ku # 822 / civilized ku # 720 ~ Autumn color # 38

Stream ~ NYS Rt. 28 near Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 718 / ku # 822 ~ Autumn color # 35, 36

Rainbow over Rock Island ~ Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Rainbow over Rock Island ~ Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ku # 821 ~ Autumn color # 34

Micro-burst blow down LARGE ~ 5 Ponds Wilderness Area - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Micro-burst blow down SMALL ~ 5 Ponds Wilderness Area - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen15 years, ago an extremely powerful, violent, and destructive storm swept through the NW corner of the Adirondack PARK. The relatively brief storm downed thousands of trees covering over one million acres in the Adirondacks - the result of quite a number of microbursts. The area pictured above was the sight of one of the microbursts.

A few months after the storm, The Cinemascapist and The Landscapist set out to spend a few days backpacking in the 5 Ponds Wilderness Area. Unbeknownst to them, the area pictured above was a mere 1/2 mile from the trailhead and it was totally impassable - hundreds of mature trees were stacked like match sticks in a jumbled tangle that was 8-15 feet high. Scrambling to the top of the pile (at its western end), the pair realized that continued passage was not going to happen. So, they turned around and headed for a different area of the PARK.

FYI, The Landscapist was so utterly dumbstruck by the sight that, even though he had 2 cameras on his person, not a single picture was made. It should also be noted that The Cinemascapist wasn't interested in picture making at all at that time.

And, BTW, (r-l) that's The Cinemascapist, my ex wife, Hugo, the wife, and The Cinemascapist's the wife looking on in the above picture.

civilized ku # 714 / ku # 821 ~ Autumn color # 28, 29

Sunset ~ The Hedges, Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Blue Mountain ~ Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAt the very end of a very rainy and overcast day, the sky cleared just as the sun was setting. The entire landscape and sky turned red.

civilized ku # 712 ~ Autumn color # 26

Morning fog and mist ~ Oswegatchie River / Wanakena, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenSunrise and morming mist/fog overlooking the Oswegatchie River and The Pinecone Restaurant.

ku # 820 ~ Autumn color # 20

Roadside tree ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenToday is moving day as we make our way from Blue Mountain Lake to Cranberry Lake and the tiny village of Wanakena. I'll be very surprised if we have any internet access so this may be the last post until Sunday.

ku # 811-19 ~ Autumn color #s , 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Silver Lake Bog Preserve in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 2 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 3 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 4 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 5 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 6 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 7 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 8 • click to embiggen
Silver Lake Bog Preserve # 9 • click to embiggenAs one might expect of the Twig Photographer, I felt like I was pretty much in twig heaven this past Saturday. The wife, the girl FKA coma girl (home from college for a visit), and I visited / walked the Silver Lake Bog Preserve.

The bog preserve is a short 8-10 mile drive from our house and I must say, if there is a more bio-diverse habitat on the planet (check out picture # 2 as an example)- in such as small area along a 1/2 mile boardwalk through the bog - I haven't seen it. FYI, there must be hundreds of such bogs in the Adirondack PARK.

ku # 806-10 ~ more autumn color #s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

A tree ~ ruralsouthern Quebec, CA • click to embiggen
Signs of autumn ~ rural southern Quebec, CA • click to embiggen
Signs of autumn ~ rural southern Quebec, CA • click to embiggen
Signs of autumn ~ rural southern Quebec, CA • click to embiggen
Signs of autumn ~ rural southern Quebec, CA • click to embiggenYesterday, during our drive to Montreal for dinner and a hockey game - see the following entry - we were traversing the southern Quebec countryside, an area that is comprised almost entirely of farmlands. We always pass through this area on our way to Montreal as a result of crossing the border by way of a very small border crossing that is located on a small country road. This little detour gets us away from the heavily traveled and often congested interstate crossing. And, as an added benefit, we get to see some very nice rural countryside.

My intention has always been to picture this area but it seems that we are always hustling along and I have never taken the time to stop and smell the roses ... or the dirt and manure. However, this time through, we had a little extra time so the wife sat patiently in the car while I dicked around making some pictures. One of these days I'm gonna head up there solely for the purpose of making pictures.

In any event, I would like to address a comment from Markus Spring on the decay # 39 ~ it made the cut entry (which addressed the picture, Without the APA, found in this entry):

... with the explanation the image makes perfect sense, meaning I get "it" - and now the components of the image suddenly fall in place ... [W]hat interests me in the photographical context is, that I needed a textual explanation for this image - even the title didn't suffice - and this opens up the question, if, what type and how much content can be transported in a work of art .... [T]he fine balance between readability and complexity at least in this image was not there for me unless I got to reading the text.

First, let me say "Shame on me" for not introducing a new series / body of work without including at least a very abbreviated artist statement. Here on The Landscapist, I have repeatedly advocated for the value of the artist statement, a much maligned notion in much of the picture-making world - at least amongst the "amateur" segment where it is considered that a picture that "needs" words is a "failure".

IMO, if all one is interested in in his/her picture-making is making pictures that are the equivalent of rudimentary learning-to-read texts, like see Spot dick Jane, then perhaps words aren't "needed" to convey only the simplest of ideas. No words works well for most "amateurs" inasmuch as all they are interested in saying/conveying is "WOW".

However, a picture maker, who makes pictures that deal with more complex thoughts / ideas / notions / et al, often employs the artist statement to, at the very least, give picture viewers a clue to not only what it is that drives his/her desire to make pictures but also to what it is he/she is saying. Please take note of the word "clue" in the preceding sentence by which I did not mean an artist statement that tells the viewer what or how to think about his/her pictures.

Re: the artist statement, consider this from Brooks Jensen:

Lots of photographers will claim that a photograph that needs a caption is an inferior photograph. This is silly and denies the obvious fact that all photographs are made, seen and interpreted against a social background that influences their appreciation and understanding.

And therein lies my defense (rather lame, but applicable nevertheless) against my failure to provide the "explanation", re: Without the APA - no one/very few in my neck of the (Adirondack) woods would lack the "social background" to understand, if not appreciate, the Without the APA picture. Just the initialism "APA" is enough to set temperatures rising, tempers flaring, and tempests in a tea(bagger)pot steaming.

That said, in that defense lies the self-evident and obvious importance of the artist statement - not everyone who views my pictures are from my neck of the geographic woods, much less from my neck of the emotional / intellectual / political woods.