diptych # 63 / civilized ku # 2698-99 ~ chance and circumstance

CN Tower with shadows ~ Toronto, CA. • click to embiggenAs long as you are continually in a f8-and-be-there picturing state of mind, when chance and circumstance presents a golden opportunity you'll able to make a picture or two of a well pictured referent which transcends, at least by a little bit, the typical tourist snapshot.

picture + words project ~ picture 9 / words h

picture 9 • click to embiggen
words h • click to embiggen

Silence. A tree in the forest. Noise and sound into the void. Falling. Deeper into the abyss. A wall, thick and dense, a filter built from years of accumulated deadening debris and detritus, deflecting all which is without. Beyond caring. Beyond comprehension. Beyond knowing. Damning up the liquid flow of life giving and affirming sustenance of daily bread which grows moldy in the isolated dank cupboard of neglect. The tree falls and the forest decays leaving nothing but ashes and the bittersweet taste of things which will never be.

diptych # 62 / civikized ku # 2653-54 ~ stuff and crud

Pepper/orange peels ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Bedroom flowers ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Floor crud ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park •click to embiggenOver the past couple days I have been picturing around the interior of the house and it's quite possible that floor crud - more aptly names swept floor crud - might just become a project. God knows there is always enough referent matter, aka: crud, on the kitchen floor.

diptych # 61 ~ cultivated taste - shibui / wabi-sabi

Red and white ~ Au Sable Forks, NY / Lake Placid, NY in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI am reading a book (an actual paper-based book) about Camp Santanoni and its Japanese architectural influences. In the chapters which deal with the Japanese influence, the notion of shibui* - an aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty - is raised in this fashion:

".... an unassuming quality in which refinement underlies a commonplace appearance, perceptible only to a cultivated taste."

On a related note, although not mentioned in the book, is another Japanese aesthetic (actually 2 which are most often co-joined), that of wabi-sabi* which is centered around the acceptance of transience and imperfection - one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. An aesthetic which, according to Wikipedia:

"...nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

Having resided for 2 years in Japan (although I was in the military, I lived off-base in a Japanese residence - eat, sit, and sleep on the floor - amongst the local Japanese population), I have had the pleasure of learning about and - to the best of my ability to understand - experiencing these aesthetics firsthand. IMO, it's almost impossible for a westerner to convey the full meaning / experience of these aesthetics because they are not just applicable to the arts but are, in fact, inculcated / infused into all aspects of Japanese society / life.

In any event, the notions of the shibui and wabi-sabi aesthetics have influenced my picture making - they also describe the resultant pictures quite well - and the appreciation I have for most of the pictures made by others which prick my eye and sensibilities.

*WARNING - one can go on a bit of a blurry-eyed mind-numbing journey in pursuit of trying to find / discern an exact meaning of various Japanese words or phrases

FYI, diptych # 61 illustrates a 48 period of our goofy weather - snow over ice covered cars on Sunday, warm temps with melting ice and snow + dense fog on Tuesday.

diptych # 60 / civilized ku # 2649 ~ bumping up against the surface barrier

60 Main ~ Phonicia, NY - in the Catskill Park • click to embiggen
60 Main interior ~ Phonicia, NY - in the Catskill Park • click to embiggenAs I have mentioned in a previous entry or 2, I am suffering from web-based picture viewing overload. That condition is growing ever more intense as time goes by. And even if one operates, online picture viewing wise, under the assumption that it's all good (the pictures), I am a firm believer in the notion that there can be too much of a good thing.

So, in the cause of reducing my web-based viewing fatigue, I have limited my online picture viewing to a relatively few blogs which feature the pictures of the blog author and 2 magazine type sites which publish the works of many different picture makers, most of whom are making pictures which prick my eye and sensibilities. You might think that M.O. makes me a creature of habit but I'd rather be that than a bleary-eyed creature aimlessly wandering about the near-limitless online picture viewing morass*.

That written, even limiting my web-based picture viewing to the aformentioned extent, I still am left somewhat bleary-eyed and most intensely unsatisfied. I attribute the bleary-eyed-ness primarily to screen fatigue as opposed to picture viewing fatigue. My life, like those of many others, is filled with screens - iPhone, iPad, MacBook (Air), Mac Pro+monitor, flat screen tv (2), auto dashboard info / navi screen, to name just a few.

To a certain extent, I can state with conviction that I've had my fill of screens.

Screen fatigue does contributed to my unsatisfied state inasmuch as every picture looks the same on a screen - the "surface" of every picture is always identical. However, even more influential, unsatisfied wise, than that viewing aspect is the fact that an onscreen picture has not even the illusion of tangibility. It remains, to my eye and sensibility, forever removed / detached from any sense of immediacy. Inevitably and nearly universally, the picture strikes me as rather lifeless and coolly analytical.

Consequently, even when viewing online pictures which I like, I am always left with the feeling of wanting more. Not more pictures but more immediacy, a physical / tactile engagement with the pictures in the form of prints - i.e., the ability to touch them, to hold them, and to see the surface of the substrate.

Without a doubt, the surface of a print - matte, semi-matte, glossy, smooth, textured, not to mention the size of a print, adds immeasurably (for good or bad) to the viewing experience and ultimately to the appreciation of a picture.

Therefore, to my eye and sensibilities, the best of all picture viewing worlds is that in which pictures have interesting / rich denoted and connoted content which is presented on the surface of a finely crafted print, which, in tandem, create a truly beautiful object.

Stay tuned for more of what I plan to do about getting some satisfaction.

*after writing this entry, I read today's TOP entry which addresses the same subject.

diptych # 58 ~ frozen in place ....

Ice storm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen.... literally frozen in place.

We're in the grip of category IV (of V) ice storm. Although, here in The Forks, we're straddling the weather line between nasty and really nasty. Just 10 miles to the north, the storm is much more severe than in The Forks - State of Emergency, travel restrictions, power outages, etc.

But, here's the thing re: travel restrictions - currently, the advisory is for no unnecessary driving. However, my idea of necessary driving during inclement weather is heading out in our AWD vehicle and doing donuts and 4-wheel drifts around corners and curves.

And, seriously, what better time to do so than during driving restriction conditions? The roads are slippery and virtually everyone else heeds the advisory and stays off the roads which means no slow pokes to get in the way and clog things up - not to mention the diminished possibility of a head-on collision (due, no doubt, to the driving error of others).

That written, I won't be heading out today for a couple reasons: 1) it would take a blowtorch or buckets of hot water to open the car door, and, 2) we're starting a fire in our conjugal bed to keep us nice and warm on an icy cold winter day.

civilized ku # 2639-42 / diptych # 56-57 ~ seasonal offerings

The Grinch ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
PBS Downton Abbey Season 4 Premier Dinner ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Starving Artist Sale / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Instruments / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Spuyten Duyvil / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Candlelight dinner ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenIt's that time of year which is jammed up with parties / gatherings / events (a few pictured herein), some of which are mandatory - the wife's on a zillion organization boards - some of which are voluntary, some of which are fun, some of which not so much. But like the trooper and all-around swell arm-candy guy / husband I am, I soldier on.

diptych # 54 / civilized ku # 2625 ~ action packed week

High Peaks late day sunlight ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Birch w berries ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenHaven't posted an entry since last Tuesday because I haven't had a working computer since last Wednesday. Fortunately, I had an extra Mac Pro sitting around and, after a calming 3 day / 2 night visit in Lake Placid (Thurs. - Sat.), a bit of troubleshooting, a couple of hard drive swaps, a system update, software re-installs, and all around general arm wrestling with the computer, I'm up and running again.

Well, maybe not running, but at least walking at a rather brisk pace. Still gotta face monitor calibration and updated print drivers and ICC profiles.

Added bonus excitement - upon our return home on Saturday, after 5 weeks of being missing in action, one of our cats, Edison-Ron, was impatiently waiting for us on our front porch, skinny as a rail, but appearing none the worse for wear (later confirmed by a visit to the vet). Man, if only cats could talk.