diptych # 41 ~ eat healthy, it's good for you

Clothlines ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenOver my many years of association with the medium of photography and its apparatus (aka: conventions and vernacular), especially that of picture making as art, I have come to realize that the one quality I appreciate most in a picture is that of wondering why a picture maker made the picture I am viewing - a question which incites in me a desire to move beyond the visually obvious.

To wit .... if upon first viewing a picture, a picture maker's intent and subsequent execution thereof hits me in the eye like a big pizza of pie (for me) that's not amore because (again, for me) it's not so much of a story.

More often than not, the why-did-he/she-make-this-picture? thought happens when the picture maker has taken me to a scene I've never seen previously - both visually and emotionally / intellectually. A picture which requires me, by visual force* if necessary, to get involved with the picture by using more than just my eyes.

To my eye and sensibilities, there is very little more visually forceful than an exquisitely rendered representation of an "ordinary" scene. TMEaS, that characteristic / quality in a picture literally begs the question, "why was such care and attention taken to illustrate such a 'mundane' subject / scene"? And, because I have a mind which is often driven by curiosity and a desire to learn a new trick or two (keeps life interesting, does it not?), I can't help but try to find an answer to that question.

In a nut shell and all of that written, I am not so interested in pictures which provide easy answers. Rather, I am interested in those which pose questions and, hence, food for thought.

After all, when all is said and done, are you not what you eat?

diptych # 40 ~ bookends

Late day rain / early morning light ~ Stone Harbor, NJ / Northway - Exit 30 - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenOne of the best things about going to the South Jersey Shore is leaving the South Jersey Shore.

In both cases, going to and leaving from, my drive has always been during the dark of the night. By so doing, I avoid the slow moving parking lots called the Jersey Turnpike and/or the Garden State Parkway. At night I can make the trip in six-and-a-half hours, whereas by day, the same trip can take 8-9 hours or, worse case, even more time.

In any event, on my drive home, I generally time it to hit the southern border of the Adirondack PARK just as the sun is starting to lighten the sky. Before I reach my exit on the Northway, I get to witness a nice sunrise and the drive from the Northway to my home is undertaken in warm early morning light - it's a wonderful welcome back home respite after the long drive.

This year, on the evening of my departure from the shore, I was treated to an early evening rain with the sun masked by haze (mist + humid air) which basked the landscape with a warm pleasant glow. If the light show, as nice as it was, was an attempt by the weather gods to entice me to return to the shore, it didn't work. Or, it could have just been a goodbye and good riddance token to show their appreciation of my self-imposed exile from the South Jersey Shore.

On the other hand, as I approached my exit on the Northway (you can just make out the exit sign in the picture) the morning light show made me think and feel liked I had returned to the Promised Land.

civilized ku # 2571-74 ~ glimpses

Glimpse # 1 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 3 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 4 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenConnecting the barrier island of Stone Harbor / Avalon / Sea Isle to the mainland is a narrow 2.5 mile causeway. The causeway is flanked on both sides by waterways with wetlands / marshes.

For most of its length, the north side of the causeway highway has only a very narrow strip of land which separates it from the water. On the south side, the strip of land is just wide enough to accommodate a number of small cottages most of which tend to be clustered side-by-side in individual groupings spread out along the length of the causeway.

As one is driving past these side-by-side clusters of cottages, a swivel-headed looky-loo can, in the openings between the cottages, catch quick glimpses of the marshes, wetlands, and waterways. IMO, a picture maker could spend the better part of an morning / afternoon / evening - pick the light of your choice - making a body of interesting pictures of these glimpses. Making pictures not only of the sea/landscape beyond but also of the bits and pieces of cottage life which are crammed in the little tableaux between the cottages.

(un)civilized ku # 2566-70 ~ the end of another era (impending)

Mine is bigger than yours # 1 / 2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is bigger than yours # 3 (2 views) ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is will be bigger than yours # 1 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is bigger than yours # 4 / will be #2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenIn my recent entry, subtitled - the end of an era?, I used a question mark because, well, there is always the chance (however improbable) that I might return to The Shore at some future date. In this entry's subtitle I did not use a question make because, well, IMO I believe the following is a foregone conclusion (no question about it) ....

In my last the end of an era? entry, I listed 3 primary reasons why I dislike and will, therefore, not be returning to the Jersey Shore. The heat and humidity and resultant misery (physical and emotional) are and have been a constant. However, the demands of item # 3 - the intellectual exercise of trying to deal with the all encompassing shore culture of over-the-top / nothing exceeds-like-excess conspicuous consumption - have increased at an exponentially accelerating pace over the past 15 years. To wit ...

The wife has been vacationing at the shore her entire life. For most of that time, the shore had been an unaffectedly unpretentious vacation community. Houses / cottages were modest in size* and Main Street was comprised of an assortment of modest shops offering modest goods. With the obvious exception of the never ending heat and humidity, the place seems like a place I might actually like and enjoy.

Not so anymore. Like a locust plague, the nouveau uber-rich have arrived and their primary activity is buying up multiple properties, tearing down the "classic" shore houses / cottages, and erecting 10,000 sq ft. "second home" McMansion monstrosities / atrocities. That is not to write that all of the classic dwelling are gone, but they're disappearing at an alarming (to me, at least) pace, increasingly so over the past 2-3 years.

IMO, in a decade or less, the few classic shore dwelling which still exist will be like museum / curiosity pieces. And the middle class (albeit now the upper middle class) vacationer, well, the ubers won't have them to clutter up the now upscale high-end retail shops - hey, who doesn't want to pick up a Rolex or diamond bracelet (or two) while on vacation - which currently line Main Street. (And, I can't help but wonder how long it will be before the wife and her family will be priced out of their 5-6 decade long tradition of vacationing in Stone Harbor.)

While at the shore, what hangs over me like a palatable pall is not only the literal dismantling of the classic shore infrastructure (and with it, the loss of the unaffected / unpretentious coexistent shore culture), but also the energy consumptive / environmentally destructive aspect of this kind of nothing-exceed-like-excess life style.

Do these people have no sense whatsoever regarding the impact their actions have on a culture or the planet? Judging by their actions, I think not.

FYI, lest anyone think I have a problem with wealth, think again. As long as one comes by their wealth honestly - and dare I say it in this greed-is-good era? - creates some living wage jobs for the "common" people, and "gives back" to the community (local, national, global) some of what you have gained from it, so be it. Unfortunately, many if not most of today's uber rich believe that lots of money means they are free from any and all considerations and constraints regarding the common good.

*More and more, seems like another planet in a galaxy far, far awayCottages ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2563-65 ~ redux

Dingy at sunset ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
In between glimpse ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

Rooftop mini golf ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenAs is my habit, upon my return from a trip I re-process and re-post pictures which I had processed on my iPad and had posted while on that trip.

Update on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 02:25PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Overall the "redux" versions have more life and "purity", whatever that means. I guess this is attributed to RAW processing control and a calibrated display?"

my response: Yep, RAW processing + calibrated display + knowing how use the info in the PS Info Palette = life and "purity".

And, IMO, "purity" means eliminating color casts, both global and local - most often both in the same picture.

civilized ku # 2563-65 ~ the end of an era?

Docked sailboat ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
In between ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Rooftop mini golf ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenI have come to the conclusion that my lovehate-hate relationship with the South Jersey Shore has run its course. The time has come for me to put myself out of my shore misery, if for no other reason - although there are many many other reasons - than the fact that my misery causes misery for the wife.

My misery is 3-fold - 1) physical (extreme heat and humidity which leads to water retention and swelling of the joints and limbs), which leads in turn to 2) emotional misery - it's as if I get my period and even the slightest irritation results in a nasty bout of pms. And then there's the 3) intellectual exercise of trying to deal with the all encompassing shore culture of over-the-top / nothing-exceeds-like-excess conspicuous consumption.

All 3 items, when taken together, have proved to be too much for my ability to cope.

FYI, more on item #3 after my return home.

kitchen life # 44 ~ mid-day sunlight

Sunlight ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2562 ~ the form of presentation creates a stage like situation

Electric fence / Asgaard Farm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

The form of presentation creates a stage like situation in which the light that saturates the images and glows on the observer extends the carefully constructed image space into the space of the observer. By referring to itself, the presentation takes on the status of a discourse: in the form of address lies a reference to an I and you and here and now of representation. ~ Gregor Stemmrich, in his essay Between Exaltation and Musing Contemplation: Jeff Wall’s restitution of the program of Peintre de la Vie Moderne