(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable)•iPhone
Hudson River ~ North Creek, NY (embiggenable) • iPhone
It was a rainy morning at Rist Camp so I took the Abarth on a fast 25 mile twisty bits trip in the rain to the grocery store in North Creek on the Hudson River. Fun, fun, fun.
The Abarth is the text book definition of a "pocket rocket".
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
I live in a forest preserve, most commonly called the Adirondack Park. It is larger than the state of Vermont and bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Great Smokies National Parks combined.
Within the Blue Line-the original boundaries of the park were drawn in blue ink-there are approximately 130,000 residents residing in 102 villages and hamlets (15 residents per sq. mile). 50% of the park is privately owned. The rest is state owned and is protected as "Forever Wild" by Article XIV in the NYS Constitution.
When I moved to the Adirondacks-20 years ago-I was quite excited by the possibilities, picture making wise, afforded to me that came with full-time residency. That written, I arrived with the determination to avoid slipping into the cliched practice of making variation-on-the-"standard" and ubiquitous Adirondack landscape picture. That is, Hudson River School Painting like romanticized pictures dominated by dramatic vistas and light.
In fact, avoiding that practice required no real effort on my part inasmuch as that which pricks my eye and sensibilities, aka: my Vision, is very different from such referents.
If one were to look only at pictures of the Adirondacks featured on calenders, posters, note cards, picture books and tourism marketing, one might be lead to believe that the Park topography is comprised of people-less high peaks and large lakes. When, in fact, the high peak region of the Park makes up only about 5-10% of the area of the Park. One might also think that every morning and evening is a saturation-to-the-max color spectacular. And, don't even get me started on the Velvia-esque saturation-to-the-max fall folliage picture extravagancias
As has been said, looks can be deceiving....
....especially the people-less part. With 7-10 million visitors a year, people are not in short supply and the high peaks region is high on those visitor's must-see list. That is why I have never hiked any of the 46 high peaks-3,500>5,300 ft. elevation-during the spring, summer or fall. I have only hiked them in the winter, preferably in 5F or below temperatures.
All of that written, picture making wise, I prefer to make pictures of leaves on an erratic and leave the sensationalism to others.
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
I hate to admit it but, for the first time ever I will be dashing off to my cell carrier store-upon my return from Rist Camp (next Monday)-to acquire the newest iPhone, the 11 Max Pro.
The one and only reason I will be doing so is the new Night Mode feature, although the 5 hour longer battery life is a good thing. From what I have read, Night Mode setting allows for-with user customization-the making of pictures in dark situations which are vastly superior, re: noise reduction and detail retention to those pictures made with the iPhone 10 Max. This feature just might bring the iPhone picture making capabilities to a level which allows me to use it for nearly all of my photographic art making.
Truman and Jim - Suffolk horses ~ (embiggenable ) • iPhone
On part of the deck / under the roof ~ Camp Santanoni (embiggenable ) • iPhone
(Embiggenable ) • iPhone
Yesterday we went on a 5 mile-in / 5 mile-out wagon ride to an Adirondack Great Camp, Camp Santanoni, located in an Adirondack wilderness-designated area. The reason for the wagon ride, instead of our usual walk-in, was that one of our company is not able to make such a walk.
Camp Santanoni is a National Historic Landmark now owned by New York State-which acquired it and its thousands of surrounding acres from the owners-and is now managed by a local Architectural and Cultural Historic Preservation organization.
The "camp" itself is comprised of 5 separate "cottages" all on one continuous deck under one continuous roof covering 13,000 sq. ft.. The property also had-all of the building are still there-a full working farm-raising cattle, goats, pigs, poulty, produce and a creamery. The camp had a staff of over 80 workers. Hence the title of a "great" camp.
Camp Santanoni differed from other great camps of the era inasmuch as it was designed and built in a Japanese aesthetic style. That was the result of the fact that owner / builder was the son of the 2nd US Ambassador to Japan-appointed by President Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s-who, as a young child, accompanied his father to live in Japan.
Simply stated, it is a "great' place to visit.
at Rist Camp - in the Adirondack Park ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
at Rist Camp - in the Adirondack Park ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
There is a blogger out there whose raison d'etre seems to be that of promoting a very dark and foreboding notion, re: the current state of the photography medium and its apparatus.
In the admittedly short time I have been checking in on said blog, said blogger has announced that, amongst a number of things, straight photography is dead, photos are no longer printed and hung on gallery walls, art no longer imitates life / life imitates art and, most recently, that said blogger is "pretty much sick of it" ("it", aka: photography).
That "sickness" has been brought on by a "plague of images". Images which, ih/ho, are "vulgar, banal and stupid." None of the images have "enriched my life", nor are any of them "rare and beautiful" nor do they have "a value which that transcended their aesthetic worth."
Said blogger's deduction from the aforementioned? The most dumb-ass statement yet:
"Now, nothing can have that value any more"
Seriously? Nothing? Maybe this blogger is going through a depression episode and has not taken his meds. Or, maybe said blogger is that type of person who is just disposed to not stay on the sunny side of life.
Or, perhaps said blogger has such a narrow bandwidth for things which prick his/her eye and sensibilities that the good picture pickings are very slim. To be absolutely certain, that proclivity is very valid for his/her outlook, photography wise. However ....
...stop already with the broad, declarative statements without including the caveat / phrase, "for me"*.
All of that written, let me make a relatively broad statement of my own .... iMco, and to my eye and sensitivities, there are a goodly number of pictures out there which are very capable of enriching one's life, which are beautiful (using a very broad definition of that word) and which have a value beyond their visual aesthetics.
To deny that is to engage in a form lazy-ass "blindness". Yes, it may take a bit more "digging" to find the jewels but for those who do engage in the act of digging, there are plenty of pictures of value to be found.
* said blogger does use the word "I" a lot in the lead up to his/her overly broad statements so I guess I should cut him/her a bit of a break on that score. But not too much, cuz I couldn't have as much ranting fun otherwise.
picture of and in a corner at Rist Camp ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
Here I go again. I just can't seem to help myself. Re: idiots to the left, idiots to the right, idiots all around (for this conversation, in the physical world, not the political one). I've even heard it said that idiots never die, they just lay in bed and multiply.
Case in point # 1: An individual on a photo site wrote an entry which stated unequivocably:
"As a pure camera, any version of an iPhone is laughable by current standards ... [I]t is a snapshot camera perfect for quick memories of kids or pets doing something cute ... [W]hat it really isn't is a camera suitable for photographs where the goal is printing, archiving or editing."
All things considered-especially the site on which the entry appeared (all hail the full frame or larger sensor)-perhaps the author might be better described as an arrogant idiot inasmuch as, iho, good photographs can be made only with the "best" gear. Or, with gear and technical tools that allow for the utmost control over the making thereof-in camera and post processing.
I could (and have) launch into a long and passionate response to this nonsense but, to keep it short and sweet, let me just write that this moron would most likely have been a member in good standing of the then photo establishment that labeled Robert Frank's pictures in his book, The Americans as "meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons, and general sloppiness." crap.
iMco, the reaction to Frank's pictures, as well as that of the aforementioned idiot's to iPhone photography, is instigated by one simple reason: those pictures-made with new and novel tools and techniques-are perceived as a threat to the critics thereof, both to their embrace of the current (then and now) photographic conventions and perhaps more importantly to their own smug feeling of superiority over the un-washed and un-enlightened picture making masses.
You know what I mean ... "How dare those impertinent bastards make good pictures without all of the blood, sweat and tears I put into the making of my picture and prints! Burn them at the stake!
Stay tuned for Case in Point #2.
sunlight ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
(Embiggenable) • iPhone
Back in 1969 Jay and the Americans released their version of This Magic Moment, a Top Ten / Golden Record recording. It stuck in my head long enough to think of it when I was reading a blog post suggesting the need for artist statements.
I have written my fair share of artist statements. For most of them, the words have flowed from my penny pencil like water from a ruptured damn. However, there have been a few for which the words were harder to find than a black cat in a coal bin. Perhaps, if I had taken a graduate course in artspeak writing and or narsissistic introspection, those hard ones might have been easier to pen.
In any event, I have been thinking about a new artist statement inasmuch as I have recently realized that, within my picture library, I have a goodly number of good pictures-made in the manner of the sunlight picture in this entry-which I should edit and organize into a new body of work. A heretofore unrecognized body of work that might be titled, window light.
Now, truth be written, I could-and maybe should-write a one-size-fits-all artist statement under the title of Discursive Promiscuity. That statement would state quite simply that I make pictures (fine art intention wise) of every and any thing when something pricks my eye and sensibilities. Most often instigated by what I perceive to be a visually interesting relationships of color, light, shapes, lines and the like which, when isolated within my frame and presented on the 2D field of a print, will make a visually interesting image.
It was while thinking about making such an artist statement, that the aforementioned song popped up in my head. I then looked up the lyrics and realized that, by scrambling a few lines about and adding a few words of my own, I could have a very viable one-size-fits-all artist statement ....
and then it happened
it took me by surprise
this magic moment
so different and so new
was unlike any other
I think you'll feel it too
So there you have it. I'll probably set it to the same music as the original song, record it and, instead of having a written artist statement at my next exhibition, I'll have a musical one. Could be the next big thing.
people with dogs tramping about at Buttermilk Falls ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
early evening sunlight ~ Harris Lake / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ4/3 @ 400mm f8
iMo, a photograph can accomplish 2 things. It can illustrate a referent and, in the best of cases, it can illuminate, not only the referent but also the totality of what is depicted within the frame imposed upon it by the picture maker. In fact, to illustrate and to illuminate are intimately connected in the same act. That is, to illustrate-in our case to photograqph-is to create an illustration-in our case a photograph-as an example of something (in the broadest sense) which most often is employed to elucidate, aka: illuminate, or prove something about that which is illustrated.
So, it seems very clear to me that people who engage in the act of making photographs are, in fact, illustrators who are creating illustrations of something in order to illuminate the visual characteristics / qualities of that something, most often to make a statement or prove something about that something.
Simple enough, no?
FYI / IN MEMORIUM One of the most influential photographers of the last century-albeit that that influence was based primarily on a single book-is dead. That photographer would Robert Frank and the book would be his book, The Americans. There is a good article in today's NY Times but that article is behind a paywall.