# 5729-31 / civilized ku-landscape ~ it ain’t what it looks like

(embiggenable) - iPhone

(embiggenable) - iPhone

(embiggenable) - iPhone

YESTERDAY AS I WAS MOVING ABOUT THE WEB, PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION, I came upon a site entry wherein the author wrote: “I’ve been taking images in earnest for over 45 years now. You think I’d be bored with it but even on the worst days there’s something amazing about watching beautiful light cascade over objects of equal beauty…..”

My first thought was that how sad it is for someone to have been making pictures for nearly half a century and still be addicted to “the light”, aka: the golden light hour of sunrise / sunset bathing a dramatic landscape in heavenly color. Or, as I call it, the zombie-like photo cliche that can not be killed.

All of that written, I did not have another thought on the subject until this morning when I was processing a couple files made yesterday evening. That thought took on the form of isn’t it rather ironic (hypocritical?) that you fled the premise last evening in pursuit of a location where you could make a picture to include the late day light?

My answer to that question is….of course not. I’m better person / picture maker than that. I was just intending to include some evidence of the golden light merely as a compositional element. Most emphatically, I was not chasing the light.

So there. How’s that for a rationalization? Or, as a character in the film The Big Chill said, “Rationalizations are more important than sex. Did you ever try to make it through a day without at least one rationalization.”

# 5725-28 / (un)civilized ku ~ once upon a time

Once upon a time ~ (embiggenable) - iPhone

Once upon a time ~ (embiggenable) - iPhone

Here and now ~ (embiggenable) - iPhone

Here and now ~ (embiggenable) - iPhone

ONCE UPON A TIME STONE HARBOR, NJ AND OTHER like shore towns / villages were quaint-ish summer cottage enclaves. Places I would have enjoyed visiting, if only I could deal with the summer heat and humidity.

Fast forward to today where, over the past 10-15 years, these places have been turned into second-home (aka: seasonal vacation homes)-enclaves of the (obscenely) wealthy. I use the word “obscene” to describe the manner in which these place have been have been “turned”….virtually all of the quaint, cottage vibe has been eliminated, aka: demolished and replaced by ostentatious McMansions. The result - a lifeless facsimile of upscale suburban living.

Somewhat unfortunately, I have been consigned to the fate of spending 1 week a year-over the past 25 years-at the South Jersey Shore. Stone Harbor, NJ has been my wife’s family summer haunt for 60 years and that ain’t gonna change any time soon.

Lest this entry be what I want to avoid-whining about my personal life-I feel compelled to mention that what is going on at the Jersey Shore is not an isolated situation. There seems to be an American propensity for finding a place to visit-most often a place with unique character-and then, over time, completely destroying that character / uniqueness to the point where it becomes a Disneyland-like attraction. That is, a manufactured / contrived caricature of what it once was.

# 5722-24 / civilizEd ku-noir ~ night stroll

(Embiggenable) - iPhone

(Embiggenable) - iPhone

(Embiggenable) - iPhone

THE iPHONE NIGHT DARK MODE TENDS TO OPEN UP NIGHT PICTURES to the point where they lose, brightness wise, the inky darkness that characterizes the actual scene. It requires a fair amount of image processing-darkening highlights and mid-tones, dialing back overall brightness and even a slight reduction of contrast-to obtain the night look/feel I want.

The pictures in this post are close to my objective-maybe too much out-of-camera saturation?-but I’ll have to wait until my return to home and my desktop machine to do the heavy-lift processing.

# 5719-21 / civilized ku•people ~ picture makers

On the Maine coast of the Atlantic Ocean ~ (emiggenable) • iPhone

Monhegan Island on the Atlantic Ocean ~ (emiggenable) • iPhone

Monhegan Island on the Atlantic Ocean ~ (emiggenable) • iPhone

BACK FROM ONE PART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN and off to a more southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Pictures of Stone Harbor, NJ to follow.

# 5917-18 / kichen sink•the new snapshot ~ pruning flowers

from my kitchen sink work ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

my desktop ~ (embiggenable)

I HAVE COMPLETED ORGANIZING-into a separate folder-MY RECENT-ish kitchen sink pictures (29 pictures). Together with another 16 pictures to be moved to that folder, my total number of pictures in the kitchen sink body of work is 45 pictures. The next challenge is to pick 20 pictures to print for a kitchen sink presentation folio.

An interesting thought occurred to me while I was organizing the kitchen sink pictures. The thought was that the work could easily be titled Playing in Jan Groover's Garden.

That thought was very late coming to mind inasmuch as I was made aware of Groover's Kitchen Still Life work in the early 1980s when I was advising-re: technical / hardware photography things-the author of the The New Color Photography book. Despite that fact, I never once over the intervening years consciously thought about / considered the idea that I was, as they say, standing on Groover's shoulders.

That written, Groover's work and my work could legitimately be considered to be variants of a flower species (sticking with the garden metaphor)in as much as our referents are very similar. However, our pictures are distinctly different. For one thing, mine are "found" still life pictures while hers are "made" / constructed pictures. For another thing, Groover's pictures are more "warmly romantic" whereas mine might be considered to be "cooly analytical".

In any event, the KITCHEN SINK gallery on my WORK page will be updated within the next week.

PS another possible canidate for the BAKER'S Dozen: GRANDKIDS submission:

(embiggenable) • µ4/3

# 5914-16 / the new snapshot•kitchen sink/life ~ I've learned my lesson well

from quotidian (kitchen life) ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

from kitchen sink ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone

BACK HOME AFTER MY WEEK IN MAINE. Barely settled back in and I'm packing for my week-starting this Sunday-at the South Jersey Shore. The 2 places on the Atlantic Ocean could not be more different - the Maine shore is rocky and cool, the Jersey shore is sandy and hot / humid (and my burden to bear). Then, at the end of the Jersey week, it's straight to Rist Camp for 6 weeks-with a stop at home to pick up the cat. The end of the Rist Camp sojourn will complete the San Diego, CA. / Santa Fe, NM / Pittsburgh, PA / Damariscotte, MN / Stone Harbor, NJ / Newcomb, NY ramble.

I am hoping that my stay at Rist Camp-on an isolated, hill-top overlooking the mountains and a lake-will provide me with some much needed quiet / restful time for contemplation, re: my relationship with photography / picture making. Specically, addressing both my relationship with this blog and the notion of aggressively seeking gallery representation for one or more of my bodies of work.

In the cause of seeking gallery representation, I am purchasing a new printer for use in creating folios of exhibition quality prints of several of my bodies of work. First up being my kitchen sink and quotidian work, starting with updates to those galleries on my WORK page. FYI, I am first concentrating on those bodies of work cuz I believe them to be my strongest and most cohesive bodies of work and bodies of work for which I can pursue the making of pictures on a regular basis.

Re: this blog - it will most likely sputter along as it has been during the recent past. That is, without a specific intent or direction. However, my desire is to keep the focus on the medium and it apparatus (aka: practices and conventions) as opposed to gear obsession-ala VSL-or a journal of the trials and tribulations of my personal life-ala TOP-cuz, (paraphrasing Ricky Nelson) if that were all there was to write, I rather drive a truck..

PS After my recent selection for Mike Johnston's Baker's Dozen: In the Museum, I am prepping a few picture candidates for a possible submission to Baker's Dozen: Grandkids:

from the new snapshot ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone