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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

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BODIES OF WORK ~ PICTURE GALLERIES

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    ADK PLACES TO SIT / LIFE WITHOUT THE APA / RAIN / THE FORKS / EARLY WORK / TANGLES

BODIES OF WORK ~ BOOK LINKS

In Situ ~ la, la, how the life goes onLife without the APADoorsKitchen SinkRain2014 • Year in ReviewPlace To SitART ~ conveys / transports / reflectsDecay & DisgustSingle WomenPicture WindowsTangles ~ fields of visual energy (10 picture preview) • The Light + BW mini-galleryKitchen Life (gallery) • The Forks ~ there's no place like home (gallery)


Entries in decay (59)

Tuesday
Nov182014

decay & disgust # 50 / civilized ku # 2827-43 / ku # 1294 ~ the photographer's job / 10-14 days worth

It is part of the photographer's job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveller who enters a strange country. ~ Bill Brandt

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"aged" apple/orange skins, burnt matches, mold on lasagna-like concoction ~ at home in Ausable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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dormer alcove snowfall and trees ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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propane heater ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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praying / crutches ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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window display ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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hockey rink beer taps ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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mountain snow ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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snow storm ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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Wilensky's ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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Stash Cafe ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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bird house ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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early snow ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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red door ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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Rue Saint Paul ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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Sailly Avenue ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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Cottage bar ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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late autumn color ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
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restaurant conversation ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
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wodka wisdom ~ Montreal, Quebec • click to embiggen
In keeping with Bill Brandt's photographer's job description, I decided to post a number of pictures (but not all*) - in no particular chronological order - I have made over the past 10-14 days. All of the pictures were made under the operational umbrella of my standard picture making M.O. - picturing what pricks my eye in a manner which suits my sensibility, re: picturing what I see as I see it.

I have created this entry as a way of demonstrating both the number of pictures and the range of referential material I typically make pictures of over such a time frame. It also serves as a kinda glimpse into my picture making eye and mind ... just in case you were wondering.

*there have been 24 other pictures posted on individual entries over the same time frame

Friday
Jun142013

decay # 49 ~ Cindy didn't eat her corn and other edible disasters

Corn and other perishables ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenRe: the subject of some projects seeming to slide by without much attention, I haven't made any decay pictures in a while. A fact I was reminded of yesterday when an awful smell nearly overcame me in my decay staging / fermenting room.

At first, I thought it to be a dead mouse which I searched for without success. Then it dawned on me that I had forgotten - travel and other commitments will do that - about a fermenting plate of food stuffs. So, I covered the plate with saran wrap and the odor disappeared.

Upon checking the plate this AM I discovered maggots had taken up residency so I figured I'd better make a picture before things got out of control. Hence, the beautiful picture you see here.

Wednesday
Jan092013

decay # 48 / civilized ku # 2446 ~ found / made

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Rocks in outdoor sink ~ Phonicia, NY - in the Catskill Park • click to embiggen
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Cornbread, orange peels, beet • click to embiggen
While I was in Montreal, I came across the pictures of Claudio Napolitano. One of his pictures - # 13 in the linked portfolio - was in a gallery window and it most definitely caught my eye. Entering the gallery, # 2, 5 (kid with gas mask), and 9 were also on display. # 19, not on display, was listed as sold. FYI, most of the prints* were in the 36"×48" range (# 19 was 40"×80") with plexiglass adhered to the front of the print and mounted on aluminum (no frames). The price was $4,500 Canadian.

After spending some time viewing the prints, my initial caught-my-eye impression started to fade. The work just seemed contrived, ala Gregory Crewdson, and rather too "slick". I had expected to like the pictures but, in fact, they left me kinda cold. Eye catching, yes, in a weird kinda way, but, beyond the weirdness, they didn't strike much of an emotional / intellectual chord with me.

Consequently, upon returning home and reading (online) his bio and Artist Statement, I discovered that Napolitano is a highly regarded advertising picture maker. At that point, my feelings about the "slick" feel of the work and the contrived look of the children started to make sense. Obviously, Napolitano has brought all of his advertising picture making virtuoso to his Fine Art picture making. To my eye and sensibilities, that picturing M.O. was the reason for my ultimately rather cool, but not dismissive, reaction to the work.

All of which got me to thinking about made pictures, as opposed to found pictures. Part of where those ruminations led was to my experience with John Pfahl (pictures here), a Fine Art picture maker of some renown.

Back in the early 80s while he was teaching at RIT, Pfahl visited my studio at the behest of a friend (who also taught at RIT). The purpose of his visit was a meet and greet and for him to have an opportunity to view my personal / non-commercial pictures. Long story short, he was impressed with my personal work but he was utterly perplexed with the fact that I was a commercial / advertising picture maker and a Fine Art picture maker. That was due to the fact that, at that time, the two disciplines rarely, if ever, met within the same picture maker - advertising was advertising, Fine Art was Fine Art, and that was the way it was. Period.

That written, fast forward to today's Fine Art World, Photography Division, there are quite a few advertising picture makers who are also making Fine Art pictures. For better or for worse, that's the way it currently is. And, for the most part, those picture making practitioners are making made pictures. That is to write, pictures which are heavy on the concept side, not so much on the reality side.

In any event, I have no prejudice**, re: made pictures or, for that matter, advertising picture makers who make Fine Art pictures (I am one, after all). However, that written, my made picture preference runs toward those pictures which exhibit at least a modicum of found picture visual quality. Like, say, Jeff Wall's pictures as opposed to those of Gregory Crewdson - both make made pictures but Wall eschews the theatrical flourish production values employed by Crewdson.

All of that written, one of the many much-to-my-liking attributes of the previously mentioned Photo - wisdom. Master Photographers on Their Art book is that the book showcases mainly, but not exclusively, the work of those picture makers who make found pictures or pictures which look as though they might be of the found variety.

One of the notable exceptions to the found / found-like work is the pictures of Loretta Lux, whose work I find to be fascinating on so many levels ...

.... which brings me back to where this entry began, the work of Claudio Napolitano. Even though his pictures of children are of a type - children, distorted - which could be categorized with those of Loretta Lux, I just can't seem to warm up to them. The pictures are just too advertising slick in their visual appearance, whereas, I find Lux's pictures to be far more biased toward the world of Fine Art and, therefore, much more pleasing to my eye and sensibilities.

In summation, and relative to all of the aforewritten, I close with a quote from Joel Meyerowitz:

A lot of people put their intellectual concerns first with photography, but I think it is a discipline that is at first a visceral one. The primary aspect of this whole engagement with, and through, photography is to try to understand what your instincts are. Don't go counter to that, learn what the feeling is ... [I]f you keep following your every instinct - you want to get closer, kneel down, or jump up two steps - then just do it. The results will describe to you who you are. The visceral and the intuitive side will combine to show your intellect as a photographer. (emphasis mine)

*FYI, most of the prints were in the 36"×48" range (# 19 was 40"×80") with plexiglass adhered to the front of the print and mounted on aluminum (no frames). The price was $4,500 Canadian.

**That is, no prejudice with the exception of those pictures which are so concept driven that they become little more than visual and photo vernacular gibberish - those pictures most favored by the academic lunatic fringe.

Tuesday
Nov202012

decay # 47 ~ brazenly smutty food shot* / vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas

Pumpkin pie, mold, grapes • click to embiggenDuquesne Club CookbookOver the 35 years of my pro picture making career, I made hundreds of "brazenly smutty" food shots. Making such food pictures was a large part of my pictures for commerce life.

In many of those pictures, while the food was a featured player, the purpose of those pictures was to help sell a product other than the food - products such as CorningWare or French's condiments (French's Mustard), spices, and cooking/ baking products. Other food pictures where about the food itself - monthly restaurant reviews for Pittsburgh Magazine or recipes in the Duquense Club Cookbook (I made all of the pictures in the book as well as designing the book and supervising all the production). In any case, the food was always, first and foremost, picture perfect.

That written, it has been suggested by some that my decay pictures are a late-life rebellion against all of that brazenly smutty food shot stuff, a sort of Post-Traumatic Pictured Perfection Disorder. While there might be a deeply buried grain of truth in that notion, the idea of PTPPD belies the fact of my lifelong genuine interest in things decayed / decaying.

I can't fully explain the interest but the first word which comes to mind is patina, as in, a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use . I am well aware many would take issue with the idea of beautiful being associated with decay. However, at least on the surface of things, that's how I see it.

That written, beneath the visual surface of things, I see a culture, based on non-sustainable consumption of the planet's resources, in a state of decay. I also also see much more than a smidgeon of Vanitas, a type of symbolic work of art associated with still life painters / painting in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Latin word means "vanity" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.

So, rather than just a case of PTPPD, perhaps my interest (at least my late life interest) in decay is also an up-close-and-personal expanded awareness of the transient nature of all earthly goods and things ... flowers wilt, food decays, and silver is of no use to the soul.

*phrase borrowed from Set the Stage, Then the Table ~ NYT, 11/20/12.

Tuesday
Jul032012

decay / vestige beauty ~ another one bites the dust

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All pictures ~ • click to embiggen4 down, 5 to go.

Thursday
Mar152012

decay & disgust # 46 ~ great weekend in the kitchen

Peppers, egg shells,and cornbread ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenThis past weekend it seemed I couldn't walk into the kitchen without being confronted with a picturing opportunity. In 48 hours time, I managed to make 6 pictures for my the life in my kitchen series + 1 for my decay & disgust series. And, there is another decay & disgust on the way - along as the wife lets me keep the live mouse around long enough for the pepper debris in today's picture to age a bit more.

Although, I'm still pondering about how to work with /contain a live mouse on a still life picture set. I know from my previous experience that putting insects in the frig or freezer slows them down to the point of being nearly motionless (without actually killing them). I also know how to hypnotize a chicken*, once again so that it remains rather motionless. In both cases, the idea of being motionless is a great aid in keeping them in place for the purpose of making a picture, when, otherwise, they'd be all over the place.

However, I don't know how to slow down a mouse. Any suggestions?

*a great party trick as long as you can pull off showing up at a party with a chicken or two.

Wednesday
Feb012012

FYI ~ (decay &) disgust is the Cinderella of emotions

Bones and mold ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenNone other than the New York Times and a variety of scientists / psychologists / researchers have followed my lead into the study of decay and disgust. From the the Times article (complete article here):

Disgust is the Cinderella of emotions. While fear, sadness and anger, its nasty, flashy sisters, have drawn the rapt attention of psychologists, poor disgust has been hidden away in a corner, left to muck around in the ashes.

No longer. Disgust is having its moment in the light as researchers find that it does more than cause that sick feeling in the stomach. It protects human beings from disease and parasites, and affects almost every aspect of human relations, from romance to politics.

I just knew I was on to something big, even though it took some time for others to catch up. Remember, you saw it here first.

Friday
Jan062012

decay & disgust # 45 ~ peppers and bread

Peppers and bread on hand-pounded silver tray ~ in my kitchen / Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen