# 5682-86 / miscellania ~ an assortment of "serious" cameras

a serious camera? ~ (embiggenable) KODAK Tower / 8x10 view camera

a serious camera? ~ (embiggenable) iPhone

a serious camera? ~ (embiggenable) µ4/3

a serious camera? ~ (embiggenable) Nikon F3

a serious camera? ~ (embiggenable) Polaroid SX-70

IF YOU WANT TO GET ME ALL WORKED UP, just point me to a link on the interweb which contains the phrase "serious camera". Especially so if it is used in a sentence along the lines of the iPhone is not a serious camera".

That written, do not be misled into thinking that this entry is made in defense of the iPhone cuz it is not. Rather, it is about the rather dumb idea that there is such a thing as a "serious camera".

The idea of denigrating certain types of cameras (and the people who use them) got a significant boost with the introduction of the first KODAK. "Serious" picture makers of that era considered the KODAK to be nothing more than a "snap-er's" device which according to a "serious" camera maker's manual stated that "...the photographer whose knowledge has been confined to pressing the button can never hope to make good pictures."

Adding to that thought, Stiegltz opined, "... thanks to the efforts of these persons [the] hand camera and bad work become synonymous." FYI, the "these people" Stieglitz was referring to were "...every Tom, Dick and Harry...[who] without trouble, learn how to get something or other on a sensitive plate." Steichen, on the other had, referred to them as "ye jabbering button-pushers".

In my picture making career, I experienced the not-a-serious-camera prejudice back in the mid-60s when I was handed a Graflex Crown Graphic as the camera for use by a US Army photographer. This dispite the fact that I was stationed in Japan, a country awash in 35mm SLRs. But, of course, those were not "serious cameras". FYI, my ongoing whining and caterwauling eventually led to the acquisition of not 1, but 2, Nikon Fs for my picture making use.

In any event, dispite the fact that the It's-not-a-serious-camera BS willnever die and as you may have deduced, in my picture making world, there are no "serious cameras". There are only good pictures ("serious" pictures?), no matter the picture making device used to make them.

ADDENDUM OK,OK. I wrote that this entry was not conceived as a defense of the iPhone. I still stand by that statement but I would be remiss to not provide a link to the iPhone Photography Awards (2020). Lots of "serious" picture makers making "serious" pictures with a "serious" camera. Be sure to check out each category (at the bottom of the page).

# 5607-09 / people•ku•natural world•landscape ~ I look, I see, I picture, therfore I am

man with Sanshin ~ Naha, Okinawa / Japan - c.1967 (embiggenable)

(embiggenable) • µ4/3

(embiggenable) • µ4/3

"The process of photographing is a pleasure: eyes open, receptive, sensing, and at some point, connecting. It's thrilling to be outside your mind, your eyes far ahead of your thoughts....Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore." ~ Henry Wessel

I CAN ONLY ASSUME-WITH A HIGH DEGREE OF ASSURANCE- that just about everyone gets pleasure (of one sort or another) from the process of photographing. I mean, why even bother if there ain't no pleasure / joy / satisfaction / positive vibe involved in the activity?

That written, I am also certain that whatever sense of pleasure may be derived from the act of photographing, any specific pleasure is dependent upon the motivations of the picture maker him/herself. After all, the medium and its apparatus provide a broad landscape for satisfying a wide range of pleasure seeking....there are those who revel in the "pleasure" of acquiring / using and "mastering" gear and/or, likewise, technique. Then there are those who seek to "express" themselves or elucidate the viewer, re: the "meaning" of various referents.

And then there are those, much like me, who indulge in the act of photographing simply to see what something-any thing and/or every thing-looks like when photographed (as presented / expressed on the 2D surface of a photographic print).

That is, the making of a fairly stict visual thing. No expression of my "innner self", no "meaning" or "message", no technical / technique driven tour de force. Nope, none of that stuff. I just want to make prints that are visually interesting, capitivating and involving to view. Not cuz of what is depicted but, rather, how it is depicted.

For me, the idea of receptivity, aka: soft eyes, is paramount to my way of seeing. I rarely go out and about "looking for something" but, that written, I am forever-I am convinced that propensity is preternatural-looking and, seemingly, my thinking does not get in the way of my seeing. My eyes are ahead of my thoughts.

Consequently, throughout my entire life, I have consistently found myself "in front of something I cannot ignore".

#5476-80 / landscape•rist camp ~ one thing turns into another thing

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

THANKS TO ALL WHO LEFT COMMENTS ON MY LAST entry, re: comments. I really appreciate it.

The pictures in this entry are what I would label as "vacation" pictures. Not that such pictures can not be included in my "art" library, cuz some can be so included. However, it is my wont to convert my vacation pictures to my classic snapshot look. Unfortunately, I did not bring a copy of my master snapshot file so those conversions will have to wait until my return to home.

However, here's the thing about what appears to be casually-made vacation "snapshots". To my eye and sensibilities, I find that, once the pictures are assembled into a printed photo book, and based upon the strength of the total body of work, the pictures start to be perceived as "art".

Although, it might be more accurate to write that the photo book itself is perceived as a piece of "art". Assuming the photo book has a simple / elegant design-in my case, 1 photo per page with a generous white surround-it can be viewed and appreciated as a precious artifact.

around the house / flora / # 3624-26 ~ the cruel radiance of what is

no wonder the wife likes working from home ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

THIS ENTRY MIGHT JUST BE AN EXERCISE in futility for some inasmuch as, if the included link is behind a pay-wall, my point will be somewhat incomplete. Nevertheless ....

... here is the link, A PORTRAIT IF AMERICA THAT STILL HAUNTS, DECADES LATER. In case you can not link to it, it is an article about Robert Frank's New Orleans Trolley picture.

neworleanstrolleyfrank.jpg

The article itself is a dissection, one might even write vivisection, of Frank's iconic-at least so in photography circles-photograph from his landmark work/book, The Americans. The author of the piece is Arthur Lubow, a journalist who writes mainly about culture and is the author of Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer.

To be right up-front about it, iMo, I really dislike this article. However, to be fair, I do not dislike it any more or less than any other similar articles in which an author is seemingly engaged in trying to impress the reader with his/her insightful art knowledge. And, as should be obvious by my last entry, parts is just parts, I especially dislike it when an author, discussing / writing about a picture, rips a picture into distinct-from-the-whole separate "pieces".

In the article in question, the author actually uses other photographs and a painting to "explain" / add "meaning" to some of people depicted in the picture. I guess that is because they just can not be allowed to be themselves. Instead, they must be associated with other figures depicted in other art in order to be "understood".

And, writing of other art, the author picks apart individual elements in the photograph in order to describe one element as "a hallmark of the Minimalist art that would blossom in the ’60s", or another element as, "could easily be a Whistler painting", or yet anoter element as, "like something out of Abstract Expressionism".

Once again, as the author does with the depicted people, the things he describes with even more art references just can not be allowed to be eactly what they are. You know, things depicted and described as the camera sees them.

In what I consider the author's most egregious example of derivative artspeak lunacy (I will just give you the whole quote)....

"...the arabesque W of the Walgreens drugstore logo behind her ... is like an insignia that ranks her as an officer in the governing establishment, placing her just below the rider in front of her. Because that first decorative element, by strange coincidence, features a similar but larger swoop.

I could go on and on and fester on the emotions, mindset, and, in one case, even what the future holds for one person that the author confidently ascribes to the depicted people but, suffice it to write, the one thing that comes to my mind after reading this piece...

"Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art ... Even more. It is the revenge of the intellect upon the world. To interpret is to impoverish, to deplete the world - in order to set up a shadow world of "meanings." ~ Susan Sontag

To be perfectly clear, here is my point .... Frank's picture is a very powerful and moving picture about what was and, in many cases and places, still is. That is to write, things as they are or have been.

An awareful and sentient viewer of this picture does not need any art-referential balderdash to be affected by the back-of-the-bus / separation-of-the-races mentality depicted and, by association, the brutality and human suffering engendered by it. All of which can "seen" and understood just by the simple act of looking at the picture.

Or, as James Agee wrote...

"For in the immediate world, everything is to be discerned, for him who can discern it, and centrally and simply, without a either dissection into science or digression into art, but with the whole of consciousness, seeking to perceive it as it stands: so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all of consciousness is shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is.

coronavirus snapshot / weather # 3567-68 ~ desperate times, desperate measures

May snow ~(embiggenable) • iPhone

desperately wanting haircut ~ selfie by the wife (embiggenable) • iPhone

WOKE UP YESTERDAY MORNING TO FIND A 2" snow cover on the landscape. By early afternoon it was gone. Then it started to snow again. Apparently, the new normal is that April showers bring May flowers snow.

Meanwhile, I thought you might like to spend a little time viewing this

civilized ku # 3548-51 ~ making the best of it

napping ~ (embigggenable) • iPhone

listening ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

social distancing ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

olympic ski jumps ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "TYPICAL" Sunday afternoon during life during wartime. Although, with the wife way more busy than normal-she's an expert on labor / employment law and is now helping / advising county goverment, school districts and private enterprise navigate the emerging rules, regulations and programs during life during wartime-Sunday is a well-earned day of rest for her. This Sunday past was a gloomy and rainy day although the temperature was relatively mild.

The wife took a mid-afernoon nap while I listened to a superb digitally re-mastered version of Paul Simon's Graceland album. I purchased the re-master after learning of the recent death of Bhekizizwe Joseph Siphatimandla Mxoveni Mshengu Bigboy Shabalala, the founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the group who accompanied Simon on 2 songs on the album. It was on this album I "discovered" LsBM and later went on to twice hear/see them in concert and aquire a number of their albums.

The listening session was energizing and invigorating so, after the wife arose and went out on her afternoon walk about, I decided to get in the Abarth for a soft top-open drive about my "neighborhood" in the light rain. CAVEAT FYI, when the Abarth is at speed in a light rain with the soft-top open, the aerodynamics of the vehicle prevent the rain from falling into the car. END OF CAVEAT

The buffeting fresh air together with a couple stretches of rather vigorous driving through some very twisty bits + a restful stop on a small lake made for a very relaxing drive about. It was a good day, for all concerned, to be alive (and not infected). Hope all is well with all of you out there.

civilized ku # 3535-37 + an oldie but a goodie ~ a once in a lifetime challenge

Au Sable Forks, NY ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

I CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH THE IDEA OF making pictures which illustrate life during wartime. I've made the mandatory tp picture as well as the empty street picture. Although, to date, I have resisted making the closed-sign-on-a-business door picture. And, unless I get in a car and drive a couple hundred miles, there are no hospitals with large tent compounds with lines of people waiting to get in so that's not a picturing possibility.

To a very significant extent, my struggle is compounded by the fact that, as is illustrated by the picture of the budding maple tree in this entry, when the wife and I sit in our upstairs porch-nearly every evening-and look out at the view, the world outside of our sanctuary looks the same as it ever was. Which makes it somewhat difficult to grasp the fact that, while our little patch of the planet is springing (a sorta pun) back to life, the reality is that the world at large is experiencing death and disruption.

That written, I believe the reason I am struggling with this is actually rather simple....during my 30+ years as a commercial picture maker, I was considered to be a picture maker who could come with creative picture solutions for clients needs. That was especially so for those magazines who gave me open-ended assignments to illustrate editorial stories, articles and magazine covers. It was left entirely up to me to decide what to do, picture making wise, and I never, not once, failed to deliver*.

So, it is making me a little bit crazy that, if a client were to come to me today and ask me to make a picture (or pictures) that illustrate what life during wartime is like, I might be stumped. Maybe I just gotta think about more.

*FYI, there was one assignment for a magazine cover to illustrate the lead article about gangs. Gangs in the manner of Crips and Bloods. So my teenage son found me an actual gang member-I didn't ask how-and proceeded to make the picture seen here. The art director loved it. The writer loved it. Everybody loved it. Except ... when cover was on the printing press, the magazine editor saw it and pulled the plug. The picture was never published and I believed I was screwed out of yet another Golden Quill Award.

gangster.jpg

civilized ku # 3613-14 ~ let's get on with it

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

spring in the garden ~ on my desktop (embiggenable) • iPhone

UPDATED. The kitchen sink and iPhone made galleries on the WORK page have been updated with new pictures. Also, a spring in the garden gallery has been added. Check them out and let out your inner photo critic and tell me what you think.

In other news, there is now the critical mass-much thanks to one and all-needed to embark upon the CORONAVOGRAPHY ~ life during wartime online gallery project. So fire up your picture making devices-cameras, phones, et al-and start making pictures ....

... the theme is simple: pictures ("straight" photography or otherwise) made in your home or close by that illustrate your life during wartime (aka: cornavirus isolation) experience.

For my part, within the next few days I will determine how the pictures will be published (online) and how to send your pictures.

If participants are up for it, we could, for as long as the life during wartime event lasts, do an additional gallery every 2 weeks or so. Let's have some fun with this and I will make a "best of" book at the end of all of this (a picture from every participant will be included).