civilized ku # 5065-67 ~ inbred preciosities

kids queue at the cow jumping fest ~ Jay, NY (embiggenable)

landscape / cityscape ~ near Au Sable Forks, NY / Ottawa, ONT. CA (embiggenable)

What makes a good/better/best landscape picture? Most - both picture makers and picture viewers - would think it to be a picture which has "... good technique, compelling composition, perfect light at the right time of day and a subject that sings..." although "... finding good light is the secret to successful landscapes, even more so than interesting subject matter" (both quotes taken from an online discussion, re: good landscape photography).

iMo, those prescriptions (aka: rules) are a good recipe for making really good, albethey formulaic, decorative/calender fodder landscape pictures. Nothing wrong with that but its just not my cup of tea. I want a little (or alot) more spice in my cup of photogratea.

What do I mean "spice"? Let's start with this from a 1953 amateur photography magazine in which the author wrote that picture makers must ...

"... learn to SEE ... we have come to look at things like everybody else does, or as outside influences have taught us to look." He urged picture makers to depend more on their "inner vision ... to see as nobody else does."

iMo, re: that idea, most landscape picture makers see as everybody else does. While their subject matter may differ - albeit always within the prescibed list of "good" subjects - to my eye and sensibilities their pictures all look the same. That is, the landscape as a well ordered - aka: "good" composition - and romantized - by means of "good" light - and idealized look at the (mostly) natural world. That's not spice, it's pablum.

Now, to be sure, every picture making genre has its "rules" and conventions. That includes the genre to which I subscribe, the snapshot aesthetic which typically features apparently banal everyday subject matter pictured in a haphazard manner - tilted horizons, cluttered "composition", no apparent regard for precise framing, and in many cases "flawed" techique and the like.

Robert Frank, with his 1958 book The American, is generally regarded as the originator of this aesthetic. However, in fact, true amateur snapshooters had been using the aesthetic for decades prior, they just didn't know that it was an aesthetic.

FYi, John Szarkowski, director of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art, was an early and enthusiastic promoter of the aesthetic, much to the chagrin, consternation and criticism of photography critics of that era. After all, who would want their pictures to look like the lowly snapshot?

Prior to Szarkowski, MOMA, in 1944, mounted an exhibition, The American Snapshot, in which 350 snapshots, culled from competitions and exhibitions sponsored by Eastman Kodak, were exhibited. Most reviewers of the exhibit asserted that the pictures "constituted the most vital, most dynamic, most interesting and worth-while photographic exhibition ever assembled by MOMA." The pictures were praised as being "without artistic pretensions ... coming nearer to achieving the stature of true art than any of the inbred preciosities in the museums's permanent collection..." and that the pictures were "honest, realistic, human and articulate."

And therein you have my idea of "spice" - pictures that are without artistic pretensions, that are honest, realistic, human and articulate; attributes which can be inexorably linked to any referent - everything in the world is picture worthy.

snapshots # 6-7 ~ what might have been

more from my parent's trip to Yellowstone (embiggenable)

railroad porter with ice cart

abandoned teepee gas station

As I was scanning old family snapshots I was looking for a date imprint on the prints to get an idea of when the pictures / prints were made. Back in the day, Kodak was given to doing date imprints but these prints were devoid of any such thing.

Then it dawned on me - these prints were made by my grandfather. And, mostly likely, he had processed the film from which they were made.

In another odd occurrence, much like growing up In Rochester and never giving a thought to photography, I never knew until after my grandfather's death that he was a avid/"serious" life-long amateur photographer. So much so that he even processed and printed color film at a time when the process was not exactly user friendly.

Makes me wonder what my picture making life might have been like if I had an earlier kickstart.

snapshots # 1-5 ~ the art of

from my parent's trip to Yellowstone

This entry is instigated by this entry by Doug Stockdale on his blog. You may want to read it first. My entry is my thoughts on Stockdale's quandry as articulated in his entry.

I have always been fascinated by "vintage" snapshots, both as found in my family's archive and those as found (and purchased) in curiosity shops. My fascination has also driven me to acquire the hardbound book The Art of the American Snapshot ~ 1888-1978 which was the catalog of the 2007 exhibition (of the same name) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The book's inside cover states:

... The Publication shows that among the countless snapshots taken by American amateurs, some works, through intention or accident, continue to resonate long after their intimate context and original meaning have been lost....

My thoughts exactly. And the book also makes an interesting case regarding that the snapshot "has also changed the history of fine art photography by the manner of its "distinctive subject matter and visual vocabulary". The book has 294 pages and is illustrated with 250 snapshots drawn from Robert Jackson's outstanding collection.

A CliffNotes version of Stockdales entry regarding whether he is an artist or a photographer stems from his creation and publication of a book of snapshots drawn from his family archive which is being rejected as a "photography" book inasuch as he did not make the pictures. Stockdale, who has published books of his straight photography, in this case considers the book to be his art. Hence, he been "accused" of being an artist, not a photographer.

iMo, although Stockdale doesn't state it in his entry, his am-I-an-artist-or-a-photographer? quandry is compounded by the fact that he is experimenting with applying effects to his original photography in order to "change the feeling" of the original picture. A practice which certainly not straight photography but much more of a Pictorialist approach.

All of that written, here's my take on it ...

A photographer is an artist who practices and employs the art of seeing in the cause of picturing the world as it is (inasmuch as the medium and its apparatus allow).

An artist who uses photography is generally regarded to be someone who employs some aspect of the photographic process in the making of a piece of artwork. In most cases, much like Stockdale's pictures with effects, the artwork is not intented to depict the world as it is but rather to create a piece of artwork which evinces the "hand of the artist".

When it comes to Stockdale's book of snapshots, iMo, he is neither a photographer nor an artist who uses photography. More than anything, he seems to be an artistic curator of photographic archives / artistic photographic archivist or some such nomenclature.

While Stockdale is bringing his photographer's eye and sensibilities to the editing and sequencing of his snapshot material, he is not, iMo, acting as a photographer nor as an artist who uses photography. One might even suggest that he is not making art at all but rather that he is practicing the craft of booking making. Although, iMo, there is an art to doing that.

where it all began - another history lesson

me / c.1967 ~ Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

benjo*  ~ Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

As promised in yesterday's entry, a true tale about how a photo contest help set me on a career as a photographer ...

I grew up with a very emphatic art bent. My medium was primarily pen / pencil illustration. By my high school years I was making a good deal of spare change doing Ed "Big Daddy" Roth-like illustrations - for friends and friends of friends - for use as school book covers, posters and the like. Some of my more "respectable" work was created for my high school literary magazine and the creation of workplace safety posters for a railway workers union.

It is very interesting to note that all of this art activity was conducted literally within sight of (if I walked to the top of the streeet on which I resided) the Big Yellow Box, aka: Kodak Corporate Headquarters. Strangely enough, at least to me, the idea of giving photography a whirl never once entered my mind nor was it suggested as an art pursuit. I never even visited the George Eastman House Museum which was within walking distance (albeit a mile or so) from my house.

In any event, after dropping out of school (for Architect studies) I was immediately drafted into the US Army - it was the height of the built up to the war in Vietnam. Long story short, after basic training I was, by pure dumb luck, sent to supply clerk training at the completion of which I was, again by pure dumb luck, assigned to be stationed in the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. All of which meant no infantry, no Vietnam and my chances for coming out of military service alive were vastly improved.

Upon my arrival in Okinawa Prefecture, I was immediately stripped of my supply clerk status and became, because of my Architect studies, an Army draftsman. Consequently, I was assigned to a Headquarter company where I worked at my drafting table in an air-conditioned office.

Being in a Headquarter company also meant that I was effectively exempted from marching up and down the square and a lot of other military stuff. All of which meant that my Army life was pretty much like, with the exception of a morning formation, having a civilian 8-to-5 job. No work on weekends and lots of free time to spend off base inasmuch as we headquarter types had our off base passes permanently parked in our back pockets.

And that's where it all began. Lots of free time and in a very foreign country (Eastern culture wise), what's person to do? Well, in Japan, you buy a camera and start making pictures. Fyi, in the local market cameras were cheap. In an Army PX they were even cheaper. And as a bonus, I discovered that, in the rec center, there was a photo lab where I could process and print my film. So, starting with my very first roll of film, I was not only shooting film but processing and printing it as well.

ASIDE At about this time I returned home, got married, returned with my then wife to Okinawa Prefecture where we took up residence in an off-base Japanese-style apartment (like the ones pictured above). Needless to write, we immersed oursleves in the local culture. End of ASIDE

Fast forward a few months - and keep in mind that I had been making pictures for just a few months - I came across an announcement for a US Army world-wide photo contest. Long story short again, I entered pictures in 3 categories and, at the local level, won all 3. Moving on to the all-Japan level, I again won in all 3 categories. At the next level, all-Pacific, I won in 1 category and runner up in the other 2.

All of that describes my introduction to photography and my rather immediate success. However, the next big step in my path to a career in photography came when the headquarter command Information Office photographer was transferred out without a replacement. Being young and brash and well aware of the adage that you never get what you don't ask for, I raised my hand and said, "I'll do it." Based upon my then very recent photo contest success, they said, "OK." So, I was stripped of my draftsman status and given the status of an official US Army photographer - training? I don't need no stinkin' training.

And there you have it. Within 6-8 months of picking up a camera, I had my first "job" as a photographer. Within weeks of that my pictures and picture stories - all made with the venerable Graphflex Speed Graphic with a Kodak lens (ironically, were both were made in my hometown of Rochester) were appearing in the regional Army newspaper. A few of those photo stories were picked up by Army Times (the world-wide Army newspaper). All of that without a single hour of training or education in photography. Fyi, I eventually convinved them to get me a Nikon.

After that, the rest, as they say, is history.

benjo - the Japanese word for "toilet". A very apt word that the Japanese used to describe what the pictured tidal river became when the tide went out. At the time when I was in Okinawa Prefecture there was no sewer system as we know it. All waste drained into waterway such as the one pictured. When the tide went out, it was very odor-rific.

civilized ku # 5048-51 (people) ~ making the most of it

she's got legs ~ (embiggenable)

belly laugh ~ (embiggenable)

contemplation ~ (embiggenable)

happy happy ~ (embiggenable)

clapping ~ (embiggenable)

Been away. Thursday last went to Hooksett, NH for a hockey tournament. Rented car in order to drive to Boston at 5:00AM Sunday to catch an 8:00AM flight to Philadelphia. Spent 12 hours on Sunday at a wedding - ceremony, reception, after -party, after after-party. Diner breakfast with in-laws on Monday AM then the 6.5 hour drive home where we arrived safe, sound and exhausted at around 7PM. Yesterday was devoted to R&R.

While at the wedding, I made some pictures, some of which were made by means of channelling my friend Mel's flash-on-camera shoot-from-the-hip - literally from the hip without the use of a viewfinder - B&W style of wedding photography. Although, I did take a few quick glances at the LED viewing screen.

Really like the results. It almost makes me want to attend more weddings. Almost, but not quite.

people ~ nothing hidden here

the wife on the wall ~ (embiggenable)

at the bar ~ (embiggenable)

Ann Marie ~(embiggenable)

the artist ~ (embiggenable)

Today is the deadline for submissions for consideration in the intimate Portraits juried exhibition. My intention was to submit just 1 picture, the wife on the wall (in situ), but, since the fee was $35US for up to 5 pictures, I submitted a few more.

As I previously wrote, I really don't believe that, as the jurist Joyce Tenneson wrote ..."A true portrait can never hide the inner life of its subject." Following on from that statement, Tenneson wrote that she was seeking "portraits that go beneath the surface to reveal aspects of the subject that usually remain hidden."

Label me a thick skulled doubter but I believe that a photograph can only capture a moment in time. Although some things might be intuited from the instigative properties of a photograph, the only thing that can be reasonably discerned about a pictured person is what he/she has allowed and manifested to be made visible at the time of the picture's making. Anything else is speculative conjecture.

Case in point ... Edward Steichen's portrait of J. P. Morgan about which Steichen commented ...

Over the years people have referred to the insight into Morgan's real character that I showed by photographing him with a dagger in his hand. But this was their own fanciful interpretation of Morgan's hand firmly grasping the arm of the chair.

It should be understood that none of the preceeding is meant to state that a portrait can not tap into universal human characteristics - anger, fear, sadness, compassion, arrogance, joy, et al. On display in Morgan's portrait are a steely-eyed stare and forceful grip on the arm of a chair from which it could be correctly deduced that the man possessed an imposing, agressive, ruthless and powerful presence. However, those characteristics were not something that Morgan kept hidden. He forcefully projected those characteristics throughout his life - nothing "hidden" there.

All of that written, I did not feel that I had any portraits/pictures of people which revealed anything "hidden" about a person. So, I made my choices based upon selecting pictures in which a person projected a "presence" (which I captured). A presence which engages a viewer and causes them to think that they might like to get to know more about the person depicted.

Whether or not that trope "works" for the juror remains to be seen.

diptych # 216 / civilized ku # 5039 ~ dreaming it / living it

hotel dreaming it / rink living it ~ Amherst, NY (embiggenable)

New York State U12 Champion ~ Amherst, NY (embiggenable)

Been away with Hugo, his dad and the wife for 4 days in Amherst, NY to attend the New York State U(under)12 Championships tournament which, we are happy to report, Hugo and teammates won. The event was both fun and stressful - 1 must-win game to make it out of our bracket pool round, 1 overtime win in the semifinals and the big win in double overtime in the championship game.

The win in the semifinal game was especially sweet inasmuch as we beat Hugo's hometown team (Hugo plays for a team located an hour away). The hometown team, which desperately wanted to beat Hugo, was loaded with his classmates and good friends. With the win, Hugo is having a much better day in school today than he would otherwise have had.

civilized ku # 5034 ~ a conceit

While I was contemplating what picture to submit for consideration for a juried exhibition, Intimate Portraits, I read the following quote from the jurist, Joyce Tenneson ...

A true portrait can never hide the inner life of its subject. It is interesting that in our culture we hide and cover the body, yet our faces are naked. Through a person’s face we can potentially see everything — the history and depth of that person’s life as well as their connection to an even deeper universal presence.

Which led me to think about what the Greek god Hermes - from the book The Infintites - had to say about the subject. Or, more accurately, not about the subject per se but rather applicable to it ...

He knew, of course, the peril of confusing the expression of something with the thing itself, and even he sometimes went astray in the uncertain zone between the concept and the thing conceptualized: even he, like me, mistook sometimes the manifest for the essence.

The quote by Hermes - not an actual quote, of course - is one of many from the book The Infinites which I had earmarked for use on this blog. Quotes which, iMo, while not intended to specifically address the medium of photography and its apparatus, are applicable to it. It was by coincidence that I came across the Tenneson quote so soon on the heels of reading the Hermes quote.

iMo, and I am by no means alone in harboring it, the idea that a photograph, no matter how true it might be to the depicted referent and moment of its making, can not see everything — the history and depth of that person’s life or any other depicted referent. A photograph may indeed suggest a relationship to a commonly held truth but even that manifestation is primarily the construct of a viewer's interpretation of the photograph.

Now it should be noted that I have always liked most of Joyce Tenneson's pictures, especially her flower pictures. However, that written, and try as I might, I feel that I know very little about the depth of the depicted people's lives in her portraits other that which is projected by those people at the moment of the portrait making and as seen on the shallow surface of the photographic print.

Without a doubt, her portraits depict visually apparent manifestations of human characteristics of dignity, strength, warmth, wisdom, weariness and other human traits. However, while these depictions of character may be considered to suggest a life-long attribution of those traits for the person depicted, they are incapable, especially so in a single picture of a singular moment, of informing the viewer of the complex make up and history of a human's life. iMo, to suggest otherwise is an extreme conceit* on the part of the picture maker.

Re: the picture of a picture in this entry. I consider that picture to be one of the best, if not the best, picture I have made of the woman affectionately referred to as "the wife" on this blog. In that picture the wife is depicted as a person in the throes of a happy moment but I feel that I have captured something more than just a passing moment of happiness / pleasure ...

... there is something in her look (at my camera and me) that goes beyond the moment depicted. Although, it is possible that only I see. that something-extra look in her eyes and demeanor. However, even if you the viewer see it as well, I can state unconditionally that you do not know the history and depth of her life.

Unless she were to write a biography in which she "revealed all" or unless you lived in my shoes, how could you know the history and depth of her life. I mean, hell, I'm married to her and even I don't know the "depth" of the her history or life. I know a lot but I don't pretend to know everything.

While much about the wife could be assumed or conjectured upon the basis of this picture of a solitary moment, it would be something approaching pure folly to confuse the expression of something with the thing itself.

*A conceit which it might be necessary to maintain when one is asking $10,000 for a portrait. sitting

ADDENDUM:That's the wife in the center picture, not the top picture.

Hello, World!