ku # 700 ~ my kind of place

Back road bog ~ in the NE Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIf it were possible I would build my "dream house" in an Adirondack bog.

ku # 699 ~ it's hard to get by the stink

Flat top boulder ~ in the NE Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPursuant to yesterday's entry about struggling to break out of the pretty picture mold picture makers, it is well worth directing added attention to the notion of the application of craft in making your vision viable and visible.

That's because one of the other things that I have noticed about those frustrated picture makers is that their pictures have a very noticeable lack of craft. Even on a computer monitor, the pictures have the look of "drugstore" prints - a derisive term that comes from back in the day when most amateur snapshot makers took their film to a neighborhood drugstore for "photo finishing". Photo finishing that was, at best, mediocre - as compared to what could be had from the same film in the hands of a skilled "custom" (read as "expensive") print maker.

An aside - in a somewhat ironic twist, in today's digital picture printing world, if you know what you are doing, digital-domain processing wise, you can take your files to a drugstore and get back prints that are quite literally, with just the push of a button, very very very close in print quality to those obtained from a very expensive professional printing source.

That said, here's the thing about a finely crafted print - if your prints look like horse manure - which is to say that they are not objects of beauty in and of themselves (independent of their referent) - then it follows that very few viewers, if any at all, are going to even make it to the point of getting to your "vision" / what you are trying to say.

That notion is not a radical one. It's been a known fact since round about the dawn of humankind that you can attract more bees with honey than you can with horse manure.

If, as a picture maker, you can not make a finely crafted print - or, more to the point, a finely crafted image file that you can route to a good print making machine and get a good print - then chances are good that you'll never be a good picture maker.

If, as a picture maker, you do not acquire the skills and make the effort to make good prints - as opposed to being satisfied with viewing your pictures on a monitor - then chances are good that you'll never be a good picture maker.

If, as a picture maker, you don't have a clue as to what a finely crafted print looks like, then chances are good that you'll never be a good picture maker.

IMO, a finely crafted print is the foundation upon which good pictures are grounded. In a metaphorical sense, a finely crafted print is like a carnival barker who gets you into the tent where you can discover a wealth of earthly oddities and delights. And heaven help the carnival barker who is piling shit so high that you can't even get near the place for the stink much less even see the door to the tent.

ku # 698 ~ rain drops

Like much of the east coast we've had 5 straight days of rain. For the most part, it has been just a steady rain as opposed to torrential downpours.

Consequently, even thought the rivers are raging, they are moving right along below flood stage and little if any flooding is predicted. The rain is predicted to end this PM and the next few days are forecast to be quite warm and sunny.

FYI, while I was out picturing in yesterday's rather heavy rain, I used the E-3 - and all of its weather sealed-ness - instead of the EP-1.

ku # 697 ~ vernal water & ice

Vernal water and ice ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenSomething I have noticed as the result of viewing lots and lots of the pictures made by others - "others", in this particular case, being those picture makers who seem to be attempting to get away from the ubiquitous pretty picture / iconic referent picture making mentality - is that many of them struggle to do so rather vigorously but without a great degree of success. I draw this conclusion from both their own stated frustration / dissatisfaction and the generally not-very-interesting look and feel of their pictures.

Their own directly stated frustration / dissatisfaction is an obvious indicator that they are not achieving their picture making goals. I assume that their frustration / dissatisfaction is derived from the fact that, when viewing their own pictures, they also find them to be not-very-interesting, look and feel wise - a feeling that must be very frustrating indeed.

What I have often wondered about is if, with the proper guidance and tutelage, some of these frustrated picture makers might come closer to achieving their picture making goals. To be even more specific, wondering wise, I have often wondered if I could teach some of them what I know about picture making.

By that I mean, I know I can successfully teach stuff - especially the camera / PS processing stuff, but I don't know if I can teach what, for me (and I know many others as well), is the key to my picture making - the fine-tuned art of seeing, or, as I stated a few entries ago -

I do know my eye is attracted to a rather specific range of visual stimuli which, if pictured and presented with some sensitivity, skill, and application of craft, will result in pictures that I enjoy looking at. I also know that others will enjoy looking at those pictures as well.

I simply do not know if that concept is even teachable because, after all is said and done, the simple fact is that no one taught it to me.

And, truth be told, that concept is woven and layered over with a lifetime of experience - both in identifying and understanding my personal and "rather specific range of visual stimuli", as well as honing and perfecting the "application of craft" that makes my vision viable and visible.

All of that said, I am about to attempt to bring my can-it-be-taught wondering daze/days to a close by offering a limited number of Picturing Making Chautauqua* - small get-togethers (limited to 4 participants each) centered around the concept / art of seeing and, ultimately, through the application of craft, developing (pun) the ability to make it visible.

There will be much more on this to come in the next week or so but one thing that you can count on is that these Chautauqua will not resemble in the least the 20 mule team gearhead rabbles roaming around the countryside being lead by the nose to much-"treasured" iconic landscape scenes for the purpose of making yet another "personal interpretation" of the already known.

Another thing you can count on is that, in the spirit of the original Chautauqua, the cost of entry will be low. Most likely $250US for a 3 day event - I'm not doing this to get rich or make a living, I'm just trying to scratch an itch, wet my beak, and, hopefully, have some fun.

FYI, any participant who states that their goal is to make pictures just like mine will have to sit in the corner on a stool, back to the room, wearing a dunce cap while sucking their thumb.

*a Chautauqua - Chautauqua is an institution that began in the late 19th century - Chautauqua is also a lake, a county, and a town in southwestern New York—home of the Chautauqua Institution - to provide higher education opportunities through the combination of lectures, concerts, and public events. The institution grew from the early-American thirst for self-improvement and education.

A Chautauqua has come to mean a meeting, usually held in the summer, where the public could attend a lecture or performance.

ku # 696 ~ Spring melt

River eddy ~ East Branch Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ku # 695 ~ ice

River ice ~ Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK• click to embiggenOn a recent entry Martin Doonan asked, "I wonder what happened to all those ice floes from back in the winter?

Fortunately, it seems most of the early break-up ice froze into huge ice fields which, when the real Sprint melt came, were too big to move. By the time they melted back into ice chunks, the rivers had receded to lower levels so the ice just sits and slowly melts away.

civilized ku # 444-46 / ku # 692-94 ~ civilized ku? ku? - depends how you look at it

Small stream, Spring runoff ~ In rhw Adirondack PARK - Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenThe street that I and the wife live on is a 2-block long, east-west oriented residential street. At the west end of the street - the street doesn't actually end, it's the point where the street leaves the village proper - a normally small tranquil stream tumbles down from the surrounding hills on it way to the Au Sable River. The river, at this point, is less than a couple hundred yards/meters away.

Now that Spring is here, the stream has gone into its raging mode. Fortunately, even though it rages, it never seems to overflow its banks.

ku # 691 ~ are we having fun yet?

Spring rain, fog, and river runoff ~ in the Adirondack PARK - East Branch Au Sable River• click to embiggenWith all the non-picture-making entries of late, I need to ask - are you at least enjoying the pictures?