civilized ku # 2755-56 ~ my Renoir moment
Monday, June 30, 2014 at 03:05PM 
on the boat ~ on Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
my boating party ~ on Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Renoir's boating party • no embiggenYesterday afternoon the wife and I attended a boating party of sorts at a private camp on Lake Placid. The party was 'of sorts' because while it was a boating partying - everyone arrived by boat because the location was on an island - it was actually a political fundraiser.
In any event, around the time I made the my boating party picture I was struck by the memory of Renoir's painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party - the original of which I had viewed quite recently at the Phillips Collection gallery in Washington, DC. At that same time, as I was making the picture, I was also reminded of two quotes:
It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary. ~ David Bailey
People who wouldn't think of taking a sieve to the well to draw water fail to see the folly in taking a camera to make a painting. ~ Edward Weston
My apologies to Renoir.
FYI, the gentleman with the camera in on the boat picture is Nathan Farb, the once reigning dean* of Adirondack picture making. Some would still consider Nathan to be the holder of that throne inasmuch as no one picture maker has risen up and actually unseated him. However, that written, there are a number of serious Adirondack picture makers who are venturing into untested waters, Adirondack referents wise, and it remains to be determined if any one of them will be able to lay claim to that throne.
*I use the word once because, to my knowledge, Nathan is not as active, picture making wise, as he once was. He seems to be resting on his well deserved laurels.
Reader Comments (2)
those seats looks ridiculously uncomfortable.
Mark
Always interesting your approach of art. I remember some photos you show in reference of this particular and powerful, to say the least, vision of Michelangelo Caravaggio... You're not so far with Renoir. It's a "clin d'oeil" but for me painting and photography share at least three items: 1) a subject 2) the power of expression and 3) capacity to show inner intuition (transcendant or not).
Kind regards
Nicolas
Ps: Mark I'm looking into your site to a photo that I like very much and I don't find it. It's a vew of a bar. We see two people on seat in front of a windows... Could you help me ? Thank you very much.