civilized ku # 2781 / diptych # 82-83 / selection # 1 ~ the central act of photography

chair/table/floor • light - tungsten/daylight ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
behind / beyond glass ~ Phillips Collection •Washington, DC / Phonicia, NY - in the Catskill PARK • click to embiggen
flowers in vases ~ Chaffey's Lock, Ontario, CA. / Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fence ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenFor those paying attention, you may have noticed that, of late, my posted images are heavily weighted on the diptych side of the picture making aisle. There is no apparent reason, which I can consciously discern, behind this proclivity other than to write that I have long been attracted to both making and viewing such multiple-picture presentations. So, it would be logical to assume that the notion of making such presentations has bubbled back to the surface of my picture making activities. That written, I am not and will not stop making stand alone pictures.

However, I am actively exploring and pursuing the visual, emotional, and intellectual possibilities of multiple picture presentations; 1. diptychs, which are primarily comprised of visually related pictures or those which share a similar intellectual / emotional sense, if not closely related visually, and, 2. triptychs, which are comprised of 3 pictures which essentially created a continuous panoramic image, albeit that the picture components are segmented as opposed to blended into a continuous image.

At this time, it is the triptych possibilities with which I am most interested. That interest is driven by my desire to explore and amplify the characteristic of the medium and its apparatus which John Szarkowski identified as:

The central act of photography, the act of chosing and eliminating, forces a concentration on the picture edge - the line that separates in from out - and on the shapes that are created by it. ~ from The Photographer's Eye

Expounding on this notion. Szarkowski goes on to write (presented here as it appeared in his book):

To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer's craft. His central problem is a simple one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decsion between in and out is the picture's edge ...
The picture's edge defines content.
It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding two facts, it creates a relationship.
The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and shows their unfamiliar fragment.
It creates the shapes that surround objects.
The photographer edits the meaning and patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture's geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to the billiard table.

All of that written, my desire to explore and amplify the central act of photography, aka: selection, and all of its attendant characteristics will be implemented by the emerging image making strategy of: 1. making a "standard" square picture accompanied by, 2. the making of 2 rectangular pictures (defined by the dimensions of the µ4/3 format) which bracket the square image's frame / perimeter left and right, the purpose of which is to illustrate that which was "rejected" and, concomitantly, "fragmented" by the picture maker (aka: me).

Additional emphasis to the central picture will be accomplished by an "adjustment" made to the bracketing pictures. The exact visual technique to be employed is yet to be determined. In fence ~ selection # 1, the specialized implemented methodology was a gradient (from outside to inside edge) and an applied Curve which slightly darkened and reduced the contrast of the pictures of the "rejected" segments of the central picture's contiguous schema of structural entitification.

Other than the simple act of making visually interesting imagery (which is most often the # 1 objective in my picture making activity), my intent in this series is to bring attention to what I have always considered to be one of my picture making strengths - my ability to see, select and frame the unexpected juxtapositions which are to be found in the patterns of the everyday world / life - one might even write, the raison d'etre of my picture making strivations.

For me, the endeavor should be more fun than a barrel full of academic-lunatic-fringe monkeys. You know, like making up artspeak words and phrases.