This is not really an entry. It's only here to provide an image source link to a comment on another site.
civilized ku # 5047 ~ old dog / new tricks
looking down ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)
As previously mentioned I am working at writing a book on photography and its apparatus - very, very, very light on how-to and gear, emphasis on my experiences in my life in photography (commercial and personal/art) with the intent of shedding some light on the idea of finding, refining and mining my personal vision and how that might help others find theirs.
The writing is coming along nicely - in fits and starts due mainly to the fact that, while my story is rather self evident (to me), I am questioning why I have undertaken this endevour and what I hope to gain by doing so. I haven't come up with any firm answers yet other than to know fame and fortune will not be part of the equation.
One of the ideas emerging from this rumination is trying to understand why I have not succumbed to the current rage in the art world. That is, directing my picturing efforts inward to my internal world of personal feeling, emotions, fears, doubts, et al. A picturing practice which, iMo, is not only egocentric and self-serving but is also rather antithetical to the medium's intrinsic charatacteristic of picturing the real - as opposed to the ethereal.
One could propose that my inability to embrace picture making of immaterial concepts is simply a by product of my age. As in, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I was raised, picture making wise, in an era in which straight picture making was the ideal and had been so for decades previous. Which is not to write that ethereal picture making did not exist at that time - see the pictures of Duane Michals.
The old-dog-new-tricks thing caused me to realize that, on a daily basis, I visit the websites/blogs of several picture makers who; 1. make straight pictures, and, 2. all of whom are most likely over 50 years old. That realization led me to start thinking about another project - let's call it 5 over 50 for discussion's sake - of finding 5 picture makers over 50 and creating a group exhibition (online, in a book and in an actual gallery - I have access to a gallery) of their work.
The only impediment to such an endevour is finding picture makers over fifty. I have several in mind but that number is but a small sample of what is most ptobably out there.
kitchen life # 36 ~ avocado, lettuce and meatloaf
remnants ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)
Late last night as I was cleaning up the dinner stuff, I saw this arrangement. Had to hide it in a cupboard so the wife wouldn't throw it away - wanted to picture it this AM with soft window light.
people ~ nothing hidden here
the wife on the wall ~ (embiggenable)
at the bar ~ (embiggenable)
Ann Marie ~(embiggenable)
the artist ~ (embiggenable)
Today is the deadline for submissions for consideration in the intimate Portraits juried exhibition. My intention was to submit just 1 picture, the wife on the wall (in situ), but, since the fee was $35US for up to 5 pictures, I submitted a few more.
As I previously wrote, I really don't believe that, as the jurist Joyce Tenneson wrote ..."A true portrait can never hide the inner life of its subject." Following on from that statement, Tenneson wrote that she was seeking "portraits that go beneath the surface to reveal aspects of the subject that usually remain hidden."
Label me a thick skulled doubter but I believe that a photograph can only capture a moment in time. Although some things might be intuited from the instigative properties of a photograph, the only thing that can be reasonably discerned about a pictured person is what he/she has allowed and manifested to be made visible at the time of the picture's making. Anything else is speculative conjecture.
Case in point ... Edward Steichen's portrait of J. P. Morgan about which Steichen commented ...
Over the years people have referred to the insight into Morgan's real character that I showed by photographing him with a dagger in his hand. But this was their own fanciful interpretation of Morgan's hand firmly grasping the arm of the chair.
It should be understood that none of the preceeding is meant to state that a portrait can not tap into universal human characteristics - anger, fear, sadness, compassion, arrogance, joy, et al. On display in Morgan's portrait are a steely-eyed stare and forceful grip on the arm of a chair from which it could be correctly deduced that the man possessed an imposing, agressive, ruthless and powerful presence. However, those characteristics were not something that Morgan kept hidden. He forcefully projected those characteristics throughout his life - nothing "hidden" there.
All of that written, I did not feel that I had any portraits/pictures of people which revealed anything "hidden" about a person. So, I made my choices based upon selecting pictures in which a person projected a "presence" (which I captured). A presence which engages a viewer and causes them to think that they might like to get to know more about the person depicted.
Whether or not that trope "works" for the juror remains to be seen.
civilized ku # 5044-46 ~ wonder is where you find it
brewery grate/drain ~ Vankleek Hill, Ont. CA (embiggenable).
shaft of light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)
accidental cheese drizzle ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)
I Came across this quote by Alan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune art critic, re: this artist and his work ...
Who would have thought that so much wonder could still be created with straight photographs in a time given to digital manipulation?
Well, I, for one, think "that so much wonder could still be created with straight photographs." Always have, always will.
As a picture maker who currently has an exhibit of digitally manipulated pictures (see life without the APA on my WORK page), it should be obvious that I harbor no ill will to those who make digitally manipulated pictures. My only gripe with such pictures is when manipulation is introduced as a cheap trick. I.E., when manipulation is used to try to mask the fact that a picture has little or no merit - an effect solely for effect sake.
My gripe with Alan G. Artner and his specific quote, which is wrong on several levels, is simple. Either he has forgotten / lost the ability to see the wonder that can be found in straight photographs, or, he never had it in the first place. That, and the fact that the work in question, while the individual pictures were made as straight photographs, their manner of presentation is very manipulated.
civilized ku # 5041-43 ~ beats the hell out of a fast-food burger
who doesn't love pitas? ~ Highland Park Diner menu - Rochester, NY (embiggenable)
diner interior ~ Rochester, NY (embiggenable)
diner exterior ~ Rochester, NY (embiggenable)
On the drive to Amherst, NY it was dinner time when we hit the Interstate exit for Rochester, NY. That exit feeds directly onto an expressway into the city where the Highland Park Diner is immediatley adjacent to an expressway exit. Easy on, easy off. So, we made the decision to eat dinner at the diner.
The diner is in my growing up neighborhood, aka: Swillburg, and I hung out there as a youth. At that time it was the Superior Diner which closed in the 70s and became an OTB (Off Track Betting) parlor. In turn, when that closed (cira 1984), it became a diner once again
Consequently, during most of my visits to Rochester, I try to eat at least one meal at the diner - breakfast is my favorite.
FYI, I am partial to diner dining and search them out in my many travels. 2 of my "regulars" are the Penn Queen Diner in Pennsauken, NJ (near the wife's hometown) and the Parkway Diner in South Burlington, Vermont.
Then there is the West Tagnkanic Diner in Ancram, NY, the location for a commercial, starting Tom Bodett, I made (wrote, directed and produced) for I ❤ NY - the NYS Dept. of Economic Development which promotes tourism - in this case, NYS Scenic Byways - in New York City and New York State.
(i)eye witness # 8/8A ~ to do or not to do
I am still on the fence, re: reference to the picture of origin or not, for the (i)eyewitness pictures. Any comments appreciated.
civilized ku # 5040 / diptych # 217 ~ cracks in everything
wood fruits ~ New York, NY (embiggenable)
shafts of light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY (inAP) / Amherst, NY (embiggenable)
The light. As picture makers, Photography Division, we "write with light" and much has been written about that endevour:
Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. ~ George Eastman.
Without delving into what "the light" means to individual picture makers, suffice it to write that it means many different things to many different picture makers. In my case, found / straight photography, I do not "chase" a particular type of light. Although, that written, I do on rare ocassion wait for light which will help represent a chosen referent in ... well ... the best light.
That written, I take great delight in finding / encountering light which emphasizes the painterly quality of light known as chiaroscuro. That is, strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional forms, often to dramatic effect - a technique deeveloped by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt.
Call it what you will, I like the phrase from Leonard Cohen's song, Anthem, which describes well that which creates the light in my shaft-of-light pictures:
There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.