diptych # 58 ~ frozen in place ....

Ice storm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen.... literally frozen in place.

We're in the grip of category IV (of V) ice storm. Although, here in The Forks, we're straddling the weather line between nasty and really nasty. Just 10 miles to the north, the storm is much more severe than in The Forks - State of Emergency, travel restrictions, power outages, etc.

But, here's the thing re: travel restrictions - currently, the advisory is for no unnecessary driving. However, my idea of necessary driving during inclement weather is heading out in our AWD vehicle and doing donuts and 4-wheel drifts around corners and curves.

And, seriously, what better time to do so than during driving restriction conditions? The roads are slippery and virtually everyone else heeds the advisory and stays off the roads which means no slow pokes to get in the way and clog things up - not to mention the diminished possibility of a head-on collision (due, no doubt, to the driving error of others).

That written, I won't be heading out today for a couple reasons: 1) it would take a blowtorch or buckets of hot water to open the car door, and, 2) we're starting a fire in our conjugal bed to keep us nice and warm on an icy cold winter day.

diptych # 48 ~ plucking notes

Porches and signs of autumn ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenI came across an interesting essay / book review on Jörg M. Colberg's Conscientious Photography Magazine website regarding Petra Wittmar's Medebach 2009 - 2011 book / pictures.

In the interest of complete disclosure, picture viewing bias wise, let me write that both Colberg's opinions regarding Wittmar's pictures and the pictures themselves are well within the wheel house of my picture viewing preferences of that which constitutes and defines good / interesting work. To be certain, not the only type / genre of picture preferences in my wheel house, but one that ranks in upper reaches of my picture making / viewing hierarchy.

That written, here are some excerpts from Colberg's essay:

.... If you look at photography to get first and foremost entertained, to get a quick and easy thrill, then it’s incredibly unlikely that Medebach is your cup of tea. It’s incredibly likely you will find these photographs “boring" .... I vehemently reject the correlation between a lack of visual drama and something being boring. Phrased alternatively, photographs with a lot of visual drama can still be incredibly boring, while the most minimalist pictures can contain large amounts of wonder (however you want to define that “wonder”) ....

.... The photographer’s approach...conforms to what most non-Germans typically think of as “German photography”: Carefully organized and seemingly distanced from its subject matter, using muted colours .... The photographs’ compositions are carefully considered, allowing the viewer to study the images carefully, looking for traces of what might be going on here.

No surprise, I'm in complete accord with those general thoughts and opinions. However, in an even more specific manner, I also agree with Colberg's thoughts and opinions on the depicted referents:

.... Given that so many of us live in places that have a Medebach feel to them (ed. - "dreariness, neatness", and the lack of "any kind of visual drama") – isn’t America’s Suburbia an even more extreme form of Medebach? – why would we want to look at pictures of them, when all we’d have to do is to look out of the window? For a start, we usually tend to not engage with the places we live in all that deeply. We do not look outside of the bubbles of our homes ....

One of the types of pictures which I especially like to look at (and "study" / contemplate) are those made by picture makers in relatively close proximity to their home environment - a referent with which they are very familiar and know in a manner that the casual observer / visitor does not. I consider the resultant pictures to be a visual form of insider information - perhaps more appropriately labeled as "in"sight - which, in the best of cases, imparts a very personal way to see a place / thing / people / event.

A manner of picture making which Colberg describes quite well:

As a photographic artist, you pluck certain notes from the world, and you then let those notes work together, to create your own sound.

IMO, hearing or being attuned to those "sounds" made by others can help one to be better attuned to the notes found his/her own world and consequently enable him/her to make their own very personal (and melodic) sounds.

civilized ku # 2613 ~ singled out

Parking lot fall color ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2612 ~ better than the sum of its individual parts

Backyard view from bedroom porch ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenOne of my first reactions to yesterday's award notification was an affirmation of my long held belief of, if you want to create anything of lasting substance / note with your picture making, the absolute best way to do it, is with series of pictures in a focused body of work.

That conviction, and the fact that I don't believe picture / art making is a competitive sport, is why I have never really been a fan of photo competitions which, for the most part, are mainly single greatest-picture events. The idea of concentrating on making one-off stand-alone greatest pictures is, IMO, the antithesis of good picture making.

Be that as it may, I am prepping for a full out assault on a portion of the gallery world. In doing so, I am working on how to best present my work - that is, all of my individual bodies of work - online to that world. Obviously, online presentation is not the only way to do it so I'm putting together printed folios and books of my work as well. Re: the online presentation - I am exploring a couple of gallery creation / hosting services, one of which can be viewed here - take note of the autumn colors • 2013 album/series. It is a continuation of the single picture in this entry.

Feedback on the viewbook format / look / presentation would be appreciated.

diptych # 47 ~ tone it down a notch or two

A sign of things to come ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenAutumn color is so much more than, as they are at times referred to in these here parts, "flaming leaves". Although, to be fair, in a marketing application that nomenclature does draw in the leaf peepers and their $$$$$ like flies on stink.

However, as anyone familiar with the landscapist knows, I don't get off on screaming color, or, for that matter, dramatic romanticized landscapes. That's simply because I am much more appreciative of the finer things - finer, as in: delicate, subtle, or sensitive in quality, perception, or discrimination - in life and art, as opposed to the strum und drang ethic - the aim of shocking an audience or imbuing them with extremes of emotion - of over-the-top picture making intentions, very often pursued and accomplished by the use of the Hue & Saturation slider to the max.

That written, it's also worth pointing out that those familiar with the landscapist have read, on quite a number of ocassions, the previous sentiment in various guises / presentations - some might even inclined to opine, ad nauseam.

Nevertheless, it a personal preference shared by many and well worth repeating for those wishing to move beyond pretty picture making and into the picturing world of making pictures of expressive consequence. In that regard I am in complete agreement with Robert Adams:

... I suspect that there will be those who will put the new technology to respectful use ... We know from experience that the pictures we treasure, the ones that sustain us, are independent of fashion. Sometimes it helps to be reminded, for courage.

diptych # 46 ~ an affection for life

Autumn views ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

Landscape pictures can offer us, I think, three verities - geography, autobiography, and metaphor. Geography is, if taken alone, sometimes boring, autobiography is frequently trivial, and metaphor can be dubious. But taken together, as in the best work .... the three kinds of information strengthen each other and reinforces what we all work to keep intact - an affection for life. ~ Robert Adams

Geography = on High Peaks Golf Course / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK. Autobiography = me, what I see and how I see it. Metaphor = an affection for all things life, matter how commonplace.

ku # 1276 ~ the last hurrah

Harris Lake / Santanoni Mountain sunset ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAutumn has arrived and presented us with a wonderful going away gift during our last night at Rist Camp.

civilized ku # 2606 / ku # 1275 ~ if haste makes waste, what does waste make?

Apples in tree / on ground ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Apples in bowl ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhen the wife and I arrived at Rist Camp, it would have been impossible to ignore the apple trees - long unattended - behind the camp. Some apples had fallen on the ground and our main concern was to park the cars in spots where apples wouldn't fall on them. Eating them was not even on the radar.

Fast forward to my good friend Robert - a professional chef in NYC - showing up and what appeared to the wife and me as "bad apples" turned into some very galumptious applesauce. During the same week as Robert's visit, the wife's good friend, Ann (from Denver), was also visiting and, lo and behold, the next thing we know we're all savoring some of her equally galumptious apple crisp made from the same "bad apples".

Just goes to show how there are some amongst us who have the vision to turn shit into shinola.