civilized ku # 140 ~ Zeb

Zeb • click to embiggenAs unlikely as it might seem, I am at a loss for words regarding Zeb.

ku # 542 ~ then again ....

Decaying, hanging fruit • click to embiggen... as Groucho Marx once opined on the subject of art:

Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.

Update on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 07:30PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Matt wrote: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

my response: Sure, sure. But ... time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

ku # 541 ~ that which stands in the thin shadow of what I know

Ice, twiggy things, a few leaves, some leftover grasses and some things that lie beneath the surface • click to embiggenPicking up on the "pure" picture thing, Andreas Manessinger left this comment regarding seeing with the eyes of a child:

...For me it means to see things without their attached meanings, seeing them pure, without context, without any judgement that is beyond the realm of the visible ... if my meaning of "pure" correlates with yours at all, then seeing "pure" is only a beginning. I see something, bereft of meaning, but when I make it an image, I put meaning into it, and that can be completely unrelated to what normally would be associated with the subject ...

Well, let me state, right out of the gate, that Andreas' meaning of "pure" does correlate to a great extent with mine.

Without a doubt, when I am out and about making pictures I do respond almost exclusively to the world around me in a cognitive manner that is purely in the "realm of the visible" - on a cognitive level, I make pictures of things because of how they look. On that level it really is that "simple".

On another level, I am also very comfortable with my purely subliminal unthought known regarding what it is that I find interesting about the way things look - those things that I am seemingly preternaturally attracted to during the act of picture making. In other words, I don't think about why I picture the subjects I picture, I just picture them. To use Andreas' words, at the moment of picturing, my referents are essentially "bereft of meaning".

Andreas also stated that "...when I make it an image, I put meaning into it...". I tend to agree with that idea in as much as when I make an image, I have, at the very least, elavated the particular referent in question to a status of being worthy of my attention.

In a very real sense, I am randomly collecting "specimens" for later study and inspection. And, for me, that's where the medium of photography gets really interesting.

Sure, sure. I really do like to just look at my pictures. I find them to be very visually engaging, interesting, and attractive. To be, in fact, quite beautiful. They look very nice hanging on a wall or in a POD book. But, of course, as I have frequently stated, I prefer pictures that both illustrate and illuminate. So it should come as no surprise that it is the illuminating qualities of my pictures that I find quite interesting.

It is on that level, the one in which I start to discover meaning(s) in my pictures "that can be completely unrelated to what normally would be associated with the subject" that I begin to really connect with my pictures. It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that, the more I can be engaged in the process of discovery of meaning in my pictures, the more I think that I have made a "pure" picture. It seems that way because any given picture that so engages me seems to be drawing me in because it is telling me something about my self and and my self's relationship to the world.

All of that said, it appears that my notion of a "pure" picture is coming a bit more into focus.

FYI; Lest you think that I am engaged in photographic form of extreme narcissism, it should clearly understood that I find many of the pictures made others to hold the same pureness that I find in my pictures. Their pictures often engage me in a similar process of discovery in ways that are every bit as illuminating as any of my pictures are to me.

An outstanding example of pictures made by others that engage me - in this case, those of Michael Lundgren - can be found here. Be certain to read the his statement.

civilized ku # 139 ~ the eyes of a child

Santa's Workshop #6 • click to embiggenAs far as looking for photography-wise inspiration goes I am an equal-opportunity seeker. I really don't have any single guru, idol, or maestro who I consider to have the divine word regarding picture making. IMO, inspiration is where you find it and it can be found in many places.

In some cases, the seemingly most unlikely of places. Like, say, in the words of Jesus from the bible.

Last evening, I was reading an article in Harper's magazine - Turning Away From Jesus ~ Gay Rights and the War for the Episcopal Church - and I came across this passage from the author:

Jesus said that only those who could become as little children would enter the Kingdom of God, and I sometimes try to see these issues through the eyes of a child

I was immediately struck by the words "become as little children" as well as the author's desire to "see" things "through the eye of a child". Whether or not that was due to the fact that, coincidently or not, earlier in the day I was struck by the idea of trying to make a "pure" picture I can't really say. I was even thinking of proposing a Landscapist challenge to all of you to make a "pure" picture.

But, the problem for me for both ideas is that don't really have a firm idea of what a "pure" picture is.

As the day went by and as time allowed thoughts of making a "pure" picture rattled around in my head. A fair number of ideas about what a "pure" picture might be and how to go about making one came and went. A general notion was beginning to emerge but I never really came to any firm conclusion as daily events came to the fore and prevented me from further ruminations.

Then, much later as I lay in bed reading, there it was - become as a little child and "see" things through their eyes.

Can it get any simpler - or more difficult - than that?

I'll have more to say on the idea but I would really like to hear from you about the idea of a "pure" picture. Any and all ideas are welcome but I am most interested in knowing if you think that you have ever made a "pure" picture.

civilized ku # 138 ~ Jack Sprat could eat no lean

Jack Sprat's Snacks probably have no lean • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 137 ~ a Xmas surprise

A seemingly Viagra-enhanced North Pole • click to embiggenThis past Friday afternoon as I was returning home with Hugo in tow, the conversation eventually came around to Xmas, Santa Claus, and something called a White Future Mega Power Ranger.

I asked Hugo if he would like to visit the North Pole and see Santa at some point during the weekend. He informed me that the North Pole was too far away so he was a bit puzzled when I said that we could drive by it on the way to my house. Drive by it we did and his only comment was that he didn't think that Santa could be there because "Santa lives in an igloo."

As the weekend went by, I grew less and less enamored of the prospect of a visit to the North Pole. During our last visit 2 or 3 years ago, I came away quite depressed by the rather shabby state into which the place had sunk. It just seemed rather tattered and worn and on its last legs. It probably didn't seem so to the children but the wife and I found it to be a rather melancholy experience.

The place had been teetering on the brink of closing for a number of years - even after a new owner / investor had taken control of Santa's reins so to speak. And that would have been a shame. The Pole, as many in these here parts call it, has been around since 1949 and it is reputed to be the nations first theme park (Walt Disney sent out his spies to check it out). It was designed by Arto Monaco, the builder of The Land of Make Believe mentioned in my castle picture entry of a few days ago.

At its peak the park attracted a single-day record attendance of 14,000 visitors. It was a local "industry" in and of itself. Quite a few motels and restaurants popped up around it. The hamlet of Wilmington depended upon it for its economic survival. To this day, kids in my hometown don character costumes and perform other duties - as did many of their parents before them - at The Pole for their summer and Xmas season jobs.

In 1953, the federal government recognized The Pole by granting it Rural Postal Station status. So, if you want your Xmas cards to have a "North Pole" post mark just stop by with your cards or send them in a package to the North Pole. And, in a Miracle on 34th Street kind of thing, most letters mailed in the eastern US addressed to "Santa Claus" or "North Pole" are delivered to The Pole.

IMO, the only thing The Pole lacks is designation as National Historic Landmark. It really is a national treasure.

Reindeer Barn & Rudolph • click to embiggenSo, you can imagine my utter astonishment and delight last evening when it became apparent during our visit to The Pole that the place was literally aglow with renewal. It seems that everything in the place has been refurbished and renovated to, if not an absolute pristine state, a certainly fresh, clean, and lively one. The Pole seemed positively rejuvenated and reinvigorated. Even Santa's reindeer appeared genuinely healthy and happy. It was a joy to behold.

So, instead of an expected melancholy experience picturing something that used to be, I ended up with many pictures of something of value that still is.

Sweet!

Now if I could only figure out why the wife kept asking me, "does it vibrate?" ...

man & nature # 81 ~ what color is a night sky?

Letting the dogs in under a full moon • click to embiggenI'm still messing around with this night picture making thing and it seems that my nightly ritual with the dogs keeps bringing back to this scene albeit an ever changing view.

One thing that I have discovered after messing about a bit with the white balance settings is that the color of the sky is (duh) determined by the WB setting. In particular, that often hyper-saturated blue color is the result of a WB setting that tends towards the 3200K temperature setting. A setting that usually renders the colors of "artificial" light encountered in the night in reasonable fashion - not "accurate" but not out-of-balance exaggerated either.

In fact, this scene, when pictured using a WB that essentially resulted in the color rendition that you see here in all but the sky, caused the sky to render as a hyper hyper-saturated blue that, to my eye and sensibilities, was way over the top. The most accurate color rendition of the sky, which is pretty damn close to what you see here, was achieved using a daylight (5200K) WB.

So, I blended the 5200K sky with the (approximately) 3200K (with a bit of localized tinkering) earth-bound features to achieve the final image that you see above.

And, I should note that the tonal balance between the sky and the earth-bound stuff is very close to what actually existed. Also, there is no detail in the moon because it was obscured by a small cloud which created a soft featureless disk kind of look.

As mentioned, I admit to being a night picture-making "novice". I really don't know what the "standard" WB is for picturing after dark although I am certain that it can vary considerably depending upon the predominant artificial light source(s) in any given scene. However, it seems certain that dependent upon any given WB (other than 5200K) is the hue of the color blue that the sky will be rendered.

All of which tends to lead me to want to have neutral night skies in my after dark pictures rather than ever-changing blue ones (although, deep blue-black skies are OK). After all, it's the black of the night, not the blue of the night that I see every night.

How about it? Any of you Nocturnes out there care to comment?

civilized ku # 136 ~ Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

Everything is broken • click to embiggenOn the whole and in hindsight I'm relatively pleased to have found a collapsing red barn to picture on a recent outing. As it turns out, current events wise, it is the perfect color for a metaphor regarding the ongoing collapse of the party of the red states - for all of the foreigners in the audience that's the "grand old" Republican party.

We live in a world of unintended consequences - everything we do has consequences and not all of those consequences can be foreseen. That's why, at times, some bad things happen for all the good reasons and, conversely, at times, good things happen for all the wrong reasons. In general, things rarely go exactly as planned or hoped for.

Case in point - In the 2006 midterm elections the majority of the people who vote in the US of A began to rid itself of representatives of the grand old party. That trend continued unabated in 2008. So much so that in my region of the US of A, the NE, at the Federal level there is not a single Republican representative from any state. So much so that in my state, NY, the state legislature has passed into the hands of the Democrats for the first time since 1965.

And, in the race for president, the Reds were handed a fairly thorough trouncing, electoral college wise. Looking at the state results map, it appears that the Reds have been reduced to a primarily regional, the south, party. In what could be thought of as an unintended consequence, it seems that the Reds' "southern strategy" - has come back to bite them in the ass, leaving them only that region as a "core" constituency.

Unfortunately, there is another unintended consequence of which that southern strategy core is a key component.

In its drive to remove the Reds and their failed political ideologies from the Federal level, the American voting public managed to expunge only the moderate voices within that movement. The hard core ideologues remained, largely untouched, and, most deleteriously, apparently un-effected by the "message" that was being delivered by the voting public. If the "message" had any effect at all, it seems that it only strengthened the ideologues resolve to be ... well ... even more zealous in their unwavering devotion to their ideology. They are clinging to it like rats to a rotting carcass. FYI, I use the word "rats" instead of vultures, wolves, or hyenas because all of those creatures rank higher on the image scale than do stinking rats.

So, instead of Reds who are ready to engage the opposition in the art of day-to-day pragmatic politics - one could say the art of getting things done, we have come face-to-face with zealots who would rather sink the ship in the name of core "principles".

To wit, the auto industry "bailout". With a world economy teetering on the brink of utter disaster, these self-serving morons would rather push it over the edge than accept a "flawed" interim measure that would, if nothing else, keep us in a teetering position rather than put us in a plummeting one. An expedience that would buy a little time to at least try to start to put things in the right direction without vaporizing a gazillion jobs in the process.

But, the thing that really frosts my cookies in all of this is the plain unadulterated fact that the core "principle" that is being invoked here is nothing less than the ideologues' poisonous hatred for organized labor, which in this case is the UAW. When push finally came to shove, they unabashedly showed their hand - we'll kill this deal (and maybe everything else in its wake) unless we get an ironclad guarantee that we can drive a stake into the heart of our mortal political enemy.

This from the so-called party of the workingman. You know, the party of Joe the Plumber.

And, the fact that the principle invokers involved in invoking these "principles" are from "southern strategy" Red states that have subsidized foreign auto manufacturers / non-union auto manufacturing seems, at best, to be a gross disregard for conflict-of-interest appearances and, at worst, calls into question what interests they are actually advocating.

However, one of the unintended consequences of their actions that may come back to bite them in the ass is the fact that their actions may be come to be viewed as a form of suicide bombing - in addition to whatever else they may destroy, they are blowing themselves and the current remains of the Red party to smithereens.

They may never be able to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

BTW and FYI, in our current perilous times I feel a responsibility to post, on a once a week basis, an entry regarding the ongoing state of affairs. I sincerely hope that you don't find this too annoying. I will, however, always try to accompany that entry with a picture that is, at the very least, a metaphor for that of which I am writing.