# 6153 / commonplaces ~ the eye traffics in feelings

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“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking seeing what no one else has ever thought seen.” ~ Albert Einstein

IN MY LAST ENTRY I PRESENTED A QUOTE FROM MR. EINSTEIN which I adapted-striking out his words and inserting my own-to make his thought more applicable to the making of photographs. I did so cuz Einstein trafficked in thinking, albeit very imaginative thinking (according to him, imagination is more important than knowledge), whereas, according to Walker Evans…

“The eye traffics in feelings, not thoughts.” ~ Walker Evans

I believe, wholeheartedly, that thinking in situ while picturing is antithetical to the pursuit of creative picture making. Rather, relying upon an instinctive feeling-knowledge guided by experience and an understanding of how you see the world-about what to picture and how to picture it-is a much more productive manner in which to foster creative seeing.

And seeing is what picture making is all about cuz photography is a visual art form. iMo, the best photographs are those that excite the eye-the visual senses-not the intellect (aka: the feeling destroying search for meaning). Therefore, in the pursuit of making pictures which excite the eye (creative pictures), a picture maker’s focus should be, in fact, must be, be directed toward the seeing and feeling of the visual characteristics of what is in front of his/her eye and camera. Then intuitively sensing / feeling how those visual elements, when isolated (framing) and arranged (POV)-as determined by when they just feel “right” as seen on a picturing device’s viewing screen-will work when spread across the 2D field of a photographic print.

While the preceding paragraph might seem to be a bit on the heavy side, prescription wise, in fact, to the practiced and knowledgeable eye, the awareness and implementation of such prescription is nearly instantaneous and intuitive-no thinking required-at the moment of picture making.

All of the above written, for me and as it applies my picture making, creativity springs from my understanding of how I see the world (literally, my vision) and how that vision directs my picture making (figurative) vision. That knowledge-and my trust, re: what pricks my eye and sensibilities, thereof-frees me from having to think about what to picture-the world is my oyster-and how to picture it-quite simply, as I see it. Consequently, I am able, picture making wise, to free associate (an aid in gaining access to the unconscious processes of creativity) in response to what I see.

# 6148-52 / common places / things • kitchen sink ~ what is creativity?

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“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking seeing what no one else has ever thought seen.” ~ Albert Einstein

“One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. It must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others.” ~ John Szarkowski

I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO WRITE AN ENTRY ABOUT the idea of creativity. I haven’t done so cuz, as is my wont, I have been researching the writing of others on the subject and come to the conclusion that it is plenty easy to go down a rabbit hole on the subject. Notions on the subject range from obtuse psycho mohbo-jumbo to just plain ill-informed nonsense.

I have no desire to contribute to that mess but I do have a few thoughts on the subject. Over the next few entries I’ll spew of them out for consideration.FYI, be forewarned, most of my ideas are concerned with creativity as it applies to the of making pictures that are instigated by the desire to create Fine Art (as opposed to decorative art).

# 6146-47 / common places • kitchen sink ~ there is plenty left to do

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I AM FOLLOWING, WITH MORE THAN A MODICUM OF INTEREST, Mike Johnston’s new-found embrace of the “modern miracle” known as the iPhone camera module. After years of expressing his thoughts-based upon the use of vastly outdated iPhone camera modules-re: iPhone / smartphone picture making capabilities, he has now arrived in the future with his acquisition of a new iPhone 13 Pro. Whereupon he is now waxing, if not poetically, wondrously about the the iPhone’s capabilities, most notably the Night Mode, declaring it to be…gasp….superior in that regard to a “real” camera. In addition to Mike’s enthusiastic response to the iPhone’s picture making capabilities, the TOP comment-ariat are chiming in with endorsements as well.

All well and good, but only up to a point. That point being the application of George Eastman’s early marketing slogan of, “You push the button, we do the rest” wherein it is being suggested that after you push the “button” on an iPhone, the camera module’s AI does the rest. To which I respond, “Bull shit.”

To be perfectly clear, I have been an iPhone picture maker, almost exclusively, for the past 3+ years and I would be amongst the last to deny that the iPhone picture making AI handles a remarkable number of “difficult” picture making scenarios very well. However…

iMo, based upon my expansive use of the iPhone camera module, I can write that the picture making AI has one significant flaw-at least for those seeking to capture a realistic rendition of the light found in wide range of picturing situations-that being that the AI software developers seem to think that all the world’s a kodachrome-like sunny day complete with nice bright colors. A “flaw” that I am quite certain makes the average non-”enthusiast” picture maker very happy. Me, not to so much.

That written, the iPhone picture making AI does not always get it perfectly right. Close, maybe, but not perfect. I find that, to get the results I am am seeking, I do as much processing work-corrections and adjustments-on an iPhone picture file as I have done in the past on a “real” camera picture file. Although, it can be written that much of that works is less “extreme” on iPhone files than on “real” camera files. In that regard, and Mike has it right, go can go very “deep” in making adjustments / corrections with iPhone files, even with jpegs. The files are remarkably rich in information.

The diptych in this entry is a good example of my point. The file from the iPhone displays a result typical of that made on an overcast day-with any picture making device-wherein a prominent referent in the pictutre is in the shaded area of the scene. It takes more than a simple adjustment of the color balance slider to balance the color balance for the both the shaded area and the non-shaded area in the scene. (FYI, I got the color balance “right” by making color adjustments in LAB color space. I never touched the color balance adjustment slider.) In addition, global and selective area contrast and brightness adjustments were made. And, is almost always the case with iPhone files, a bit of color saturation adjustments were applied, both globally and on selective colors.

All of the above written, I just wanted to bring a bit of reality to the wonders of the iPhone picture making capabilities. Those capabilities are impressive but no one should think that the end of image file processing days are over. After you push the “button” there is plenty of the rest for you do.

# 6145 / kitchen sink ~ can't help myself

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ON THE PREVIOUS ENTRY, RE: TAKING MY GOOD FRIEND UP TO THE POINT WHERE HE might pee his pants, Geoff (thanks for the comment) asked:

“How do you know when your friend has (almost) reached that point - going beyond it could mean a difficult 'deep clean' of the upholstery?”

I know at the point when my friend starts making unintelligible noises that sound like a screeching barnyard animal. Then I know that it is time to dial back the speed and lateral g-forces. In any case, I don’t worry about having to deep clean the upholstery cuz he’s an old guy-mid-70s-and I just assume he wears “adult” underwear. But, enough of that, back to photography stuff…

There are times when the voice in my head says, “Enough already with the kitchen sink pictures.” Although, it is possible that the voice might just be repeating what I sometimes think that the wife is whispering in my ear when I’m asleep.

Regardless, in either case, I sometimes think that the voice might just have a point. That is, right up until the point I am standing in front of the sink and, once again, there is something going on in there that my eye and sensibilities will not let me ignore. And, despite the voice in my head, I have come to believe that ending my kitchen sink picture making ain’t gonna happen.

In fact, I am at peace with the idea that, if the gods of photography forced me to only make kitchen sink pictures for the rest of my picture making-days, I would be very OK with that restriction. Fortunately for me, there has been no such decree. But if there were to be, I could rest easy knowing that every day there will be a new arrangement-not all are picture worthy-in the sink.

Of course, there is a fly in the ointment, called the wife. Cuz, no matter what the photography gods might decree, if the wife ever decides to make sure the kitchen sink were to be kept spotless, I’d be screwed.