still life # 5 (made) + 4 different still life modus Operandi ~ variety is the spice of life

still life (click to embiggen)

still lifes / made ~ (click to embiggen)

Re: upcoming submissions to the juried exhibition, Still Life: The Ordinary Made Extraordinary.

After rooting around in my picture library -7363 pictures and counting - I have decided to submit 5 still life pictures, created with different visual signatures, rather than making 4 new sweepings pictures and submitting them as a body of work. The premise for 5 visually different pictures is, why put all my eggs in one picture basket?

FYI, re: the squares / squared image - (top left) still life with dramatic light and shadow halo effect, (top right) classic still life on white with soft light, (bottom left) still life from my series of flowers scanned on my flatbed scanner - no camera involved, (bottom right) a "found" still life albeit slighty arranged to suit my eye and sensibilities.

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