# 6665-70 / landscape (ku) ~ a mistake was made

August 3, 2023

WHILE GETTING THROUGH THE PUSH TO THE FINISH LINE, re: An Adirondack Survey ~ in plain sight project, it occurred to me that I had made a rather grievous omission, picture wise.

That is, in my desire to keep the subject matter focused on the quotidian landscape as seen here in the Adirondacks, I deliberately did not include any pictures of the natural world, grand scenic genre wise. My thinking was based on the fact that I did not want the work to bear any resemblance to the typical cliche-ridden, sappy Adirondack ain’t-nature-grand books, calendars, post cards, and the like. However…

…quite fortunately, my brain kicked me in my butt when I realized that, in fact, ain’t nature grand is very much a part of everyday life in the Adirondacks. More accurately, what I realized was that while all of the hand-of-man picture evidence in the body of work was made over time during my daily just moving about the place-as opposed to heading out for the purpose of making pictures-I had made quite a number of ain’t-nature-grand pictures in exactly the same manner. That is, just driving / walking around the place and being “confronted” with such a picture making opportunity. Ya know, just a part of everyday life here in the Adirondacks-as opposed to going out and chasing the light.

So, I am now faced with a dilemma of sorts…my submission of the work to galleries / art institutions is 2-fold; a 12x12inch, 50 picture book (sans ain’t-nature-grand pictures) and a companion 15 print folio of additional pictures from the body of work (to illustrate the print quality of the work). I have printed a few ain’t-nature-grand pictures for the folio, but…the question is, should I re-edit the book to sprinkle about some ain’t-nature-grand pictures?

That idea gives me stomach cramps cuz getting the book just right required quite an effort-original editing, a first book that didn’t feel right, a second editing, a second book that looked right but had a couple pictures that needed color corrections, a third book that was, thankfully, “ perfect”. The idea of yet another go-around has little appeal but, it all has to be “perfect” so…

All of the above written, I have asked myself how in the hell did I make this mistake? What was I thinking? Well, the answer is quite simple - I have very low esteem-some might even say, extreme dislike-for camera-club, calendar “aesthetic” grand landscape photography. Or, as Sally Eauclaire wrote in her the new color photography book:

[work in which] the lust for effect is everywhere apparent. Technical wizardry amplifies rather than recreates on-site observations. Playing to the multitude of viewers who salivate at the sight of nature (in the belief that good and and God are immanent), such photographers choose such picturesque subject matter as prodigious crags, rippling sands, or flaming sunsets…they burden it with ever coarser effects effects. Rather than humbly seek out the “spirit of fact” they assume the role of God’s art director making His immanence unequivocal and protrusive.

Consequently, I did not want to “pollute” the book with anything even remotely resembling camera-club, calendar “aesthetic” grand landscape photography. However, the fact of the matter is, here in the Adirondacks the natural world is fully capable of getting in your face with some very sublime visage(s) that are difficult to ignore, picture making wise. Visage(s) that require no technical wizardry / coarse effects to amplify its (their) ain’t-nature-grand appearance. And, since I always strive for the “spirit of fact”, I should feel no guilt / have no qualms about including some un-effected ain’t-nature-grand pictures in the body of work.

FYI, I have added an ADIRONDACK SCENICS gallery to the WORKS page.

# 6658 / commmon places ~ where did that come from?

July 29, 2023

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.

6654-57 / people • flora ~ Qu'est-ce que tu sais "creativity"

July 25, 2023

AT SOME POINT OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS I came across an entry on a blog-don’t remember which-regarding the notion of creativity. I did not like the article for a variety of reasons; the primary reason for that reaction was the fact that, iMo, it was not very creative.

That written, while the author did not dole out the usual drivel that infects the trash heap of how-to-be-creative advice books-use a different angle / POV, photograph in different light, shoot abstracts, try creative blur, etc.-he was selling the idea that creativity flows from challenge. That given a particular “problem” to “solve”-i.e., in the photo world, making interesting pictures-creativity will spring to life. That’s cuz , you know, creative juices will start to flow.

Now I am not writing that there is not a grain of truth in that idea but…if a problem solver does not have an imagination quotient-the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts in the mind without any immediate input of the senses-capable of getting outside of the “box”, there ain’t gonna be much tasty “juice” to be had.

I write that keeping in mind the words of Einstein that:

“I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination….imagination is more important than knowledge.”

In that statement, Einstein was not discounting his plentiful knowledge (based upon his study and experimentation, aka: knowledge). Rather, it would be safe to infer that, based upon Einstein’s life work, that in order for one’s imagination to take you to worthwhile places, you need a sturdy foundation of knowledge to build it upon.

Which leads me to my idea of creativity or, at the very least, the source of creativity…the proverbial phrase, you are what you eat.

To wit, while that phrase was originally written to be quite literal-In 1826, the French lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie:

"Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." - Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.

-I have always used the phrase as a metaphor of sorts to suggest that what you “eat”-i.e., what things and ideas you surround yourself with*-influence, in fact, determine who you are and how you live your life. Therefore, re: in the world of art and art making, if one is surrounded by a culture of pablum and dreck, chances are that your imagination is limited by that input. Or, to use another common phrase, garbage in, garbage out.

That written, I also believe that not every person has the drive inspired by a native / natural / preternatural desire to probe / “investigate” the boundaries of conventional living and thinking. That is, an innate attraction to exploring new ideas and concepts (in any area of human endeavor). Call it curiosity if you prefer. Being safe, not sorry, is the order of the day in their world.

All of the preceding written, I believe the most creative act in the making of photographs is the decision / inclination toward what to photograph. That is to write, the answer to the question, what is it that you want to “eat”? However…

…once answered, that choice leads to yet another “problem” to be solved. The concept of …

It ain’t what you eat, it’s the way how you chew it. ~ Sleepy LaBeef (album title)

… which is a topic for another entry.

*Ok, ok. There’s also the DNA / genetic thing.

# 6651-53 / kitchen life • common place ~ instax gratification

July 19, 2023

**a part of the 01/21 exhibition** - not (embiggenable)

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

# 6645-50 / places • people • things ~ my change over day in pictures

July 14, 2023

YESTERDAY MORNING I CLOSED OUT MY 76th year on the planet and began the first day of my 77th year on the planet first day with a walk around the neighborhood to check out the rain results on our local river and brook. Both were raging and roaring up to, but not over, flood stage level. Returning home I got into my normal morning wake up routine which goes as follows…

Coffee, coffee, coffee

coffee, coffee

coffee

Everybody shut up

coffee

Next up, around noon, I picked up a good friend (since grammar school) and went to lunch where I made an instax picture / print of our friendly bartender /waitress. After a very leisurely repast + a tipple of Lagavulan 16 (all praise the peat), we headed out to return my friend to his home. During the drive we drove straight into yet another rain storm. And, after arriving at my house, I and the cat lounged through an hour-and-a-half thunder storm. Me on the bed reading and he under the bed hiding.

Next up, the wife arrived home from work and I made a call to our local liquor store to inquire about the anticipated arrival of a unique whiskey, Fuji Japanese Whisky, I had requested that they find and order. Lo and behold, it had arrived on the very day of the beginning of my 77th year.

So, after the wife retrieved said whisky, we spent a relaxing 2 hours on our back porch inbibing and watching the rain clouded sky transition into a soft, drifting clouds sunset.

It was a nice day.

BTW, the pictures in this entry appear in top-bottom, chronological order.

# 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

# 6630-33 / people • places • things ~ patterns created by the pointer

July 4, 2023

***dusk+ overcast+Canadian wildfire smoke ~*** Willsboro Bay on Lake Champlain in the Adirondack Park ~ (embiggenable)

***a people, a place, a thing*** ~ (embiggenable)

IN AN ARTICLE IN TODAY’S NY TIMES THE AUTHOR writes that an exhibit, “Love Songs: Photography and Intimacy” at ICP, “…reveals the camera’s limitations as well as strengths when it comes to depicting romance..…[it] is as much about what photography can’t do as about what it can.” He also wrote:

“Love Songs” left me wondering if the theatricality of posing and the ambiguity of still images undercut the capacity of photography to document intimacy. Various art forms afford different advantages and limitations. Novels are best at describing the complex charms and vicissitudes of love, which is why so many of these artists resort to texts along with images.”

Re: the medium’s ability to “document”-or is it “depict”?-or convey feelings, emotions, concepts, or thoughts and the like is, iMo, at best, very limited. The medium’s strength-in fact it’s very raison d’être-is to depict / illustrate, by means of its intrinsic relationship to the real, the physical properties of that toward which a picture maker points* his/her picture making device. A strength that results in the creation of ipictures that are interesting to look at.

Does that mean that a photograph cannot incite thoughts or feelings? Absolutely not. However, any thoughts and or feelings that a photograph might incite has as much to do, if not more so than the picture maker’s intent, with what the viewer brings to the viewing - knowledge about the referent (aka: a people, place, or thing), a shared experience with that which is depicted, a viewer’s emotional state and art sensibilities to name just a few possibilities.

So, if a photograph, in and of itself, is a poor medium for conveying any meaning / message / concept beyond the most elementary, it begs the question, “How does a photographer capture and hold the attention of a viewer of his / her photographs?”

For some, the answer is simple…picture grand vistas (natural and urban), dramatic light, saturated colors, dramatic POV angles, and like. And, by all means, keep it simple. The referent is everything. For others, the answer is found in the pursuit of creating interesting form no matter the referent. A quality that flows from a personal vision. A vision that revolves around the pursuit of capturing the visually correct moment / opportunity to make an exposure, aka: the decisive moment**. As John Szarkowski wrote…

*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.

Re: “a pattern created by the pointer” - the “pattern” flows from the pointer’s personal vision. The point being that it does not matter what one points his/her picture making device toward. Rather, it is about how the pointed at referent is seen by the pointer and made visible in the resulting photograph.

Pick a well known / respected picture maker-Shore, Meyerowitz, Eggleston, Evans, Frank, Mann, Cartier-Bresson and so on. Take your pick. The beauty of their work is not so much about what they pictured but, rather, how they pictured it as an expression driven by their individual vision. And, iMo, it is worth noting that the pictures created with their unique vision are straightforward and honest depictions of the real, devoid of any art sauce, cheap tricks / gimmicks, or convoluted technical gymnastics.

All of the above written, I think it kinda sheds a new light on the idea of point and shoot.

**decisive moment as Cartier-Bresson intended it to mean: decisive not because of the exterior event but because in that moment the flux of changing forms and patterns is sensed to have achieved balance and clarity and order-because the image became, for a instant, a picture.

# 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.