urban ku # 168 ~ memory lane

Oakwood Cemetery - Syracuse, NY • click to embiggenYesterday, I mentioned that, on my recent visit to Syracuse, I went on a hunt in a cemetery for a sculpted German shepherd gravestone that occupies a prominent space in my childhood memory bank.

Limited by time and mud, I was unable to locate the grave marker but I did 'rediscover' another gravestone that I had forgotten - a magnificent polished sphere with rough base sculpted from a single stone. The sphere is literally ringed with many small columns marking other family member's grave.

The nano second that the sphere came into view from a distance, it sent a jolt through my memory bank that was amazingly intense. A flood of additional childhood cemetery walk memories came rushing out - the memories were not very specific but the 'feeling' was a particularly intense experience.

Has anyone else out there had a similar experience - picturing a place from your past that triggered 'feeling(s)' more so than specific memories?

civilized ku # 76 ~ more POD photo book info

Everson Museum - Syracuse, NY • click to embiggenI'm back in the saddle again from a trip to Syracuse, NY. The trip was the wife's gig - a work-related conference, I was just along for the ride.

The trip's low point - Syracuse, the city, (my birthplace) is mostly a desolate wasteland. If it were not for Syracuse, the University, the place would be totally desolate.

The trip's high points - spending time with the wife, the Everson Museum of Art, Light Work Gallery, and a walk (very muddy) through a cemetery looking for a specific monument - a life-size reclining German shepherd - that has a very vivid stature in my early childhood memories of many of my visits to my grand parent's house. My great-uncle took me on walks in the cemetery with his German shepherd and my mission was to find the German shepherd monument.

POD photo books continued -

Thanks to all who have responded both here and by email. To date, we have 15 volunteers.

There have been many questions concerned mainly with production issues - POD printer quality issues, how-to issues, etc. Over the coming week, I will be addressing all questions - feel free to add more to the pile.

During the interim, check out my POD sources of choice:

1) shutterfly.com - great service, very good and accurate image quality, good paper and cover materials, fast turnaround, and inexpensive (primarily due to many ongoing discount offers). caveat: be certain to turn off their VividPic setting which is default on all images - fortunately, it can be turned off globally within project albums.

2) sharedink.com - great service, extremely accurate image match and quality, many superb paper, end paper, and cover material choices, big book sizes, the option to get a single page press proof before printing, slower turnaround, expensive. be advised: you must request, by email, information on there Photographer Program - a 'hidden from the public' part of their website where all the goodies are found. There is a one-time charge to join the program although you can try it out for a free 30-day trial period.

Neither printer requires you to use their tools - all page creation can be performed on your own computer using Photoshop for full freedom image size / placement and text / type creation.

More to come.

ku # 502 ~ s**t or get off the pot # 2

Autumn mist and rain on Lake George • click to embiggenI'll be away for a few days but I wanted to let you know that the POD photobook idea is generating decent interest. There are still of number of you out there who have not responded but that I would expect to do so.

Also, a favor to ask - for those of you with a blog, please make an entry that mentions the idea with a link to my entry about the idea. Let's see how much interest we can generate.

FYI, Jim Jirka asked, "... Do you feel captions are enough for the images, with a artist intent statement enough to carry the book idea?"

my response: IMO, the simpler, the better. Although, if one feels that some text is in order, do it. My intention is to have an Artist Statement, a page or two of intro text, and pictures with captions / titles.

FYI, the entire book can be created in Photoshop by using text layers. More on how - to - do - it later.

urban ku # 167 ~ s**t or get off the pot

Abandoned house at sundown • click to embiggenFor years, I have been a staunch advocate for print-on-demand photo books. Several articles that I have written on the subject - covering the idea, the process, and reviews of various POD printers - have been published on various online photo-forum sites.

Since my first POD photo book (printed in 2003), I continue to make photo books on a regular basis. My belief that POD photo books offer an unprecedented opportunity for the wide dissemination of 'personal' work that might not otherwise ever see the light of day (beyond the walls of their maker) only gets stronger with every book I make. -

IMO, POD photo books are the perfect instrument for wresting the Art of photography out of the halls of academia and back into the hands of photographers.

Unfortunately, while some individual photographers - including a few darlings of the Art world - have delved into the POD realm, no one has attempted to create a POD photo book 'central' where a critical mass of POD book offerings can be perused and purchased. More's the pity because I believe that the probably that are a tremendous number of interesting books out there is very high.

That said, here's my question to you -

Are there 10-15 of you who are interested in making a POD book and offering it for sale on a POB Photo Book Gallery here on the Landscapist - or more probably on an adjunct site devoted exclusively to the sale of POD photo books?

If the interest is there, I'll set it up and help book makers with design and production tips.

The site itself would not be in the business of selling your books. It's purpose would be to display your books and provide a link to a POD printer where a buyer can order the book. FYI, there are POD printers who handle the entire transaction - they collect the money (printing cost plus whatever markup you determine), forward the markup to you, print the book and ship it to the customer.

In the world of publishing, it doesn't get any easier than this. After you design the book, there's nothing left to do - no need to invest in inventory, complete transactions, handle shipping, etc.

Please take the time to consider this seriously.

We've had a good run discussing the medium of photography - its characteristics and its possibilities (amongst many other things). IMO, the time has come to starting doing something that might in some way actually influence the course of things to come in the medium of photography.

Let's see some feedback, please - and BTW, "I don't think that my photography is good enough." is NOT an acceptable excuse. I am familiar with the photography of quite a number of the regulars here on The Landscapist and much of it is more than ready for POD photo book prime time.

Remember - Nothing ventured, nothing gained

still life # ~ scallions, olives, and mold

Scallions, olives, and mold • click to embiggenLate yesterday, I had a hankerin' for green olives when I noticed a jar of them on the kitchen counter, where I had left them after the last time I had indulged my green olive fancy.

Upon opening the jar, I was struck by the evidence that the last time I had indulged my green olive fancy was at least 3-4 weeks ago. No problem, though. Just more fodder for the decay series.

still life # 7 ~ Peaches, garlic, and beans

peaches, garlic, and beans • click to embiggenI must confess to becoming increasingly seduced by and enamored of the beauty I am discovering as I continue to investigate decay. I am finding these still life pictures to be very rich in color, texture, light, shape, form, and unexpected and surprisingly alluring beauty.

In a recent NY Times piece, Well, It Looks Like Truth (about a show at International Center of Photography), The writer Holland Cotter opines that "Art ... is in the business of questioning facts..." - something with which I would agree.

And I must state that I am having fun questioning the facts of decay.

Just a few more days

The new office • click to embiggenA couple more coats of floor stain and poly and the new office is ready for occupancy. I'm rather amped and the wife is somewhat jealous.

Her jealously is somewhat mollified by the fact that every day when I sit down to work (or play), I will be seated under her pictured gaze at the Alcove Altar of the Benevolent and Long-Suffering Wife.

urban ku # 166 ~ ice

Ice on trees • click to embiggenThe journal entry, ku # 449 ~ meaning, of a few days ago continues to draw interesting comments. The most recent from John Denniston is from the perspective of a retired photographer and a former editor at a daily newspaper.

John D. states; "After looking through the entire series of pictures I would say they are uneven. There are some very powerful pictures and there are some very dull and uninspired. Papo suffers from what I saw in many photographers when I was an editor at a daily newspaper, not understanding that the emotions felt when taking the picture don’t always translate to the print. Good photographers are also ruthless editors of their own work because they know that one bad picture in a series of 10 good pictures can destroy the impact of the other 9. So what’s the problem with some of Papo’s pictures? She just missed the moment and the tension is gone, the photograph has become a snapshot. The decisive moment may be a cliché but it’s also the difference between pictures that connect with a viewer who has no experience with what’s being photographed and those which only connect with family or friends."

I understand that, from the perspective of a newspaper editor who needs to fill a limited amount of page space with pictures that pack the most attention-getting wallop, Papo's body of work would need to be edited down to the most dramatic of the bunch. Such is the economic reality / restraint of any mass media - editorial content space is limited by ad revenues.

I also agree with John D.'s assessment that the body of work is 'uneven' in as much as it a mixed bag of powerful and dull pictures although, for me, that very mixture is a definite plus, imo. I see the entire body of work more as a 'diary' of sorts. One that tracks the highs and lows, the extraordinary and the ordinary, the 'decisive moments' as well as the quotidian ones. Or, simply put, the ebb and flow of life (albeit with assault rifles).

For me, a big part of the power of the complete series is the dichotomy between the decisive and quotidian moments. The playful teenage and dorm-life like 'buddy' pictures, which indeed seem like they would be more destined for personal albums (to 'connect with family or friends') than mass media publication, create the perfect 'humanizing' quality as a counterpoint to the more powerful decisive moment' pictures.

Without question, the 'decisive moment' pictures by themselves would make for a more compact and more immediately powerful presentation than the whole body of pictures. But, for me, the pictures of the 'mundane' add a Paul Harvey "and now for the rest of story"-ness that I find more satisfying.

Speaking of satisfying, check out John Denniston's Salt Spring Island - Clearings, Structures, Myth. One could say that the whole thing could be edited down to a single really powerful triptych, but, in fact, I like the unabridged edition.

My thanks to John D. for both the comments and his look at Salt Spring Island.