urban ku # 69 ~ a band of brain-dead brothers

Everyday drama and beauty • click to embiggenIt never ceases to amaze me how many people never take the time to 'see' what is all around them. A case in point is the parking lot at our local supermarket - a place which I am picturing on a surprisingly regular basis. By scenic landscape 'standards', it would be ranked somewhere between ugly and more ugly - there's not much in it glamour-wise ... except for the sky, which on any given day can put on quite a show, albeit subtle rather than grand.

When I was picturing the above scene, together with another variation thereof, people were staring at me in confusion - they were even peering out of the front window of the supermarket. The camera was not obviously pointed at the sky so there was consternation regarding what in the blazes I was picturing. Apparently, they don't look up in this locale.

That said, I'd like to mention a somewhat similar phenomena - this by Janet Duprey, seconded by Teresa Sayward (both are Republican state assemblywomen representing different districts of northern New York), and a group of local citizens.

It was reported in the local newspaper that, at a town-hall meeting of sorts, Duprey/Sayward made points to M. Patricia Smith, the new New York state labor commissioner regarding the fact that "... the North Country has a set of problems, as well as a set of treasures, that are all its own ...", which, as a statement that plays fast and very loose with the words 'treasures' and 'problems', is true enough.

Singled out as a particular circumstance is the presence of the Adirondack Park Agency, which enforces rules designed to control development. Sayward noted the palpable drop in activity (Ed. - development-wise) when crossing the Blue Line (Ed. - the park boundary line as drawn on a map long ago with a blue pencil) into the park near Lake George and the resumption of activity when crossing the line again, out of the park, near Plattsburgh.

Duprey remarked on the difficulty people inside the park have trying to infuse life into a business or industry when the area is so regulated. The subject struck a resonant cord with the gathering, as Sayward was roundly applauded for making the point.

Not that Seyward or Duprey read this blog, but I would like to respond directly to 2 points.

1. re: ...the North Country has a set of ... treasures... - yes it does. Those 'treasures' are incredibly obvious to anyone with half a brain - the area's natural resouces and their undeveloped wilderness character together with the small-town character of its villages and hamlets. Those treasures are why, every year, millions of money-spending tourists visit the park. Those treasures are why, every year, a significant number of money-spending people retire to, move to, or buy second homes here.

Is there something about this that you (Duprey/Seward) don't underdstand?

The area is simply not suited for large-scale industrial development. The typography and the infrastructure (dictated by typography) will not support it. And, in case you haven't noticed, there is no ready labor force to support large-scale industry.

Get it? The only way with which to change the infrastructure/ready labor force situation is one that is sure to devastate the 'treasures' which are now the drivng force behind the region's only 'large-scale industry', i.e., tourism.

2. re: the Adirondack Park Agency, which enforces rules designed to control development ... - it's a very short and very simple set of connect-the-dots between the APA and the area's treasures. Eliminate the APA and, in very short order, the so-called free market will eliminate the treasures. Without a doubt, history, past and recent, tells us this.

IMO, Seyward and Duprey are glad-handing politicians who parrot a vote-getting 'populist' view - we'd all be rich and living like the famous, if only government would just leave us alone. In this case, the bogeyman, in the form of the APA, is alive and well.

What I want to know from them is simple:

Define 'treasure'.
Define 'industry', specifically, what kind of industry, do you believe is suitable for the area?
Define a detailed plan for attracting such industry.
Define an actual plan for working with the APA to protect the region's character. One that goes beyond your thinly veiled and oft-stated attempts to dismantle/neuter it.

If you can't do this, you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Update on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 09:27PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Tim Atherton wrote: "I think that's maybe topography not "typography"... ? - Okay, I'm trying to imagine some giant phrase in Times Roman being cut into the landscape :-) Rather like the Cerne Abbas Giant."

my response: Good one, Tim. I've been working like a madman for last 2 weeks on - guess what? - typography. Guess it was an typographic slip.

Brett Kosmider wrote (in part): "I dream of something like the APA to come into the area up in 'dese here parts known as Door County, undoubtedly Wisconsin's premiere vacation/retirement destination. I say "vacation slash retirement" because recent unchecked development of retirement homes, condos and high density housing is destroying the very character that makes Door so unique..."

FYI ~ fly like a bug

Fly like a bug • click to embiggenHugo makes his first major Adirondack marketing debut. This is a spread from the new 2007 Activity Guide - a project which I am bringing to completion today (right, Carol?).

The picture is from last weekend when I took Hugo to play mini-golf and to jump around in those inflatible things. All the while he was keeping a sharp eye on the bungy jumping thing. He eventually said that he wanted to do it - "Me not scared".

He loved it because, as he said, "Me fly like a bug". Living as we do in the Adirondacks, 'bug" is the proper and fitting analogy. He's a smart little bugger.

Update on Friday, June 1, 2007 at 01:13PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Aaron wrote(about my ex); I can tell you that Sharon (my mother/Nana) is not too happy with you regarding this photo! I think her words were "is he nuts? I wanna see Hugo live to be 3!"

urban ku # 68 ~ this just a test

This just a test • click to embiggenYesterday I mentioned the book Burtynsky - China. This book should be in the possession of anyone who considers themselves to be a "thinking" photographer if for no other reason than the introductory essay The Truth in Photographs by Mark Kingwell. This essay is one of three in the book that are must reads.

In all probability, I will be posting a future entry about the substance of the essay, but what I wish to bring to your attention today is a point the author makes about beautiful pictures of not-so-beautiful referents.

In this specific case, the thought is instigated by Burtynsky's beautiful pictures of China's march toward serious/monumental environmental impact of the not-so-good variety. Kingwell states, "... what impact remains if, let us say - in what is in fact a true instance - a large image of environmental disaster is used as artistic decoration ... at this point, though not via direct intention, the work has become inert or even disreputable in either or both of two sense: as mere wallpaper, the sort of well-meaning neutering liable to overtake any work via fashionable appropriation ...; or also, as worse, as slyly double avoidance-ritual to environmental awareness is offered and then as quickly withdrawn, or set aside, by the work's surrender to an existing logic of aesthetic appreciation."

Translation - Burtynsky has stated that his pictures address ... an urgency to make people aware of important things that are at stake ..." and, that ... the mass consumption these ideals (happiness through material gain) ignite and the resulting degradation of our environment intrinsic to the process of making things ....

In addressing these issues, Burtynsky is making beautiful pictures. Pictures that find homes in galleries, books and collections (public and private) where they are coveted for their 'surrender to an existng logic of aesthetic appreciation' - either or both of a postmodren view of things and a photographic aesthetic.

Kingwell's point is that, whatever Burtynsky's political intent, it can very easily get lost in the artistic wash - "Outside the gallery setting, the works can slide too easily the background of visual culture" (ed. - there's the 'flow' at work) ", lose their impact, become mere ghosts of themselves."

This notion has been on my mind regarding my works.

What to do? What to do?

Any ideas?

PS - the book is available (although the Sellout warning is very high) at a great price on Overstock.com. Just click on the Photography Books and follow the link to Overstock.com. The Landscapist gets a small piece of the action only if you follow this link.

Update on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 03:31PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Eric Fredine wrote; With respect to Burtynsky (and many others) another thing that I often ponder is the reliance on spectacle. He seeks out the most fantastic and extraordinary examples - they make for compelling imagery to be sure.

The approach is similar to that of the legions of nature photographers who seek out iconic locations at optimal times. And the compositional devices Burtynksy employs are very conventional and traditional as well (though I think he is very good at it).

(One of the overpasses from China that Burtynksy photographed is even something of an iconic spot - popping up in the work of several well known photographers.)

And just look at the flurry of photographs we got from Katrina...

urban ku # 67 ~ 'the flow'

Layer upon layer of meaning • click to embiggenIt has been stated, regarding photography, that, in the 'digital age', analog is about traces, digital is about flow.

This notion popped into my head last evening as I was stroking, caressing and viewing (an analog experience) a new batch of photo books which arrived in the mail over the past few days. Two of the books - Burtynsky's China and Breuer's Poles - are particularly exceptional books.

Both create worlds which just suck you in and hold you in an embrace that's seductive and intriguing. Neither my hands nor my eyes wanted to let go. Most pictures had the quality of an essay - my mind could construct paragraphs and paragraphs as the pictures took me through layer upon layer of connections. The descriptors such as, deep, complex, rich, detailed come to mind, not just to convey the visual character of the pictures, but their meaning as well.

As I was waltzing to the music on this substrata of pictures, it occurred to me that I was dancing in a manner that I rarely, if ever, do when I'm connected to 'the flow' of photography on the digital highway.

Maybe it's a generational thing - I have no real emotional connection to a screen (monitor) and, for the most part, I want to disconnected from the flow of information (or disinformation) which can all too readily suck you in and drag you under in a soup of mind-numbing overload of (in this case) pictures.

On the other hand, I must admit that I am a contributor of sorts to 'the flow'. Blogging is certainly about a constant flow of stuff. It makes me wonder what my following would be if I only posted once a week - one picture and a more lengthy essay. Something which requires that you slow down, observe and contemplate.

It seems to me that we live in a culture which encourages the unthinking consumption rather than the thoughtful engagement of pictures. In fact, I think that the very existence of our consumer culture is dependent upon that notion.

What to do? What to do?

Any ideas?

Update on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 08:36AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Just in case you didn't catch the Reference posted by Jason Thompson - Consumption Vs. Engagement

Tim Atherton also posted this link on his thoughts re: Traces

civilized ku # 31 ~ Small is beautiful - let me count the ways

Oh Canada • click to embiggenHugo became an international traveler over the Memorial Day weekend. He picked up a little French, wandered the streets of Old Montreal, had the bejesus scared out of him at the Montreal Science Centre's IMAX presentation of Dinosaurs 3D ("...dinosaurs going to eat me...") and discovered that Canada is about more than 'hockey guys' - on the drive to Montreal he sang the opening lines, "On Canada..." repeatedly.

I, on the other hand, had my ongoing desire for a Smart car enflamed to passion level 10. Hugo also asked, "Me get one too?". Little does he suspect that by the time he reaches driving age, a Smart car (or slightly larger variants like the Toyota Yaris, et al) may be the only choice he has.

The Smart car is sold in 36 countries around the planet. The gas-guzzling U.S. is not numbered among them. However, Mercedes (Smart is a division of Mercedes - can you even imagine Cadillac or Lincoln having such a product?) states that the car will be available in the U.S. in early 2008. Time for me to queue up.

Re: today's picture - can you even comprehend the number of ways in which small is beautiful in these pictures?

Update on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 09:42AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Paul Maxim wrote; "Don't look for me when you're "queing up". I have absolutely nothing against smallness and I abhor waste. I do, however, drive an 8 - cylinder Jeep. Why do I drive such a vehicle? Simply because I'm 6' 6" tall and slightly claustrophobic. I also hate flying and so tend to do a lot of driving (our son lives in Nevada). Besides, with all the 18 wheelers running around out there at over 70 mph, a vehicle like the one pictured would be squashed like a bug and no one would even know that anything had happened! It would look like a skunk flattened on the highway ..."

My response - The Smart Car is certainly not for everyone or for all driving situations. Urban use is their strong suit, but for me, it would also be of great use in my daily 2-lane driving around the countryside along with short hops (20 miles or so) on an interstate which has a very uncongested flow of traffic.

FYI - a history lesson and a renewed invitation

The wife's delight
The wife making delights
Hugo's (at 11 months) first overnighter
Quite early morning on Franklin Falls Pond
An early Adirondack guide with his 'sport' (client) in an Adirondack Guideboat

Nearly 30,000 miles of streams and brooks that emerge from the Adirondack mountains and forests form the network from which 1,000 miles of powerful Adirondack rivers gather their volume and strength. Add to that over 3,000 lakes and ponds and it's no mystery why waterways were the early 'highways' of the Adirondacks.

In keeping with the earlier topic of the environment driving human history, two wonderful inventions of humankind came about as a result of the influence on man of this natural waterway phenomena - the Adirondack guideboat and the Adirondack 'pack' canoe. Both are marvels of human ingenuity and they are things of beauty as well.

click to embiggenThe Adirondack guideboat was first created as an early 'pickup truck'. It's primary use was to move large volumes of stuff around the landscape. Eventually, as the tourist trade took hold, they were used to haul tourists (aka, 'sports') and their stuff around the landscape. The boats were/are light, fast, stable and carry a lot of stuff. As seen in the photo, guides often allowed their 'sport' to use a steering paddle when they were rowing from the bow position.

The Adirondack 'pack' canoe is epitomised by the Rushton 'Sairy Gamp' which was built for George Washington Sears, nom de plume - 'Nessmuk'. Nessmuk (a small man) was a nationally syndicated sportswriter who traversed the Adirondacks - 266 miles - in his 9ft, 10lb canoe. The year was 1883.

Rushton did not promise that the laden Sairy Gamp would float or survive. That did not discourage Nessmuk, whose motto was "Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment." You can read Nessmuk's writing about his Adirondack traverse here. Look under Letters to Forest and Stream, Cruise of the Siary Gamp, 1883. It is truly fascinating reading.

Pack boats are typically very nimble and very light which makes them ideally suited for winding rivers and streams, replete with lots of 'carries' (portage). Dispite their diminutive size and weight - ours are 12 ft./21 lbs. - they, like their guideboat brethern, carry a lot of stuff. Our cherry-trimmed kevlar/carbon fiber 'Spitfires'carry up to 375 lbs. - typically, in 2 boats, that's me, the wife, 2 dogs, and enough gear and provisions for as long as we want to be away.

In any event, I tell you all of this because only a few people have responded to my Make them an offer they can't refuse. Once again I extend the invitation. Come on people - it'll be fun and a chance to meet new and interesting people. Not to mention traversing a wilderness landscape in the best example of a 125 year+ old tradition.

It's not arduous or dangerous and it's good for the body and soul.

PS - I have not had time to respond to those who have responded but, just to let you know, I want to schedule this for late August. Let me know if this works for you.

FYI - a link

thanks to Michelle for a heads up regarding 3191, a year of mornings, a collaborative project/blog created by Stephanie and Mav who both like to get up early and also just happen to live 3,191 miles apart.

civilized ku # 30 ~ Small is beautiful

Someone's little piece of heaven on earth • click to embiggenJust outside of town, sandwiched between the elk ranch and the granite quarry on Rt. 9, is this little gem. Over the past few years, it has been slowly remodeled into what you see here. In someone's opinion, it is a little piece of heaven on earth, and, BTW, it's not a summer home, it's a full-time residence.

What this house and home brings to mind is a book - Small Is Beautiful, Economics As If People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher - which was published in 1973 soon after the energy crisis of the same year rattled American's (and the world's) cages. In the opinion of The New Republic, the book is ...Enormously broad in scope, pithily threads from Galbraith and Gandhi, capitalism and Buddhism, science and psychology. It has also been called ... the perfect antidote to the economics of globalization. As relevant today as when it was first published ...

Schumacher was a British economist who was amongst the first to point out that our economy was unsustainable. He also believed that the workplace should be dignified and meaningful first, efficient second, and that nature is priceless.

Schumacher's economic ideas where fueled to great extent by Keynes, Galbraith, and 'Buddhist' economics. In a quote near and dear to my heart, he states that "... [the modern economist] is used to measuring the 'standard of living' by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. . . . The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."

I really like the part about The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. I like it a lot.

In a later book - A Guide for the Perplexed - Schumacher, in somewhat of an aside to his main point, wrote about art. He suggests that there is a lot of confusion about the nature and meaning of art (sounds familiar). In order to clear this up, he states that one must consider art with relation to its effect on human beings.

He thinks that most art fits into one of two categories - entertainment, that which is created to primarily effect feelings, and propaganda, that which is created to effect our will. For the most part, this concept jives with the idea (derived from the book, Einstein's Space and Van Gogh's Sky, Physical Reality and Beyond) expressed by me here on The Landscapist that art is divided into two categories - decorative, that which is created to turn the mind off, and, fine art, that which is created to engage the mind.

I have posited that the best art is that which combines both of the latter properties, art that is both decorative and informative, that which I strive for in my pictures. Schumacher also believes in a combination of entertainment and propaganda which appeals to amn's higher intellectual and emotional faculties with the intent of communicating truth.

IMO, there's something a little weird going on when an economist, a theoretical physicist and a psychologist (the last two are the authors of Einstein's Space/Van Gogh's Sky) seem to have a much more succinct idea of what art is than most artists are able to express.

So, how about contemplating this (from Schumacher) the next time you're thinking about creating meaningful art (not to mention a 'righteous' way of living) -

"The way in which we experience and interpret the world obviously depends very much indeed on the kind of ideas that fill our minds. If they are mainly small, weak, superficial, and incoherent, life will appear insipid, uninteresting, petty, and chaotic. It is difficult to bear the resultant feeling of emptiness, and the vacuum of our minds may only too easily be filled by some big, fantastic notion – political or otherwise – which suddenly seems to illumine everything and to give meaning and purpose to our existence. It needs no emphasis that herein lies one of the great dangers of our time."