triptych #23 ~ a sort of mystery

grottos / Rich Lake ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In Rochester again visiting with the West Coast Son who came in for the funeral services of his grandfather on my ex's side of the family. I also have been visiting with my ex and a couple of my ex brothers-in-law - memories galore.

Been making a few pictures along the way but haven't had time to process and post. So today's triptych is from a recent canoe paddle on a wilderness lake where the wife and I came across this very unusual shoreline rock formation. A formation which looks like miniature - openings are 3-4 feet tall - sea caves.

Over the years I have paddled a lot of Adirondack waters and have never seen anything like this formation. And adding a bit of mystery to the formation is the fact that it is located on the shoreline of somewhat narrow (100 yards-ish) and rather tranquil inlet / bay off of the main lake. Which, in my head, leads to the question of how it was formed.

I assume that rock, even relatively soft rock, requires a long period of time of being subjected to reasonably strong water forces / erosion to create such a formation and it is hard for me to imagine such a force in this location. Even though the inlet eventually does lead to a short narrow river with a few short rapids - more like riffles than rapids - with very minor elevation drop, it seems to me that the requisite water force / erosion needed to create such a formation would be rather rare and most certainly short-lived.

In any event, I think it's time to find a geologist who is familiar with Adirondack geology.

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

civilized ku # 2982 ~ koi pond

koi pond ~ Plattsbubrgh, NY • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2980-81 / diptych # 166 ~ Tibetan Thangka art

Tsering Phuntsok ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Thangka scroll / detail ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Thangka paints ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen

As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, the wife and I had dinner - a small private affair at the home of the President of SUNY Plattsburgh (college) - with a couple notable Tibetans, most interestingly the Tibetan artist, Tsering Phuntsok. The dinner followed an exhibit of Tsering Phuntsok's art which is featured in The Festival of Tibetan Art & Culture at SUNY Plattsburgh. The exhibition is in honor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama who celebrates his 80th birthday this year.

Tsering Phuntsok is a warm and welcoming individual and he shared much information about his art and life. He fled Tibet after the Chinese excursion (invasion?) into Tibet and eventually landed in the US where he continues to practice his mastery of Thangka painting - Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, or silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala.

Tsering Phuntsok also demonstrated / explained some the techniques employed his painting. Things such using a brush made of 2 hairs from a cat's neck to paint the ultra-fine detail in his work. He uses traditional Tibetan paints which he makes from natural elements crushed to a fine powder and mixed with water. Many of his paintings are completed over 2 years (working in his spare time).

Needless to write, the exhibit and the dinner were an unexpected delight.

diptych # 165 ~ the carrot and the stick weekend

punishment / reward ~ Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen

Spent a long weekend (Friday-Sunday, my 7th straight weekend away from home) in Saratoga Springs - just outside the SE border of the Adirondack PARK - where the wife attended a conference / workshop. Going along with the wife, functioning as her arm candy, has both its punishments and rewards as illustrated in the above diptych. It shouldn't take a genius to figure out which is which.

Normally in such cases, I find something interesting to pass the time while she's conferencing her heart out. Golf was on the list but, unfortunately, the time allotted to that activity was spent having new rear brake pads put on the Kizashi.

FYI, stay tuned tomorrow for my picture account of my dinner last Thursday evening with Tsering Phunysok, Thangka artist and personal tailor to the Dali Lama, and together with the personal assistant to the Dali Lama's emissary to North America. Amazing stuff and most certainly more fun than a barrel of monkeys lawyers.

civilized ku # 2979 / diptych # 164 ~ German graveyard and fallen apples

German graveyard ~ near North Creek, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fallen apples / Rist Camp ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Last year while at Rist Camp, we meet this guy and his dogs at the beach in Minerva. This year while at Rist Camp we discovered where he lives. Most likely it's at the German graveyard. Or, at the very least, it's where he parks his car.

Next year we'll have to knock on the door.

civilized ku # 2978 ~ ninety percent of making pictures is half mental*

Park Avenue street corner ~ Rochester, NY • click to embiggen

It seemed rather appropriate, on the day after his death, to post one of Yogi Berra's famous Yogi Berra-isms. One which, although it was not intended to be about picture making, is nevertheless quite apt.

You can observe a lot by just watching. ~ Yogi Berra-ism

•my adaptation of Berra's statement, "Ninety percent of the game is half mental"