIR number of pictures. Most end up in hard-cover POD photo books which are made in response to specific travel ventures.

It is in those books that appear my pictures of tourist “hot spots”-people, places, and things which are “must sees”. While I attempt to make those pictures in a manner that differ from the typical touristy pictures-what Szarkowski labels as with a quality of formal rigor that identifies a work of art. However, ultimately those pictures are primarily about the pictured referent. Re: more interesting…configurations / a pattern created by the pointer, not so much.

That written, the travel photo books are, in fact, dominated by pictures in which the pictured referents are co-opted for their potential, to my eye and sensibilities, for making photographs which illustrate more interesting visual configurations. And, it is those pictures which are the reason I make photographs.

Fortunately for me, the wife gets my more-interesting-configuration picture making M.O. That’s fortunate cuz she really appreciates the total visual representation of our travels as illustrated in the books. That’s true even though she has no memory of having seen most of things that I see and picture.

#6077-79 / the new snapshot • common places ~ magic...making something from nothing

May 19, 2022

ON MY LAST ENTRY, JOHN LINN LEFT A COMMENT THAT READ in part:

“I am now involved with a camera club in our new community and will be presenting some ideas/thoughts on how we can find beauty around us that is not obvious without careful observation and visual curiosity... skills that need to be learned and internalized... skills that you are expert in and have written extensively about in the past.”

Thanks for the comment. Re: “find(ing) beauty around us that is not obvious…skills that you are expert in…” in my extensive writing about find(ing) beauty around us that is not obvious I have probably been less than precise in defining / describing what it is I actually see / find / picture in the everyday world.

To wit, in fact, I rarely see beauty in the everyday world. However, what I do see is a sense of form, aka: the relationship of color, line, shape, form, and texture-the “classic” elements of art-that emerges when isolated within my imposed framing to create, at the very least, to my eye and sensibilities, a visually interesting picturing possibility. In most cases, the depicted referent, when pictured and printed, is one that most viewers would not consider to be representative of the common notion of “beauty”.

That written, I believe that the beauty to be seen and found in my pictures is the beauty perceived in a carefully crafted print (which illustrates and illuminates how I see the world). The print, in and of itself, is a “beautiful” object (or, at least, visually interesting) independent of that which is depicted.

In fact, I believe that the transformative act of appropriating everyday artifacts for use as raw material for the creation of a beautiful object-a painting, a sculpture, a photograph-is what making Art is all about. To my eye and sensibilities, that act is nearly an act of magic…in a sense, making something beautiful out of “nothing”.

# 6072-76 / everyday • common places • common things ~ on being creative

May 17, 2022

“For the first several years one struggles with the technical challenges…a learning curve and growth process that is rewarding, stimulating and self-renewing. But, eventually every photographer who sticks with it long enough arrives at a technical plateau where production of a technically good photograph is relatively easy. It is here that real photography starts and most photographers quit.” ~ Brooks Jensen

ON MY LAST ENTRY, RE: THE STUPID IDEA OF ADDING GEAR TO MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY MORE INTERESTING, Thomas Rink left a link to a site that, along similar lines, suggested “a photographer’s kit for getting out of a creative rut.”

The writer of that, iMo, cliche-d camera-club advice article wrote that “creativity is the difference between a nice photo and a NICE photo.” That statement was then followed by a description of his “photographer’s creative kit”:

“…using accessories, taking advantage of my camera’s unique menu options, trying different exposure techniques…or simply something I remember another photographer doing well.”

iMo, the conflated idea that “creativity” + the application of craft / technique as a means to becoming “creative” is a thoroughly ignorant misunderstanding of the idea of true creativity as it pertains to the making of pictures. While a learned application of craft / technique employed in the making of a photograph can certainly be a significant element of a finely realized picture making vision, it is the vision itself-the manner in which a picture maker sees the world-that imparts the idea of creativity on the part of the picture maker.

iMo, in other words, a finely realized picture making vision don’t need no indiscriminately applied art sauce-employed under the rubric of “being creative”-to make it “NICE”.

iMo, true creativity in the making of pictures is simply about being creative-thinking outside the box of conventional picture making “wisdom”-about what is suitable as a subject for the making of a photograph and then going about picturing it in the unique / singular manner in which you see it.

“To see something spectacular and recognize it as a photographic possibility is not making a very big leap. But to see something ordinary, something you’d see every day, and recognize it as a photographic possibility, that’s what I am interested in.” ~ Stephen Shore

#6069-71 / civiilzed ku • places ~ don't think about it

May 11, 2022

***Merchantville, NJ*** ~ (embiggenable)

“I spent some time pondering what I could add to the equipment mix to make…photography more interesting…” ~ written by a blithering idiot (picture making wise)

“I discovered that this camera was the technical means in photography of communicating what the world looks like in a state of heightened awareness. And it’s that awareness of really looking at the everyday world with clear and focused attention that I’m interested in. “ ~ Stephen Shore

It can be written, without a zot of doubt, that a picture maker who thinks that adding to his/her equipment mix will make photography more interesting, has less than a snowball’s chance in hell of seeing what the world looks like in a state of heightened awareness much less making a picture with clear and focused attention on the everyday world. Ditto the chances of finding and fostering a unique personal way of seeing, aka: a vision.

It has been said / written a zillions times that using the 1C/1L/1Y technique is the best way to find and foster a personal vision. People are probably sick to death of hearing it. However, truer words were never spoken / written inasmuch as, the more gear one totes around, the more crap there is to get in the way of seeing…

…iMo (and that of many others), there is nothing more liberating, picture making wise, than finding and using the 1 camera with the 1 lens which faithfully effortlessly records the manner in which one sees the world.

# 6061-65 / (urban) landscape ~ walking around in a fog

May 6, 2022

ASBURY PARK IS A NORTH JERSEY SEASIDE (ATLANTIC OCEAN) TOWN. It was once quite prosperous, then it slipped into decline and it is now attempting a comeback. Although, the comeback is almost strictly limited to ocean-side property which is being procured by 1%-ers who are-in addition to building architectural monstrosities-attempting to keep the public off of the public beaches.

Nevertheless, there was one delightful surprise (for me)…a massive / imposing structure built in 1928-30 - the Asbury Park Convention Hall which is connected to the the Paramount Theater by the Grand Arcade. The magnificent structure is on the National Historic Registry but, as are so many historic structures, large and small, of the American past, it is slowly declining into disrepair.

All that written, one Asbury Park legend lives on. That would be the “Boss”, aka Bruce Springsteen, who lived in Long Branch and where he wrote much of his early music. I stopped at and pictured the shotgun shack where the wrote the music for his landmark album, Born To Run.

# 6057-59 / triptych•civilized ku ~ black and white and red all over

April 28, 2022

“It is curious that I always want to group things, a series of sonnets, a series of photographs; whatever rationalizations appear, they originate in urges that are rarely satisfied with single images.” ~ Minor White

BACK IN MY POLAROID (SX-70 / TIME ZERO FILM) SALAD DAYS I made quite a number of triptychs. There was just something about the connected but disjointed look that tickled my visual fancy.

I found the finished grouping visually interesting and somewhat intriguing as well as making more pronounced the idea that making pictures is an act of selection. Plus, it was a fun thing to make.

# 6053-56 / landscape (roadside springtime) ~ purpose and technique

April 27, 2022

“The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects "unfamiliar," to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object: the object is not important.“ ~ Viktor Shklovsky

Viktor Shkiovsky packs a lot of insight about art in 3 sentences. One could write lengthy essays about many of the insights to be found in those sentences. And, to be honest, I gave thought to doing just that using the pictures in this entry to illustrate / illuminate his insightful ideas. However…

…it occurred to me that using my pictures to expound on his ideas would come perilously close to telling viewers of my pictures how to perceive my perceptions. Don’t wanna do that. So, it’s up to you, the viewer, to perceive away as “difficult and lengthy” as that perception might be.

# 6049-52 / update ~ there and back again

April 25, 2022

THIS WEEKEND PAST, AS MENTIONED, I TRAVELED TO the Boston area with my grandson, Hugo, for the Eastern Hockey League (Juniors) Combine event. The combine is for scouts and coaches looking for talent for their teams. Hugo is already signed to a team but went to the Combine to be seen and to get up to speed (literally) at the Junior level of play-he’s 17 playing with 19/20 year olds. Hugo made an impression with coaches and scouts, many of whom were sorry to hear that he was already signed to a contract with an EHL team. His Combine team won the Combine championship with Hugo contributing 3 points-1 goal / 2 primary assists-of his team’s 10 goals in the tournament.

In any event, I spent a lot of time in the rink, in the hotel, and in a great Irish pub. However, while I was away from home, our neighbor’s house, along with 3 vehicles, burnt to the ground (picture made by the wife from our front porch). The wife discovered the fire and called 911. The family was away on vacation so there was no loss of human life but their 3 dogs perished in the fire.