kitchen life / around the house / # 3573-75 ~ trying to keep it simple addendum

(embiggenable) • iPhone

late afternoon light ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

late afternoon light ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

A FOlLOW UP TO THE PREVIOUS ENTRY, re: TRYING TO KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Hintsight being 20/20, it occurred to me that, while I wrote about using the Photoshop CURVES for image file adjustments, there was precious little detailed info about how to use the tool. The reason for that was simple inasmuch as I was trying to keep it simple. That reason plus the fact that I had no desire to get into the how-to stuff which can get fairly complex and/or, lazy wise, way too time consuming to write.

So, making amends wise, here's a link to the Adobe CURVES how-to page.

FYI, the best way to learn how to use the CURVES tool is to use it. To be safe, make a duplicate image file and just start screwing around with the tool. It really isn't rocket science, athough it might seem to be at first glance. And remember, in addition to global adjustments (the entire image), you make selections of any area, large or small, of the image and make adjustments to just that selection area. In either case, you can see on screen what your screwing around does to an image and , if you don't like it, you can just undo it.

around the house / kitchen life / coronavirus snapshot # 3564-66 ~ trying not to lose it

neighbor helping neighbors ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

I AM MOST DEFINITELY IN THE MOOD FOR A RANT. However, I can not latch onto a topic, picture making wise, to get all worked up about.

Sure, sure ... the picture making "perfectionists", gearheads and Academic Lunatic Fringe are all up to their usual monkeyshines and gobbledygook but, right now, I don't have the energy to get all worked up about it. And, if I'm honest about it, that is because almost all of my anger and frustration-thus my reason for a rant-is latched onto: 1st and foremost - the utter and complete ineptitude / malevolent incompetence of the orange-faced narcissist and his party of death, and, 2nd - the conspiracy-addled, re: the pandemic, contingent of the public.

However, I don't want to venture down that rabbit hole cuz this is a photography blog. And, to be frank, I am also trying not to get preoccupied by that anger and frustration and bide my time 'til Novemeber when, hopefully ....

In the meantime, I am just trying to be safe, aka: semi-isolation, the mask thing and social distancing. Activities that I am rather certain will be in my future for an extended period of time.

However, that written, staying safe where I live-a huge region (bigger than some states) of northern New York State along the Canadian border-is easier than most other regions / states. That is due to the facts that in this region, the numbers are very good...

...currently, there are only 349 confirmed cases of the virus and only 6 reported deaths. And, after testing in our region for the virus antibody, only 1.2% of those tested, tested positive for the antibody which means that the number of confirmed virus cases is a reasonably accurate number.

Although, those numbers could change for the worse when NYS starts to reopen and the tourists start to come back. I might have to avoid the sidewalks of Lake Placid but, if you can't social distance in the wilderness, I don't know where you can. So, I am looking forward to packing up our solo canoes and heading out on a wilderness water-way to set up camp, far from the maddening crowds, for a few days.

kitchen life / kitchen sink / # 3561-63 ~ I made a picture with a "real" camera

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(embiggenable) • µ4/3

(embiggenable) • iPhone

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, CABIN FEVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR my use of a "real" camera to make a picture. Or maybe, just maybe, it was a sub-concious impluse to just do something to shake up my stay-at-home semi-rut. In any case, it just happened and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. 'Nuff written

civilized ku # 3556 + an answer to a question in a picture ~ the gift that keeps on giving

stay-at-home medicine ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

Lartigue-like Abarth ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

YESTERDAY'S ENTRY GENERATED 2 COMMENTS which are presented here....

One comment was a question from Markus Spring:

"Just curious, Mark: How did you achieve that Lartigue hint in the look of your Abarth?"

my response: Easy enough. I could write that the Abarth just looks fast even while sitting still but .... it's the result of optical distortion from the use of the new ultra wide lens on the iPhone 11 PRO.

The other comment is from THOMAS RINK which I will let stand on its own - no response needed:

A related story from me, if I may share it: I took up photography in 1982, as a teenager. My way of working were photo walks, taking pictures of whatever I found interesting. Within walking distance from my parent's home was a place which I believe was an abandoned orchard, overgrown with blackberries, nettles and elderberry shrubs. I visited this place repeatedly, sometimes got pictures that I liked, but more often not.

In 1987, I had to quit photography. I studied biology, started a family and found work as a software developer, so there wasn't much free time left. It wasn't before 2010 that I was able to afford a digital camera, and start photography again.

Anyway, in September 2019 by chance I came across that very same orchard again on one of my photo walks. It looked like it did back in 1985! I took some pictures and almost immediately saw the potential. Since then I visited this place at least once a week, even during the lockdown. When comparing the pictures I got recently with those from 35 years earlier, they look strikingly similar in terms of subject matter and composition. However, I'm able to get satisfying pictures more consistently (not in technical terms - I mean aesthetically satisfying). So, while my 'vision' remained essentially the same, it seems to have become more 'focused' or 'refined'.

The important finding for me is that I discovered something like an 'invariance' within myself. - And I consider this as a gift. I believe that some kind of 'resilience' against the influence of others (to take 'pleasing/meaningful pictures') is crucial.

civilized ku # 3552-53 ~ seeing what's out there

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

A QUESTION WAS ASKED REGARDING MY DAILY MORNING viewing rota of photo blogs / sites. Simple to answer: I go to Markus Spring's Hot from the Sphere page on which there is a list of blogs / sites links he follows.

The page is updated on an automatic (assumption) basis - whenever a blog / site has a new entry, that site's link appears at the top of the page. Updating happens many times a day and night. It's a good source, for me, inasmuch as Markus' interests match up to mine reasonably well. An added bonus to starting with his links page is that some of those links lead to sites that, in turn, have links to other sites.

That written, if you're just looking for pictures, Instagram is the way to go for me. My feed, or whatever it might be called, is almost exclusively comprised of people I follow who are dedicated picture makers. There is a lot of good stuff on Instagram and it is mostly just pictures with very few words. At least that is so for the ones I follow.

civilized ku # 3547 + misc ~ and the beat goes on

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A COUPLE THINGS TO NOTE:

1. Some pictures are disappearing from the Coronavography site. Don't know why. Most that have disappeared did not have captions so I don't know how to replace them. All files have been uploaded to blogger which is suppose to insure that they don't disappear. Anyone out there know what's happening / have a solution?
2. For the iPhoner / smartphoner picture makers - there's an interesting series of life during wartime pictures, made with a cell phone, on LENSCRATCH. The picture maker did a pretty decent job of converting the pictures to BW. I wonder what Mike Johnston might think.
3. I was "nominated" to do a music / album thing - pick albums which influenced my music interests. Such an undertaking is, IMo and in my particular case, kinda specious inasmuch as my music interests are very diverse and could not possibility be represented by a relative handful of artists / albums.

That written, if I were to make a tree of my music interests, many of the branches would probably flow from the depicted albums / artists ( amongst many others).

civilized ku # 3546 ~ things come, things go / it's all about catching them in the act

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WHILE WRITING YESTERDAY'S ENTRY, I WAS DELIGHTEDwhen the phrase/nomenclature TOPOGRAPHY OF THINGS rolled off of my yellow penny pencil. It felt as if I had coined an original word group. But, alas, upon googling the phrase, I did discover that a few other creative minds had, if not created, used the phrase. For instance, you can buy a Topography of Things duvet for your bed.

Be that as it may, I still like the phrase and intend to use it as the title of a new body of work. Initially that body of work will be comprised of existing pictures culled from picture library but I must write that the phrase has given me a kick in the butt to begin picturing outside of the box .... metaphorically writing, the box being my kitchen. Not that I have not done so in the past, it's just that I want to consciously expand my range.

FYI, the act of culling through my picture library for topography of things pictures will require that I define what constitutes a "thing". At first blush, it seems that definition of a thing should be, an inanimate object. However, that definition is not, at this time, an operative directive. Gotta think about it.

civilized ku #3543-45 ~ I can run but I can't hide

(enbiggenable) • iPhone

(enbiggenable) • iPhone

(enbiggenable) • iPhone

IT'S TIME FOR ME TO FACE UP TO THE FACTS. While I am not overly tense and nervous and I can relax, I do need to realize and give in to / accept the fact that I make a lot of kitchen life / kitchen sink pictures, most of which also fall into the still life category, simply because I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. That fact has implanted a nagging idea in my head that I have gone lazy in picture making.

However, here's the thing about my kitchen. After building a very nice kitchen island topped with a with a cherry wood counter-top, our kitchen has become a place where the wife and I hang out quite a bit. With a large south facing window over the kitchen sink, the kitchen is a very light-filled and airy place. I spend at least the first hour of every day at the island nursing coffee(s) and a donut(s), reading the newspaper and cruising the web visiting my daily rota of regular sites. It's how I ease myself into the day.

During the day, I make regular visits to the kitchen for a wide variety of purposes. And, it is either during my morning time or my daytime visits that I make pictures. As it turns out, a lot of pictures. That's cuz....

....unlike other rooms in my house in which I spend time, the thing about the kitchen is that the topography of things is ever changing. The serendipitous placement of things-I never arrange or re-arrange them-is never ever the same and neither is the light that falls upon them. All of which makes the kitchen, to my eye and sensibilities, a target rich environment. An environment in which things just sit and stare at me and say, "There's a picture to be made here." And, as should be obvious, I am absolutely incapable of ignoring that voice.