civilized ku # 2871 ~ just looking and seeing

hotel hallway and lobby ~ Clifton Park, NY • click to embiggen

Update on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 05:29PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Another copy/paste issue, or else Rist Camp has some hidden modern amenities.

my response: As I was making the picture I was thinking that I would rather be at Rist Camp ..... if only I didn't really enjoy hauling Hugo's hockey butt all over the place on weekends ..... if only Rist Camp was winterized ..... if only it were August ..... and so on and so on. Apparently the thought stuck with me and subliminally caused me to leave the name unpasted.

diptych # 125 / civilized ku # 2870 ~ not so subtle hidden agenda

Union College arena ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen
Shatter Point Hockey Tournament ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen

Hugo's scheduled hockey season is over. However, the team is now engaged in post season tournament play.

This weekend past, they played in a tournament in Schenectady, NY - a NYS Capital District city. 2 of the games, semi-final and championship, were held at the Union College* hockey arena. Hugo's team played in both games.

The team went undefeated in the round-robin play (3-0) earning them participation in the championship game. Their opponent was the tournament host team, the Schenectady Chargers, a high level very well coached hockey team**. A team which they defeated 2-1 - in an intense and closely contested game - in the round robin play and a game in which Hugo scored 1 goal and was, as they say, making stuff happen (play making, puck moving, shots on net, etc.).

Unfortunately 2 things conspired against Hugo's team in the championship game.

#1 - As mentioned, the opponent team was very well coached and they knew, after experiencing Hugo's play firsthand, what they had to do to win the championship game. Namely, get all over #88. A tactic which they executed to perfection with 2 and, at times, 3 players (see action picture in diptych) stuck to Hugo like glue throughout the game.

What the opposing coaches didn't know was the fact that, if Hugo doesn't score, his team doesn't win - a fact which has held true without exception over the course of the entire season. The fact that Hugo's team record is 35-10-2 is testament to how many pucks Hugo has put in the net - 60 at last count.

#2 - While shutting down Hugo obviously helped the other team win, perhaps the biggest factor was the round robin schedule which pitted the 2 teams most likely to met the host team in the championship game - Hugo's team and a team from Massachusetts - against each other in an very early 7:10AM game which ended only 4 hours before the championship game began. That game was vigorously contested inasmuch as both teams were playing for a berth in the championship game. Needless to write, the host team, having played their last round robin game the day before, was well rested. Anyone who thinks that that situation was a scheduling coincidence should contact me so I can sell them a bridge in Brooklyn.

After a scoreless 1st period (in the championship game), Hugo's team started to "lose their legs" midway through the 2nd period and it was only a matter of time before their opponent scored a couple goals. And with Hugo shut down, that was effectively that.

In any event, there's always the next time - which arrives this Friday-Sunday in a tournament in the far reaches of northern Vermont.

FYI, the other picture in the diptych depicts why many hockey dads have sore backs - they're bent over tying skate laces before very game.

*Union College is a small - enrollment is approx. 2100-2200 students - college founded in 1795. Despite it's diminutive student body and the fact that it offers no athletic scholarships, the Union College men's hockey team, the Dutchmen, won the NCAA Division 1 (highest level of collegiate athletics) national Championship last season, besting Minnesota Gophers (enrollment 28,600 and plenty of hockey scholarships).

**The Schenectady hockey program is designated as one of only 17 USA Hockey Model Associations nation wide

kitchen life # 68 ~ white celery detritus at near midnight

lime, white celery and other veggie detritus ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

After viewing this picture and my recent onion skins at midnight picture, one might think I that I or the wife have taken to sleep walking and sleep chopping veggies in the night. However, that, of course, is not the case.

The case is that I have finally trained the wife to not cleanup after herself when making breakfast / lunch / dinner (on those days when I am not doing it), at least not until I have pictured or deemed un-picture worthy those "messes" which just might appeal to my eye and sensibilities. Fortunately (for me), she has come to realize that any thing in the kitchen is potential fodder for picture making.

On the other hand, there may be a method to her trained madness - guess who eventually gets to clean up the "messes"?

In any event, I did make these pictures at midnight or there about. I wasn't sleep walking. In both cases I was in the kitchen looking for a late night snack.

kitchen sink ~ the book / gallery

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The kitchen sink body of work is an outgrowth of my kitchen life body of work. In the act of making pictures for the kitchen life series, over time it became apparent that my kitchen sink needed separate attention inasmuch as it presented a very specific referent as opposed to picturing things which depict the generalized idea of life in the kitchen.

Making pictures for the kitchen sink series is a slow go. Even though I am constantly on the lookout for (to my eye and sensibilities) visually interesting arrangements in the sink, picturing opportunities are few and far between due to the fact that the arrangements are found as is / serendipitous / the result of happenstance and not made / constructed. Consequently, there can be long periods during which nothing pricks my eye and sensibilities and, therefore, no kitchen sink picture making.

I have given thought to making arrangements in the sink but have come to the conclusion that doing so would negative the entire point of the endeavor. That is, to recognize the random and serendipitous beauty to be found in the quotidian world.

kitchen life # 67 ~ onion skins at midnight

onion skins at midnight ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ART: conveys / transports / reflects ~ the book / gallery - it's all connected

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Next up in my body of work organization endeavor is my art reflects work.

Unlike the rain work, this body of work began from the very first picture as a dedicated body of work. A separate folder was created from the start so no emerging-body-of-work recognition was required to cull these pictures from the herd.

All of these pictures were made in Montreal, CA. With the exception of just one picture, they were all made on a single street in Old Montreal - Rue Saint-Paul Est - a target rich environment for this body of work. The majority of the pictures were made during a single trip to Old Montreal.

I would like to add to this body of work and the work in the windows of the galleries on Rue Saint-Paul Est change every month to reflect that month's exhibition or, at the very least, a rotation of works from permanent exhibitors. In effect, there is a densely packed and never ending opportunity for picture making with these referents.

However, in making more pictures for this body of work, I most definitely want to stay with the look to be had on overcast days. In part, because I want the cohesive look of that light from picture to picture and that light seems to work best on a purely technical basis. I have made pictures on sunny days and the contrast is extreme enough that the resulting images just don't blend the elements - window interiors to reflected streetscapes - in a visually harmonious manner.

Consequently, in order to maintain the visual cohesiveness that I want, it seems a number of cloudy day trips to Old Montreal should be put on the calendar.

FYI, these pictures are straight from the camera single exposures. No multiple exposure techniques, no post picture making blending or PS tomfoolery was involved in their making.

rain ~ the book / gallery / let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place

covers • click to embiggen
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As time allows I have continued to mine my picture archive - currently numbering around 6000 pictures - to recognize and organize various bodies of work. Bodies which I have recognized but have only loosely put together. Rain is one such example.

Over an extended period of time, I have been making pictures immediately before / during / immediately after rainfalls which are one of favorite times to make pictures. That is to write that rain is one of the very few referents for which I suit up and go out to make pictures of a specific type. That's as opposed to my normal M.O. of going out with my camera(s) with no specific picture making objective in mind and making pictures of whatever pricks my eye and sensibilities.

What I find interesting about my approach to picture making is that I have had only a few bodies of work which I have intentionally pursued over time. Most of my other bodies of work have emerged from my archives when I recognize that I have a worthy collection of pictures which can make up a separate body of work. Once recognized and organized, I will then pursue, again over time, additional pictures for those almost serendipitous / newly 'discovered' themes.

My manner of discovering 'hidden' bodies of work within my archive stands in contrast to those who work on single bodies of work one at a time. My reason for not doing so is simple - I like to make pictures, lots of pictures. My archive extends back almost 13 years. Doing the math (6000 ÷ 13), that equates to approximately (on average) 460 pictures per year. And that's counting only the pictures which made it into my archive.

I can not imagine that my prodigious picture making habit will change any time soon. So, who knows what might emerge from that heap o' pictures in the future.

addendum: Borrowing a page from Andreas Manessinger, The Song of the Day is Singing In The Rain.

diptych # 124 ~ as it should be

bathroom sink / kitchen sink ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In his comment on the recent entry, civilized ku # 2869 ~ nothing if not wordy, Paul Bradforth wrote (in part):

.... I think my main grouch was that you, Mark, spend so much time talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is, while producing, at the same time, so much nice still-life work that I often think you lower the tone of it all with your proselytizing.

First, a caveat: I appreciate Paul's comment and input. I take no offense whatsoever and hope he (or others) continue to comment, pro or con, regarding any of the goings on here on The Landscapist. Expressing diverse opinions and ideas of what picture making is all about is, IMO, a good thing. A very good thing.

Second, a definition:

proselytizing: to convert or attempt to convert as a proselyte; recruit.

Third, my response to Paul's comment (not a retort but merely an explanation): Over the years, using words other than "proselytizing", some have accused me of speaking writing ex cathedra* regarding the medium and its apparatus ("talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is"). Amongst other things, I am fairly certain those comments stem from the fact that I have been demonstratively forthright in expressing my criticisms and opinions of some pictures and picture making ideas and conventions.

While it is not my intention to demean those who make those pictures or hold near and dear those picture making ideas and conventions, I am also certain (and take full responsibility for) that some take personal umbrage as the result of the expressing of my criticisms and opinions.

Given that I believe that cognitive criticism (as in, critique) is both valid and valuable, the operative word in the preceding paragraph is "opinion" inasmuch as I have never been proselytistic in my writings. That is, I have no desire to "convert" anyone to anything, picture things wise. I am merely expressing my opinions as I think out loud (so to write) as much for my own benefit - perhaps more so - as I do for others who may be tuning in.

Some appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions based on my writings. Other think it's a steaming pile of elephant dung. And that's as it should be inasmuch as I'm not trying to please anyone other than myself.

Some visit for the pictures and in doing so appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions, pro or con, about them. And that is as it should be inasmuch as I make pictures for myself according to the dictates of my eye and sensibilities.

All of that written, one thing visitors will never read from me is how they should do it or how they should think, picture making wise, or what kind of pictures they should like. And, as I have recently passed 3/4 million page views, I am assuming that, one way or another, someone somewhere is getting something out of it.

*from the seat of authority; with authority: used especially of those pronouncements of the pope that are considered infallible.