urban ku # 22 ~ apparatus embodies conventions and assumptions about picturing

Trailer at Fern Lake • click on photo to embiggen it I recently came across a book, Photography: A Very Short Introduction by Steve Edwards. I don't own it yet - it's on its way to my house - so I can't really comment on it but Doug Plummer has opined that "The semiotics of photography has never had such an accessible vehicle as this book..."

OK, perhaps, but, try this excerpt on for size; "At the heart of any criticisms of photographic realism is the idea that apparatus embodies conventions and assumptions about picturing. While the consequences of the staged, manipulated, or mocked up image are readily apparent, recognizing the deep conventions underpinning the apparatus can be less straightforward. However, these conventions are no less important for serious understanding of photographs; if anything, the relative invisibility of these determining assumptions makes them more worthy of attention and more insidious in their effects."

I think I understand it.............I think...and that's why I posted Trailer at Fern Lake with this topic. FYI, I created the photograph one day when I was out picturing.

Make any sense to you? Can you relate it to my photograph?

I'll wait for some comments before I chip in on the matter. And, oh yeh, this is a no-time-limit open-book test. You will be graded on a curve.

Featured Comment: Paul Maxim wrote (in part): "...if the rest of the book is written like this paragraph, I'm not jealous that you're going to have it and I'm not. Talk about obtuse language.....My interpretation of what he's talking about (which hinges entirely on my definition of "apparatus") is that our photographs are affected tremendously by our methodology...."

publisher's comment: Without a doubt, Paul is on the money regarding meaning "which hinges entirely (the) definition of 'apparatus'". I suspect, although I can't be sure untill I receive the book and read the chapter titled, Apparatus and the Image, that "apparatus" means much more than just hardware, photographic technique and aesthetic decisions. In fact, I think that those items are probably the least of it.

Again, I suspect that Mr. Edwards, being an academic and all that entails, is probably less interested in the hows than he is in the whys - the (deep) underlying social and cultural conventions that trigger response assumptions in both the photographer during the act of picturing (creating photographs), and the observer during the act of, well, picturing (observing photographs). If you also throw in a heaping spoonful of semiotics - the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior, I think that you will be much closer to Mr. Edwards meaning of "apparatus".

As far as my photograph is concerned, think of the trailer as a "sign" or "symbol" with underlying communication significance that might create "determininng assumption" on the part of the observer.

PS - everybody gets an "A" just for thinkng about it.

Stony Brook ~ Frank Winters

click on photo to embiggen it Frank Winters states - I look for the spiritual in nature. I'm studying Emerson and take every word in his essay Nature seriously.

The photo is a shot of Stony Brook -- a brook that runs through town (Westford, MA) hitting many conservation areas on it way. A lovely and moving brook with history and secrets galore. My photo is an attempt to capture some of the mystery the brook holds. The shot was taken in one of our most beautiful conservation areas -- full of wildlife, the Acker conservation land feels like wilderness but its near RR tracks, and a major intersection plus houses. Yet once you are in the land everything fades away.

FYI

I've added a new ku photo gallery - Now with secure online credit/debit card and e-check purchasing

ku # 454 ~ an "illusion"

Veteran's Memorial Highway and beyond - a view from the summit of Whiteface Mt. • click on photo to embiggen it The recent cell-tower discussion, mostly centered around non-photography issues, got me thinking. How can/does landscape photography speak to these issues? Frank Winters opined that "...to put a highway up and decide not to provide all the services people expect on a highway in the name of preserving wilderness is delusional..." Granting that that is a logical deduction (and I don't), are photographs which depict a visually apparent wilderness scene, but, in fact, obfuscate elements of humankind, "delusional"?

The photograph of Veteran's Memorial Hwy (and beyond) that accompanies this topic is a case in point.

With the exception of the highway, the scene appears to be that of a vast stretch of wilderness and, in fact, chunks of it are. However, "hidden" in the view are quite a number of private residences and small hamlets - no cell towers though. The visual evidence of the hand of humankind is not apparent. The experience that one has viewing this scene in person is commonly one of slack-jawed awe at the "endless" vistas (other views, N, S, E, and W) of "wilderness".

Now, I would assume that most who take in the view, having arrived by car and completed the "climb" to the summit, a 276ft ascent in cage-type elevator (walking an option) up a raw granite shaft - the elevator is at the end of a very narrow 426ft tunnel (45 degrees year round) carved through the same granite - understand that all is not as it appears to be. They seem to enjoy and appreciate the "delusion" nevertheless.

The photograph, however, does not describe any of those elements which on-site visitors experience other than the view. Does a photographer, who is interested in the spirit of fact, owe an explanation to his/her audience? Does creating the impression of pristine wilderness where there is none (or only some) help or hurt environmental and conservation interests?

FYI, I included the highway to deliberately introduce an element of humankind into the photograph in the interest of the spirit of fact - the fact that the hand of humankind touches every square inch of the planet, apparent or not. I will never understand why so many Serious landscape photographers, who profess to "love" the natural world, create photographs that support and maintain the "delusion" that all is well. Perhaps, they only love the "beautiful" and not the rest (the most) of "god's" creation.

ku # 181 ~ a matter of life and death

Cascading snow • click on photo to embiggen it an addendum to ku # 276 - It is estimated that over 10,000,000 people visit the Adirondacks annually. In the tourism industry the Adirondacks is considered a "rubber-tire" destination, meaning that most visitors come by car. Most also come from places that are less than a day's drive away, which is to say, most come from the densely populated NE (US and Canada) megapolis.

The first Adirondack tourism boom in 1869 was instigated by William H. H. "Adirondack" Murray, a Connecticut preacher. His book, Camp Life in the Adirondacks or Adventures in the Wilderness, published that year, started a rush of "Murray's fools" to the Adirondacks that has never really abated. The lure of the Adirondacks today is the same as that articulated by Murray in 1869 - the mental, spiritual and physical restorative powers of a "trip of a few weeks to these woods."

The book became one of the most influential books of the conservation movement of the 1800s. I treasure my signed (tipped-in) first-edition copy of this book.

I also treasure the modern-day Adirondacks. It is a place that is still very much as it was during Murray's day. In fact, with the protections afforded by the NYS Constitution and the APA (see ku # 276 below), the Adirondacks is arguably a better place than it was in 1869. The retched excesses of early industry (lumber and mining) and unrestrained "sportsmen", which plundered the natural wealth of the wilderness and extirpated numerous species from the region, are a thing of the past.

With its small-scale economy, tiny villages and hamlets scattered throughout the wilderness, and a life-style (for those who live here, and for those visitors who experience a bite-size chunk of it) dominated by the rhythms, cycles physical characteristics of the geology of the natural world, the Adirondacks truly feels like, and, in fact, is a land that time forgot.

I, for one, want to keep it that way. IMO, cell towers dotting the landscape are not part of the program. IMO, enough is enough - humankind has desecrated and destroyed the natural world in the name of convience and desire for long enough. IMO, death by car accident - always an individual human tragedy - is not a reason for infringing upon/destroying wilderness.

IMO, preserving and conserving the wilderness is a matter of life and death for both the planet and the human species as a whole. Arguably, it is the most important issue of our times.

Featured Comment: Joel Truckenbrod wrote (in Part): "...when I enter a wilderness area, my desire is to become taken by the beyondness of things. True wildness requires a disconnect from the "always connected" mentality of our age. For me, its allure is in the realization of the primal, not in an adventurous family-vacation or in picturesque sight-seeing. The grace of wildness is that we are given (sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully) perspective on our humanity and the social/cultural constructions that ordinarily surround us. How can one not gain humility and insight when the realization of wildness comes upon them?"

ku # 276 ~ a matter of life and death?

-15F, North Hudson, NY (the Hudson River starts here) • click on photo to embiggen I have a question for the environmentalists/conservationists in the audience.

Outside of the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, the landscape is made up of tightly clustered mountains in the 1,550-3,000ft range. As I have mentioned before, all public land in the Adirondacks is protected as "forever wild" by an amendment to the NYS Constitution. In addition, the Adirondack Park Agency was established in 1972 to ensure that the lands were so protected. The APA also governs all private land use in the Adirondacks as a super zoning board of sorts. The net result is an inhabited wilderness that has emerged as a unique worldwide model of sustainability.

The other net result is that cell phone coverage in the Adirondacks is virtually non-existant. A few villages have managed to avoid line-of-sight restrictions by camouflaging cell facilities in church or town hall towers, but the reality is that, in an area bigger than the state of Vermont, cell coverage is the exception, not the rule.

The dilema is this: a few days ago, a couple from the NYC area was returning home from Montreal via I87, a 4-lane interstate that traverses the Adirondacks, inside its eastern boundary, through many desolate areas. Around 2:00AM they crashed, leaving the highway, essentially disappearing from view and ending up trapped in their car (by their injuries). They were not found until 32 hours later. The husband survived for 13 hours before succumbing to hypothermia. The wife, who tried to call for help using a cell phone, survived.

There was no cell coverage. The APA has been petitioned to allow cell towers in the form of those fake tree things which, around here, are called Frankenpines. To date, the APA has not allowed them on the basis that; they violate the "forever wild" restrictions on public land, and, on private land, they violate line-of-sight (and other) restrictions.

What's your take on the subject - Does the preservation of the wildereness and the wilderness character of private land justify an occasional (and very rare) death?

publisher's comments: hey gang, a well tempered discussion for such a hot topic. Thanks for all your thoughtful participation. One point I would like to make is on the notion of "consistency". It was suggested that one must be "consistent" and "non-contradictory" in making one's decisions about what is "good" or "bad", in this case, about what level of technologies to allow into a wilderness environment.

As an example, it was stated that if one has a desire to live in an area that "time forgot", "...why not go all the way and rip out the power lines, the paved roads, and anything else that smacks of "technological intrusion"?.

Well, my answer is a simple matter of discernment, I want to use electricity and drive (mostly) on paved roads. However, because I want to use electricity, it does not follow that I have to own and use every electronic device known to man. I can be discerning in how I use electricty. I am also grateful that the paved roads the Adirondacks, with the lone exception of I87, are paved two-lane roads that conform the lay of the land and don't bulldoze their way through it. The fact that I choose not to embrace cell technology and support a position that limits cell use in the Adirondacks is an act of discernment regarding what level of "technological intrusion" I want in my life and in the community in which I live. It in no way contradicts or is inconsistent with my use of electricity and paved roads.

The people of NYS, acting through their elected representatives, have expressed their discernment regarding what level of "technological intrusion" they want in the Adirondack Park. They decided over 100 years ago that the public lands within the park will be free of all commercial use, i.e., "forever wild". This desire was expressed, not with an "opinion", but with the full protection of an amendment to the NYS Constitution. It is enshrined in law - law that can not be changed without the full rigor of the constitutional process. More recently, the APA was created by duly elected representatives to oversee these protections of public land and to protect the wilderness character of the whole of the park. The APA is empowered to discern, according to its mandate from the people of NYS, what level of "technological intrusion" to allow within the borders of the park.

The creation of the APA was an act of discerment by the people of NY which essentially determined that protecting the wilderness/wilderness character of the park was an environmentally and economically sound position to take. The environtmental benefits shuld be obvious. The econimic benefits become apparent with the realization that the region's economy is based on tourism.

That said, here's an interesting update: Politicians, state agencies, some residents, and other groups (Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish community demands cell coverage) have latched onto the tradegy. Many are excoriating the APA and environmental/conservation organizations as culpable in the deaths and as obstructionists. What they are conveniently ignoring is the fact that 4 years ago the APA, with the expressed backing of environmental and conservation groups, approved a plan for 32 30ft cell towers (less coverage per tower, hence, more visually discreet towers) along the remote stretches of I87 - a compromise that balances the interests of public safety and the lawful requirements of the NYS Constitution, the oversight interests of the APA, and those of conservation groups.

Now here's the kicker - the project, a joint venture with the State Police, the Dept of Transporation, and Crown Technologies, was scrapped because it was deemed economically unfeasible by the cell-phone company.

Ahh, the free-market at its very best. But that's another story.

FYI

I have discreetly added a Shameless Commerce Division to The Landscapist. There is a new link in the Navigation column labeled Photography Books. Clicking on it will take you to a page with a link to the photography books section of Overstock.com. I thought that a good source for discounted photography books would be of interest to my audience. Any purchases made via this link will realize a small commission for The Landscapist, which help defray expenses. Rest assured that there will never be flashing banners or ads plastered all over The Landscapist.

Feel free to comment.

ku # 453 - thinking in multiples

Sky # 1 • click on photo to embiggen it
Sky # 2 • click on photo to embiggen it I am an inveterate peruser of the www, primarily looking for interesting photography. One of my first stops when I'm out cruising is Tim Atherton's blog, Muse-ings (there's been a link on my Links of Interest page since the site was launched). He does a very good job of bringing attention to what I would label "recognized", although somewhat lesser kown, artists (photography division) - photograpers who have books, big-institution/gallery exhibits, etc.

My interest, though, lies in finding the unknowns. Photographers who are not working in (or probably even aware of) art/academic-world defined genres. Guys and girls just blunking around, albeit with evident passon, with their cameras creating interesting, and here's my topic, bodies of work. I suspect that most of them wouldn't even call them "bodies of work". For many, they're probably just taking pictures.

I find most of this photography refreshingly free of artistic affection.

The place that I frequent the most is flickr. It is one gigantic pile of photography. There's lots and lots of chaff but also a surprising amount of wheat. All the photos are taggged, most with multiple tags, so if you are looking for something specific, it's easy to narrow the search to, say, 1,000,000 photos (as opposed to 1,000,000,000,000.... photos). I usually start with a link to flickr that I have come across (somewhere) and go from there.

One link that I came across recently, I found right here on The Landscapist. David Bellinger was kind enough to leave a Site Feedback comment (and he also filled in a web address in the comment box), so I checked out his flickr space. I found his The Ground Glass Locomotive stuff pretty interesting, especially in the wake of yesterday's Holga post. David has a very inventive mind.

I also liked his The Heros of Motorized Light, about which he states - "Motorized light has nothing to do with it."

But, on the topic of bodies of work, David obviously understands the concept. He has many distinct "sets" (the flickr word for "body") of photography. Using The Heros of Motorized Light as an example, it's not difficult (for me) to identify a few "greatest hits" in the set - photographs that can stand apart from the set and command a good deal of interest and staying power. If he were to do a book, one of these might make for a good cover choice.

That said, though, I would be much more interested in the book as a whole than any one photograph it might contain. There really is strength in numbers. For me, the criteria of a strong and cohesive body of work is becoming the single most important factor I use in determining what I do and don't like photography-wise. I want my attention to be seduced by an extended serenade, not a single sharp stick in the eye.

My mother inlaw has labeled Bob Dylan, Johnny-One-Note (her opinion, not mine). I have to say that Johnny-One-Notes just don't hold my attention any more.

And, oh yeh, did I mention that I think David is having way too much fun.