civilized ku # 5121 / the new snapshot # 171-72 ~ losing track of time

camera bag / morning light ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ/4/3

camera bag / morning light ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ/4/3

school building B&B ~ Ogdensburg, NY (embiggenable) • iPhone

Chimney Bluffs ~ Lake Ontario near Sodus Bay, NY (embiggenable) • iPhone

Busy 3 days - Friday to Rochester for 1 dinner with brothers and Sos > Saturday, 1 breakfast with brothers and Sos then to Canton, NY for 1 hockey game then on to Odensburg to funky B&B in old school > Sunday to Ottawa for 1 hockey game then on to home.

810 miles, 30 new pictures. Kinda tired today but busy getting ready for my first iPhone/cell phone picturing workshop tomorrow night.

civilized ku # 5120 / testing ~ RAW files from an iPhone

my Adirondack chair ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • iPhone

made from RAW files, shot and processed on the iPhone

I am trying to walk a fine line between keeping it simple, re: the new snapshot iPhone picturing, and making it more complex - hence, less snapshotish. However, I am also pursuingthe idea of getting max quality out of iPhone picture files.

That pursuit has led me to shooting RAW format with the iPhone. Yes, you read it right, I am shooting RAW with the iPhone. Thanks to an app, Musecam, which takes over the iPhone camera allowing it to record RAW files. The files must be processed using the Musecam app although Snapseed has RAW processing as well.

The diptych above illustrates a few first attempts with RAW processing on the iPhone. The pictures were not made under ideal circumstances, light wise, but they demonstrate some interesting results.

More on this subject as my experimentation continues.

civilized ku # 5119 / the new snapshot # 170 ~ more freebies

autumn colors ~ in the Adirondack APRK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

autumn color ~ in the Adirondack APRK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

After yesterday's entry in which I pondered the problem of what to do with what might be considered an excessive number of prints made from my photo library, I stumbled across a possible, at least in part, solution.

As I was clicking around the Parabo Press site looking for an inexpensive possibility for hanging large prints, I landed on their booking making section. And, lo and behold, in addition to their free-forever 4"x4" (upsizeable to 5.5"x5.5") square prints, they also offer a free soft cover "5.5"x5.5" photobook (upsizeable to 8"x8"). The pictures - no more or less than 32 pictures - are printed on premium matte paper.

To be perfectly clear, you have no controal over picture flow and there are but 4 layout options (captions optional). That written, the 1 picture on a clean white pape option is perfect for my intentions. Since I am using the service for my the new snapshot work, the random picture flow also works well for me.

So, here I sit eagerly awaiting my first 2 free books. I'll let you know the results.

civilized ku #5118 / the new snapshot # 168-69 ~too much of a good thing?

stop for pedestrians in crosswalk ~ Saranac Lake,NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

cat in window ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) •iPhone

copper lamp shade ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) •iPhone

Is it possible to make too many pictures? In my case, I think the answer is yes. Or, as my father used to say, "You have more _______ than Carter has Liver Pills." - in this case, pictures. What this too-many-pictures thing means for me is that I feel a print making binge coming on.

A print making binge will spawn yet another too-many situation - too many prints, not enough wallspace. Since the building of a new house with acres of empty wallspace is not in my future, I am left with a not-enough (wallspace) dilemma - to print or not to print, that is the question.

"To print" is my answer. Why? Because I am transfixed by the come-to-life transformative effect I experience when viewing a print of my one of my pictures as opposed to the lack thereof when viewing the same picture on a screen.

For me, a picture in printed form seems to come alive as a real thing, an object in and of itself. I can actually touch it and hold it in my hand. It has a tactile surface and weight. I can actually hand it to another person to have and to hold. And, as opposed to the pictures in frames hanging on my walls, I can take prints with me wherever I go....

....just like a few weeks ago when I took a batch of Parabo 5"x5" prints (+/- 40 prints) to a big birthday party (+/- 60 people)in Brooklyn. They were the hit of the party. Not just with family, but also with people I didn't even know and who weren't necessarily connected to what the pictures depicted. People spent significant time with the pictures, in some cases passing them around and making comments to each other (or me) - especially how "cool" there were - as they went through them.

So, I guess therein is my answer, re: what to do with a lot of prints. Print them small, snapshotish small if you will, and leave them sitting around the house for viewing - like the 400 free prints from Shutterfly seen below - or take them with me whenever the mood strikes me.

civilized ku # 5117 / the new snapshot # 166 ~ good advice: don't take pictures

pocket park / trees ~ NYC, NY (embiggenable) • µ4/3

vintage Hercules Tourist bicycle (from England) ~ in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable) • µ4/3

There are number of websites, those which are often labeled as magazines, that I follow on a regular basis. Most showcase the work of an individual picture maker with a sampling of pictures gleaned from a body of their work.

Unfortunately, re: my eye and sensibilities, most sites are predominately slanted toward the academic / PHD ways of making pictures. Pictures which are heavily weighted on expressing personal psychological self-analysis. Or, what Bill Jay once described as artists speaking out of their own assholes.

Most of the practioners of making such pictures are very adept at writing artspeak BS artist statements. However, if a photograph is worth a thousand words, these photographs require at least a thousand written words in order to try to understand what they are about. And, for most part, the pictures themselves are very rarely visually compelling.

However, one site which is focused more on the visual, rather than arcane personal self-analysis, is DON'T TAKE PICTURES. On their ABOUT page their raison d'etre states:

... Over the years, the term “taking pictures” has begun to be replaced with “making photographs.” The change signifies a distinction between the widespread use of cameras in the modern world and the more systematic, thoughtful process of creating photographic art. At Don’t Take Pictures, we strive to celebrate the creativity involved with the making of photographs.

In light of the selections made by Kat Kiernan, the curator/editor of DON'T TAKE PICTURES, in a juried exhibition, Celebrating the Creative Process, it seems rather obvious that the visual content of a picture is rather paramount to Kiernan. In addition to the selections she made, her Jurors' Statement goes on to support that notion....

When jurying this exhibition, I sought works that embraced the idea of photographing with intention and of carefully considering the elements of each image. This exhibition contains imagery in which the photographer meticulously transformed an idea in their mind into a final print. Some of these photographs reflect careful planning. Others rely on choices made in the moment when light, composition, and movement came together for one fraction of a second, just long enough for a photographer with carefully honed instincts to frame and record.

Kiernan's phrase ...works that embraced the idea of photographing with intention and of carefully considering the elements of each image says it all for me. iMo, it is refreshing to read a statement about picture making which emphasizes the visual content rather than the concept (concept as fetishized by the academic/PHD crowd).

It should go without writing but ... I am delighted and pleased that one of pictures from my picture window body of work was selected by Kat Kiernan for the exhibition ....

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