civilized ku # 5309 (kitchen life) / diptych # 239 ~ duality

(embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

I have often descibed my picture making as an act of picturing the quotidian or what others might label as everyday or commonplace things / events / places. In doing so, I am especially fascinated by "life" of things which, either by nature or the hand of humankind (consciously or unthinking), have evinced a fleeting-my idea of a decisive moment-evidence of an artful arrangement.

Some of those things may be considered to be pleasing / beautiful in and of itself while others may incite a reaction of unpleasantness or even disgust. In either case, those things, when pictured in the appropriate manner and presented on the 2D plane of a print, are capable of evincing interesting / visually pleasing arrangements of shapes, lines, tones and colors which are independent of the depicted referents (things).

My intent in making such pictures is to create beautiful prints. That is, a print as an object of beauty no matter the actuality of the thing(s) depicted.

There was a time when I believed I was making pictures of the beauty to be found in commonplace things when, in fact, I have since come to realize that I am making decisive moment pictures which depict fortuitous events (arrangements) in the life of things. To my eye and sensibilities, the resultant printed pictures are transformative inasmuch as the things depicted when viewed for their inherent visual qualities, that is as carriers / conveyors of visual data (line, shape, tone, color), are transformed into / become "mere" visual vehicles-their commonly accepted identity is sublimated-in the service of the creation of a beautiful object.

photo-based ilustration ~ slowly but surely

illustration for high-fashion boutique ~ (embiggenable)

Well before digital cameras hit the photo making sphere (circa 1995), I was making commercial ad photo-illustrations utilizing film cameras, a scanner and an early version of Photoshop.

Unlike the all-digital picture making world of today, in the circa 1995 world the process of making a photo-based illustration moved along at a glacial pace ... make the picture, send film to a lab, wait (usually over night)for processed film, make a color print*, scan the print and then, go to work making the illustration using Photoshop.

FYI, given the state of desktop computer and Photoshop technology at the time, I was not exactly working at light-speed. RAM was both extremely expensive and there were limits to how much processing speed you could cram into a machine. With large files, some Photoshop functions allowed for a bathroom and coffee break while the machine ground away performing a task which requires just a second or less in today's high-speed digital workflow.

*when the end result was to be a photo-based illustration, I made my pictures with color negative film because of its extended dynamic range as well as the ability, when making a print, to the exact color balance I wanted. I made my prints using a condenser head enlarger rather than the standard diffusion head enlarger in order to obtain maximum sharpness.

the new snapshot # 252 ~/ diptych # 238 /,oldie but a goodie ~ maybe too much information

the intrepid snow shoveller ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

(embiggenable) • iPhone

Yesterday's snow storm brought 18 inches of snow. Today's weather brings temperatures of -5˚F and -20˚F wind chill.

In the past such weather was cause for me to pack up my winter backpacking gear and head out into the High Peaks for 3-4 days of wilderness backpacking. However, at this point in time, such weather is cause for me to wish I could pack up my winter backpacking gear and head out into the High Peaks for 3-4 days of wilderness backpacking.

That written, the plain fact of the matter is that, my being in my 7th decade on the planet, I have a condition which makes winter backcounty camping a problem. While I am phyically able to undertake winter backpacking (albeit over gentle terrain), my bladder is not ...

... nearly every night, I need to make at least 1 visit to the toilet. Some nights more. That being a fact of life (for me), the thought of crawling out of a toasty warm down sleeping bag (in-a-protected-from-the-weather winter tent) to pee in the snow is not high on my list of things to do. And, it should be noted that winter backpacking camping requires the consumption of lots of warm liquids which could only make the situation worse.

That written, hope springs eternal, re: maybe it's time to give it a try.

near the top of the 2nd highest Adirondack peak in a blizzard ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

civilized ku # 5308 ~ teetering on the brink

(embiggenable) • iPhone

I am in the throes of a full-fledged picture making dilemma. The accompanying angst has nothing to do with what I picture or my vision (aesthetically, aka: the manner in which I "see" what I picture). Rather, it is all about how (the mechanics) I picture things.

To be specific, re: the "how" thing, I have become addicted-not really the right word-to making pictures with the iPhone. Or, perhaps re-phrased, I have become accustomed to making pictures with the iPhone. Case in point, over the past couple months, all of my picture making has been accomplished with the iPhone.

That picture making with the iPhone qualifies as the "accustomed to" part of the equation. The "addicted to" part is attributable to the ease of making a picture with the iPhone, immediately processing it on the iPhone* (or iPad), and then seeing the finished picture, all within a matter of minutes.

And, have no doubt about it, for 95% of my picture making the image quality-technically speaking-of so made pictures is very, very good. I can produce exhibition quality prints-22x22inch image centered on 24x24inch paper-which, by any measure, are beautiful prints.

So, you might ask, given all that, where's the angst? Well, after considerable thoughtful consideration, I believe I have the answer ....

.... as I sit here typing away, I am surrounded by an incredible array of professional picture making gear - 35mm Nikon system (2 bodies, 6 lenses), 120 Bronica ETR system (2 bodies, 4 film backs, 3 lenses), 3 4x5 view cameras (1 field, 2 studio, 4 lenses, 20 film holders) and 1 8x10 view camera (3 lenses, 10 film holders) + 1 light meter, 1 flash meter and assorted Polaroid backs for 120-8x10 formats (not to mention my µ4/3 system - 4 bodies, 5 lenses). Even though I have used none of this gear-µ4/3 system excepted-for almost 20 years, and herein lies the crux of the matter, I still carry the memory of the effort it used to take-using, in my 30-year professional life, the aforementioned gear-to make a good picture.

Given that vivid memory, I believe I am experiencing more than a bit of guilt / confusion-inasmuch as I am "shirking" what should be done to make a good picture-regarding the ease (and accompanying freedom) that comes with the use of the iPhone as my primary picture making device. FYi, I am unable to call the iPhone a camera and that, undoubtedly, is also part of the angst.

All of that written, I think I am at the point of letting go of all of that baggage and just going with the flow. Although, I am equally certain that I will always have my µ4/3 gear with me whenever I leave the house.

*using an app with near Photoshop-like capabilities, at least inasmuch as I use PS.

assorted civilized ku ~ a color moment

color moment #1 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3

color moment #2 ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

color moment #3 ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

color moment #4 ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

color moment #4 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3

color moment #5 ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

Recently, on TOP, Mike Johnston presented a 3-part (voluntary) challenge for his followers. In short: 1.identify 25 separate bodies of one's work, 2.from those, select those that one would consider to be one's top 5 bodies of work, and, 3.the payoff - after identifying one's top 5 bodies of work, heed the advice of experts and concentrate all of one's picture making on those 5 catagories.

I did not undertake the challenge for the simple reason that-as anyone can view on the WORK section of this site-I had already identified 39* separate bodies of work. It should be noted that only 7** of those bodies of work were undertaken with the intention of being separate bodies of work. Many of the rest were identified over time by a somewhat unique process.

That process was instigated a number of years ago by an outside source. Specifically, a photo gallery which issues (10-12x a year) submission requests (yielding 2,000-3,000 submisions) for juried theme-based gallery and online exhibitions (FYI, I have about a 65% acceptance rate). Those requests have induced me to repeatedly rumage through my photo library-8,000+ µ4/3 / 7,000+ iPhone pictures-of "finished" pictures in order to identify pictures appropriate for specific theme-based submission.

Inevitably, I begin the process by thinking that I might have a handful of picture possiblities for any given theme only to be genuinely surprised to discover that I have, typically, 50-60 picture possibilities. That is, iMo, enough pictures to establish a separate body of work classification.

Not all searches yield up a legitimate body of work. The pictures in today's entry are a case in point. The exhibition call theme was for pictures which illustrate A Color Moment....

A successful color photograph finds color as an essential element. Without color, the impact of the image would be significantly reduced. When used well, color coalesces with the other elements of the image to create an atmosphere, an emotional response, a sense of place. Effective use of color can take your breath away, zing your eyes, grab your heart, and celebrate light.

....My search for such pictures produced some strong contenders but not enough to justify a separate body of work.

Although, one the bodies of work on my WORK section which is scheduled for deletion, The Color of Light, just might be reincarnated-some pictures deleted, some added-as a new body of work entitled, A Color Moment. However, on that body of work page I will retain the quote by Arthur Meyerson who, by coincidence, is also the juror for the A Color Moment exhibition.

fYi, Color Moment #1 was submitted as a bit of an outlier inasmuch as it is not saturated with color but, as stated in the call for entries, it most definitely conforms to the idea that, "Without color, the impact of the image would be significantly reduced".

*a couple of those bodies of work are schedule to disappear and few new ones are scheduled to replace them.
*1.Rist Camp/35 Days, 2.Art Reflects, 3.Single Women, 4.Life Without the APA, 5.Decay, 6.Picture Windows, 7.What Is a Photograph

landscape # 7-11 ~ come what may

all pictures ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3

FYI, considering my last 2 entries, re: my thoughts on landscape picture making, I thought it wise to post a few pictures which most might consider to be "traditional" landscape pictures.

To be clear, I do not avoid making "traditional" style landscape pictures when an opportunity to do so presents itself. However, such pictures are surreptitiously created, never planned or sought out. For that matter, very few of my pictures are deliberately sought out inasmuch as, whenever I am out and about (and even when I'm not), I always have a picture making device at hand and I tend to picture whatever pricks my eye and/or sensibilities. A picture making condition that I refer to as discursive promiscuity.