places • landscape • people ~ TMI

August 7, 2023

***from the Mountain Course 1st tee*** ~ (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

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.

# 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.

# 6550 / common places • common thing • An Adirondack Survey ~ letting it all hang out

April 28, 2023

I AM APPROACHING THE An Adirondack Survey PROJECT finish line. 2 copies of the 110-page / 52-photos book are in production and 20 prints are ready for the folio. It has been a rather demanding physical-many hours in front of the computer-and mental-picture editing-undertaking.

RE: picture editing - the final edit of the book includes 54 photographs, selected from the nearly 300 photographs in the An Adirondack Survey folder. Selecting those 300 photographs from my 10,000 photo library was rather time consuming. Editing down to the final 54 photographs was quite challenging inasmuch as, although there were approximately 45 no-brainer inclusions, there were 8-9 photograph pages that were in constant flux-this photo in, that photo out, that photo in, this photo out, seemingly ad infinitum.

Then there was, for me, the seemingly inevitable happenstance of hitting the PRINT button for a POD photo book, any photo book, and, within 24 hours thereof, making a picture that just screams to be included in the book. Happened 2x after hitting the PRINT button for 2 “proof” books.

The other project component that required editing was selecting photographs for the print folio. The big question was whether to print selected “greatest hits” from the book-the purpose of the folio was to demonstrate the high quality of the prints-or to print photographs that were not in the book. I went back and forth on this question for quite a while. It wasn’t until I did a deeper dive into a few other body-of-work folders, during which I “discovered” quite a number of additional “greatest hits” that it became obvious that printing them would vastly improve the scope of the An Adirondack Survey collection.

All of that written, now comes the scary part of the project. Sending out the door a significant part of my picture making endeavors for consideration, a judgement of sorts, of a (possible) exhibition. Soar-and-fly or crash-and-burn time is soon upon me.

# 6499-6501 / common places • common things ~ It's true. Really, I swear it is.

March 7, 2023

***it’s true to life*** ~ (embiggenable)

ON A RECENT TOP ENTRY THE IDEA OF A PHOTOGRAPH being true / truthful was raised. A subject which always brings out those who like to dance on the head of pin. Consequently, I very rarely pay much attention to such commentary on the subject. That said, I’ll throw caution to the winds and wade into the subject.

First things first; I believe the words true / truthful are misnomers, re: a photograph. That’s cuz a photograph, a thing in and of itself, is, quite obviously (or should be) not the thing that it depicts. Rather, it is depiction of something. And, to my way of seeing / thinking, in the so-called straight photography world I look for depictions that are reasonably accurate representations, inasmuch as the medium and its apparatus is capable, of the thing depicted. And I leave it at that cuz I know…

“…. most serious photographers understand that there's this large gap between the world and how the world looks through a photograph. ~ Stephen Shore

Despite the “large gap between the world and how the world looks through a photograph”, straight photographs, made by both serious photographers and amateur snapshooters, all illustrate recognizable subject matter. Simply put, the depicted referent is recognizable cuz the depiction thereof-the visual essence-is reasonably accurate.

Does that make a given photograph truthful? Well, according to the dictionary-(of artistic or literary representation) characterized by accuracy or realism; true to life-the answer is “Yes, it is truthful.” However, I would write that the visual essence of a straight photograph can be accurate, realistic, or, if you prefer, true to life.

Which leads to this conclusion:

There's something essentially fictive about a photograph. That doesn't mean that if you understand that, and you understand how the world is transformed by the camera, that you can't use the limitations or the transformation to have an observation that is a very subtle perception of the world.” ~ Stephen Shore

All of the above written, there is a catch / fly in the truthy ointment of any given photograph; a photograph is capable of having two different attributes - the literally depicted referent, and, the content, aka: the picture maker’s concept-driven intent (often labeled as the meaning to be had in a photograph). These are two very different things.

Although, to the eye and sensibilities of the picture maker these two attributes-the visual essence and concept (which the picture maker believes to be true)-are inexorably / intrinsically linked. However, to the eye and sensibilities of a viewer of any given photograph, as Susan Sontag has noted….

“Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy.”

….a picture maker’s conceptual truth is, at best, illusive. And, even if discerned, it could be-re: in the sensibilities, if not the eye, of a viewer-to be un-truthful.

So, getting down to brass tacks, re: can a photograph be truthful? The answer, iMo, is both “Yes.” and “No.” That is, “Yes.”, re: visual essence, and “No.”-or maybe better put as “Anyone’s guess.”-re: the implied concept.

In any event, I am not much concerned about the truth in photography thing cuz, like Garry Winogrand…

“I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.”

# 6415-17 / landscape (ku / civilized ku) • common places ~ is it or isn't it?

January 23, 2023

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I AM CONVERTING, on a regular basis, some of my color pictures to monochrome variants of those same pictures. Short of going into psychoanalysis, it might be due just to fact of a lot of recent online carrying on, re: monochrome pictures / camera conversions wise.

That written, I have made-over time in my picture making life-a fair number of color pictures that appear to be monochrome-made pictures but in fact have a little bit of color. Those pictures are not software / art filter created monochrome pictures with color thrown in for effect. They are actually straight out-of-the-camera pictures with no effects added.

That is to write, the overall scene or primary referent is, by its nature, monochromatic but I let a tiny color element sneak into the frame. Consequently, I do not need to cheat in order to obtain the visual result I desire.

Don’t believe I have enough such pictures buried in my library to constitute a body of work. However, that written, I will make a note in the file drawer I keep in my head to be on the lookout for such picture making possibilities.

# 6412-14 / windshields • landscape • (un)common places ~ throwing stones

January 20, 2023

TRUE TO MY PLEDGE IN MY LAST ENTRY, during my time out and about yesterday, I kept my eye open for the making of additional windshield series pictures. While I made a straight picture of the scene, I have to admit that I am becoming even more enamored of the windshield-type views.

Last evening during my 40 mile drive to Saranac Lake-through a driving snowfall-for the World University Games curling semi-finals, I did not make any windshield pictures. The event- GBR v. CAN / USA v. SUI, won by USA and GBR, who will play for the gold medal-was a great example of cowbell madness. What a riotous racket.

After the games, the drive home was even more adventurous than the drive in. So, no more windshield pictures were made. However, today’s drive in to Lake Placid for the Short Track Speed Skating event might be windshield productive.

# 6396-6405 / discursive promiscuity ~ a time line

January 13, 2023

SOME DEFINITIONS, RE: the philosophy of modern pictures…

re: modern - for the purposes of this book / project I am inclined to define “modern” as beginning c. 1970 and proceeding to the present. I base that designation upon the fact that it was around 1970 that, in the major and minor league Fine Art World (which is the focus of the book / project), picture makers began-in a dramatic and terra firma shaking turn of picture making conventions-to take seriously the making of color pictures. And, it was also around that time that the BW Pepper and Rock era was on the wain.

Another reason for that designation is that-again around the same time-major art institutions were beginning to take note of and exhibit what Sally Eauclaire dubbed as the new color photography. Think MOMA’s 1976 Photographs by William Eggleston exhibition as a prime example.

ASIDE There are, of course, exceptions to my “modern” picture time frame. Eliot Porter’s work, as presented in his 1962 book In Wilderness Is The Preservation Of The World, is an outstanding example-early on it opened my eyes and sensibilities-of color picture making that, in a very real sense, foreshadowed the 70’s color picture making revolution. In fact, I would not object if someone (that would be me) opined that Porter’ work was the bedrock upon which the 70’s color photography revolution was predicated. END OF ASIDE

c.1970 is, iMo, is also notable for the fact that the new color photography picture makers “discovered” that any thing in the real world could be a suitable referent for the making of a color picture. Ya know, say “hello” to kitchen utensils-Jan Grover-and a tricycle on a suburban street-William Eggleston. Quite truly, the world was, and still is, our oyster.

So, like it or leave it, c.1970 > the present is it.