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.

ku # 1331 / panoramic ~ a concretized universal

roadside autumn color ~ Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Au Sable riverside autumn color ~ near Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

A student at Reed Collage said to Robert Adams, "I like art with intellectual complexity." Adams answered:

So do I, in some respects. But it's easy to confuse philosophy with art. They are not the same. It's an easy distinction to forget in school ... where you're encouraged to live an active life of the mind.

In today's academic lunatic fringe driven picture making world, it could be written, with a high degree of accuracy, that picture making MFAs end up confusing psycho-therapeutic self indulgence with art and that they are indoctrinated with the idea that complex meaning in a picture is paramount, virtually to the exclusion of a picture's visual merit - a clear cut real-world example of Sontag's idea that interpretation (aka: finding meaning) is the revenge of the intellectual upon art. That written, Adams went on to state that:

A great picture is a concretized universal. The strength of that is that it can and has to be cross-referenced out to life in the street. Philosophy carries within itself no such test.

In addition to really liking the concept of a picture as a "concretized universal", I also embrace, picture making wise, the idea that a great picture must be able to be "cross-referenced out to life in the street".

Or, in other words, that great pictures must evidence "truth" or at least a truth inasmuch as doing so reenforces that unique characteristic of the medium of photography which separates it from the other visual arts. That is, its intrinsic and inevitable relationship to and as a cohort of the real.

FYI, the riverside picture is a 2 frame blend.

ku # 1325-30 (with hints of civilized ku) ~ fall color subdued and isolated

fall color in the Forks # 1 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fall color in the Forks # 2 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fall color in the Forks # 3 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fall color in the Forks # 4 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fall color in the Forks # 5 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fall color in the Forks # 6 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Friday last, the atmospherics were dominated by rain, dampness and fog / mist and the fall color was near peak (for those who like to peek, aka: leaf peepers). In short, my kinda day for autumn color picture making.

However, in light of today's artspeak gobbledygook, while thought I was out and about making pictures with a camera, I was, in academic lunatic fringe speak, looking closely at fall color through the materiality of a digital sensor.

Today's Artspeak Gobbledygook - By looking closely at ....Ed: insert your referent name here.... through the materiality of color film ... ~ found on the internet

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.

ku # 1324 (with a hint of civilized ku) / diptych # 168 ~ rocket surgeon

autumn color + graffiti ~ near Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
autumn color ~ near Au Sable Forks / near Inlet, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

My preferred take on autumn color is isolated spots of color within a more subdued color palette, referent wise. Or, lacking that arrangement, overall subdued color obtained by picturing in "subdued" light. In either case, it's a different manner of looking and seeing autumn color from that of the color screamists in the picture making crowd.

Re: my eye and sensibilities - screamist or subtleist, neither manner of looking and seeing is "right" or "wrong". Although, differing schools of picture making may decree otherwise. But of course, there are differing opinions on which school of picture making is "right" or "wrong". All of which makes the picture making world go 'round.

And now for something completely different ....

The phrase, "It doesn't take a brain surgeon ..." is most often used to imply that whatever follows that phrase is easy to understand or undertake. "Brain surgeon" (or its oft used alternative, "rocket scientist") implies a higher level of intelligence which isn't required for the task at hand.

That written, I will, from this day forward, no long use the "brain surgeon" nomenclature to denote higher intelligence. No, not after this (makes me proud to be an American) from neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Republican Party candidate for President of the United States ....

Arguing that the Second Amendment is more sacred than spilled blood, Ben Carson said that as a doctor, he had removed many bullets from the bodies of gunshot victims. But he said the right to bear arms was paramount ....

“I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away."

No. No. No. From this day forward, I intend to use the phrase "rocket surgeon" as in, "It doesn't take a rocket surgeon ..." I can't bring myself to use the concept of "rocket scientist" to imply higher intelligence 'cause too many rockets are blowing up, or so it seems.

ku # 1323 / diptych # 167 ~ autumn color in the gloaming

trees in ravine ~ near Inlet, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
trees in ravine ~ near Inlet, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Yesterday, during my return drive home from Rochester, I managed to find some autumn color.

This autumn the color has been spotty - some areas not much, other areas more color but rather subdued. That situation is the result of protracted warm weather - highs in the 80s - well into the third week of September. At which point many leaves were on the ground before turning color and what remained turned slowly and somewhat subdued. This condition is not a problem for me and my picture making inasmuch as I do not make very many pictures of riots of intense autumn color.

In any event, yesterday evening well after the sun had set and with a slightly overcast sky, I ventured into a ravine and discovered the color I was hoping to find.