# 6835-45 / all things considered ~ life squared-a year in the making

January 3, 2024

(all photos embiggenable) ~ ***adirondack scenic***

***quite possibly my favorite picture from 2023***

AT THE END OF THE OLD / START OF THE NEW year, it customary in some quarters to do a year-in-review thing. In many cases it is a a “best-of” kinda thing. In any event, here is my take on it…

Inasmuch as, in an overall scheme of picture making things, I toil in the discursive promiscuity garden of picture making, I nevertheless feel compelled, by the medium’s custom of organizing itself into recognizable, theme-based bodies of work, to relegate my pictures to separate / definable bodies of work - 10 bodies of work as presented above.

That written, re: the pictures in this entry, while they are presented as the “best-of” each category, they are not necessarily my favorite pictures of 2023. If I were to discard the limits imposed by adhering to separate theme classification, it is possible that some of these pictures would not make the cut. Case in point, the adirondack scenic picture would be nowhere to been seen.

That’s cuz, to be honest, that genre-“beautiful” scenery pictures-is not something that I pursue with any passion. The simple fact of the matter, picture making passion wise, is that the only dictate that drives my shutter activation finger is the making of pictures of selected segments of quotidian life which prick my eye and sensibilities.

# 6831-33 / common places • common things ~ surreal density and visual energy

December 20, 2023

OVER THE YEARS ON THIS BLOG I HAVE repeatedly mentioned my sought after picture-making concept of visual energy. That is, my seemingly preternatural disposition to make photographs chock full of visual information, and, I might add, to appreciate such photographs made by others. Best as I can tell, that’s cuz I enjoy it when my eye and sensibilities are invigorated / agitated / stimulated by the dance-instigated by a surfeit of visual information-required to navigate across the 2D surface of a visually complex print.

Coinciding with this disposition is the fact that I find this arousal of my visual apparatus’ erogenous zones to be heightened by the viewing of smallish-sized prints-as an example, my 8x10 color negative work was always printed as contact prints. And, it explains why I am so enamored of small INSTAX prints.

Stephen Shore has a related concept which he labels as “surreal density”:

“…what I found attractive about the contact print was the almost surreal density of information. That here’s this thing that you can take in, in a couple of seconds. But, to actually stand on that spot, and look at every branch on this tree, and every shadow on this building, and the pebbles on the road—this could take minutes of attention. It was, like, maybe fifteen minutes of attention had been compressed into this thing you can take in, in a few seconds. That’s what I mean by “surreal density” of information.”

iMo, and to my eye and sensibilities, a photograph with “surreal density” quite obviously invites-especially to those who are naturally curious-the eye to roam around the surface of the 2D print. As Shore also wrote:

“I don’t have to have a single point of emphasis in the picture. It can be complex, because it’s so detailed that the viewer can take time and read it, and look at something here, and look at something there, and they can pay attention to a lot more.”

All of that written, I strive to make complex pictures with “surreal density” which, when taken in, in a couple of seconds (easier to do viewing small prints), read as a meaningfully organized whole-the idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, cuz the surreal density of the photographs tend to invite a dive into the discrete parts of the whole, the viewer can “pay attention to a lot more”, all the while enjoying the visual pleasures of engaging with visual energy.

At least, that is how I see it.

# 6830 / common things ~ I yam what I yam...

December 14, 2023

POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN REPEATABLY DECLARED TO THE WORLD, “I yam what I yam and that’s all what I am. I’m Popeye the sailor man.”

Were I to be a teacher of things photography, Popeye’s words would be printed large and mounted on the wall at the head of the classroom. That’s cuz, iMo and iMpersonal experience, if you desire to be a unique actor in the world of Art, plain and simple, ya gotta be what ya yam.

To wit, ya gotta discover and recognize the innate manner-the one ya came equipped with when ya slid down the chute-with which ya see the world. That is, a way of seeing which, in the Art World, is labeled as one’s personal vision.

Re: vision: in a purely “mechanical” sense, seeing begins when light falls on the eyes, initiating the process of transduction (the action or process of converting something, especially energy or a message into another form). Once this literal visual information reaches the visual cortex, it is processed by a variety of neurons that detect colours, shapes, and motion which creates meaningful perceptions-a mental image-out of the incoming visual stimuli.

Think of that like this: the “mechanical” apparatus of human vision records literal visual information. However, because we are sentient beings, we are able to use our mental acuity to create perceptions-responses to the sensations-about the literal visual information that we see. Or, as Edward Weston suggested:

...[the] “strongest way of seeing…means no more than to see and present it in the strongest manner possible….so called “composition” becomes a personal thing, to be developed along with technique, as a personal way of seeing.

All of that written, finding one’s vision-putting your own imprimatur on your work-all comes down to a concept expressed by Robert Henri in his 1923 book, The Art Spirit*:

“An artist has to get acquainted with himself as much as he can. [cuz] The technique of a little individuality will be a little technique. However long studied it still will be a little technique, the measure of the man. The greatness of art depends absolutely on the greatness of the artist’s individuality…”

Bottom line:

“Know thyself ” ~ Socrates, and, “To thine own self be true” ~ William Shakespeare

*In addition to Popeye’s words in my things photography classroom, there is only a single mandatory read - The Art Spirit by Robert Henri.

# 6826 / common places • common things ~ a gripe with the photo critic crowd, pt. 1

December 6, 2023

IN YESTERDAY’S ENTRY I MENTIONED THAT I HAD BEEN reading a chapter in the new color photography book. Not that I did not look at a bunch of pictures in that chapter but, in fact, there is a whole lot to read in the book.

That written, re: “a whole lot to read"; it ain’t the easiest read in the world cuz there is an extraordinary amount of highfalutin art-speak verbosity to slog through and decipher. Of course, that is to be expected inasmuch as so much of art criticism, especially so in the photograph world, reads in much the same way. It is as if the author / critic is engaged more in flaunting and burnishing his/her art creds than they are in getting at the experience of viewing and appreciating a photograph without having to tick off a litany of art theory, art technique, and art history boxes to justify why a picture is worth looking at.

To wit, it is rarely, if ever, enough for that crowd that a picture is an interesting, visually stimulating artifact that is simply a delight just look at. A treat for the visual senses.

Case in point; I have mentioned that my favorite response from a viewer of my photographs is some variant on the oft heard, “I don’t know why I like it but I do.” My response is most often simply, “Thank you very much. I’m glad you like it.” However….

…. I could lapse into regaling them with a discussion of my frequent propensity to incorporate visually unifying strategies that include color-field wefting or fugue-like repetitions, inversions and transformations of particular motifs. And, because forms unfold gradually but ineluctably, while colors shift into delicately nuanced and often improbable variations, such melifluous features prolong the pleasurable act of seeing, caressing imagination while reviving subconscious yearnings for paradisiacal worlds of milk and honey.

Truth be told, I have never responded with that “explanation” cuz all it would get me from the commenter would be for him/her to slowly back away and look at me like had lobsters crawling out of my ears.

# 6818-22 / landscape • people ~ pastoral

November 29, 2023

***Talamore GC between the 16th and 17th (shown) holes*** ~ all photos **embiggenable**

AFTER 2300 MILES OF DRIVING-including 2 separate white knuckle drive snow storm events-and 72 HOLES OF GOLF later, I am back sleeping in my own bed.

Today, I fired up the desktop machine in order to process-or re-process-a few landscape pictures I made while in Pinehurst. The Talamore GC in particular called for some fairly nuanced processing that I could not have accomplished with the non-PS tools I had while on the road.

That picture has, to my eye and sensibilities, a very Hudson River School vibe and feel to it, albeit subtle. It has all the necessary ingredients: animals, contrasting foreground / background vistas, and interesting light (on the more subtle side than the very dramatic light found in most HRS paintings).

Not sure if I have nailed the processing yet. Have to live with it for a while and see.

# 6813-17 / travel • golf ~ I apologize

November 24, 2023

***looking back to 1st tee from 1st green***

***hummocks, swales, elevation changes everywhere***

I was gonna try to fool ya, with the barn and old pickup picture, into thinking this is not a golf entry. But, quite obviously, it is. I apologize.

Yesterday, I played the most brutal golf course-Tot Hill Farm GC-I have ever played. A course designed by Mike Strantz, the enfant terrrible of golf course design. His propensity is to create courses where every thing is “over the top”. Or, in other words, to take standard golf course features to extremes.

In the case of Tot Hill Farm, it’s extreme elevation changes together with exaggerated swales and hummocks that create a multitude of uneven lies. To put it bluntly, in 18 holes of golf I did not have a single level lie. As an example, re; the massive elevation changes: simply put, the uphill elevation changes, tee to green, turn a 495 yard (as indicated on the score card), par 5 to playing like a 600+ yard hole. Add uneven lies on every shot and you have a recipe for brutal.

Lest it read as I am whining, it should be noted the the grandson and I are having fun.

FYI, the old pickup picture was made on the golf course. The scene was behind the clubhouse which is, true the to course name, a restored old farm house.

# 6808-12 / travel ~ singing Dixie

November 22, 2023

THE FIRST 1000+ MILE LEG OF MY GRANDSON / GOLF 2000+ MILE TRIP is in the books.The Penguins shut out the defending Stanley Cup Champs and the drive from Pittsburgh to Pinehurst NC through parts of the Blue Ridge / Appalachian Mountains was quite picturesque. Golf is good.

# 6804-07 / travel ~ on the road again

November 18, 2023

PICTURE WISE, A FEW STRAGGLERS FROM THE LAST 24 hours in California.

Travel wise, today, after 36 hours of rest and recuperation at home, I am off on my 10 day golf-with-the-grandson trip. Our destination is Pinehurst, NC, approximately a 1,000 mile drive away.

Leaving this afternoon for a half-way stop over at my ex’s home for an over night break. Then on to Pittsburgh on Sunday to meet up with the kid and go to Penguins game. Monday, it’s on to NC. Next Saturday, after 5 days of golf, it’s a drive from NC to Morgantown, West Virginia, where I will stay overnight, then drop the kid off at school-University of West Virgini-on Sunday. Take a campus tour then head out to the ex’s home for another half-way over night break. Buy her breakfast on Monday morning and head home.

I will be posting entries during the trip. As promised, I will not bore you with a ton o’ golf pictures or golf stories.