2018 ~ calender

Every year, for the wife, I make a calender for her as a Xmas gift. Here is this year's effort.

FYI, it's a Shutterfly 10x10 inch hardcover book with lay-flat pages. I make the calender by hand.

civilized ku # 5144 / the new snapshot # 198 ~ color

tabletop color ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3

our new Mercedes ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

On The Online Photograher, Mike Johnston has recently started a fairly regular (2x a month?) feature called Baker's Dozen wherein he asks for picture submissions based upon a specific theme. As the name suggests, Johnston picks 13 pictures from those submitted for presentation on TOP.

Early this week Johnston aksed for the submission of color pictures which, in their making, demanded that they be made in color. I am considering a submission.

That written, I must write, in all honestly, that all of my pictures "demand" to be made in color simply because I am trying my best to picture and represent the world as it is and not as, in my words, a BW abstract picture of the world.

That written, iMo and conventionally writing, the only pictures that demand to be made in color are those which are about color. Or, those in which the color is an important element in the picture maker's visual intent (that would be me).

In my picture making, I have made many pictures about color which are strictly about color.. The most recent example is presented in this entry. Without question, my eye and sensibilities were pricked by the colors in the pictured-as-found scene. And, while many may be quick to point out that the picture is about fruits and flowers, to my eye and sensibilities, those items are just the visual referents which are used to illustrate the "real" referent of color.

FYI, the our new Mercedes picture is presented seemingly as a contrast to the tabletop color picture inasmuch as most would condsider that that picture does not demand the use of color and it would have worked just fine in BW. However, (once again) to my eye and sensibilitires, the 5 isolated spots of red and orange add a nice degree of visual energy which helps get the eye moving around the 2D field / surface of the picture.

Inasmuch as the our new Mercedes picture was meant a "just" a snapshot of our new car, presenting the picture in BW would have worked well enough. However, if we had purchased the red Mercedes .....

ku / civilized ku / the new snapshot ~ best of 2017

best of ku / 2017

best of civilized ku / 2017

best of the new snapshot / 2017

When I started to select my best of picture from 2017 my intention was to select one picture as the best of 2017. However, as I was looking through my 2017 picture, it became apparent that I needed to pick a best of picture from each of my primary bodies of work - ku (the natural world), civilized ku (evidence of humankind) and the new snapshot.

While I have a number of sub-catagories which fall under those primary bodies of work, I felt that choosing one best of from all of those additional bodies of work would kinda defeat the purpose of trying to narrow the selection down to just a few best of pictures.

In any event, I discovered a few things about my picture making during the selection process:

1. Over the years I have move from making primarily ku pictures to making many more civilized ku pictures.
2. Since the inception of my iPhone the new snapshot making, I have made many more the new snapshot pictures than ku / civilized ku combined.
3.That written, the new snapshot picture making does include ku, civilized ku and people referents as well as few of my sub-categories.

The net result of those conculsions is that I intend, during 2018, to concentrate on making more ku (especially so) / civilized ku (and their sub-categories) pictures utilizing my µ4/3 cameras. Only time will tell if I can stick to that (New Years) resolution.

civilized ku # 5139 / diptych # 220 (the new snapshot) ~ there and back again

truck art ~ Southside / Pittsburgh, PA (embiggenable) • iPhone

kids~ Cherry Hill, NJ (embiggenable) • iPhone

Xmas and New Years has come and gone. Over that time I have gone to Pittsbugh, PA and on to Cherry Hill, NJ and back home again.

While I was away, I meant to post an entry or two but, one thing or another, I never found the time. However, I did manage to make approximately 40 pictures, most of which were made with the iPhone camera module.

On the subject of picture making, iPhone / µ4/3 or otherwise, this Xmas most of my gift giving centered around giving pictures (prints). Or, as I tend to think of it, preserving and giving memories. And, it is worth noting that one of the recipients of one of my pictures actually broke out in tears (of joy), a response which cemented by decision to make my primary gift giving (any and all occasions) centered around preserving and giving memories.

My ability to preserve and give memories is attributed to my adoption of iPhone picture making inasmuch as I am making a lot of pictures of people - something I did not do much of with my "real" cameras (for what reason I don't know). And, pictures of people - family, friends, et al - are the single most cherished pictures that most people possess.

What I have discovered about my people pictures is that I can not help but bring all of my picture making / processing / vision skills to the making of such pictures. Consequently, the pictures are perceived as something very special, above and beyond what they are accustomed to seeing in a "snapshot". Throw in my deckled snapshot border and somehow, a picture becomes even more special, which may be due to the fact that the retro border incites a rather instant "nostalgic" reaction / quality to the picture.

In any event, I have been absolutely delighted with the reactions I have received to my the new snapshot pictures.

civilized ku # 5138 / the new snapshot # 191-92 ~ miscellania

bike at night (multiple differing color balance light sources) ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

fuselage art ~ Canadian War Museum / Ottawa, ON (embiggenable) • iPhone

snapshots ~ National Gallery of Canada / Ottawa, ON (embiggenable) • iPhone

In one of the current exhibitions, Canadian Biennial, in the National Gallery of Canada is 3-panel (1 1/2 panels shown in above picture) piece of art, Sleep II, comprised of found snapshots of people sleeping. As long as you have a wall in your home that can accomodate a 9'5" x 22'9" piece of art, you can buy it through the sleep II link.

Hugo was rather perplexed about why this was art and slightly disturbed by the works "creepy-ness". Nevertheless, he spent a fair amount of time viewing the work. On the other hand, Hugo was immediately impressed with the 2 for Hooking fuselage art work in the Canadian War Museum. A work that instigateed not a bit of "creepy-ness" - eye of the beholder and all that stuff.

civilized # 5137 / the new snapshot # 190 ~ on display

Nice turnout for the PHOTOGRAPHS IN CONVERSATION exhibition. Jaci was very happy that I included a picture of her naked (albeit under bubbles) in the show.

Of particular interest to the assembled was the make-your-own-conversation interactive part of the the exhibit. A box of 50 prints and 2 photo ropes on a wall provided lots of opportunities for picture conversations making fun.

civilized ku # 5136 / the new snapshot # 188-89 ~ more than meets the eye

pictured through a dirty window and screen `~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

view through hotel curtains ~ Ottawa, CA (embiggenable) • iPhone

painting ~ Canadian War Museum / Ottawa, ON (embiggenable) • iPhone

In yesterday's entry (the entry following this one) I made mention of the ideaa of structure and form - i.e. the manner of arranging and coordinating parts for a pleasing or effective result - and their importance for my picture making and viewing. Read on to discover why I find them to be so necessary as a primary component of my pictures and those made by other that I appreciate.

iMo, photography is a ... duh ... visual art which is meant to be approached, first and foremost, as a visual experience which pricks a viewer's eye and, by extention, sensibilities (the ability to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences). The prick of a viewer's eye can pleasant, as the result of a harmonious picture structure, or discordant, as the result of an non-harmonious picture structure (or some combination of both). In any case, if there is no prick, the picture becomes virtually invisible to a viewer's eye.

Quite obviously, the referent depicted can prick a viewer's eye and, for most, the referent is the most important thing about a picture. However, the printed picture is also a thing / physical object - a flat 2D object - in and of itself and that fact is rarely considered. One could even state that it is never seen / viewed (literally) as such.

iMo, the reason a printed picture is rarely viewed as an object independent of its depicted referent is the medium's intrinsic characteristic of depicting the world as an accurate representation of the real. Unlike paintings, which are more often viewed as an abstract representation of the world, photographs are most often viewed as literal representations of the world. Consequently, in viewing paintings, viewers tend to see them with much more attention to structure / form / technique than they do with photographs.

All of that written, here's the thing about art - structure / form in the visual arts has always been as important, if not more so than what is depicted. In other words, how a referent is depicted is what separates good art from pedestrian work. A good picture, iMo, one with interesting structure / form, can be a picture of anything because any referent can be represented in a fashion that creates a picture which more than what it depicts.