# 6362-65 / nature • kitchen sink • kitchen life ~ confined to quarters

December 17, 2022

YESTERDAY AT APPROXIMATELY 3:12PM-9 hours into a 24 hour snowstorm-I was a couple minutes away from hitting the SAVE icon on an entry when, off went the electricity (town wide) and, poof, went the entry.

Happens on a regular basis when we have a heavy, wet snowfall. However, this time electricity was back in a few minutes but only as brown-out. Not enough juice for computer usage but, fortunately (and surprisingly), enough to operate our heating system (air-air heat pump). That situation lasted for a couple hours at which time we were plunged into heat-less darkness.

We lit candles all over the house and started a fire (in the fireplace) for warmth. That lasted for a couple hours and then the electricity returned at full strength. That lasted for 3 hours and then we were again light and heat-less for approximately 9 hours-midnight to10:30AM this morning.

All that written, I did not leave the house for approximately 30 hours so my picture making was confined to our kitchen.

# 6321-23 / common things • common places • flora ~ knickers in a twist

November 6, 2022

OK. LET ME GET RIGHT TO THE POINT, re: my tit in a wringer wise - as I was engaged in this morning’s cumbobulation routine-coffee, morning sweet, newspaper, and cruising my regular rota of websites-I came across this:

“…the iPhone makes decent photographs for the Web and for texting to friends. It doesn't even do too badly for small prints…” ~ Mike Johnston

Johnston is a long-time diss-er of the iPhone as a picture making device. He believes it to be a device for “note-taking, immediate sharing, pretty colors”. “Serious” photography, not so much, if at all. OK. Fine. To each his own kettle of bias.

Re: Johnston’s bias: Johnston comes from the Camera Club School of Photography. That is, the critical mass of picture makers who believe that a picture is all about the depicted referent (re: the “right” kind of referent), with an occasional nod to “composition”, and, in the current picture making zeitgeist, that picture must be eye-bleedingly sharp, color saturated, with dynamic range to the max and made with a very “nice” gear.

While the preceding paragraph describes a top-tier characteristic of the CCSoP crowd, in this paragraph, is the characteristic that I believe to be the most defining propensity of the typical CCSoP picture viewer. As strange as it may sound / read, it is all about what your feet do when viewing a picture on a wall…it has been my experience, during gallery exhibitions of my pictures and that of others, that picture viewers fall into 2 categories - those whose feet propel them closer to a picture and those whose feet propel them backward from a picture.

The forward movers get closer in order to inspect a picture for its technical qualities, while the backward movers are more likely to be wanting a more complete overview of a picture in order to get a feel for what the picture is about. That is, That “something” that is beyond the depicted referent.

iMo, as simple as it might be, therein is the difference between the CCSoP crowd and the FASoP (Fine Art School of Photography) crowd. It illustrates the difference in what each crowd seeks / looks for in determining what is, iTo, a good photograph. Once, again let me write, to each their own. However…

…what gets my knickers in a twist, is the fact that Johnston, acting in his role as President of his camera club-preaching to the CCSoP faithful-actively dismisses the iPhone as a “serious” picture making device> a practice which, no matter how you choose to read it, must have the effect of discouraging those who are exploring the iPhone capabilities as a picture making device useful for more than just “note-taking, immediate sharing, pretty colors”.

Hint for those whose intention is to be part of, or be hovering around the edges of the FASoP. ANY picture making device that suits one’s vision is 100% perfect for the making of one’s pictures.

And, re: the iPhone and the absolute and misleading nonsense of “It doesn't even do too badly for small prints”. I print my iPhone made files at 24”x24”. Quite a number of those prints have hung on gallery walls-photo and Fine Art galleries-and homes. And, especially so in FA galleries, nobody gives / gave a crap about what device was used in their making. And, on few occasions when it was known that the pictures were made with an iPhone, the viewer thereof was quite simply amazed.

# 6279-81 / flora • landscape • roadside attractions ~ I'd hike a mile (or not)

October 9, 2022

“Anything more than 500 yards from the car just isn't photogenic.” ~ Brett Weston

I HAVE A LARGE BODY OF WORK LABELED AS roadside attractions. All of the pictures were found and made within 0-30 feet from the road. That’s well within Weston’s 500 yards. I assume that Weston’s idea was based upon his use of cumbersome, large-format gear whereas my gear is quite the opposite. Suffice it to write that gear is not the reason for my attraction to roadside tableaux.

That written, the biggest problem I encounter with making pictures of roadside tableaux, since all of those pictures are made while driving along various rural roads throughout the Adirondack Forest Preserve (aka: Park), is finding a place to park my car. There are times when, after I find a place to pull over, I have to walk nearly 500 yards to the place that pricked my eye and sensibilities. Life, and picture making, can be so hard at times.

In any event, FYI, the picture at the top of this entry is-currently-at the top of my best-picture-I-ever-made list. And, a best of roadside attractions body of work will be posted on my front (WORK) page in short order.

# 6246-55 / landscape • rist camp • common places • common things ~ hit rate much higher than zero

September 22, 2022

HIT RATE ZERO, OR SO MICHAEL JOHNSTON TITLED AN ENTRY, wherein he explained / lamented his failure-“I was cold and really didn’t get anything”-to harvest a few situations (aka: picture making opportunities?). After reading Johnston’s entry in its entirety, I was not surprised, for a number of reasons, that he came home with a “hit rate zero”.

item 1 - “…the magic can't happen unless you're out there with the camera” I believe that the idea of looking / waiting for“magic” to rear its head in the making of pictures is a rather bogus pursuit. That’s cuz I believe that if a picture maker has figured out / recognized in a conscious manner how he/she sees the world-literally and figuratively (in a style representing forms that are recognizably derived from life)-the so called (and, iMo, mis-labeled) picture making ”magic” can happen at any time, any where, for any referent.

item 2 - “…any time, any where, for any referent” (my words). The worst possible intent a picture maker can harbor is going out in pursuit of making a “greatest hit” pictures. I mention this in light of the fact of Johnston’s utterly, totally, completely ridiculous / nonsensical / statement that a “…picture works entirely or it doesn't work at all. Everything's a no that isn't a yes.”

iMo, that statement is one of the most destructive-to a picture maker’s “confidence-opinion I have ever heard/ read cuz, over a life time of viewing exhibitions / monographs of “big-name” picture makers’ work, it can be stated / written that not every picture in a given body of work is a “greatest hit” (whatever the hell that is). However, all of the pictures-some more so, some less so-are all working together in a given body of work to reinforce the visual idea the picture maker is striving to create. Think of it as a visual example of strength in numbers.

item 2A - I believe that going out to create pictures of a specific referent (people, places, things) causes most picture makers to miss all the picture making possibilities that surround them. That is, those possibilities that do not conform to what they are pursuing. Case in point, my picture making MO…

I rarely go out with the intention of making pictures. That written, I rarely go out without making pictures. That’s cuz I do not encumber my picture making activities with the inconvenience of carrying a “real” camera. Rather, I always have my picture making device-the iPhone-on my person so that when something-a people, a place, a thing-pricks my eye and sensibilities, I always have the means to make a picture.

The result of that MO is that I have a ginormous library / collection-some might say a grabasstic cluster f**k-of pictures of all kinds of referents-people, places, things. From this seemingly haphazard, random collection there has emerged-I might add, somewhat organically-a number of thematically coherent bodies of work. Bodies of work that I add to, over time, by the mere fact that I continue to make pictures of what I see as opposed to what I have been told-or even tell myself-what is a good picture.

So, the moral of this story is simple. Forget about making the”perfect” picture and realize that some “less-than-perfect”-aka: nearly perfect-pictures are perfectly suited for inclusion in a body of work. And, that bodies of work are what matters most. Plus, if you must concentrate a specific referent / theme in the act of creating a body of work, when you go out to make pictures, take off the blinders that obfuscate the joy of photography. That is, the simple act of just making pictures of any peoples, any places, and any things.

FYI, included in this entry are handfull of some the pictures I made over the past few days. Discursive promiscuity in action.

# 6241-42 / landscape • common things ~ more important than sex

September 9, 2022

”Don't knock rationalization; where would we be without it? I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.” ~ from the movie, The Big Chill

BACK IN THE DAY WHEN I WAS BUYING “REAL” (DIGITAL) CAMERAS, I always acquired “last year’s” model . That is, soon after the introduction of the latest-and-greatest updated camera model variant, the market was usually flooded with the prior latest-and-greatest version. At that point, I would acquire a new-to-me “upgraded” camera.

I pursued this approach to camera buying for 2 reasons:

While I could afford the latest-and-greatest camera model upgrade, I thought it better to let the must-have-the-latest-and-greatest suckers-it’s an addiction-take the inevitable depreciation hit that would come soon enough with the next camera model upgrade.
To be honest, since my ability to create photographs that end up on gallery walls is not dependent upon the particular tools I use to make my photographs, I probably could still today be using my first -acquired digital camera with the same gallery wall quality success rate.

RE: back in the day when I was buying “real” cameras - “back in the day” ended about 7 years ago when I last purchased a new-to-me “real” camera. I believe I can write that that purchase will be my last “real” camera-actually 2 cameras-purchase. That’s cuz those cameras still work, on those increasing rare occasions when I feel the need to use them. A need dictated by the need to use my 50-200mm lens (my now “real”camera “normal” lens).

An additional reason, perhaps the most important reason, that I believes drives my never-again “real” camera buying is, quite obviously, the iPhone. Simply written, it meets, and most often exceeds, most of my picture making needs. And, to date, I have had a number of my iPhone made pictures-printed to 20x20 inches-on gallery walls (in juried) exhibitions. There is also the possibility of a solo exhibition of pictures made exclusively with the iPhone-although the gallery committee is unaware of that fact, which is a testament to the quality of the prints.

All of the above written, I must confess to the fact that I have become a victim of the latest-and-greatest camera upgrade affliction…enter the iPhone 14 Pro. While I did skip the iPhone 13 Pro upgrade, there are just enough improvements-most notably (but not exclusively), low light picture making-in the 14 to justify (see the above quote) the upgrade. And, I am reasonably certain, since it just another iPhone, that the wife will never notice the difference.

# 6238-40 / landscape • common places ~ b + w + some gray stuff in between

September 8, 2022

…”flat, leaden skies, intermittent rain. Damp and dark. And dull.” ~ Mike Johnston

IMO, IF YOU ARE GONNA DO MONOCHROME, you must embrace the world in all its weather glory cuz, to paraphrase Paul Simon, all the world's not a sunny day, oh yeah. And I might add, iMo, if you can’t make a rainy, cloudy day look like more than dull, maybe monochrome ain’t your calling.

Then again, I am not a monochrome guy, so what the hell do I know about it?

FYI, BW conversion in Photoshop / LAB Color Space.

#6218-21 / landscape • natural world • ku ~ ignoring the forest for the trees

August 25, 2022

WHEN I FIRST MOVED TO THE ADIRONDACKS-nearly 25 years ago-I was all psyched up to take the making of pictures of the Adirondacks-grand and glorious landscapes and such-by storm. After 50 years of untold number of visits to the Adirondacks-many of which were paid for by picking up checks-from gallery sales of my Adirondack pictures-I finally had the opportunity to immerse myself full-time in creating what I was certain would be an incredible Adirondack-based body of work. It was my intention to build upon my existing 15 picture body of work (8x10 view camera / color negative film / 8x10 contact prints )-5 of which were flying off of gallery walls.

That written, it never happened…a variety of life events-none tragic, all good-conspired to keep me from concentrating on my intended picture making pursuit. The first and foremost amongst those events was photo related-the demise of the availability of film-based picture making products and services-film and processing labs-and the fact that I never got around to building my color printing darkroom (FYI, I never sold a print that I did not make myself). So most of my then picture making was devoted to making somewhat “standard”-although spectacular-Adirondack pictures for use in a wide variety of Adirondack advertising / marketing campaigns.

Eventually, after making the transition to the digital picture making world, I began to find time to make non-standard Adirondack-based pictures. By that time I was no longer interested in making “standard” landscape pictures and I turned my attention to the ubiquitous quotidian characteristic of the Adirondacks to which no one was paying attention-my scrub, thicket, and tree tangles work-much less making pictures thereof. A period of picture making which my son referred to as my Pollock Period. To this day, my eye and sensibilities are still pricked by such referents and I continue to make similar pictures but I am no longer in hot pursuit of such.

All of the above written, as I sit here today at Rist Camp, I have resolved to turn my Adirondack picture making intentions to a broader (yet still rather intimate) field of view of the forest itself. Unlike the vast majority of Adirondack picture makers who wander all over the place in picture making pursuit of “grand” and pictorially “glorious” Adirondack landscapes and who seem not to notice or picture, in their words, the plain old forest, my eye and sensibilities find a wealth of interesting-albeit “subdued”-picture possibilities.

Turning my picture making intentions to such a referent(s) should not be difficult. It should only require getting off, literally and figuratively, the “standard” picture making path.

# 6136-38 / people • landscape ~ it's all the rage

June 24, 2022

JUST YESTERDAY, RIGHT THERE ON/IN THE NY TIMES, AN article titled, The Rise of the 0.5 selfie. A few excerpts:

..All of a sudden, one day, everyone was taking 0.5 selfies…Unlike a traditional selfie, the 0.5 selfie — so named because users tap 0.5x on a smartphone camera to toggle to ultra-wide mode — has become popular because it is far from curated. Since the ultra-wide-angle lens is built into the back cameras of phones, people can’t watch themselves take a 0.5 selfie…You really don’t know how it’s going to turn out, so you just have to trust the process and hope something good comes out of it…These images are best when they have “ominous, creepy” vibes.

Having read the article-with sample pictures-it was incumbent upon me, last evening while dining out, to teach the bartender how to make an 0.5 selfie. She done good, getting the wife, daughter and me well placed in the background.

Question: is there something in human DNA which causes people to get crazy / weird when making a selfie? - the question arose as I sat stoically by while the selfie was made.

Had a nice drive home after dinner. Happy to be a passenger which allowed for some on-the-go picture making.