FYI ~ He's off and running

House wine and other views • click to embiggenIn a heroic feat of mind over body, I managed to get my still-ailing body out of the house and to Aaron's 'preview' exhibition. It was a great success.

Congratulations to Aaron - his first 'real' gallery show, a very nice turnout throughout the evening, and, actual opening night print sales.

Next stop, NYC.

ku # 478 ~ moon over dunes and the Atlantic

Moon over dune and the Atlantic • click to embiggenMy body and brain is back to something approaching a human state - as opposed to the slimely, protoplasmic, primordial amoeba state of the past 4 days. I am still a few days away from "normalcy" but the end appears to be insight.

Re: night photography - I have been following Joe Reifer's blog, Ramblings about photography, for quite awhile. It seems to me that Joe's real passion is night photography and there is a discussion going on there right now about creating a 'night photography lexicon'.

I am following it with interest because I am interested in night photography but there is a lot about the sub-genres I don't understand. 2 sub-genres in particular that give me a spot of trouble are; 1. those that turn night into 'day' (shouldn't it look more like night???), and, 2. those with photographer introduced colored light (the point/purpose of not light, but colored light being?).

Once the noggin/noodle is fully functioning, I plan to chime in on this subject a bit more, and...

FYI, a Night Photography Forum is on the way, so, get out there and start picturing the night away.

PS an interesting collection of night photography in many different styles can be seen at The Nocturnes

FYI ~ SL photographer lands show at Chelsea gallery ...

Sometimes, the most amazing and totally unimaginable things happen ...

Read about it here - SL photographer lands show at Chelsea gallery

FYI ~ I wouldn't give my troubles to a monkey on a rock

This afternoon, Monday, is my first day back on feet on a very limited basis. I spent the last 4 days in bed or on the couch dealing with what must be the flu - very high temps, massive headaches and a few other symptoms that I won't describe.

Suffice it to say, high fever and no food make Jack a weak boy. I may (or may not) feel well enough tomorrow to sit at the computer and get back into it. Here's hoping ...

Hell, I even missed Hugo's birthday party.

PS - this weekend's Landscapist canoe outing is postponed. Except for next weekend, I am available to re-schedule at everyone's convience.

urban ku # 94 ~ ad infinitum

A wave • click to embiggenPicturing a wave in motion is hardly a new/novel idea. However, this triptych has given me an idea for a self-contained one-day project.

Next summer, weather and a few other things being favorable, I would like to return to the south Jersey Shore primarily for the purpose of picturing. The area is ripe with picture possibilities if for no other reason than the quality of light that is characteristic of the ocean shore - a characteristic that Joel Meyerowitz used to stunning advantage in his Cape Light project/book - a book that should be in any serious landscape photography collection.

Light is not the only reason I want to picture the south Jersey Shore. Things, the way they used to be, are disappearing at a rate and on a scale that is staggering. I would like to bear witness to the transition.

But, that is not the one-day project that I have in mind. I would like to set up my camera, secure inside a plastic baggie, and my tripod, legs wrapped in plastic bags, in a position roughly similar to the one pictured here. Starting in the pre-dawn light and ending in the last glow of daylight, picture a 3-wave sequence every hour upon the hour.

With sunrise/sunset times this time of year, that should result in 18 3-picture sequences. I envision them presented as 6×6 inch images, 1 sequence per 8×22 inch print and then mounted altogether, 6w x 3h, on 3×12 ft. white board under plexi.

civilized ku # 51 ~ relationships

Relationships - one to the other and everything else to everything else • click to embiggenThink about it this way - inside/outside, daylight/atificial light, younger/older, engaged/disengaged, gay/straight, one moment/another moment, seen/unseen, observer/observed, one picture to the other picture and everything else to everything else.

urban ku # 93 ~ portal/transition

Transition - mystic/rational • click to embiggenYesterday, pursuant to civilized ku # 50 Martin Doonan asked, "... are the great photos those that, even though only enjoyed for their connotation (the event/place isn't special to the viewer), have a deeper meaning denoted to the photographer? Thus, the photos that we appreciate most are those that we sense have meaning to the photographer, without necessarily knowing or understanding it."

When I view a picture - even my own - I assume that the photographer has a 'meaningful' connection to picture, if not the actual referent/object of the camera's gaze. Whatever the referent, I take it as a given that the photographer has pictured it for a reason - he/she, by picturing it, has 'elevated' it to a level of importance that should warrant the viewer's attention.

Whether the photographer has 'elevated' the referent for its denoted or its connoted qualities is often difficult to discern without the assistance of words - artist's statement, caption, title.

So, in answer to your question, I guess what I am saying is that I think it's difficult for a picture maker to make a picture that can be appreciated beyond its decorative qualities unless the picture maker has a 'meaningful' relationship to his/her 'subject' - the 'subject' being expressed through both the denoted and the connoted.

However, that being said, for the viewer, if a picture does not possess a personally experienced punctum - "... that accident which pricks, bruises me ... - Roland Barthes/Camera Lucida - no sense of the picture maker's connection to the denoted will help the viewer connect to the picture as anything more than decorative (if even that).

While most photographs offer only the identity of an object, those that project a punctum potentially offer the truth of the subject. They offer "the impossible science of the unique being."

urban ku # 92 ~ beach life at dinner time

Leaving time at the beach • click to embiggenWhile checking my daily recent came from stats, I noticed that someone had click through to The Landscapist from Pitchertaker, a blog by Frank Armstrong.

Frank must check in at The Landscapist enought to know that I had just returned from the Jersey Shore, as had he. If you would like another look at a few interesting pictures of the Jersey Shore, visit Pitchertaking and take a look.

There is also a link to Frank's 'formal' website which is well worth a visit.

Thanks for stopping by, Frank.