ku # 796 ~ water lily pond

Pond with water lilies ~ near Elizabethtown ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

some ku, some civilized ku, and some thoughts

Wild flowers and low fence ~ Lake Placid Resort GC - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Water hazard ~ Westport GC - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Mall parking lot ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Young woman sipping ~ at The Cottage - Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Golden light / clouds after rain ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Crab apples ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Assorted crap ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThere are times when, at the end of the week, I have collected quite a number of pictures (made during that week) that I have not been able to post as separate entries. That is to state, pictures in addition to ones that I have made that week and posted in that week's entries. Over time I have NOT posted a large number of pictures that have disappeared down that particular hole.

So, in attempt to rectify that situation, I have decided to post an end-of-the-week/weekend entry that is just the pictures (and a few words) that are "left over" from that week's picture making.

As always, I am very interested in comments, re: the pictures. As a matter of fact, I am considering moving to a more picture/few words oriented format - maybe, maybe not, depending upon what I have to say on any given day. Part of the reason for that possibility is the fact that over the years, - yes, years - that I have been doing The Landscapist, I (with reader comments) have covered a lot of ground, re: the medium of photography.

It's not that there isn't anything left to write but I find it rather frustrating that in the blog-o-sphere - and by no means just on The Landscapist, there is a wealth of information in the form of past entries that, for all intents and purposes, just sit there unread.

Unlike a book, it's not the easiest thing on the planet to go back and review what has been written and/or posted, picture-wise. Here on The Landscapist there were at least 1600 entries since January, 2007 - all still available for the reading. However, my stats show that the overwhelming number of visitors - approx. 10,000 page views / 6,800 unique visits per month - read just the current entry(s) and little else - a clear case of what-have-you-done-for-lately if ever there was one.

Now, it should NOT be inferred in any way that this a rant/rap against The Landscapist visitors. It is more a case-in-point, re: the blogosphere.

What this case-in-point suggests to me is that I should devote some time to editing my entries with an eye toward making a book, a real book - a kind of best-of-The Landscapist book. Or, maybe, a 2-3 volume set of books.

Like, I don't have enough to do just organizing 2,600+ pictures (into just a few well-defined catagories) that I have made over the past 7 years.

civilized ku # 589-91 / ku # 791-92 ~ light

The photo crew in action ~ Bog River / Low's Lake primitive area - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Flora with extra light ~ Bog River / Low's Lake primitive area - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Evening light / window view ~ Interlaken Inn, Lake Placid - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenDuring our recent canoe trip in the Bog River / Low's Lake primitive area, Hugo and I worked together to make some pictures with artificial light as an supplementary light source - a kind of painting with light thing, albeit during daylight hours rather than night-time light as it is most often used.

Many natural-world macro picture makers use artificial light during daylight hours although, their intent is use it as a fill light to soften contrast and increase detail. That was not my intent, My intent was to use the artificial light as a kind of "kicker" light that might be mistakenly be thought of as being random streaks of warm natural light - much like the warm natural light streaks in the window pictures.

ku # 790 ~ it's a dog's life # 2

Licking ~ Bog River / Low's Lake primitive area - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ku # 787-89 ~ rain

Jay Range ~ Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Rt. 9 parking area ~ Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Rt. 9 ~ near Upper Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

The word “photography” can be interpreted as “writing with light” or “drawing with light.” Some photographers are producing beautiful photographs by drawing with light.. Some other photographers are trying to tell something with their photographs. They are writing with light. ~ Philippe Halsman

ku # 781-85 ~ dark and moody

Golf course ~ Lake Placid Resort - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Parking lot ~ Lake Placid - in the Adirondack PARK• click to embiggen
Tree, hedges, benches ~ Lake Placid - in the Adirondack PARK• click to embiggen
Hotel room view # 1 - Mirror Lake ~ Lake Placid - in the Adirondack PARK• click to embiggen
Hotel room view # 2 ~ Lake Placid - in the Adirondack PARK• click to embiggenThis past Monday and Tuesday I stayed in Lake Placid. The wife had a 3-day conference with a comp room so we turned it into a mini-getaway. Mini, as in, short. Mini, as in, 20 miles away from home.

On both days the weather was very changeable, to say the least. That made for some very interesting light and atmospheric conditions with which I had a number chance encounters ....

A photographer must be prepared to catch and hold on to those elements which give distinction to the subject or lend it atmosphere. They are often momentary, chance-sent things: a gleam of light on water, a trail of smoke from a passing train, a cat crossing a threshold, the shadows cast by a setting sun. Sometimes they are a matter of luck; the photographer could not expect or hope for them. Sometimes they are a matter of patience, waiting for an effect to be repeated that he has seen and lost or for one that he anticipates. Leaving out of question the deliberately posed or arranged photograph, it is usually some incidental detail that heightens the effect of a picture – stressing a pattern, deepening the sense of atmosphere. But the photographer must be able to recognize instantly such effects. ~ Bill Brandt

ku # 780 ~ missing the forest for the trees (scenic mountains, woods, and waters)

Going for a swim ~ Bog River / Low's Lake region - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThere is an Adirondack organization (that shall remain unnamed because I am not trying to denigrate it, per se) that conducts a number of photo workshops / seminars every year. For the most part (not exclusively but, in fact, primarily), it is very firmly ensconced in / dedicated to the Ain't-Nature-Grand School of "pure" landscape / nature picture making.

CAVEAT• As most here at The Landscapist know, the Ain't-Nature-Grand School of picture making is not one that I embrace or endorse. And, as I have oft stated regarding that school (and any other), "to each his own". However, that doesn't mean that I don't have an opinion on the subject, so ....

MY OPINION on the subject • As part of an aforementioned-organization's advert for one of its workshops, they state (in part):

...Participants will immerse themselves in photographing a wide variety of Adirondack landscapes chosen for their diverse possibilities - scenic mountains, woods, and waters that make the Adirondacks so distinctive...

Now, that sounds innocuous enough but, in fact, it is so far off the mark regarding what "make(s) the Adirondacks so distinctive" that it would be laughable if it weren't so totally wrong - when it comes to the geography, topography, flora and fauna bio-diversity (aka, scenic mountains, woods, and waters), the Adirondacks is NOT so distinctive relative to what is also found in a number of other neighboring regions in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, southern-most Quebec, as well as farther away places such as the upper Michigan Peninsula and the Lake Superior / Minnesota Boundary Waters region.

That is not say that there are no distinctive differences between the Adirondacks and the aforementioned places places. But, in fact, those differences are much more minor than major and it would not be misleading to state that most, not all, pictures from one region are much like those pictures made in any other region.

That said, to argue the point about distinctive differences, scenic mountains, woods, and waters wise, from one aforementioned region to another really does miss the point about what genuinely and uniquely makes the Adirondacks ever so different from any of those other regions - the state lands within Adirondack PARK are protected as "forever wild" by an Amendment to the NYS Constitution. In addition to that protection, all of the lands within the Adirondack PARK are governed, land use wise, by the rules and regulations of Adirondack PARK Agency.

Consequently, in a PARK (the biggest state park in the lower 48 states) that encompasses 102 towns and villages with a year-round population of 130,000 residents, all spread out in a PARK of over 6,000,000 acres (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park would all fit into it with room to spare), the real distinctive characteristic of the Adirondack PARK is the unique-on-the-planet patch-quilt of the natural world and humankind that is organized around the idea of sustainability*.

Therefore, to my eye and sensibilities, pictures that attempt to illustrate "the Adirondacks (as) so distinctive" by picturing only "pure" landscapes - scenic mountains, woods, and waters without evidence of and/or the presence of humankind - are completely missing the mark regarding the real distinctive and unique nature of the Adirondack PARK.

*sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which in turn depends on the well being of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

ku # 779 ~ an interesting pov, picture maker wise

Water's edge and leaf ~ Bog River / Low's Lake region - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt is somewhat interesting how it is that I find stuff about picture making while reading something that is not about picture making.

In this case, I was reading one of my "pulp fiction", albeit hardbound with nice paper, muder mystery / suspense novels that I came across this little bit of commentary:

A picture isn't a part of the experience - its a composition outside of the experience. The photographer chooses the angle. He chooses what will be in the picture, and what won't. If the picture is a world, then the photographer is the god of that world (ul. emph., mine) ~ from Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

IMO, a good picture is a "world" unto itself. While it is a visually self-contained world, re: referent wise (aka, the noted) - the picture maker chooses the angle and what will be contained therein - the connoted can be connected to a much broader world. A world that can be as rich as the viewer's life experience. A world that can be enriched by a viewer with a wide range of experience, knowledge, and an open and creative mind or a world that is diminished by a lack thereof.

The picture maker's (god's) "job" is to open the door / provide the window to other worlds that he/she sees with aware, sensitive, and ever-seeking eyes.