# 6812-14 / autumn • landscape • common places ~ here it is

all photos ~ (embiggenable)

Given that true intellectual and emotional compatibility
are at the very least difficult if not impossible to come by
we could always opt for the more temporal gratification
of sheer physical attraction …. That wouldn't make you a shallow person would it? Lyle Lovett ~ Here I AM song lyrics

I HAVE LONG BEEN A FAN OF LYLE LOVETT’S MUSIC so, when I read this on TOP ….

“The stories behind what the pictures show are as important or even more important than the things you can see…..I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with pleasant little pictorial experiences, or wandering around to see what "catches your eye," or enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors ….”

…. I modified it to suit my purposes in this entry:

Given that true meaning and significance
are at the very least difficult if not impossible to come by in a photograph
we could always opt for the more temporal gratification
of sheer visual attraction …. That wouldn't make you a shallow person would it?

In the spirit of first things first, let me get my pique out of the way––re: the author’s, iMo, dismissive pejorative, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with pleasant little pictorial experiences, or wandering around to see what "catches your eye," or enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors, emphatically pissed me the hell off. I mean WTF, let me count the ways …..

…. let’s start with; “enjoying patterns, tones, or pretty colors” Really? denigrating 3 of the 7 elements of art? Then, let’s move on to “pleasant little pictorial experiences” I really do not know how to address this other than to ask, what the hell is wrong with a “little” (or “large” for that matter) pictorial experience? –– every photograph is a pictorial experience cuz, for fuck’s sake, photography is a visual medium. And, iMo, if the author is trying to convince the reader––or me in particular––that the “meaning” in a photograph is what elevates a picture from “little” to “large”, I would opine that his intellect has gotten out too far ahead of his eyes.

In the spirit of honest disclosure, the part of the author’s discourse that really annoyed me was the inferred suggestion that wandering around to see what "catches your eye" is a somewhat lazy(?), un-serious(?), mindless(?) manner of picture making. The reason that comment ruffled my feathers / got my dander up is simple––it’s cuz that is exactly how I photograph. And, I would strongly suggest that that––at least so In the Fine Art World of photography––is exactly the M.O. of most picture makers. Which, FYI, does mean that, in the service of expressing their picture making intent, they most likely do “wander around” looking for specific picture making opportunities that, no duh, “catch their eye”.

Moving on to “The stories behind what the pictures show are as important or even more important than the things you can see”, I call BS. Although this idea of content over image is the current mantra of the Academic Lunatic Fringe, as far as I am concerned, IFAW pictures are, first, meant to be seen and experience how/what they cause me to “feel”, and then, second, if at all, to be “read”. And, I might add, I don’t need no art-speaky drivel to tell me what to see, feel or think.

All of that written, I hope that opting for the more temporal gratification of sheer visual attraction doesn’t make me a shallow person.

In closing, an opinion from Susan Sontag:

“Standing alone, photographs …. which cannot themselves explain anything …. promise an understanding they cannot deliver. In the company of words, they take on meaning, but they slough off one meaning and take on another with alarming ease ….”

# 6808-11 / landscape • (late) autumn-ish ~ in between time

all photos ~ (embiggenable)

I RARELY LEAVE THE HOUSE FOR THE SOLE purpose of making photographs. That’s cuz I do not go to photographs, rather, I let photographs come to me. Or, to write in other words, while I always leave the house with a picture making device, my habit is not to search for photograph making opportunities but, rather, to make a photograph only when some thing pricks my eye and sensibilities as I am moving about the planet.

That written, there is, for me, one situation that violates that rule; that is, during what I call the 5th season––the season situated at the end of leaf-peeping season and the unset of winter.

I will admit that one of the reasons I enjoy making photographs during that time is that I get a great deal of satisfaction from creating such photographs which, for me, function as a sharp-stick/poke-in-the-eye, as it were, to the hordes of picture makers who salivate at the sight of a landscape chock full of wall-to-wall blazing colors, colors that are most often over saturated in processing cuz, ya know, nothing exceeds like excess. Apparently, they must believe that someone in the CREATION DEPARTMENT––quite possibly the Time Bandits*––screwed up, hue and saturation wise, and they need to assume the role of an ex post facto art director in order to '“correct” that mistake.

On the other hand, re: my photograph making fascination with the 5th Season, I tend to believe that life and the planet earth is in a constant state of transition / flux, or, in the case of the 5th Season, entropy: BTW, a progression that could also apply to my kitchen sink photographs inasmuch as the housewares in my sink are in a transitional condition–– pictured in the transition from clean > dirty > to clean again (or least one can assume so inasmuch as what a viewer “sees” in a photograph is based upon that viewer’s assumptions).

In fact, it could be reasonably stated that all photographs document a transition in that, even though a photograph depicts a static moment in time, every photograph contains, by inference, that there were moments before and after the photograph was made.

*When the Supreme Being finally catches up with the Time Bandits, he is rather pissed at them for having stolen the Map of Time which allowed them to travel through time portals on a looting spree…

Supreme Being: I should do something very extroverted and vengeful to you. Honestly, I'm too tired. So, I think I'll transfer you to the undergrowth department, brackens, more shrubs, that sort of thing... with a 19% cut in salary, backdated to the beginning of time.

Randall (one of the Bandits): Oh, thank you, sir.

Supreme Being: Yes, well, I am the nice one.

#6804-07 / landscape • around the house • sink ~ document as form

all photos ~ (embiggenable)

“There are no heroics in [his] images, but rather a poetics of the ordinary and the everyday and a refusal to create an effect for its own sake, echoing Walker Evans’s desire to reveal the “deep beauty of things as they are.” His approach can be tied to a long American tradition of elevating the simple and the commonplace, in form as well as content, to a certain poetry and a way of life, from Ralph Waldo Emerson writing that “I embrace the common, I explore and sit at the feet of familiar, the low,” to Walt Whitman championing “a transparent, plate-glassy style, artless”, characterized by “clearness, simplicity, no twisted or foggy sentences.” Despite its historic context, this enthusiasm for the vernacular, when expressed through photography, has been unsettling for some observers, and continues to this day.” ~ from Stephen Shore: Solving Pictures by Quintin Bajac

AS I BEGIN TO EMBARK UPON A PATH OF intense self-promotion, with the objective of creating recognition / awareness of my photography in the gallery / exhibition world, I am directed toward the necessity of writing an Artist Statement, one that could be universally applied to any work that I have created; i.e., to each and every one of my 20 individual bodies of work. It might be said that that task is fraught with complications given the diverse variety of referent matter depicted in my various bodies of work. However, I think not cuz, regardless of the depicted referent, all of my photographs are unified under the aegis of my singular vision, the identifiable manner–if one can see / grasp it–in which I see and photograph life and the real world––hence, the discursive promiscuity nomenclature that I ascribe to my cumulative body of work.

That written, an Artist Statement most often addresses two objectives, aka: the how and the why. The how is the easy part––at least for me cuz it will essentially be a derivation / variation on the quote included above; simply written, I make photographs of the quotidian world without effects or “twisted or foggy sentences.” The why part is, however, a different kettle of fish ….

…. that’s cuz, in large part, I am not attracted to a particular referent material of any particular kind, as in, being drawn to––per the medium’s directive to photograph the singular “thing” that interests you––the landscape (natural world or man-made), people, still life, nudes, events / human activities, et al. For example, I will never write the sentence, “I am attracted to the dirty dishes in my sink,” cuz, the fact of the matter (pun) is that I am not attracted to the stuff in my sink other than for it potential to be made into a photograph. So, that all-purpose answer to the why question has exited stage right, aka: out the window.

It is also fair to write that I do not photograph to espouse any “deep” meaning, re: my referents or my personal “beliefs” or involvement is a cause or ideology; my intent is to make photographs that instigate feeling / emotions, not thoughts, to wit, visual interest, not intellectual interest. So, an appeal to the Academic Lunatic Fringe is most certainly not in my future inasmuch as they probably consider me to be a picture-making simpleton.

What I can state could be a variation on the idea that I am attracted to “the common” and that I do “explore and sit at the feet of familiar, the low,” but that still begs the question of why I do so ….

It is my belief that to address that question I need to. A) embrace the Shakespeare-ian concept that “what’s past is prologue” inasmuch as I am coming to the the conclusion that my “baked in” picture making proclivities are a direct result of my past young-life experiences of sitting next to the window on the passenger-side, back seat of my parent’s car, staring out that window at the everyday, real world landscape as it scrolled past my eyes like an old-timey newsreel––especially so during those long-which I thought of as boring-1950's drives on the 2-lane roads through small towns and the rural country side on the way to the Adirondacks*––made an indelible imprint on my visual perception of how I see the real world ….

…. and, B) I can also state that I take great pleasure / satisfaction in making photographs that express the idea that a beautiful or, at the very least, a visually interesting object––aka: a photographic print––can be created from the from the most likely considered un-beautiful, un-visually interesting referents.

All of the above written, be forewarned that I will be continuing to write quite a bit more about the creating recognition / awareness of my photography endeavor I am pursuing.

*not to mention the fact that I now am a longtime resident of the Adirondacks

#6794-96 / common places-things • autumn • food ~ autumnal pleasures

all photos (embiggenable)

I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON AN ENTRY FOR THE PAST 4-5 days that requires that I “get it right”. The entry is a follow up to my last entry wherein I suggested that I believe that most “…. hardcore / driven-to-make-pictures photographers consider their bodies of work to be their ‘greatest’ hit”. In the new entry I discuss general ideas about bodies of work and, here’s the get-it-right part, I also discuss my bodies of work and how they came into being. That written, the entry is about 70.85% complete and should be ready shortly.

In the meantime here are few pictures made over the past few days during an early-arriving Indian Summer–i.e. a period of unseasonably warm, sunny, and hazy weather that occurs in late autumn, usually late October and sometimes into November, after a period of cool temperatures.

Indian Summer is specially delightful when, after pulling out long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and turning on the household heat, we sit, lightly dressed / libations in hand, on our back screened-in porch at the end of the day, listen to the quiet, watch the sun go down and the moon, in this case, the harvest moon come up knowing full well what will follow, weather wise.

Coincidentally, round about Indian Summer time, the concord grapes are in. That means I must turn my attention to making several concord grape pies. There many things I like about Autumn but, near the top of the list is a slice of warm grape pie along with a glass of fresh, cold apple cider. FYI, all of the ingredients for the above are grown an harvested within a few miles of my home.

# 6523-26 / landscape • autumn ~ change is a-comin'

all photos (embiggenable)

JUST SOME PICTURES FROM my neighborhood. Stick season is coming and some white stuff has been comin’ and goin’ at higher elevations. Gotta get my winter backpacking gear together cuz I promised myself that I would- while I still can-spend a few days and nights in the back country this winter.

# 6520-22 / common places/things • autumn ~ take some Extra Strength Tylenol and call me in the morning

all photos (embiggenable)

A COMMENT FROM DENNIS ON my last entry:

“…what set you off this time? Just because it worked for you don't mean jack for anyone else. Falling Water is lovely but falling down…”

Cannot imagine what, in my last entry, caused Dennis to experience a “migraine inducing eyeroll”. That written, let me pass on my condolence. Hope you feel better. In any event, I thought I should respond to his “riptose” on 2 counts; re: Fallingwater (1 word, not 2), and, re: “don’t mean jack for anyone else”.

re: Fallingwater - fun fact, Fallingwater is not falling down. Nor was it in eminent danger of falling down. In 1995 it was determined that the concrete cantilevered balconies were insufficiently reinforced. What a surprise (sarcasm alert). Who could have guessed that a structure-an untested, never-before attempted, never-imagined construction technique, using materials available at that time-built 60 years prior might just need a bit of additional reinforcement? In any event, in 2002 additional reinforcement was installed leaving Fallingwater's interior and exterior appearance unchanged and the original construction engineering intact.

re: “don’t mean jack for anyone else” - I have no idea if the topics and/or ideas and opinions expressed on this blog have any meaning, applicability, or value to anyone else (other than M). And, I most emphatically make it known that, with my liberal and continued use of the acronym, “iMo”-note that M is both bold and italicized-I am not writing ex cathedra. So, Dennis, please accept my thanks for pointing out the obvious.

And, speaking of the obvious, I would never suggest that what works for me would necessarily work for anyone else cuz, ya know, statistically, half the population is below average.

# 6500-03 / common places-things ~ simulacrum , relativism, and dinkum oil

all photos (embiggenable)

THERE WAS A TIME MANY YEARS AGO, DECADES in fact, that, on my several iterations ago blog, I was a stanch defender of truth-def: that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality-in photos. What was tiring about discussing that idea was the never-ending, dancing on the head of pin contrarian advocates who wanted wanted to take a deep dive into the philosophical meaning of “truth”. And, as an adjunct position, they also threw in the questioning of the idea of “real”. All of which I found rather unproductive inasmuch as I was interested in discussing the characteristics / conventions / apparatus of the medium, not the meaning of life.

Inasmuch as we photographers are going thru the motions of making simulacrum-def: something that replaces reality with its representation-I believe that the idea of so-called “truth” in a photograph might better be described as representational / visual veracity. That is to write that, if a casual viewer-aka: a non-“serious” amateur picture maker, were to view a straight photograph of some thing-people, place, thing, event, et al-made from the real world and see the same thing in situ, he/she would have no problem recognizing it as being related, reasonably accurately, to that thing as it was depicted in the previously viewed photograph.

That written, if one accepts the idea that photography is unique amongst the visual arts in its unique / intrinsic ability to accurately / convincingly / truthfully (there’s that word again) visually depict a segment of the real, why not employ that characteristic of the medium to create art?

Easy answer; iMo, the most difficult challenge in making art, Photography Division, is doing so without relying on art sauce / cheap tricks to garnish the real with a false pretense. Ya know, like making a “fake” photograph. Say, consider a picture of fall foliage so screamingly over-saturated, color wise, as to be a complete distortion of the real.

Some might ask if it is possible for a photograph to be able to convey a moral / cultural / emotional truth. The answer to that question is simply, “Maybe.” or, most probably, “No.” That is, at least not a clearly unambiguous, universal truth. That’s cuz the question legitimately opens the door to the idea of relativism-the doctrine that truth and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute. For instance, there are those who saw horror and tragedy in the photo of people plunging to their death from the two towers while there were others who, viewing the same photo, saw a scene that incited great joy /celebration and a sense of the fulfillment of their dreams.

In any event, in my picture making I try to stick to the facts of life on this planet. Call it what you will but I currently think of it as the real dinkum oil.

# 6469-74 / rist camp • flora • folliage (autumn) common places-things ~ small is beautiful

all photos (embiggenable)

IN MY REGION OF THE ADIRONDACKS PEEK (pun) leaf peeper season is about a week away. While I am not immune to the sight of the forest swathed in a red / yellow rainbow of color, I am adverse to the making of pictures thereof. To wit, the making of “standard”, color saturated, landscape calendar art.

On the contrary, bogs and swamps are my favored autumnal picture making venues. That’s cuz the biodiversity found in these wetlands creates a much expanded color palette than is commonly found in the red and yellow dominated forest palette. Throw in a wide variety of shapes and textures and, to my eye and sensibilities, there are picture making opportunities aplenty.

Often times, on my way to a bog / swamp, along the roadside I encounter scenes of pre-peek color. That is, a bit of autumnal color mingled in a greater scene of late summer, green-dominated, color. To my eye and sensibilities, these scenes have a great degree of visual energy; ya know what I mean….the opportunity to make one of those exhausting-to-read (sarcasm alert) photographs wherein the eye tends to dance-instead of falling asleep-across the 2D surface of the print.

All of that written, I would encourage the pursuit of shunning the grand autumnal landscape scenes in order to find those much more intimate tableaux of autumnal splendor.