diptych # 126 / civilized ku # 2872-79~ 2 fer 1 • an entry in 2 parts

so close yet so far apart ~ waterpark • golf course views - Jay Peak Resort / Jay, VT. • click to embiggen
tournament champion / player of the game medallions • click to embiggen
ice rink / iPhone picture ~ Jay Peak Resort, Jay, VT. • click to embiggen

Spent Friday- Sunday past at Jay Peak resort in Vermont. I wasn't there to ski, I was there for hockey.

During a day long snowfall, the view from our cottage was just right for quiet relaxation and contemplation. The view from the waterpark bar/balcony was anything but. I leave it up to you to deduce where, outside of the hockey arena, I spent most of my time.

FYI, the iPhone pano picture is of Hugo and his team waiting for the tournament championship game - their last game of the season and the last time they will all be together as a team. In more ways than one, it was very fitting that Hugo scored the first and last goal of the game and, consequently, of the season.

Now on to picture making business ....

window art / 4 squares in a row ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhen making pictures, I most often do not "work" a scene. That is, most often it is one and done, click-of-the-shutter wise. On those occasions when I work it, the variations I make are usually very minor changes in framing. All of which means that my normal M.O. is to go with my first impression and move on.

That written, last week I pictured the above window art as seen in a vacant store. My first impression (and picture) thereof is the tightly framed window and door as seen in the 3rd-from-the-left-picture. However, in this case, I continued to work the scene and made 2 additional wider view pictures.

After processing all 3 of the pictures, I had them grouped together on my screen in order to choose the "winner". It was at that point I experience a very unexpected result. Not only could I not pick a "winner", I arrived at a point where I could not visually separate one picture from another because, in a way I can not adequately explain, when grouped together in a straight line with a 4th framing variation, they seem to be visually all-of-a-piece. My eye can not find a place to land in the grouping. It keeps dancing back and forth, hither and yon across the collective field of view.

The only conclusion that I can arrive at for that reaction is to think that the combination of a relatively monochromatic referent surround together with the vibrant color of the referent(s) themselves creates a kind of eye-brain recognition puzzle that my senses can not stop trying to figure out.

And, surprise, surprise, I like the sense-ation very much. I like it enough to go forth and find more monochromatic / vibrant color, competing wise, scenes in order to see if I can replicate the same result. If successful, I will be off to the races, eye-brain recognition puzzle picture making wise.

Anyone else experiencing the same field of visual energy which I see in the grouping?

civilized ku # 2871 ~ just looking and seeing

hotel hallway and lobby ~ Clifton Park, NY • click to embiggen

Update on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 05:29PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Another copy/paste issue, or else Rist Camp has some hidden modern amenities.

my response: As I was making the picture I was thinking that I would rather be at Rist Camp ..... if only I didn't really enjoy hauling Hugo's hockey butt all over the place on weekends ..... if only Rist Camp was winterized ..... if only it were August ..... and so on and so on. Apparently the thought stuck with me and subliminally caused me to leave the name unpasted.

diptych # 125 / civilized ku # 2870 ~ not so subtle hidden agenda

Union College arena ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen
Shatter Point Hockey Tournament ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen

Hugo's scheduled hockey season is over. However, the team is now engaged in post season tournament play.

This weekend past, they played in a tournament in Schenectady, NY - a NYS Capital District city. 2 of the games, semi-final and championship, were held at the Union College* hockey arena. Hugo's team played in both games.

The team went undefeated in the round-robin play (3-0) earning them participation in the championship game. Their opponent was the tournament host team, the Schenectady Chargers, a high level very well coached hockey team**. A team which they defeated 2-1 - in an intense and closely contested game - in the round robin play and a game in which Hugo scored 1 goal and was, as they say, making stuff happen (play making, puck moving, shots on net, etc.).

Unfortunately 2 things conspired against Hugo's team in the championship game.

#1 - As mentioned, the opponent team was very well coached and they knew, after experiencing Hugo's play firsthand, what they had to do to win the championship game. Namely, get all over #88. A tactic which they executed to perfection with 2 and, at times, 3 players (see action picture in diptych) stuck to Hugo like glue throughout the game.

What the opposing coaches didn't know was the fact that, if Hugo doesn't score, his team doesn't win - a fact which has held true without exception over the course of the entire season. The fact that Hugo's team record is 35-10-2 is testament to how many pucks Hugo has put in the net - 60 at last count.

#2 - While shutting down Hugo obviously helped the other team win, perhaps the biggest factor was the round robin schedule which pitted the 2 teams most likely to met the host team in the championship game - Hugo's team and a team from Massachusetts - against each other in an very early 7:10AM game which ended only 4 hours before the championship game began. That game was vigorously contested inasmuch as both teams were playing for a berth in the championship game. Needless to write, the host team, having played their last round robin game the day before, was well rested. Anyone who thinks that that situation was a scheduling coincidence should contact me so I can sell them a bridge in Brooklyn.

After a scoreless 1st period (in the championship game), Hugo's team started to "lose their legs" midway through the 2nd period and it was only a matter of time before their opponent scored a couple goals. And with Hugo shut down, that was effectively that.

In any event, there's always the next time - which arrives this Friday-Sunday in a tournament in the far reaches of northern Vermont.

FYI, the other picture in the diptych depicts why many hockey dads have sore backs - they're bent over tying skate laces before very game.

*Union College is a small - enrollment is approx. 2100-2200 students - college founded in 1795. Despite it's diminutive student body and the fact that it offers no athletic scholarships, the Union College men's hockey team, the Dutchmen, won the NCAA Division 1 (highest level of collegiate athletics) national Championship last season, besting Minnesota Gophers (enrollment 28,600 and plenty of hockey scholarships).

**The Schenectady hockey program is designated as one of only 17 USA Hockey Model Associations nation wide

kitchen sink ~ the book / gallery

covers • click to embiggen
quote / statement • click to embiggen
spread 1 • click to embiggen
spread 2 • click to embiggen
spread 3 • click to embiggen
spread 4 • click to embiggen
spread 5 • click to embiggen
spread 6 • click to embiggen
spread 7 • click to embiggen
spread 8 • click to embiggen
spread 9 • click to embiggen

The kitchen sink body of work is an outgrowth of my kitchen life body of work. In the act of making pictures for the kitchen life series, over time it became apparent that my kitchen sink needed separate attention inasmuch as it presented a very specific referent as opposed to picturing things which depict the generalized idea of life in the kitchen.

Making pictures for the kitchen sink series is a slow go. Even though I am constantly on the lookout for (to my eye and sensibilities) visually interesting arrangements in the sink, picturing opportunities are few and far between due to the fact that the arrangements are found as is / serendipitous / the result of happenstance and not made / constructed. Consequently, there can be long periods during which nothing pricks my eye and sensibilities and, therefore, no kitchen sink picture making.

I have given thought to making arrangements in the sink but have come to the conclusion that doing so would negative the entire point of the endeavor. That is, to recognize the random and serendipitous beauty to be found in the quotidian world.

kitchen life # 67 ~ onion skins at midnight

onion skins at midnight ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ART: conveys / transports / reflects ~ the book / gallery - it's all connected

covers • click to embiggen
quote / statement • click to embiggen
spread 1 • click to embiggen
spread 2 • click to embiggen
spread 3 • click to embiggen
spread 4 • click to embiggen
spread 5 • click to embiggen
spread 6 • click to embiggen
spread 7 • click to embiggen
spread 8 • click to embiggen
spread 9 • click to embiggen
spread 10 • click to embiggen

Next up in my body of work organization endeavor is my art reflects work.

Unlike the rain work, this body of work began from the very first picture as a dedicated body of work. A separate folder was created from the start so no emerging-body-of-work recognition was required to cull these pictures from the herd.

All of these pictures were made in Montreal, CA. With the exception of just one picture, they were all made on a single street in Old Montreal - Rue Saint-Paul Est - a target rich environment for this body of work. The majority of the pictures were made during a single trip to Old Montreal.

I would like to add to this body of work and the work in the windows of the galleries on Rue Saint-Paul Est change every month to reflect that month's exhibition or, at the very least, a rotation of works from permanent exhibitors. In effect, there is a densely packed and never ending opportunity for picture making with these referents.

However, in making more pictures for this body of work, I most definitely want to stay with the look to be had on overcast days. In part, because I want the cohesive look of that light from picture to picture and that light seems to work best on a purely technical basis. I have made pictures on sunny days and the contrast is extreme enough that the resulting images just don't blend the elements - window interiors to reflected streetscapes - in a visually harmonious manner.

Consequently, in order to maintain the visual cohesiveness that I want, it seems a number of cloudy day trips to Old Montreal should be put on the calendar.

FYI, these pictures are straight from the camera single exposures. No multiple exposure techniques, no post picture making blending or PS tomfoolery was involved in their making.

diptych # 124 ~ as it should be

bathroom sink / kitchen sink ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In his comment on the recent entry, civilized ku # 2869 ~ nothing if not wordy, Paul Bradforth wrote (in part):

.... I think my main grouch was that you, Mark, spend so much time talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is, while producing, at the same time, so much nice still-life work that I often think you lower the tone of it all with your proselytizing.

First, a caveat: I appreciate Paul's comment and input. I take no offense whatsoever and hope he (or others) continue to comment, pro or con, regarding any of the goings on here on The Landscapist. Expressing diverse opinions and ideas of what picture making is all about is, IMO, a good thing. A very good thing.

Second, a definition:

proselytizing: to convert or attempt to convert as a proselyte; recruit.

Third, my response to Paul's comment (not a retort but merely an explanation): Over the years, using words other than "proselytizing", some have accused me of speaking writing ex cathedra* regarding the medium and its apparatus ("talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is"). Amongst other things, I am fairly certain those comments stem from the fact that I have been demonstratively forthright in expressing my criticisms and opinions of some pictures and picture making ideas and conventions.

While it is not my intention to demean those who make those pictures or hold near and dear those picture making ideas and conventions, I am also certain (and take full responsibility for) that some take personal umbrage as the result of the expressing of my criticisms and opinions.

Given that I believe that cognitive criticism (as in, critique) is both valid and valuable, the operative word in the preceding paragraph is "opinion" inasmuch as I have never been proselytistic in my writings. That is, I have no desire to "convert" anyone to anything, picture things wise. I am merely expressing my opinions as I think out loud (so to write) as much for my own benefit - perhaps more so - as I do for others who may be tuning in.

Some appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions based on my writings. Other think it's a steaming pile of elephant dung. And that's as it should be inasmuch as I'm not trying to please anyone other than myself.

Some visit for the pictures and in doing so appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions, pro or con, about them. And that is as it should be inasmuch as I make pictures for myself according to the dictates of my eye and sensibilities.

All of that written, one thing visitors will never read from me is how they should do it or how they should think, picture making wise, or what kind of pictures they should like. And, as I have recently passed 3/4 million page views, I am assuming that, one way or another, someone somewhere is getting something out of it.

*from the seat of authority; with authority: used especially of those pronouncements of the pope that are considered infallible.

diptych # 123 ~ still life or whatever?

window arrangements ~ Old Montreal, CA / Phoenicia, NY • click to embiggen

Relative to Tuesday's entry, genre purity, as a followup I thought I would post a couple pictures which represent what is passing for still life pictures (as noted on my web search). And, I might add, which are also representative of some of the entries and selections from the recent Marvelvous Things: The Art of Still Life exhibition.

The pictures in the diptych are not what I would consider to be still lifes but I don't have a problem with those would think them to be so. However, I can see, since the pictures do contain some referents which are arrangements, that that might be enough for some to think the pictures themselves are still life pictures.

If I were to be forced to label the pictures, genre wise, I would be at a loss to do so. To me, they are just pictures. However, if in the act of trying to force me to genre-label, the perp had a lethal weapon aimed at my temple I would probably call the window box flower picture an urbanscape and the bathroom window / rubber ducky picture an interiorscape. After all, aren't all pictures "-scape"(s)? ... a combining form extracted from landscape, denoting “an extensive view, scenery,” or “a picture or representation” of such a view, as specified by the initial element: cityscape; moonscape; seascape, etc.

All of that written, while a genre nomenclature might be helpful (cataloging, classifying, etc.) as general body of work designator, for me, a picture will always be just a picture.