civilized ku # 2992-93 / ku # 1336 ~ cold beer / hot cider

pig ~ Wadhams, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
bonfire ~ Wadhams, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
approaching cloud bank ~ Wadhams, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

This weekend past The Cinemascapist, the wife and I attended the Juniper Hill Farm Fall Frolic in Wadhams (in the Adirondack PARK). Although, the event could have been more accurately called the Juniper Hill Farm Winter Preview Frolic inasmuch as it was COLD, COLD, COLD. And, truth be written, there wasn't much frolicking going on. Most were huddled around a large bonfire in an effort to ward off the frigid cold which was exacerbated by a strong cold wind.

That written, the food was great and most certainly a good time was had by all. I resisted the temptation to pour the delicious hot cider down my pants for warmth. And needless to write, drinking cold - very cold - beer didn't seem like a good thing to do (so I didn't).

The wife and I left just before dark. The Cinemascapist stayed on long into the night - the party moved to an unheated barn which was at least a shelter from the wind - and slept that night in his car.

ku # 1333 / triptych # 25 / 4-frame ku # 1334-36 ~ picture making luck

approaching snow squall ~ Wadhams, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
distant snow squall / 3 views ~ Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
sequential views ~ Au Sable River / near Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

This weekend past, we were treated to (depending on your POV) the winter to come in the form of quite a number of short inconsequential snow squalls. And on a personal note, I engaged in a first wright of winter passage inasmuch as I donned my long underwear for an outdoor event (and glad I did - see above approaching snow squall picture).

IMO, picture making wise, the change of seasons can offer splendid picture making opportunities. Very often there are very fleeting windows of inter-mingled seasonal weather which truly prick my eye and sensibilities. These picture making opportunities are also a vivid example of the adage f8 and be there inasmuch as, picture making wise, you snooze, you loose.

Or, to paraphrase Louis Pasteur, "In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind picture maker." Which is one reason why I always go about with 3 cameras each with a different focal length prime lenses.

ku # 1332 / diptych # 172 ~ representational by nature

old rail bed ~ heading toward Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Autumnal nitty gritty ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Yesterday's entry was essentially built around a quote from the writings of James Agee. Today's entry is of the same genesis with a kicker from Bernice Abbott. I have always appreciated and taken to heart in my picture making the idea expressed by James Agee in this quote:

.... in the immediate world, everything is to be discerned, for him who can discern it, and centrally and simply, without either dissection into science, or digestion into art, but with the whole of consciousness, seeking to perceive it as it stands: so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all of consciousness is shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is.

Interesting enough, this Agee sentiment is very often found on the web (primarily on photo sites) with the section "for him who can discern it, and centrally and simply, without either dissection into science, or digestion into art" redacted. I would assume that most picture makers consider themselves to be making art so, therefore, they seem to think that Agee is disparaging art in that segment of his quote.

If so, I completely disagree.

In his writings on picture making, Agee has essentially argued for his preference for straight picture making. That is, the making of pictures without artistic pretense, effects, and affectations. Pictures which do not exhibit elements of revisive acts of the imagination but rather those which are straight forward picturing acts which accurately represent a referent as it stands. An act that Agree believed could be most realized by the use of a camera. Or, as Bernice Abbott wrote:

If a medium is representational by nature of the realistic image formed by a lens, I see no reason why we should stand on our heads to distort that function. On the contrary, we should take hold of that very quality, make use of it, and explore it to the fullest. - Berenice Abbott

That written, and getting back to the Agee quote, I suspect that many are confused / troubled by the phrase "...the cruel radiance of what is." How does one reconcile cruel - willfully causing pain or suffering - to the that of radiance - a quality of brightness and happiness / a warm, soft light that shines from something? How is it possible for "brightness and happiness" to be "cruel"? Or, was Agee using the word radiance to signify the idea of radiant - sending out light; shining or glowing brightly?

Without trying to parse this phrase to the point of incomprehensible gibberish, I would suggest that Agee was was using the word cruel to refer to the difficult and demanding task of confronting the real world as it stands. That is, the difficulty of doing so without resorting to comforting and revisive rationalizations and imaginings which disengage one from the actuality of what is.

Radiance, good or bad (it is possible for someone to radiate hatred for example), is cruel inasmuch as it gives no quarter. It is in its essence, exactly what it is, nothing more, nothing less*. The fact of the matter, IMO, is simple. The radiance emanating from what is is cruel in the sense that it demands, for him who can discern it, that it be dealt with head on, forthwith and clear headed.

An aside: Given Agee's writing skill, which was considerable, I also believe his use of the word "radiance" was quite apt (and intentionally so) inasmuch as he was writing in this instance about the medium of photography. I think no coincidence that radiance - the emission of light - is linked to that of the medium which depends entirely upon light. End of aside

In any event, for the most part I like experiencing virtually all things in and of the world head on. That is, experiencing them for what they are (albeit my perception of what they are), not for what I wish them to be. That is why I picture referents - in as much as the medium and its apparatus allow - as they stand.

*human perception and interpretation of what one thinks it is is another (unavoidable) matter all together.

diptych # 171 ~ the central instrument of our time

signs of Autumn / shafts of light ~ Keene, NY / Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

As I was watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he did a segment with the inventor of / founder of GoPro, the maker of GoPro, wear-them-on-your-body, video cameras and it got me to thinking on the image-centric world in which we live. One of my first thoughts was of a James Agee's statement from his intro to the seminal book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a collaborative effort comprised of Agee's writings and Walker Evans' pictures:

The camera it seems to me, next to unassisted and weaponless consciousness, the central instrument of our time.

Having written that statement in the 1941 picture making world, one can only imagine what Agee might think of the camera in today's obsessive / crazed picture/video making world. I'll take a stab at it and conjecture that he might write something like:

Images it seems to me, above and beyond unassisted human looking and seeing, to be the central reality of our time.

Albeit a virtual reality and that's where my imagination took over ....

.... I can imagine a movie, set in the future, about the human race where everyone of sufficient means (the haves*) is implanted with a GoPro-like image/video capturing device (a third eye on the forehead?) which is conveniently and effortlessly linked to a mega-Cloud of recorded human experiences, a sort of hyper Facebook / Instagram in the ethereal aether.

Fledgling humans not only begin recording their life events but are also fed - via a dizzying array of devices - an ever increasing dose of the life events of others which, of course, are interspersed with copious amounts of adverts. Once a sustainable level of virtual reality addiction is achieved, individuals are then left to their own devices (double entendre alert) in order to satisfy their diversionary needs and desires.

Over time, addicted individuals become much more interested and captivated by viewing the virtual reality world rather than experiencing the real world for themselves. Although, the rules of the game are such that they must make some time each day to feed images/recordings of their life into the Cloud in order to keep a steady supply of fresh chum in the water.

Plot wise, enter a group of subversive revolutionaries / radicals who are not only living their live lives but are also working to rescue as many of the virtual reality addicted bioroid-like humans as possible. The work of the reality-based radicals is hampered by the fact that they are hunted (with the purpose of cleansing them from the planet) by the advertising consortium which rules and controls the virtual reality Cloud (and hence, the bulk of humanity which inhabits it).

The movie contains a lot of action adventure and loud noises as such a pursuit dictates. However, there is some quiet behind the scenes drama in which the advertising overlords are trying desperately to redact the images/videos of the conflict between them and radicals. Images/videos which have, ironically, been hacked into the Cloud by the radicals for the propose of educating / informing the addicted to the conspiracy in which they find themselves intertwined. Unfortunately, the virtual reality addicted are unable to distinguish virtual reality from actual reality and therefore consider those images/videos as just another form of virtual reality diversionary entertainment.

At the end of the movie, the plot line is left unresolved in order that the movie can spinoff a number of sequels and a long running television series. All of which are loaded with adverts.

*the have-nots are left to wallow in the boring world of real life.

diptych # 169-170 ~ a fortuitous change in plans

getting petrol ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
in the gloaming ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Went out to make some late day pictures only to realize that I needed petrol in order to drive around and seeing what I could see. For reasons too complicated to relate here, the nearest petrol station was about 12 miles away from my intended picture making destination. Consequently, the 24 mile there and back again diminished, in fact eliminated, the possibility of late day picturing and left me with the gloaming, light wise.

Fortunately for me, I really like making pictures in the gloaming. It's a "mysterious" time of day which appeals to my eye and sensibilities so I didn't consider this chafe of plans to be a negative one.

FYI, the picture of the signs was a very fortunate opportunity that will likely be used as the cover of my new book - new body of work - entitled Signifier & Signified ~ information overload.

kitchen sink # 30 ~ a return to the scene of the crime

left over pasta with coffee grounds ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

While most of my kitchen sink pictures are found arrangements - I walk up to the sink and there it is - this one is a bit of a hybrid inasmuch as it was recreation of a found arrangemt.

Serval days ago, I walked up to the sink and there in front of me was the strainer with pasta and coffee grounds just poised to be tossed in the garbage by the wife. There was no time to make a picture so I "rescued", accompanied by a few moans and groans from the wife, the strainer and contents and set it aside for next day picturing.

Next morning there was a dirty sauté pan in the sink along with a few cooking utensils. I set the strainer in the sauté pan and waited for the light to be "nice". Late morning I got the shot.

After processing the picture, I wasn't quite happy with it. There was small area on the front rim of the strainer which was struck by direct sunlight which caused the pasta in the that area to be burned out and no amount of finagling could bring it back. I came to this conclusion too late in the day, light wise, to reshoot.

So, I once again set the strainer aside, cleaned all the dirty stuff in the sink - the sauté pan was needed for prepping dinner - and planned to reshoot in the next AM. Which is exactly what I did. However ....

... the previous day's arrangement was long gone. The only thing to do was to rebuild the arrangement using the previous day's picture. I gathered and arranged all the elements, waited for the same light and made the picture, creating 3 bracketed exposures.

Those brackets allowed me to get the highlight detail I was looking for by blending the highlight area from the darker bracket into my correctly exposed frame. A bit of local contrast adjustments later and, voilà, all was right with the picture making world.

triptych # 24 (kitchen life / civilized ku / ku) ~ what is beauty (in photography)

the gruel radiance of what is ~ various locations • click to embiggen

My apologies to Robert Adams for co-opting the title of his book, Beauty in Photography (link is to a review of the book), which is a collection of Adams' essays on picture making. A book which, IMO, should be a mandatory read for anyone with a camera who aspires to making pictures which are more than snapshots.

Over the years, I have read and re-read the book, in whole or part, a number of times. As my picture making worked has matured, along with my understanding of it (and the why of it), the essays in the book most often reveal, not unlike good pictures, new understandings with the re-visiting of them.

As the title of the book implies, Adams has wrestled with the notion of beauty and as my picturing making moved from primarily commercial work to that of personal / fine art work, I too struggled with the word and the notion of beauty. However, one thing I knew from the start was that I had no interest in making pictures which conformed to the bourgeoisie idea of beauty or, as I labeled them, pretty pictures. Adams' take on the idea was/is spot on with mine:

Beauty seemed to me then an obsolete word .... what had the term to do with the realities of the this century?

Now to be certain, I came across Adams' words long after I decided that I was drawn to and wanted to make pictures of the "realities" of my 7/10 of a century which pricked my eye and sensibilities or, as James Agee stated, "the cruel radiance of what is". Or, as I wrote over 8 years ago at the start of this blog, photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful.

Adams wrote that photography, more than any other art, is tied to (the) use of specifics or, as I have written (many times over the years) that the single characteristic of the medium of photography which distinguishes from the other visual arts is its inexorable and intrinsic attribute as a cohort of the real. So, that being the case, the driving force (preternatural?) of my desire to make pictures has been to plumb the depths of any and all of specifics of the world without regard to their adherence to commonly perceived status of conventional beauty.

All of that written, as I have continued on my picture making path and despite my initial aversion to the word beauty, I have learned, as Adams wrote:

... the word beauty is in practice unavoidable. Its very centrality accounts, in fact, for my decision to make photographs.

civilized ku # 2983-85 ~ a tale of 3 city areas in pictures (and words)

Bloody Mary ~ Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen
Tin & Lint Co. ~ Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen
Henry Street Taproom ~ Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen

As mentioned in a recent entry, the wife and I spent a 3 day weekend in Saratoga Springs. It was not the first time we have stayed in the city with a population of 27K residents. But, that written, we have only stayed in Saratoga Springs when the wife has had, as in the most recent case, a conference to attend.

Saratoga Springs is a very affluent city - 93% white / median income for a family was $91,392, mean income for a family was $114,560. The economy is largely tourism based but it is also home to Skidmore College, Saratoga Spa State Park (to include the Saratoga Performing Arts Center - summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York City Ballet), and the Saratoga Race Course - the track is the oldest (since 1863) continuously-operating thoroughbred race course in the United States. A course which during its 6-week summer event attracts the top horses, jockeys, and trainers in America.

Much of the affluence comes from those who live in Saratoga Springs but work in Albany, NY (the NYS Capital) however there many large industrial employers in the area - Saratoga Spring Water Co. (a division of Anheuser-Busch InBev), Quad/Graphics, offset printers of Time, Newsweek, People, Sports Illustrated and many other magazines, Ball Corporation, makers of the Mason Jar as well as aluminum cans for companies such as Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Stewart's Shops (more than 300 stores throughout New York and Vermont) is headquartered in Saratoga Springs.

All of that background info written, here's my point .... I would never ever want to live in Saratoga Springs.

The reasons for that are many but the one unavoidable thing about Saratoga Springs which should appeal to me, but actually annoys me, is the Broadway Historic District which is basically the whole of the city's main street. Architecturally, it is quintessentially vintage small town Main Street America. That is to write, right up my alley (or street).

However, and unfortunately in my world view, all of that vintage architecture is occupied by national and international luxury-brand retailers and local upscale boutiques and has become an upscale shopping destination for the Albany metropolitan area. For me, it gives the street all the character of a Disneyland-esque Americana-themed shopping mall. Ugh. I can't live with that (and the class of people whom that attracts) for more than 20-30 minutes at a time.

All that written, one of the things I do like about Saratoga Springs is that section of central downtown - an approximately 4 block x 4 block of dining and drinking establishments - which does evidence a 3-tiered socioeconomic neighborhood which is much to my liking. A district which in the sheer number of restaurants, pubs and bars crammed into a small area is un-rivaled in my experience (except Fells Point in Baltimore - 120 pubs).

IMO, the beauty of that district is the socioeconomic mix to be found there.

The section along the Broadway Historic District is dominated by upscale (but not over the top) dining establishments with all of the attendant trendy (not meant to be a negative descriptor) menu selections - see picture of the rather overwrought Bloody Mary as an example of "trendy". A drink which I had in a Max London's Restaurant, in which the wife and I had very tasty Sunday brunch and in which, only days before, a patron ordered 4 pours of Van Winkle bourbon at $150.00 a pour. Enough written about upscale.

Walking around any one of the corners on the 4 block upscale of main street to the immediate side street blocks reveals a entirely different example of funky neighborhood eating / drinking establishments - see picture of Tin & Lint Co. (which has its own, albeit since debunked, claim to fame as the birthplace of the song American Pie*) - which are quite a bit lower on the socioeconomic scale of things. Witness the neon signs for distinctly working class beer as opposed to the microbrew beers such as Rushing Duck War Elephant beer found in Broadway District establishments. I suspect that one could drink all evening in one these places for the price of 2 beers around the corner on Broadway.

Walking to the end of the funky establishment blocks, you encounter another distinctly different area, albeit leaning more towards the Broadway area than the locals' area - which is home to numerous 20-somethings bars and pubs, some with dining. Many are like the Henry Street Taproom - see picture of patrons - which is a pub based on Scotch and microbrew beers. The clientele in this area is mostly young mid to upper middle class patrons mixed with college kids and you'd be hard pressed to find a Bud Light beer in this area.

The wife and I flowed freely around and in these 3 distinctly varied areas and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, I suspect that, in the case of full-time Saratoga Springs residents, their drinking / dining activities are limited to, as befitting their socioeconomic self image, only one of these areas.

*I wrote this song just to show that Dylan wasn't the only one that could write songs with weird lyrics and I wasn't even using cocaine ~ Don McLean