diptych # 135 ~ connections

connection ~ the place doesn't matter • click to embiggen

I can't write with any authority that in my quest for what's next that it will be diptychs. Nor, if that is what's next, the thematic diptych referent will be antique collectibles. However, I can write that the combination of the 2 - process + referent - is very attractive.

The making of diptychs has always held a particular fascination for me. I can't write exactly why that is so other than to write that the idea of 2 connected pictures working together within the same frame(work) has always been of interest to me - visually and, dare I write, intellectually.

And, as the wife can attest, I have a life-long attraction to old things. Things which some would label "collectibles", ranging from old photographs (tintype, ambro-type, daguerreotype, and vintage panoramic / banquet camera pictures of large groups) to an incredibly unique antique clock*, amongst many other disparate items.

clocks ~ also notice antique mantel clock above fireplace• click to embiggen
the museum / peopled panos ~ as the wife calls it• click to embiggen

I am drawn to acquiring old things, in part because they are a connection to the past- not my past, but a past - and in large part because I am almost preternaturally attracted to patina-ed objects / things. Things like dead flowers and rotting food, to mention just a couple.

In any event and all of that written, the idea of making pictures which connect to the patina-ed past and which are also are connected within the framework of a diptych has, to my eye and sensibilities, some merit worth considering.

*Inscription on clock reads: With those hours that drag, be patient. With those hours that are enjoyable, be alert.

oddly exalted - diptych # 134 (viewmatic # 4 • civilized ku # 2900) ~ a sharp stick in the eye

TLR pencil sharpener ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

diptych # 131 ~ the single picture ... is it enough?

hockey sticks / floor detritus ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In a recent entry on LENSCRATCH - ANDREW SANDERSON: THE SINGLE IMAGE - Aline Smithson fleshed out a previous statement:

I do think it’s time we reconsider the idea that everything has to be created around a project - twenty images wrapped up in a neat bow with an artist statement on top. Projects are great, but what about all the single images we shoot that have no home and get over looked because they are not in that portfolio gift box?

In the entry, Smithson introduced the work of Andrew Sanderson, "a photographer who creates single images." That is, "work that was not defined by a single subject, instead a range of subjects that have caught his interest." In selecting the work to be viewed in the entry, Smithson - who primarily presents the work of project-based picture makers - admitted that, "What was fascinating to me as an editor was that it was difficult to select the work – I still felt it needed consistency and a thread of connection if only through light and process."

Smithson's entry was of interest to me inasmuch as I consider myself to be a picture maker who creates pictures, not defined by a single referent / idea, but rather of a range of referents which catch my interest. While I do have a couple bodies of work which were begun from scratch as referent / theme based projects, the overwhelming bulk of my work is based upon the adage, f8 and be there.

Just a cursory glance at the top of my blog home page will indicate that I have quite a number of referent / theme based bodies of work. However, the fact is that most of those bodies of work were created / identified long after the the pictures in them were made, not for a premeditated project, but as the result of something - quite literally, any thing - that pricked my eye and sensibilities.

That written, it wasn't until most recently that I put together 2 collections of work, 2014 ~ The Year in Review and The Light, - which were NOT based upon a shared referent.

In the case of The light the thread of connection was the light. However, the referents were all over the map. In the case of 2014 ~ Year in Review, once again the referents were diverse but the thread of connection was the consistent manner (process) in which I see. In both cases and IMO, the collections work as all of a piece despite the fact that the pictures are all essentially single pictures or made as such.

In any event, Smithson summed the issue up pretty well - "So today, we are simply looking at images, quietly considered, beautifully executed ... and for some photographers, that’s enough."

IMO, quite enough indeed.

diptych # 129 / what is photograph? # 17-18 ~ beauty is in the eye of the beholder (and their kitchen)

what is # 17 • click to embiggen
what is # 18 • click to embiggen
water drop selfie / dried food ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

As the picture making beat goes on in my kitchen, I am still left pondering what's next? as well as what is a photograph? (both the body of work and the question itself). And, in the what's next? category, my desire to concentrate on constructed / made pictures may be being resolved in my kitchen.

Witness the individual pictures in today's diptych image. While they both qualify as still life pictures, one is, in fact, a found still life, the other is a construct/made still life. In either case, I must admit that I really like making still life pictures. That written, my real preference is for making construct/made still life pictures such as the dried food picture in the diptych.

Unlike the water drop selfie picture, which was just staring up at me fully formed from the kitchen sink, every element in the dried food picture was hand selected and deliberately placed / arranged within the confines of the picture's frame. There is absolutely nothing "found" about it. And, it was essentially 2 weeks in the making inasmuch as food tidbits were added - now and again as they became available - and allowed to age / dry.

Despite the exacting control exercised in the making of dried food, IMO, the water drop selfie is an equally strong / interesting still life picture. It simply doesn't suffer in any way from the fact that little, except the act of seeing, was involved in its making. To my eye and sensibilities, the arrangement of the objects, shapes, and colors within my carefully chosen / placed frame are quite exquisite. In fact, the way I see it, they are made more so by their serendipitous and unthinking placement which was quite independent of any picture making ambitions.

So, in terms of what's next?, making still life pictures, both found and construct/made, will be an area of picture making concentration. Not to the exclusion of adding to my other bodies of work, but with a deliberate effort to work within the still life genre. The only question which remains relative to this picture making pursuit is whether or not the pictures will all be made in my kitchen.

diptych # 127 (kitchen sink) ~ one thing leads to another

side by side ~ in the sink • click to embiggen

Intending to make just one picture of the kitchen sink - the lipton tea bags and other garbage - I noticed the highlight on the stainless steel in the adjoining sink and couldn't pass it up, picture making wise.

diptych # 126 / civilized ku # 2872-79~ 2 fer 1 • an entry in 2 parts

so close yet so far apart ~ waterpark • golf course views - Jay Peak Resort / Jay, VT. • click to embiggen
tournament champion / player of the game medallions • click to embiggen
ice rink / iPhone picture ~ Jay Peak Resort, Jay, VT. • click to embiggen

Spent Friday- Sunday past at Jay Peak resort in Vermont. I wasn't there to ski, I was there for hockey.

During a day long snowfall, the view from our cottage was just right for quiet relaxation and contemplation. The view from the waterpark bar/balcony was anything but. I leave it up to you to deduce where, outside of the hockey arena, I spent most of my time.

FYI, the iPhone pano picture is of Hugo and his team waiting for the tournament championship game - their last game of the season and the last time they will all be together as a team. In more ways than one, it was very fitting that Hugo scored the first and last goal of the game and, consequently, of the season.

Now on to picture making business ....

window art / 4 squares in a row ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhen making pictures, I most often do not "work" a scene. That is, most often it is one and done, click-of-the-shutter wise. On those occasions when I work it, the variations I make are usually very minor changes in framing. All of which means that my normal M.O. is to go with my first impression and move on.

That written, last week I pictured the above window art as seen in a vacant store. My first impression (and picture) thereof is the tightly framed window and door as seen in the 3rd-from-the-left-picture. However, in this case, I continued to work the scene and made 2 additional wider view pictures.

After processing all 3 of the pictures, I had them grouped together on my screen in order to choose the "winner". It was at that point I experience a very unexpected result. Not only could I not pick a "winner", I arrived at a point where I could not visually separate one picture from another because, in a way I can not adequately explain, when grouped together in a straight line with a 4th framing variation, they seem to be visually all-of-a-piece. My eye can not find a place to land in the grouping. It keeps dancing back and forth, hither and yon across the collective field of view.

The only conclusion that I can arrive at for that reaction is to think that the combination of a relatively monochromatic referent surround together with the vibrant color of the referent(s) themselves creates a kind of eye-brain recognition puzzle that my senses can not stop trying to figure out.

And, surprise, surprise, I like the sense-ation very much. I like it enough to go forth and find more monochromatic / vibrant color, competing wise, scenes in order to see if I can replicate the same result. If successful, I will be off to the races, eye-brain recognition puzzle picture making wise.

Anyone else experiencing the same field of visual energy which I see in the grouping?

diptych # 125 / civilized ku # 2870 ~ not so subtle hidden agenda

Union College arena ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen
Shatter Point Hockey Tournament ~ Schenectady , NY • click to embiggen

Hugo's scheduled hockey season is over. However, the team is now engaged in post season tournament play.

This weekend past, they played in a tournament in Schenectady, NY - a NYS Capital District city. 2 of the games, semi-final and championship, were held at the Union College* hockey arena. Hugo's team played in both games.

The team went undefeated in the round-robin play (3-0) earning them participation in the championship game. Their opponent was the tournament host team, the Schenectady Chargers, a high level very well coached hockey team**. A team which they defeated 2-1 - in an intense and closely contested game - in the round robin play and a game in which Hugo scored 1 goal and was, as they say, making stuff happen (play making, puck moving, shots on net, etc.).

Unfortunately 2 things conspired against Hugo's team in the championship game.

#1 - As mentioned, the opponent team was very well coached and they knew, after experiencing Hugo's play firsthand, what they had to do to win the championship game. Namely, get all over #88. A tactic which they executed to perfection with 2 and, at times, 3 players (see action picture in diptych) stuck to Hugo like glue throughout the game.

What the opposing coaches didn't know was the fact that, if Hugo doesn't score, his team doesn't win - a fact which has held true without exception over the course of the entire season. The fact that Hugo's team record is 35-10-2 is testament to how many pucks Hugo has put in the net - 60 at last count.

#2 - While shutting down Hugo obviously helped the other team win, perhaps the biggest factor was the round robin schedule which pitted the 2 teams most likely to met the host team in the championship game - Hugo's team and a team from Massachusetts - against each other in an very early 7:10AM game which ended only 4 hours before the championship game began. That game was vigorously contested inasmuch as both teams were playing for a berth in the championship game. Needless to write, the host team, having played their last round robin game the day before, was well rested. Anyone who thinks that that situation was a scheduling coincidence should contact me so I can sell them a bridge in Brooklyn.

After a scoreless 1st period (in the championship game), Hugo's team started to "lose their legs" midway through the 2nd period and it was only a matter of time before their opponent scored a couple goals. And with Hugo shut down, that was effectively that.

In any event, there's always the next time - which arrives this Friday-Sunday in a tournament in the far reaches of northern Vermont.

FYI, the other picture in the diptych depicts why many hockey dads have sore backs - they're bent over tying skate laces before very game.

*Union College is a small - enrollment is approx. 2100-2200 students - college founded in 1795. Despite it's diminutive student body and the fact that it offers no athletic scholarships, the Union College men's hockey team, the Dutchmen, won the NCAA Division 1 (highest level of collegiate athletics) national Championship last season, besting Minnesota Gophers (enrollment 28,600 and plenty of hockey scholarships).

**The Schenectady hockey program is designated as one of only 17 USA Hockey Model Associations nation wide

diptych # 124 ~ as it should be

bathroom sink / kitchen sink ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In his comment on the recent entry, civilized ku # 2869 ~ nothing if not wordy, Paul Bradforth wrote (in part):

.... I think my main grouch was that you, Mark, spend so much time talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is, while producing, at the same time, so much nice still-life work that I often think you lower the tone of it all with your proselytizing.

First, a caveat: I appreciate Paul's comment and input. I take no offense whatsoever and hope he (or others) continue to comment, pro or con, regarding any of the goings on here on The Landscapist. Expressing diverse opinions and ideas of what picture making is all about is, IMO, a good thing. A very good thing.

Second, a definition:

proselytizing: to convert or attempt to convert as a proselyte; recruit.

Third, my response to Paul's comment (not a retort but merely an explanation): Over the years, using words other than "proselytizing", some have accused me of speaking writing ex cathedra* regarding the medium and its apparatus ("talking about the finer points of what 'pictures' or 'art' is"). Amongst other things, I am fairly certain those comments stem from the fact that I have been demonstratively forthright in expressing my criticisms and opinions of some pictures and picture making ideas and conventions.

While it is not my intention to demean those who make those pictures or hold near and dear those picture making ideas and conventions, I am also certain (and take full responsibility for) that some take personal umbrage as the result of the expressing of my criticisms and opinions.

Given that I believe that cognitive criticism (as in, critique) is both valid and valuable, the operative word in the preceding paragraph is "opinion" inasmuch as I have never been proselytistic in my writings. That is, I have no desire to "convert" anyone to anything, picture things wise. I am merely expressing my opinions as I think out loud (so to write) as much for my own benefit - perhaps more so - as I do for others who may be tuning in.

Some appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions based on my writings. Other think it's a steaming pile of elephant dung. And that's as it should be inasmuch as I'm not trying to please anyone other than myself.

Some visit for the pictures and in doing so appreciate, learn from, and come to their own conclusions, pro or con, about them. And that is as it should be inasmuch as I make pictures for myself according to the dictates of my eye and sensibilities.

All of that written, one thing visitors will never read from me is how they should do it or how they should think, picture making wise, or what kind of pictures they should like. And, as I have recently passed 3/4 million page views, I am assuming that, one way or another, someone somewhere is getting something out of it.

*from the seat of authority; with authority: used especially of those pronouncements of the pope that are considered infallible.