civilized ku # 3033 ~ a totally unexpected surprise

roosters ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

A little known part of my persona is my fascination with and desire to acquire some chickens. Not just any chickens but rather exotic chickens.

I am not sure of the reasons for this proclivity other than exotic chickens seem to speak to me of a Supreme Being (of some sort) - perhaps the Creation Department Director in charge of Poultry Evolution - who gathered together an assembly of graphic designers and gave them each the task of designing a chicken. The results were creative, plentiful and, iMo, quite spectacular and that is the reason why our house is replete with many chicken / rooster effigies. Objects which represent how, at this time, I am dealing with my chicken obsession.

In any event, it came to my notice, in a recent edition of our online local community newsletter, that a local farm was making a number of laying hens available because their flock was overextending their poultry housing facility. While I am not particularly interested in chickens for their laying ability (nevertheless, a nice ancillary activity), I clicked on the link to the farm website to see what might be what.

The unexpected surprise that greeted me on the Blue Pepper Farm website was not that of chickens but rather that of some absolutely delightful photography. Pictures which are presented not as addendum's to text but rather pictures which are presented in a photography blog / site format, seemingly for the pure joy of picture making.

Most, if not all, of pictures seem to be of cell phone origin, most with some sort of photography app effects applied. However, whatever the methodology, the pictures speak with an unmistakably enthusiastic and affectionate voice regarding a love for farm life and all it entails. Wading through the hundreds of pictures reveals a large number of wonderful picturing gems.

If ever there was a "hidden" treasure of undiscovered pictures which cry out to be seen in a gallery exhibition (with an accompanying exhibition catalog), this is a prime example thereof.

Spend some time viewing the pictures. I don't think you will be disappointed.

civilized ku # 3032 / diptych # 2003 ~ what he said

wind turbine ~ , NY • click to embiggen
meters ~ Pittsburgh, PA / Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen

It was Garry Winogrand who said:

I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.

And, for good measure, he also mentioned that "Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed .... by me." I mention these Winogrand quotes as an intro to some thoughts on the notion presented on the refrigerator magnet as seen in yesterday's entry:

EVERYTHING HAS BEAUTY

On that entry, Jim Roelofs wrote, ".... my take is that there's a lot of beauty in this world ... and then there's stuff like warfare." Relative to part of the comment, re: "then there's stuff like warfare" - and without too much parsing of the word "thing" in the Confucius quote - my reading of the quote is that thing refers to tangible / tactile physical objects, not to human events, occurrences or conditions.

Whether or not that's how Confucius meant it - I'll leave that to philosophers, scholars, and language experts to theorize and argue over - that is how I will address it in this entry.

In my picture making I am all about how a thing looks photographed and I picture things as a literal description or the illusion of literal description of the thing pictured. I do so because I belief that there is beauty all around us as can be witnessed in the predominately commonplace / quotidian world that we inhabit. HOWEVER ...

.... as my awareness of what the hell I am doing, picture making wise, I have come to understand that there is no intrinsic beauty, at least not in the conventional sense of beauty, in many (or most) of the referents I picture. I mean, as just one example, most people and quite a few picture makers probably wonder about what it is I see in a kitchen sink drain stopper with green bean, mushroom slice, noodle and oatmeal flakes.

Nevertheless, I am drawn to picturing things for more reasons other than what the referent is. My eye and sensibilities are attracted to the possibilities of making something beautiful - the resulting print, in and of itself as a thing, of my picturing encounters with all kinds of referents. In a sense, that is to write, quotidian referents are just a readily available excuse to make pictures.

The pictures I make, if they are successful in meeting my expectations - as Winogrand said, "The photograph should be more interesting or more beautiful than what was photographed" - they do so because of the Form (on the 2D surface of the print) within the Frame that I have seen, captured and subsequently presented to those who view my pictures. Form wise, that is to write, the visual energy which results from the organization of shapes, colors, lines, tones (aka: highlight and shadow values), and the like within the Frame that I have chosen to contain / restrain the arrangement of such visual elements which make up the Form in my pictures.

To my eye and sensibilities, the fulfillment of those expectations, independent of the depicted referent, is what constitutes a good picture.

FYI, the complete Confucius quote is:

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Perhaps that is why those who see only the referent in my pictures, but not the Form, are disappointed in what they see.

kitchen life # 78 / civilized ku # 3030-31 ~ every thing

refrigerator magnet ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
sink stopper with refuse ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
directional / rusted hulk ~ near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Every thing has beauty. Maybe. Maybe not. More on this idea coming soon.

civilized ku # 3029 / diptych # 2000-02 ~ little Xmas joys

a Ruby Slipper ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
between courses things ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
appetizer / butter ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
soup / dessert ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Since moving to the Adirondacks in 2000, Xmas tradition at our house has been a Xmas Eve family sleepover gathering for tree decorating and dinner followed by Xmas morning gift giving and a hearty Frittata breakfast. By just after noon, non-household family members depart to their household and the wife and I are left to our self amusements and the predominant amusement is Xmas day dinner at the Lake Placid Lodge.

The Xmas dinner at the lodge is a prix fixe four-course affair consisting of 2 starter / appetizer courses, the main course and dessert. Each course has 4-5 choices, some of which can be found on their "regular" menu (which changes according to the season to feature seasonal fare) , some of which are unique to the Xmas affair.

I find the menu itself to be rather obtuse inasmuch as I did not attend culinary school where I am certain they have courses in menu writing. Writing which I am also certain is design to confuse and, at the same time, impress the non-cognoscenti (food / ingredient speaking wise) fine diners of the world. I am equally convinced that, if the menu stated, using everyday Americanized English words, clearly and exactly what it is you are eating, they might never be able to justify the prices they charge for the stuff.

As an example, the picture of the appetizer exhibited in this entry is listed on the menu as:

SCOTTISH OCEAN TROUT ~ HOUSE CURED, MANDARINQUAT, CITRUS CRÈME FRAÎCHE, DILL, PINK PEPPERCORN, KNÆCKBRØD

Reading that is kinda like being in a foreign country where you know just enough of the language to get the jist of what is being said.

Because I didn't picture the menu, I could not, in any detail, tell you what the other food is other than to name the primary food item. And, to be honest, in several cases I did not know exactly what (other than the main food item) it was I was eating although some recognizable ingredient tastes emerged in the various offerings.

In any event, the cuisine at the Lake Placid lodge is uniformly excellent. In large part, that is due to the local farm freshness of many of the ingredients, exquisite preparation, and just the right light touch / blend of the various ingredients - in some cases, seemingly odd combinations - which make up each dish. There is most definitely an artful coming together of the taste of the featured food item and the various accent ingredients which compliment but do not overwhelm the taste of the featured food item - striking a truly delicate (and delicious) balance.

As an example, the soup pictured in this entry is butternut soup with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some other minor ingredients which are either lost to memory or never recognized in the the reading of the menu. Now, I never would have thought of putting any kind of ice cream into any kind of soup, but the contrasting sensation in the mouth of warm and cold was quite interesting. And, as the not overly sweet creamy ice cream melted, it progressively changed the texture and taste of the soup itself. A truly outstanding combination.

In addition to the preparation, as should be made obvious by the pictures in this entry, the presentation is very visually intriguing. At several points in the meal, I commented to the wife that I wanted to have 2 of every dish I ordered - one eat and one to just look at.

I also mentioned that I wished someone would develop and offer a menu translation dictionary.

diptych # 199 / civilized ku # 3028 ~ it's beginning to look a NOT like Xmas

Au Sable River / tree ~ near Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Supercuts Santa ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen

As one Xmas song goes, "Oh the weather outside is frightful ... Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"

Well, the weather outside is frightful. That is, unless you like 65˚F-with-rain-showers weather on Xmas Eve day. Personally, I don't, so, for me, the weather outside is indeed frightful. And, there is no let-it-snow in the forecast.

However, if that weather situation puts one into a funk, one can always take delight and get into the Holiday Spirit by watching and listening to a life-size mechanically gyrating Santa screech out Xmas Carols - - through crappy sounding speakers - at a local shopping plaza.

In any event, Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night.

civilized ku # 3027 / diptych # 198 ~ channelling the view

9N / I87 entrance / exit ~ near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
channeled views ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

To my eye and sensibilities there is something visually interesting to be had by making pictures which look through enclosed diminishing-perspective spaces.

civilized ku # 3026 / diptych # 197 ~ cultivated urban flora

church window ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
urban trees ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

During my recent walk about in Pittsburgh while looking for urban flora / scrub I did come across some cultivated urban flora.

kitchen life # 77 / book covers ~ holiday tasks

used tea bags ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
TREES book covers ~ • click to embiggen
URBAN FLORA book covers ~ PARK • click to embiggen

I've been busy with a passel of year-end / holidays things.

Prominent amongst them has been the design of 4 POD books that I want to get ordered before the end of the year. Since I use my books as portfolios for presentation to gallery directors / owners, they are considered marketing pieces which are tax deductible. So I want to get them in under the wire for the 2015 tax year.

In addition to the 2 books pictured in this entry I am also working on a Noir book and a 1/5 second book. There will be a pinhole book. However, I do not have enough pinhole pictures in my nascent pinhole body of work to create a book. That book will have to wait until some time next year.