civilized ku # 50 ~ just plain civilized, or, it ain't what you eat, it's the way how you chew it.

A night out for diner at the shore • click to embiggenIt has been stated that all communication takes place the medium of signs and according to semiology (the role played by signs in the construction of meaning) photography is primarily concerned with 'iconic', 'indexical' and'symbolic' signs.

Very simply stated, iconic signs, in some way or another resemble, the object they stand for. A pictured tree, although certainly not a tree, bears a resemblance to the tree which is pictured. Indexical signs do not necessarily share a resemblance to the objects that they refer to but are nevertheless connected to it. A footprint signifies a causal relationship to human presence - we don't see the foot but its existence is signified by the footprint. Symbolic signs convey meaning through cultural convention and consensus. By convention and consensus in our culture, we all know the meaning red, yellow and green lights used to regulate traffic. These signs bear no resemblance to the things they signify.

So, here's my take on how this applies to a photograph using today's post as an example.

The photograph, as a sign, is iconic in as much the objects denoted in it truly resemble the things pictured - amongst many other things, does anyone have trouble recognizing this picture as 2 women a a table in a restaurant? The photograph, as a sign, is indexical in as much as there are visual indications of human presence that have happened or, in all probablity, will happen - amongst many other things, does anyone doubt that the near empty bottle of wine or the nearly full glasses of wine signify the act of drinking? The photograph, as a sign, is symbolic in as much as, amongst many other things, by convention and consensus, it suggests meanings of friendship, joy and pleasure.

Viewed in this manner, the picture not only only denotes the specific - my wife's best friends in a restaurant drinking wine - and has special/added meaning for her that the uninitiated viewer might not share, it also connotes through signs/symbols a somewhat universal experience that others can divine and appreciate.

urban ku # 91 ~ beach life at its best

Night time is the best time • click to embiggenEveryday by about 6pm, the beach people leave the beach. Except for a few walkers and even fewer runners the beach remains pretty deserted until the next day.

And so it is with photographers. While there is sizeable group of dedicated night shooters, they are definitely in the minority. I wonder why that is.

We haven't done a 'theme' gallery for quite awhile. Is there any interest in a Night Gallery?

civilized ku # 49 ~ civilized to within an inch of its life

Plastic fantastic • click to embiggenThe wife says that, at one time, the Jersey shore, Stone Harbor edition, had a sort of nativistic summer colony look and feel. I believe her because, scattered here and there, are very tiny hints of that era - a few small cottage-type summer places that remain amongst the upper-middle class subdivision dreck that is elbow-to-elbow clogging/gobbling up the landscape.

In any event, it was so hot and humid during the daylight hours that I took to picturing at night, wandering about like a stranger in a strange land. I'm new to the night photography game but I found that the night landscape spoke to me in a fashion not unlike that of my normal daylight picturing.

As I was processing and viewing some of my night images, I was struck by the lost history/culture of this place. By sheer coincidence, as I was taking a break, I came across this reference to the photography of Walker Evans -

...if it can be said that Evans’ work is essentially denotative, and its ambition is to name irrefutably what it shows, it must be added that, almost paradoxically, through the concentrated descriptive power of photography, his pictures also claim those other trailing meanings that lie hidden in things. By being so vividly, immediately present – and so compassionately unmasked – these objects, facades, corners of towns and rooms, and human faces not only report what they are, but also suggest the improvised, heartfelt, and difficult histories that brought them to the moment Evans photographed them.

This seems to describe much of my photography.

ps - the excerpt is from the essay, Evans and Frank: An Essay on Influence, the purpose of which is to describe the influence of Walker Evans’ American Photographs (1938) on The Americans (1959) of Robert Frank.

urban ku # 90 ~ beach life, extended version

Beach life - the triptych • click to embiggenIt's amazing how, even when you have your butt parked in a beach chair under an umbrella and aren't about to move an inch because it's so f-ing hot and humid that just moving your eyeballs makes rivers of salty sweat run down your face, there is still plenty of interest all around you to picture.

There are these lovely little vignettes that don't seem especially interesting in real-time but, when stopped in picture-time and viewed with a bit of reflection, they create a flood of real-time memories and associations. Even if the viewer doesn't share any 'beach' experiences, when the pictures are approached with a sense of curiosity, one can still be transported to a 'place' - mental, emotional and visual - that is new and different from one's everyday 'place' in life.

urban ku # 89 ~ beach life

Coors Lt HHR $1.50 Dfts $2 Btls - Windrift Avln • click to embiggenOne of the many differences between the south Jersey beach and the Adirondacks is sky adverts. We have seaplanes, they have a regular procession of flying advertisements.

This particular winged midway barker is extolling the virtues and location of the Windrift in Avalon where, during Happy Hour, Coors Lite can be had for $1.50/drafts or $2.00/bottles. The message certainly fits in with the beach culture but I keep waiting to see a truth-in-advertising banner that simply says, "Beach lovers bonus - death by skin cancer.

FYI ~ JIm, you're not alone

I was so busy on Tuesday that I didn't have time to let everyone know that I'd be away for a couple days. I even meant to bring a few pictures to post  but I didn't have time to get that together either.

And lest anyone think I'm having fun, I am, instead, suffering through a couple days of insufferable heat at the south Jersey shore. I've been making a few pictures but I also forgot to bring any method for getting them off  the camera (card).

In any event, I'm outa here tomorrow and I'll pick up where I left off.

urban ku # 88 ~ busy crossing, and, I break radio silence once again

This must be a very busy crosswalk • click to embiggenWhy an eating place would want to use a symbol that signifies rats and child abduction is somewhat beyond my comprehension. But, in any event, I found a bit of humor in the seemingly well placed crosswalk sign.

Breaking radio silence - once again, I want to give credit where credit is due and perhaps be of some help to those who shoot RAW and are on the Mac platform.

Close to 2 months ago I mentioned that I was very pleased with my new Olympus E-510. Since that time I have been more and more impressed with the camera's performance, albeit a qualified appraisal. The fly in the ointment was due to the fact that the only RAW conversion software available that supported the camera was Olympus' own software (which was only available in a 'trial/demo' version). The software was full-feature but rather clunky and the results, while very good ... well ... let's just say that I wanted some basis for comparison.

Now I have it in Raw Developer, a powerful RAW image conversion application designed and optimized specifically for Mac OS X. The output of this software simply blows away the results I get from Aperture/Lightroom/ACR. Period. (comparison based on Oly E-500 files since none support the 510 yet) Elsewhere (Photo District News), the output has been described as film-like and I emphatically agree.

What I really like about Raw Developer (aside from its stunning output) is that it is a single purpose software - it's a raw processing/conversion software and nothing else. It's lean and mean - it loads large folders really fast; processing effects are immediately displayed in the preview; it's simple and intuitive. Add to that frequent upgrades for new cameras and, get this, send them an email asking for a new feature or support and, voila, a magic fairy appears and your wish is granted (a little poetic license, perhaps).

I have encounterd only a single glitch - the nagging fact that I should go back and reprocess every single Oly RAW file in my ku series.

So, that's it. No noise about noise, sharpening, features, etc. - lean and mean, just like Raw Developer.

PS - a free full-featured demo version is available. No matter what camera you use, you owe it to yourself to give a try.

ku # 477 ~ dog days

Dogs in the high peaks • click to embiggenBefore I went to the county fair this past Sunday, I did a little hiking with a friend and his dogs. He wanted a portrait of them for his wife's birthday.

The picture is a 7 frame stitch. I just dropped off a 60 inch print for their viewing pleasure. They were very pleased.