diptych (selection) # 2-4 ~ the right answer

halloween door ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
halloween door # 2 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
table with fall centerpiece ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWith this entry I am introducing a new body of work / series (see the following entry for diptcyh (selection) # 1), tentatively titled selection and a tentative artist statement to accompany the work:

It has been suggested by many that making a picture is primarily, first and foremost, an act of selection by the picture maker. That act is a two-part endeavor, an act regarding the choice of referent and, concomitantly, an act regarding what to include / exclude in the creation of the frame. These two primary and essential picture making components hold true no matter the choice of tools or the choice regarding where to stand when making a picture.

Given the same referent, no two picture makers will create the same answer to the act of selection inasmuch as the multifaceted act of selection is always a uniquely personal act. As such, the act of selection constitutes a vital element in the development and refinement of a personal vision. It is, in fact, how one sees in a picture making sense.

For some, myself included, the act of selection is serendipitous regarding the choice of referent and intuitive regarding the notion of inclusion / exclusion. Which is to write, I picture those everyday things, whatever they might be, which capture my attention. In doing so, I create the frame by feel rather than by rule. For as it was stated by Edward Weston, "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk."

One of the facets of this new body of work which excites and pleases me is the fact that I can continue to picture whatever catches my eye as opposed to sticking to one related thematic referent as is customary in an individual body of work. And given that I always go out and about with 2 camera bodies - one with a moderate wide angle lens, the other with a moderate telephoto lens - I will make the two pictures (of the same referent) in a given diptych, one with the wide angle, one with the telephoto. Both pictures will be made from the same angle of view but at differing distances.

In addition, given that it has been opined that a good picture creates more questions than answers, I will leave it up to the viewer to determine which of the two pictures in a given diptych is the right answer (for them), re: the act of selection.

diptych (selection) # 1 / civilized ku # 2823 ~ a+b+c

driveway with leaves and foliage ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
breakwall ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenTo my eye and sensibility, the best pictures (made within the medium of photography and its apparatus) - the ones which capture and hold my attention and interest - are those which are: a) a document / representation / depiction of the real in a truthful / factual manner; b) in which the depicted referent steps outside of the boundaries / confines of conventional referent matter; and c) does so in such a manner as to create, independent of the depicted referent and the "rules" of convention photographic composition*, a visually interesting structure of the elements - shapes, form, color, tonality - as viewed on the 2D surface of the photographic print ....

.... all of which is to write, beautiful prints - as objects in and of themselves - of referents which are often seen but to which very few are paying attention.

In any event, Ansel Adams, when asked which to save first from a burning house - the wife or the negatives?, responded ...

My wife - she could help me get the negs out!

I'm with Sir Ansel on that one.

* what Stephen Shore refers to as "art sauce".

kitchen life # 60-61 ~ receptiveness of the child

apple with empty bottles • click to embiggen
reflection • click to embiggen

It is part of the photographer's job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveller who enters a strange country. - Bill Brandt

civilized ku # 2822 / what is a photograph? # 11 ~ working backward

orange plastic chair ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
what is a photograph? # 11 • click to embiggen

Unlike a painter, a photographer starts with something finished and works backward. ~ Anonymous

civilized ku # 2817-21 ~ entre chien et loup / a simple walk around the block

entre chien et loupe / alley • courtyard ~ Glens Falls, NY - just outside the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
entre chien et loupe / Main Street ~ Glens Falls, NY - just outside the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
entre chien et loupe / signs at roundabout ~ Glens Falls, NY - just outside the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
entre chien et loupe / neon signs ~ Glens Falls, NY - just outside the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
entre chien et loupe / neon sign lit bushes ~ Glens Falls, NY - just outside the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI have previously written about my attraction - in general and in picturing - to what the French call entre chien et loupe, between the dog and the wolf. If French isn't your thing, perhaps the word gloaming or twilight or dusk is the name / label for you. In any case, whatever the word choice, each refers to the time of day after the sun has set but deep darkness has yet to take hold.

My word preference is entre chien et loup because it is both rather poetic and the phrase also hints at the dichotomy between safety / danger, the known / unknown, the seen / unseen and the emotional states of tranquility / anxiety. IMO, no matter how pleasing and gentle the quality of entre chien et loup light bestows upon a scene, it is the aforementioned dichotomy which creates an emotional tension which I like my pictures to exhibit.

My entre chien et loup picturing activity is always inspired by the quality of light to be had at that time of day. A quality which I would describe as softly enveloping and one I became aware of, picture making wise, when I first turned my back on the fading light of a sunset. It would be an exaggeration to write that that was a picture making epiphany but, nevertheless, it was certainly an OMG moment and, for number of years after that visual awakening, much of my 8×10 view camera (with color neg film) work was focused upon making entre chien et loup pictures*.

However, that's not why I called you here today. Rather, it's to consider this:

...with most of my photographs, the subject appears as a found object, something discovered, not arranged by me. I usually have an immediate recognition of the potential image, and I have found that too much concern about matters such as conventional composition may take the edge off the first inclusive reaction. ~ Ansel Adams

A number of years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting two amateur picture making hobbyists who had been following my nature pictures on a nature picture forum. They were passing through my area on a return trip from a photo workshop in Maine, got in touch with me, and we hooked up for dinner and a next day picture making excursion.

Following Brett Weston's advice, re: Anything more than 500 yds from the car just isn't photogenic, we drove to a number of nearby iconic Adirondack locations so they could explore some picture making possibilities. As I recall, they had a good assortment of gear but the thing that has stuck with me - appallingly so - to this day was that, at every picturing spot, their first order of business was to look at the scenes in front of them, not for what they were, but for how those scenes could used as fodder for making pictures by the "rules".

To wit, they looked for "leading lines", "s-curves", and the like - literally pointing them out with their fingers - and discussed how various elements within a scene could best be placed according the "rule of thirds". Their picture making was driven by the antithesis of Sir Ansel's advice to not have "too much concern about matters such as conventional composition" and they demonstrated little, if any, "immediate recognition of the potential image" or a "first inclusive reaction" to that which was in front of them.

Considerate gentleman that I am, I refrained from commenting, nay screaming, about getting their eyes out of their asses in order to facilitate seeing that which was staring them in the face. I was able to conduct this admirable constraint by biting my tongue so hard and deep that I nearly required a blood transfusion and a tongue transplant to replace that which had lost.

Of course, another option was to use my mouth to pass on some advice from the other Weston (Edward). To wit ...

One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car .... to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection ...

In any event, both I and they had a pleasant day even though I was looking at what was in front of me and they were looking for pictures.

FYI, the walk around the block pictures are presented , top > bottom, in the order in which they were made.

* 20 minute time exposure.

guideboat on dock ~ Blue Mountain Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

diptych # 105 civilized ku # 2815-16 ~ the joy of photography

rocking chairs ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
random everyday encounters ~ near Essex, NY / Au Sable Forks, NY - both in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself. ~ Berenice Abbott

While it can be stated with absolute certainy that my picturing making M.O. revolves around the reality of everyday life, it should be noted that it also defies the common picture making wisdom of finding a vision driven by a specific thing (or things), a referent, which is of particular interest / that which one cares about.

Most often, that authoritative counsel, re: a thing(s), is understood to mean actual tangible things, i.e. people, places, or physical objects, whereas my picture making is driven by an intangible thing - a deep and abiding connection to the concept of the reality of everyday life. Of course, that connection leads me to make pictures of actual everyday things - encounters with real people, places, or objects. However, it is only in rare cases that I truly care about or have a particular interest in those individual people, places, or things.

What I care about most in my picturing making, what drives me to make pictures, is, quite simply, the act of making pictures.

That written, it is true that I have many disparate thematic bodies of work - see my PICTURES ONLY GALLERY LINKS at the top of my blog homepage. However, those bodies of work grew out of my everyday picturing when I realized that, unintentionally, I had thematic work "hidden" within my vast library of pictures (see my most recent "discovery"). It was only when I recognized those thematic connections / patterns that I edited them into separate bodies of work and began, intentionally, to be aware of picturing opportunities that allowed me to add to those separate bodies of work.

However, despite that awareness of thematic picturing opportunities, I rarely venture forth with the conscious intention of making pictures which expand on those bodies of work. That is to write, I venture forth, quite simply, knowing that I will, most often, make pictures of some thing or another and that in so doing I will make some pictures which I will be able to use to expand various individual bodies of work.

Consequently, it is fair to write that my bodies of work grow organically from my primary interest in the medium and its apparatus - my love of just making pictures.

FYI, it is somewhat ironic that, early in my commercial photography career, I was assigned to make a number of contributions to several of Eastman Kodak's Joy of Photography book series. While my contributions to those books were of the how-to / tools-&-techniques variety, it wasn't until later in my picture making life that I came to know the true joy of making pictures.

atmospherics ~ art show fundraiser

Adirondack atmospheric #1 ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Adirondack atmospherics #2-11 ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI am doing a fundraising art show/sale this evening for which I have assembled a series of atmospherics pictures made in the Adirondacks. I have done so in order to present a series of related pictures, body of work style, rather than a hodge-podge of unrelated pictures.

IMO, a body of work will grab and hold a viewer's attention much better than a disparate group of pictures, which, hopefully, will result in more sales. Hopefully, inasmuch as a significant % of sales will go to the sponsoring non-profit organization.

diptych # 104 ~ objectivity / the mystery of personal selection

red leaves fences ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK /Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen

The challenge for me has first been to see things as they are ... In a word, I have tried to be objective. What I mean by objectivity is not the objectivity of a machine, but of a sensible human being with the mystery of personal selection at the heart of it. The second challenge has been to impose order onto the things seen and to supply the visual context and the intellectual framework - that to me is the art of photography. - Berenice Abbott

In his book, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE, John Szarkowski wrote that "the central act of photography (was) the act of choosing and eliminating". That notion seems to me to be rather elementary and obvious - anyone who picks up a camera to make a picture makes a decision regarding who / what / where at which to point it.

However, Szarkowski went on to state that, in choosing and eliminating, there was more to it than just that. To wit, that the act of choosing and eliminating (Bernice Abbott's personal selection) force a concentration on the picture's edge - the line that separates in from out - and on the shapes that are created by it. Which, in so doing, provides the methodology to accomplishing a successful result, re: Abbott's second challenge to impose order onto the things seen.

IMO, and to my eye and sensibilities, therein is the difference between good and no-so-good pictures. Good pictures most often evince a refined and interesting sense of the relationships, interdependence, and tension of 2D shapes (not to mention color and tonality) to be seen within the boundaries imposed by the frame, aka: the edges of a picture.

Without a doubt, when making a picture, the maker must pay as much attention to the frame he/his chooses to create / impose. Although, it is well worth noting that, in my experience, the paying-attention-to is most often an intuitive rather an intellectual exercise. That is to write, either you see or feel it or you don't.