civilized ku # 5103 / the new snapshot # 140-42 (triptych) ~ serious intentions

direct light / reflected light ~ Rist Camp • Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) µ4/3

late day porch light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) iPhone 7s camera module

Last evening, as I was sitting on the porch, it occurred to me that, in yesterday's entry, my response (re: John Linn's comment) might be misconstrued as a criticism of John's comment. Especially so considering that I put the word genuine in quotes.

To be perfectly clear, John's comment was much appreciated inasmuch as it addressed an issue about which I have been thinking - the seeming contradition between my "serious" picture making and that of my the new snapshot picture making.

As most would know, I have been a long time advocate of / for straight picture making. What most don't know about is the soft spot in my picture making heart for crappy camera-Holga, Diana, Lomograpghy, et al-picture making. Now, it could be written that making pictures with crappy cameras is, in fact, straight photography inasmuch as the resulting pictures are straight out of the camera without any subsequent manipulation. And, more to my point, early simple snapshot cameras were, by today's standards, crappy cameras.

In an ideal picture making world, I would be making my the new snapshot pictures with a crappy snapshot camera-Kodak Instamatic and/or the like-but 2 considerations make that rather impractical. 1)The availablity of film and processing (or lack thereof) and 2) the cost of film and processing which, at the rate of my the new snapshot picture making-500+ pictures in the last 4 months-would be astronomical. So, for my money, that leaves me with the iPhone camera module as a somewhat ideal alternative to a crappy film camera.

Of course, the iPhone camera module is a fer piece down the road from a crappy camera. Consequently, I indulge in some "creative" post picture making processing in order to emulate the snapshot look, in essence, taking them out of the straight picture making genre and into the genre of manipulated pictures. But, here's the thing...

After much rumination I have come the realization that my the new sanpshot picture making is as "serious" as my "serious" picture making. With the exception of consciously focusing on making more people pictures, my picture making eye and sensibilities / vision / propensities haven't changed at all. And, truth be told, I have "serious' intentions, re: my the new snapshot picture making (much more on that in my next entry).

civilized ku # 5027 / main street triptych # 1 / main street quadtych # 1 ~ rural Main Streets

Main Street ~ Fort Covington, NY (embiggenable)

Main Street ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)

This Sunday past, while I was making the pictures for the triptych Main Street ~ Fort Covington, a thought did come into my head that, to a greater or lesser degree, structures like these were, more common than not, to be found on small town rural America Main Streets.

I live in a rural America small town and, although the Main Street buildings in Au Sable Forks are not in a derelict state, only 6 of 17 storefronts have tenants (2 of the 7 storefronts pictured above). That written, we are lucky to have a bank, mid-sized grocery store and a seasonal (part of Spring, all of Summer and part of Autumn) movie theater (none of which I counted as a storefront).

Were I to pursue a rural America small town Main Street body of work, I can think of at least 8-10 small towns in New York State within 100 miles of my location which would most likely be candidates as subjects for such a project. If I were to traverse the entire state, there would be many more. And then there's Vermont where there is more rural poverty broken Main Streets than they would like to admit - doesn't fit the small town white church steeple surrounded by a sea of autumn foilage calender image they would like to project to the tourist crowd.

Tune in tomorrow for a few detail pictures of rural America small town broken Main Streets.

boarded up ~ Fort Covington, NY (embiggenable)