civilized ku # 5077-79 / the new snapshot # 50-51 ~ what's not to like?

iPhone 7 Plus camera module picture

watering pail ~ Au Sable Forks, NY (embiggenable)

coffee cans ~ Au Sable Forks, NY (embiggenable)

Atlantic Ave. ~ Brooklyn, NY (embiggenable)

Some might think that I have gone completely over to the iPhone camera module for my picture making. While it is true that I have made approximately 180 the new snapshot pictures over the last 30 days or so, my "real" cameras have not been sitting idly by pining for the touch of my shutter release finger.

In fact, some of my the new snapshot pictures have started out as picture files from one of my "real" cameras before undergoing a the new snapshot transmutation via my the new snapshot simulation picture processing workflow. However, as atested to by the 3 civilized ku pictures in this entry, I still continue to make civilized ku / ku pictures with my "real" cameras

All of that written, I would be fooling myself (and you) if I did not admit to being totally smitten by the fact that, as on Saturday last when I gave my iPhone to a friend who made a picture of me and my good friend at his retirement / 70th birthday party - my 70th birthday party is this Saturday - immediately after which I processed it on the iPhone and uploaded it to Instagram. Within 5 minutes of the upload, the picture was "liked" by our mutual friend, Guiliano, who lives in Italy.

The total time from the making of the picture to its first "like" on Instagram (from across the Atlantic Ocean) was approximately 10 minutes, 15 minutes at the most. That, my dear friends, is quite simply amazing.

What's not to be smitten about?

civilized ku # 5076 / the new snapshot 46-49 ~ barrel full of monkeys fun

sunset / back porch ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park (embiggenable)

All pictures made with iPhone 7 Plus camera module, processed using the Snapseed app and Polaroid border with tape and caption created with the Polamatic app. Although ...

... in fact, 1 picture - the rainbow picture - was made with an iPhone 6 camera module in the hands of the wife while I was preoccupied driving the car and using the iPhone 7 Plus (affixed to the dashboard) to get us to our destination.

Civilized ku # 5075 / the new snapshot # 42-45 ~ hut 2,3, 4, what the hell are we fighting for

Douglas MacArthur quote ~ US Military Academy , West Point • New York

Spent yesterday afternoon at West Point (US Military Academy) watching Hugo's hockey camp exhibition game and making iPhone camera module the new snapshot pictures. All of the pictures, including civilized ku # 5075, were made with the iPhone 7 Plus camera module.

The the new snapshot pictures and civilized ku # 5075 were initially processed on the iPhone using the Snapseed app and then send to my desktop computer for final standard civilized ku / ku workflow and the new snapshot simulated Wood Camera app effects workflow.

iMo, the iPhone camera module civilized ku picture is so remarkedly close in appearance to civilized ku pictures made with my "real" cameras, I would not hesitate for a picture making second to hang it alongside of a "real" camera-made civilized ku picture. In doing so, I believe very few viewers would be able to tell them apart. And, absolutely no viewer would be able to tell them apart when viewed from a normal picture viewing distance.

the new snapshot # 41 ~ what are the odds

Long story short cuz I'm headed to West Point (US Army Military Academy), where Hugo has spent a week at hockey camp, to watch his camp exhibition game.

The story: since I am committed to making a lot of iPhone camera module the new snapshot pictures, I wanted to acquire the new (until the next one) iPhone 7 Plus which, as part of its dual lens setup, has a Portrait mode which creates a nice soft background when makng pictures of people or things within 8 feet of the camera. Apple calls it the DEPTH EFFECT. So yesterday I pulled the trigger and took the plunge.

All things considered, the migration of data /etc. from my 6 to the 7 was very smooth. And, after a few tests of the DEPTH EFFECT - the picture in this entry was made using it and no soft focus / blur was used in the processing of the picture - I can say that, even though the effect is BETA, I like it.

HOWEVER, the fly in the soup, phone "upgrade" wise, is that the Wood Camera app (and ONLY that app) - the app I use to process my the new snapshot pictures - is not compatible with or available for the iOS on the 7 Plus.

Shit on a shingle (US Army expression).

the new snapshot # 38-40 ~ cheaters never win

kitchen sink with dinner remains

lawn chairs with sunset

red truck in the rain

Knowing that I will never stop making pictures with my "real" cameras, I am working on a desktop processing workflow which in the end creates a pretty reasonable simulation of the new snapshot pictures made and processed on my iPhone.

I think I'm coming close inasmuch as the three pictuures in today's entry are; 1 made with my iPhone camera module and processed on that device, 1 made with my iPad camera module and sent to my desktop for PhotoShop simulation processing, and, 1 made with a "real" camera and sent to my desktop for processed PhotoShop simulation processing.

When it's all said and done, I believe that it's difficult to discern which is which. Anyone wish to venture a quess?

While I have no desire or intention of "cheating" in the making of my the new snapshot pictures, there will be times when the iPhone camera module will not be suitable for capturing a referent in the manner in which wish to present it.

FYI, when using my iPad, with its 10 inch screen, to make the picture in this entry, I felt like I was using a view camera relative to the iPhone screen. However, each device makes the same 12mp file. Interesting perception nevertheless.

civilized ku # 5074 / the new snapshot # 34-37 / verso•recto # 3-6 ~ sneaky intentions

tuna can + tomato top ~ Au Sable Forks, NY in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

Confession: the more I make pictures with the iPhone, the more I like it. The more I like it, the more I use it and the more I use it, the more I think I could do without my "real" cameras (if I had to, but I don't, so it's not gonna happen).

However, I have discovered that I really like the "snapshot" look of my made-and-processed-on-the-iPhone pictures. This should not have come as a surprise inasmuch as I have always followed a somewhat hybrid snapshot aesthetic motif in my "serious" picture making - that is, in true snapshot fashion anything and everything are referent fodder for my picture making and, on the face of it (the print), to many viewers' eyes, my pictures appear to display a disregard for conventional composition nicety.

That written, my pictures, especially when presented in print form, have rather "formal" quality due, in no small part, to their "perfect" color balance and dynamic range. And, to the visually perceptive eye, they do display, independent of the depicted referent a not unsophisticated arrangement of colors, shapes and tones across the 2D surface of a print.

Consequently, when my prints are hung on a wall, viewers tend to approach them in a formal / thoughtful / "serious" manner. While the depicted referent might appeal to them, viewers are also looking for those qualities which declare the prints as "art". A "serious" matter, that."

All of the above written, I am seriously enamored by the fact that my the new snapshot pictures give the appearance of informal / not "serious" picture making. Pictures dominated by the depicted referent and seemingly without regard for picture making perfection. Pictures which invite an informal and non-serious viewing approach on the part of viewers of the pictures because they are "just snapshots" and snapshots are made without any artistic intent or pretentions, right?

Wrong, at least in the case of my the new snapshot pictures. A lot of work (and thought) goes into making them look like "just snapshots"; the seemingly haphazard manner in which the pictures are made, processing which includes effects to introduce "imperfections", the addition of an amateurish polaroid-like print border and, of course, the snapshoter's apparent impulsive and indiscriminate choice of subject matter.

All done with intent of making art.

civilized ku # 5071 / the new snapshot # 32-33 ~ free your mind instead

sidewalk artist / Byward Market ~ Ottawa, ONT. CA (embiggenable)

colored objects - Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

feets - Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

In my last entry wherein I presented a quote from the Director, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian which read in part:

... ask yourself if what you are presenting will be of interest to someone else in a new and imaginative way?

Another part of the quote which I did not include asked:

... Similarly, are your pictures unique, or are you taking another famous artist’s ideas or style and adapting them with little change? Artistic appropriation, unless it’s extremely sophisticated and “additive” to the original idea, isn’t fair to the person whose work you admire—or, to be honest, yourself.

Regarding those questions / sentiments, I have always been suspicous of such counsel or advice which purports to encourage the pursuit of making pictures which display "originality" / "newness" free from the influence of what has come before.

My primary suspicion rests on the idea that there is nothing in the history of picture making, Photography Division, that has not been done before (excluding scientific picture making). Over the approximately century-and-a-half since the dawn of making pictures with a mechanical device, picture makers have explored a wide range of picturing making techniques and motifs. Similarly (again with the exception of scientific picture making), just about every referent of which a picture can be made has been made.

So, where does that leave us, the picture makers? iMo, it leaves us free to make pictures of anything and everthing in any manner we choose to do so.

iMo, it leaves us free to make pictures of anything and everthing in any manner we choose to do so. No apologies to those (and their pictures) who came before needed.

That written, I am not recommending or endorsing the idea (as an example) that the making of the ten thousandth camera-club imitation of a picture by Ansel Adams is a creative or imaginative pursuit. However, if it floats one's boat, sail away at it. Rather, what I am recommending or endorsing is the making of pictures of Ansel Adams' referents in one's own unique way of seeing them. That is, "forgetting" how Adams or his ten thousand camera-cluber have seen it, and seeing it for yourself.

iMo, the only pictures that can be considered to be "new", "imaginative" or "creative" are pictures which are made, not under the influence of what has come before, put which are made under the influence, not only of what you see, but of how you see it.

It is also my opinion that going about with a camera with the conscious intent to make "new", "imaginative" or "creative" pictures is the surest way to not be successful in doing so. It's all about freeing up your mind instead."

civilized ku # 5070 / the new snapshot # 30-31 ~ verso/recto and finally some pushback

a man walks into a bar .... ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

verso/recto • my pet rooster ~ ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

verso/recto • whirligig ~ ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

Finally, at long last a ray of hope, pushback wise, has been written by an preeminate gallery director. Words written ,not just by any director or gallery but by Kim Sajet, Director, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian. As part of her Juror's Statement for a juried competition, she wrote:

... if you want your viewers to identify with you, don’t use long, overwrought, and verbose language to talk about it! So many of the explanations just seemed incomprehensible and/or pretentious. Curators love artists who have a simple and elegant turn of phrase—trust me on this. At my museum we call it “art-speak flapdoodle”!

And finally, ask yourself if what you are presenting will be of interest to someone else in a new and imaginative way? Many of the submissions talk of personal experience, documenting autobiographical people and places that no doubt resonate with family and friends. But do they have a transcendent quality that could appeal to complete strangers sometimes living on the other side of the world?

Finally. Finally. Finally. Although, that "suggestion" will most likely have little chance of penetrating the skulls of the Academic Lunatic Fringe crowd. That is, if they even hear/read it.

FYI, regarding recto / verso. Those 2 words were adopted by the art world a long time ago, primarily to indicate on which side of a piece of artwork - recto; the front or verso; the back - the artist signed or annotated the work.

I have been tinkering with ideas of how to annotate my the new snapshot pictures. That is, to apply, to the print itself, a typical album snapshot discriptor which indicates the person(s), place(s), event(s) or things that appear in the snapshot. In the past, most annotations - a caption, if you will - have been written on the back side of a print inasmuch as there was not enough space on the front side on which to write. So, that is why I have come to think that I should follow the same M.O.

In the past, most annotations have been written on the back side of a print inasmuch as there was not enough space on the front side on which to write. So, that is why I have come to think that I should follow the same M.O.

However, in place of writing a discriptor I have decided to type - the old fashion way with a typewriter - my captions on sticky pad paper, rip it to fit and stick it to the back of my prints. Or, so it would appear.