# 6704-6708 / COMMON PLACES • COMMON THINGS ~ small is beautiful

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AS I NEAR THE END OF WEEK 4 AT Rist Camp, I have made, by my count, exactly 50 INSTAX prints during my stay (so far-but another week to go). FYI, 20% of those pictures have been made in the kitchen. Add to that total another 65 INSTAX prints made at the Jersey Shore and I have quite a bundle of pictures that I need to figure out how to deal with.

My current what-to-do-with-them is, quite simply, my life-long affinity for small things. I do not have a clue as to how to explain it. That written, a fun example of this proclivity is the little tiny loon who lives on the binnacle-not be confused with the bonnet, boot or windscreen-of my vehicle’s instrument cluster. I find him (her?) to be very amusing as, when driving with “vigor”-the wife calls it excessive speed-through a string of twisty bits, the loon swims from side to side (g-forces at work) across the binnacle. It never gets old - I break out in a smile, if not an outright laugh, every time. One might suggest that simple pleasure goes together with a simple mind, but that’s another story.

In any event, my plan for this plethora of prints is to make 2-3 regular prints-non-INSTAX-of selected images from each collection. Then select 9 INSTAX prints from each collection to be presented as pictured below-not an actual framed piece, just some prints placed on a frame I had handy to see how it might look. As for the rest, I have discovered that there is a considerable number of picture albums for INSTAX prints.

One rather exquisite example is a fabric-covered, hard bound cover, 8x5 inch horizontal format (2 vertical prints per lay-flat page) album that holds 52 prints. It is right up my alley cuz…it’s small.

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# 6681-84 / common places • common things ~ baby it's hot outside

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.

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

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.

# 6675 / common things ~life in the photo ghetto

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OVER THE PAST DECADE-GIVE OR TAKE A FEW YEARS- there has been an emerging sentiment amongst “serious” amateur picture makers that picture making, aka: photography, as they know it is dead and/or dying. The primary perpetrator of this heinous crime is most often ajudged to be the the cellphone with its camera module, picture making function. Although, most recently there is the AI generated-looks just like a photograph-bugaboo lurking in the PS shadows adding to the photography-killing death count.

To paraphrase US broadcaster Herbert Morrison,

“This is terrible; this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's...crashing dying…Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers photographers screaming around here!”

To be clear, I do not subscribe to the death-by-cellphone hysteria simply cuz the fact is, with a zillion billion (exaggeration employed to make a point) cellphone pictures made every second of the day, the cellphone is responsible for exponential growth in picture making and, if not photography, what the hell are those picture makers doing? Sure, Sure. Most of the picture makers are not “taking it seriously” but, nevertheless, they are making pictures - an activity traditionally known as photography.

Re: AI generative stuff - it may be photo-based, but the end result, although it may look just like a photograph, is, in fact, a photo-derived illustration. That is, an illustration / image which bears little or no connection to the real world as captured / recorded by a picture making device.

All of the above written (as a mere prelude to my actual point), I do subscribe to a certain category of the death of-as I know it-photography. One that is defined by the following interview Q&A:

What are some of the biggest obstacles you have faced as an artist?

Early on it was difficult because I don’t have a MFA, I didn’t come from a prestigious university like Yale. So getting the eyes on the work and getting it in front of the right people was challenging.

Despite the artist’s “burden” of not having an MFA, the answer is what I would expect from that cadre of murders, photography wise. A group that I have, for years, labeled as the Academic Lunatic Fringe. The MFA / advanced degree crowd that idolizes content (concept) over form (the appearance of the referent). A fetish which leads to picture making that attempts to photograph that which, iMo, cannot be pictured - emotional states, mental states, conceptual / intellectual ideas that invariably require lengthy artist statements to try to explain what a picture “means”. A meaning which the picture itself can not “explain”. Pictures that in most cases are vehicles for dealing with the picture maker’s deep personal mental, emotional, societal, issues - a self-diagnosed therapy activity for what ails them. To which I write, good for them, have at it, do whatever floats your boat.

However, the problem as I see it, death of photography as I know it, is that the ALF crowd has taken over the gallery / art institution (photo division) directorship world. Which has led to the fact that the ALF gallery / art institutional power structure admits only certified fellow traveler’s work on the walls of such facilities. Traditional photography*-pictures which represent actual, tangible real-world referents as seen / aided by the camera’s eye-is no where to be seen.

That written, I do not believe that “traditional’ photography is dead or dying. In reality, it just might be flourishing as never before. Unfortunately, for me, it is disappearing from gallery / art institution walls. And, no, viewing a photograph online is not remotely the same experience as seeing a print on a wall.

*pictures which evince the joy of seeing. Pictures that do not require an MFA, either to be made or understood - no mental / self-analytical, psychological deep-dive interpretation required. ASIDE: this does not mean that a “traditional” photograph can not have a significant emotional impact or stir up some mental activity. However, that outcome is determined by the punctum found in photograph as the result of what is pictured (and how it is pictured), not a multi-thousand word essay. END ASIDE

# 6671-74 / common things / places • landscape • people ~ TMI

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.

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

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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?

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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.

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

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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.