still life # 3 (made) / civilized ku # 4053 / ku # 1391 - f8 and be there

self portrait (click to embiggen)

soft Autumn light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

Whiteface / early snow ~ Wilmington, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

f8 and be there is a well known and time honored picture making adage and this entry's pictures are fine examples of that adage. Both pictures - excluding the self portrait - were the result of being there happenstance.

The soft Autumn light picture was made immediately - I knew the light would be fading quickly - after seeing the scene from my kitchen window as I was rinsing my lunch bowl. The Whiteface / early snow scene was encountered on a drive to pick up Hugo to transport him to hockey practice.

A person would have to be blind and/or without a camera to miss seeing and making a picture of the Whiteface / early snow dramatic scene. Recognizing the soft Autumn light scene as picture making opportunity requires that a picture maker be aware of / seeing the picturing potential to be found in the quotidian (non-dramatic) scenes that are encountered every day.

Here in the US of A (maybe in Canada as well) the original most interesting man in the world - his personality is so magnetic he can't carry credit cards - advising us to, "Stay thirsty, my friends", so we will drink Dos Equis beer. While I may not be the most interesting picture maker in the world, I would nevertheless advise you to, "Keep yours eyes open, my friends", so you are able to make good pictures.

still life # 2 (made) - sweepings

sweepings # 1

sweepings ~ the raw referents

sweepings ~ the raw referents

Much to the wife's complete and utter chagrin, I have been collecting floor sweeping for the day I would add to my sweepings body of working. A body of work which currently has just one picture (see above).

That written, the time has come to add pictures to the work inasmuch as a gallery is asking for submissions for a juried exhibition titled, still life. The gallery allows up to 5 submissions for a flat fee - more if one wants to pay more - so I would like to submit 5 sweepings pictures as a complete set.

I will be posting the results of my sweepings picture making endeavors as they unfold.

ku # 1390 / diptych 214 (Life Without the APA) ~ another nightmare

life without the APA # 10 ~ in my nightmares - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

present • nightmare future ~ Life Without the APA # 10 - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

In preparation for my upcoming exhibition, Life Without the APA, I was inspired to make another nightmare vision. This picture is a work-in-progress and it may/may not be included in the exhibition inasmuch as I have only a couple more days before the deadline for mounting / framing.

FYI, this picture is made by appropriating bits and pieces from pictures in my photo library from locations as diverse as Toronto - CA, New Hampshire, the Jersey Shore and, of course, the Adirondack PARK.

You can see all of the Life without the APA collection HERE

ku # 1389 / diptych # 213 ~ learning to talk the talk

autumn color ~ near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

autumn color ~ near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

Photography is a visual language inasmuch as a photograph is said (justly so) to be able to "speak" to the viewer of a photograph. Though a photograph emits no sound, nevertheless, like a written / spoken lanuage, a photograph can have the power to instigate / agitate / engage a viewer's intellect and emotions. In a very real sense, to start a conversation between the photograph and the viewer.

That written, the thoughts and feelings - often referred to as meaning - a photograph touches in a viewer is intrisically subjective since what a viewer receives from a photograph is, in most cases, primarily determined by what a viewer brings to his/her viewing experience. While, without a doubt, a photograph's visual content influences a viewer's eye and sensibilities, it is the viewer's expectations, experience, prejudices and his/her willingness to fully engage the photograph with an open mind that ultimately determine how a photograph "speaks" to him/her.

iMo, the best manner in which a viewer can expand his/her ability to "listen" to / "read" a photograph is to make a concerted effort to view as many photographs as possible to include as many photographic genres as possible. iMo, original photographic prints (and their close relative - high quality print reproductions in photo books) is the best / richest vehicle for expanding one's understanding of visual language. It is also Mo that learning how to "read" a photograph will be of great benefit to a picture maker inasmuch as understanding the visual lanuage to be found in a photograph (made by others) will help that picture maker with the use of that language his/her own picture making.

FYI, one of the best all-in-one-place resources for viewing a wide range of photographic genres (albeit virtual on a computer monitor) can be found on the Lenscratch Online Magazine resource page. And, surprise surprise, my favorite resource on that page is Square Magazine.

civilized ku # 4052 / ku # 1388 ~ simple / complex

lamp on radiator ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

Autumnal color cacophony ~ AU Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

The two most engaging powers of a photograph are to make new things familiar and
familiar things new ~ William Thackeray

ku # 1387 / diptych # 212 ~ it's "on the wall"

marsh / Lake Champlain ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

marsh tree / horse farm ~ Peru, NY / Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)

Despite the fact that I can write or talk about what it is that I am drawn to making pictures of and how I approach making those pictures - don't think, see and just shoot - (the why and the how) I rarely, if ever, write or talk about any meaning to be found in my pictures.

If I am ever asked to comment on why I think any of my pictures "work" (why a picture resonates with a viewer) in a visual or emotional / intellectual sense, I am inclined not to answer that question with words.

iMo, words and pictures are 2 distinctly different means of communication. Each "language" requires a different set of "tools" to understand what is being expressed. Even with the intelligent use of those "tools", words can be ambiguous and most photographs are intrinsically ambiguous. A picture's meaning - what the picture maker may be trying to express (if anything) beyond a picture's visual content - is subject(ive) to a viewer's personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. And that is precisely the way it should be.

None other than William Eggleston, when asked why his pictures "work", answered that he "has never been able to find the words" to answer that question. I suspect that feeling is shared by great number of picture makers because ...

As Paul Strand said when asked to define his pictures, "The answer is on the wall."

Civilized ku# 4051 / ku # 1386 ~ simple is as simple does

morning light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK

AM fog / East Branch Au Sable River ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK

Moving away from Japanese aesthetics and cultural paradigms, let me offer a few of my thoughts, re: making my pictures.

Simply stated, I am drawn to making pictures of mudane and ubiquitous details of life as found and seen as I move about the world around me. Many, if not most, of those details are not in and of themselves beautiful as commonly defined and understood in the classic definition of the word. However, I truly believe that I can make objects of beauty - photographic prints - through the employ of my ability to observe, record and present those referents which prick my eye and sensibilities. An ability which seems to me to be an innate / preternatural part of my being.

If you will, consider this picture making M.O. as an embrace of what is (as I see it). It is not a pursuit of perfection, neither in the characteristics of the referents I picture nor in my printed representation thereof. In my print making, I do strive for a certain level of "purity" of color for the purpose of presenting the pictured referent "as is" - inasmuch as the medium and its apparatus allow. In other words, to avoid amping up color in order to pretty things up.

At its most basic root level, I believe that picture making, Photographic Division, is all about the simple act of observation albeit with the open mind set of believing that everything can be fodder for a good picture.