decay & disgust # 44 ~ chicken bones

Chicken bones • click to embiggen

decay & disgust # 43 ~ constructed picture

Mashed potato leavings with mouse turds ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAs promised, another still life picture.

decay # 42 ~ vision / craft / on seeing

Moldy pineapple and saran-wrapped sweet potato ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn yesterday's entry, civilized ku # 888, the idea of answering questions about specific pictures was introduced (again). That notion was advanced in light of the fact that answering questions about my general picturing making MO - both picturing and processing - would be difficult at best. However, there are a few thoughts to share relative to my general approach to picturing and processing.

1. I always picture in RAW format. Simply put, RAW provides the conscientious picture maker with the most information laden image file possible, to include dynamic range and color depth.

2. When picturing under "normal" conditions, I almost always use 1-stop ISO bracketing. This technique creates 3 files of the subject that cover a 3-stop range - ideally, 1-stop under, normal, and 1-stop over image files. This technique allows for a relatively simple cut-and-paste processing procedure that can "correct" or give images more shadow and/or highlight detail (if needed or desired).

3. When processing RAW files and the subsequent conversions in PhotoShop, I always aim to produce a file with the most realistic / natural / "clean" color and tonal range as possible. This often requires a fair amount of selective corrections / adjustments which means that I will select (isolate) specific colors and/or tonal range segments (highlights, shadows, midtones) and make independent corrections /adjustments to those areas of a picture - as opposed to making global/overall corrections / adjustments to the image file.

4. When processing RAW files and the subsequent conversions in PhotoShop, the single most important tool is Curves, used in conjunction with the Info Palette. If one is serious about good color and tonal corrections / adjustments, understanding the use of Curves is absolutely mandatory. There is no substitute.

The use of any color/contrast tool that employs sliders - Levels, Color Balance, Brightness/Contrast, Shadow/Highlight, et al - is strictly amateur night at the circus. Using sliders is like using a sledge hammer as opposed to a surgeon's laser scalpel, aka: Curves. The only slider-based tool I use is the Hue/Saturation palette and, FYI, I use H/S almost exclusively to desaturate selective color(s) as opposed to saturating them.

All of that said, virtually every one of my pictures you view here on this blog was made using some or all of the aforementioned techniques (+/- a few others). However, no 2 pictures are pictured / processed exactly alike. Each and every picture requires its own specific application of technique(s). There is no formula.

The only overarching canon / dictate employed in the making of my pictures is that which is specific to my eye and sensibilities. And those dictates are the result of decades of experience in the making of color pictures.

FYI, the decay picture above was made using all of the aforementioned tools / techniques. As always, they were employed to create an as-true-to-the-real representation of the subject as the medium and its apparatus will allow because in truth is beauty.

decay # 41 ~ payment plan

Fungi • click to embiggenSomewhat by chance, during my last trip to Montreal, I meet and saw the paintings of Claude Le Blanc. The wife and I found him and some of his SENTIERS work to be very captivating.

That said, what really caught my attention was something I have never seen before. On the little cards that accompanied his work (listing title and cost), was a fascinating idea - in addition to the cost of the painting, there were listed 2 payment options: 6 and 12 month payment plans.

Imagine that, art on the payment plan. What a great idea.

Several of his paintings that we really liked were in the $2K range (give or take a bit) and truth be told, we have never purchased (outright) a piece of art in that price range. However, when considering art in that range, it becomes a lot more palatable to the pocketbook when thought of in terms of, say, $200/month x 12 months.

decay # 40 ~ unintended consequences

Remains • click to embiggenAlbeit unintentional, the wife finally got with the decay program.

Normally, I must wait around - sometimes days, sometimes weeks - while various things decay to the point of a picture-worthy state but, over the weekend, the wife shortened the wait time by going to bed and leaving (forgetting) a pot with a chicken carcass (making chicken stock) simmering on the stove. The result, decay-wise, was a thing of beauty for which I am very grateful.

That said, I am assembling a Decay & Disgust portfolio, a book, and a limited edition 10 print Decay & Disgust folio. The portfolio is for submission to galleries.

A complete up-to-date online Decay & Disgust gallery can viewed HERE

civilized ku # 723 ~ Autumn color # 42

Rain water and detritus ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI have often been asked about why it is that I have such a hard-on, re: pretty pictures and the "masters" who make and promote them. Well, as an example, take this statement as another fine display of why I get all incensed:

Photography is used only for its most obvious ability: to record things as they look.

This moronic statement - photography used only for its most obvious ability - is being doled out as advice and expertise on how to recognize a "snapshot" as opposed to a "fine art" photograph.

GIVE ME A F**KING BREAK!!!- demeaning and disparaging the one unique characteristic of the medium of photography that distinguishes it from all of the other visual arts, i.e. it's ability to records things as they look. HOLY S**T!!! If you're interested in making visual art that does not record / represent / illustrate how things look, why not take up painting, drawing, or sculpture?

Oh, wait ... I know why - it's because virtually all of the art-making-challenged individuals who dispense such nonsense about the medium of photography are talentless hacks. Their idea of creativity and making "fine art" photographs revolve around / are dependent upon such trite picture making approaches such as "giving consideration to flipping an image left to right", or, "tilting the camera to the side to try both horizontal and vertical compositions", or, "cropping to a format different from the format provided by the camera", or, "attempting to create a specific color palette" (that is, of course, a color palette that is not true to the thing pictured), or, slavishly adhering to the dictum that "clean edges and controlled image borders are trademarks of carefully composed photographs", or, consider this vision-killing idea - "considering the audience and the audience's needs" when making your pictures.

GOOD F**KING GRIEF!!! Each and every one of those notions is little more than a crutch for those who don't know how to see and, if one remains dependent upon them, one will never learn to to see .... and that, in a nutshell, is what pisses me off the most - these "masters" and "experts" are dispensing simple-minded crap dictums that are the primary obstacles in the road of learning how to see.

To be certain, if all one is interested in is making pictures that look like what you have been told are good pictures, then much of the preceding is worth considering. Truth be told, for those lacking in vision, creativity, and imagination, there is little else for them to go by. And, here's a clue to determining whether or not you have even a modicum of vision, creativity, or imagination - if you have any photography books that contain the word "mastering" in their title, you're most likely "mastering" nothing of importance relative to the most important picture making notion of all - seeing.

decay # 39 ~ it made the cut (and an explanation)

Celery root • click to embiggenLast week in this entry I mentioned the reasoning involved in the selection of the picture Without the APA for submission in an Arts organization sponsored juried show. Well, who knows exactly what the judge's thoughts on the picture were but suffice it to say that the picture was selected for the exhibition.

That said, here is an explanation, re: the use of "APA" in the picture's title - the APA is the Adirondack Park Agency, a much reviled state agency. The mission of the APA is to protect the public and private resources of the Park through the exercise of the powers and duties provided by law. It is also responsible for maintaining the protection of the forest preserve, and overseeing development proposals of the privately owned lands.

Shortly after its inception in 1971, the APA developed long-range land use plans for both public and private lands within the boundary of the Park - the State Land Master Plan, which was signed into law in 1972, followed by the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan in 1973. In effect, the APA is a large-scale zoning agency.

All proposals for development on private lands within the Adirondack Park must be reviewed and approved by the APA. All development must conform to the aforementioned master / land use plan and therein lies the rub - those who would pave paradise and put up a parking lot with a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot have been really pissed off ever since the APA (AKA - "big socialist government") "took away their rights".

In any event, Without the APA is the first picture in a series in which I am creating in-my-mind-only landscapes. Pictures that are composite images assembled from bits and pieces of my earlier cityscape pictures together with my landscape pictures of various Adirondack scenes.

BTW & FYI, for anyone within the sound of this blog, I will be at the exhibit opening reception - this Friday (9/24/10), 5-7PM - at The Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

decay # 38 ~ or, Basil Leaf Tragedy # 2 - the rest of the story

Blood and basil on plate • click to embiggen