civilized ku # 2666-68 ~ it's all really about the pictures
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 05:49PM 
Hugo splits the defense ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Front hall stuff ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Upstairs porch / mirror and icicles ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenI've come to a point on this blog wherein I feel I have very little left to write about the medium and its apparatus. That's because over the past 5-6 years or so I've written volumes on the subject and I'm not in the mood to rework the same old ground.
In the past when I made an entry, I almost always posted a picture with some form of commentary of the medium and its apparatus. At this point, since the well has gone dry, re: writing on the subject wise, and even though I keep on making plenty of pictures, I seem to have a mental block, re: posting pictures without words on the subject. Consequently, I am taking a lot of time between entries. That is until I finally decide the hell with it and post some pictures without much in the way of the medium and its apparatus commentary.
As a result, visits to this blog have fallen off, not drastically but noticeably. Comments from visitors have also fallen off as well.
And, to be perfectly honest, I have never really figured out exactly why, in the past, visitors kept returning to the blog. Was it the pictures? Was it the commentary? Was it a combination of both? I have no answer to those questions. So, the question arises, what the hell do I do with this thing now?
The blog has never been much about gear and I sure as hell don't want to go there even if the photo blog-o-sphere loves nothing better than commenting endlessly - and, IMO, ad nauseam - about gear. If the medium was all about gear, I'd sell all I have and start raising exotic chickens to wile the time away. Although I could make pictures and raise exotic chickens, but I'm not sure how the wife would feel about the chicken part.
Another blog road I have no desire to venture down is to turn the blog into a personal diary with pictures. I have a pretty interesting life but I'd much rather spend my time living it than writing about it. And hopefully, visitors to this blog probably have their own lives to live and really don't need to know all that much about mine. That written, a little bit of the diary thing has crept into the blog, well run dry wise, and I want to nip it in the bud before it goes any farther down that road.
Most certainly, I have arrived at a point where I would much rather make pictures than write about making pictures. After all, for me, the medium and its apparatus are all about the pictures but ...
I do like hanging my pictures out there for others to view and blogging is one of the ways in which I do that. So, for the immediate future, I'll re-start posting a picture a day. Words probably not so much. Although, I do have a treasure trove of quotes from others - notable and not so well known - which I can use to provide at least a modicum of written food for thought.
Reader Comments (6)
Mark
Pictures only is fine with maybe the odd comment on the posted photo (or the medium in general) as the spirit moves you is fine.
"And, to be perfectly honest, I have never really figured out exactly why, in the past, visitors kept returning to the blog. Was it the pictures? Was it the commentary? Was it a combination of both?"
Both, I think. Especially for people like me who see your images as being just a bit edgy some of the time. They are certainly different than the ones I produce and God knows you and I have had our little differences in the past. Still, I always return. It's better, I think, to ponder those things that you don't agree with (or don't understand) than to mindlessly digest the stuff that is in your own wheelhouse. So by all means keep posting the pictures. I'll probably know what you're thinking.....
Both for me too. Opinionated writing that I might not quite agree with is more interesting and thought provoking than most of what is available to read for free. And for reasons I can't quite put into words I find your pictures usually quite thought provoking as well.
Maybe get back to this:
"This blog is intended to showcase the landscape photography of photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful.."
Something that the blog has moved away from.
Here's a suggestion that I think will be rejected.
"Start a Landscapist facebook page"
Nothing but pictures without the need to write anything… ever.
It certainly was and is the edginess both in pictures and words that draws me to look and read your blog entries, and over the years I've enjoyed a lot. So yes, it was the combination that is attractive, but the images alone are well worth spending my time and reading them. That said, words that go with them are substantial added value, even if I don't always agree: most often they make me think and ponder my own position.