civilized ku # 2802 / diptych # 88 ~ good, bad, and the ugly

porch and trees ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
table top fruit ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAlso most everyday I awake knowing that I will, most likely, make a picture (or more). Unless doing so involves a client directed assignment, I never know in advance what that picture (or pictures) will picture / illustrate. And, I believe that the absence of preconception in my picture making endeavors helps define the essence of that which my picture making activities create - pictures which illustrate the act of discovery.

Without a sense of preconception, I am free to observe and respond to all the world around me as opposed to the narrow act of looking for and responding to only a specific part of that world. That is, a constrictive manner of vision (both the literal and artistic expression meaning of the word) in which one sees only what one wants to see, in essence, making one blind to all the other picturing possibilities which exist all around him/her.

Where is the sense of discovery, surprise, and delight in making pictures as if one were wearing blinders?

To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false. ~ Dorothea Lange

It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organising them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy. ~ Elliott Erwitt