FYI ~ a photo book project

Click here to view this photo book larger

Contained in my "finished" picture folder are 3,450+ ku ("pure" landscape) and civilized ku (signs of man) pictures. Needless to say, it is nigh unto impossible to print all of them, although I have been working away at doing so.

The pictures could easily be divided into sub-categories like, say, as an example, a category labeled twigs. I am also engaged in creating a few categories and organizing the pictures into such categories. Again needless to say, it is proving to be time consuming and I am do it a little bit at a time. Maybe by early nest year I'll have it done.

In the mean time, I have decided to start printing pictures categorized by month - not every single picture made during a given month but rather the "highlights" of that month presented in chronological order by date of creation. However, when I say "printing" what I mean is printing a photo book (8×8 inch soft cover) for each month.

My first edition (seen above) - October 2011 - contains 48 pictures. The book also contains the text of 1 featured blog entry from October. Each successive edition will also have a featured entry from that month as well as an expanded caption index.

The purpose of this exercise is 2 fold: 1) to have a printed record of my picturing activities, to have and to hold from this day forward, and 2) to offer them for sale to followers of The Landscapist.

The photo books for sale will be limited to 20 pages with approximately 15 pictures - the best of the best - and 1 featured blog text entry + expanded caption index. The reason for the smaller picture number is simply to make the books affordable - $30.00US (+ shipping) - as opposed to the cost of my personal copy which will end up costing me around $50.00US to print.

To further reduce the cost for Landscapist followers, I will be offering a subscription price of $300.00US (+ shipping). That price is for 12 monthly editions although it is up to the subscriber to pick any months they wish - they do not have to be successive months. Skip a month, or 2 or 3, if you like - it's up to you.

Part of the reason I am offering these books for sale is to let people see how my pictures look in print as opposed to on screen (which may calibrated / accurate or not). Simply stated, there is nothing to compare to seeing pictures in printed form. To hold it - a book or a print - in your hand and take the time to really look and per chance to ponder. Not to mention the ease with which you can return to it time and time again.

My photo book collection - books by other picture makers - is like a collection of old friends. I return to them again and again, often "seeing" more than I did previously and always learning something new. Nothing, I repeat, nothing on the web comes close to matching that experience. In fact, seeing something, picture wise, on the web makes me want to see it in print in order to really appreciate it.

In any event, the reproduction quality I get from Shutterfly is remarkably close to my original photo prints. If all I were ever able to view were photo books of my pictures, I'd be a very happy camper. Which brings to mind another thought ...

Anybody else tempted to create a similar undertaking. There are more a few of you out there with whom I would more than willing to swap subscriptions.

FYI ~ published

Spread ~ Adirondack Life Magazine • click to embiggenI have just received an advance copy of this month's - December 2011 - Adirondack Life. It has a feature article about the devastation, here in the Adirondacks, caused by Tropical Storm Irene. One spread, re: Au Sable Forks, features 4 of my pictures.

I have also been informed that there will be a photo-story article in the June, 2012 edition about my The Forks ~ there's no place like home exhibit. It will, of course, feature pictures from the exhibit.

civilized ku # 1102 / FYI ~ a post Irene civilized ku # 1091 update

Wilted remains ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenNow that things, tropical storm Irene wise, have settled down a bit, I have turned my thoughts back to picture making. Consequently, I am posting this entry update to civilized ku # 1091 - an entry that was intended to be posted pre-Irene but nature had other plans for me and mine.

Be that as it may, you will notice that the depicted referents in this picture of the same scene are different from those in civilized ku # 1091. In addition to the wilted lettuce, the pie crust is missing. We have no idea where it went other than to assume that the mice with whom we share our kitchen carried it away. The assumption is based upon the fact that mice are, of course, part and parcel of the charm of county living.

In any event, (the FYI part of this entry) now that I am redirecting my attention to matters of picture making I have come across the following photo-gibberish on a site which purports to be about picture making - often professing that the pictures, not equipment, are the thing:

The SQF* is a measurement of how well matched the system MTF* of a camera is to the CSF* of the HVS*.

Say what? - This astoundingly relevant (not) statement is lifted from an article that sets out to address the matter of CSC IQ**.

Well, scratch my back with a hacksaw ... I have always believed, in a much simpler and more direct fashion, if you look at any picture and it conveys its point, IMO, the IQ is exactly right. However, if all that gobbledygook, aka - flapdoodle and green paint, floats your photo boat, have at it. After all, as Julian's grandmother once stated - "For every pot there's a lid."

*FYI - SQF = subjective quality factor, MFT = modulation transfer function (which is a concept closely related to the PSF (point spread function), CSF = contrast sensitivity function, HSV = human visual system - all of which relate to the IQF (image quality factor)

**compact system camera image quality

FYI ~ goodnight Irene

Who would have thought that a storm which started in the southern hemisphere could have such devastating effects all the way up here in Au Sable Forks?

Who would have though that a very small brook, 2 blocks away from our house could turn our street into a raging river, leave 3 feet of water in our backyard, 8 feet of water in our basement, submerging the electric panel box and new furnace - meaning no electricity for us for 3-4 days, and turn our driveway into a river of mud?

Who would have thought the same storm could leave our entire village without water for an estimated 2-3 days, cause a host of Main Street businesses to shut down after sustaining 10s of thousands of $$$$ damages and inventory losses, and close bridges leaving our village virtually isolated?

And, who would have thought that acquaintances from New Jersey, upon hearing of our plight (via facebook?), would call first thing this AM and offer to let us use their cottage on Fern Lake - 8 miles out of town - until our house is functioning again?

Who would have thought?

Not me.

ku # 1025 ~ Photogene app for iPad

Lightning ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenOn the entry heaven and earth # 1, John Linn wrote: "You processed a RAW on an iPad? I have got to get one of those."

John - perhaps "processed" is not the right word inasmuch as when one connects a SD memory card to the iPad (with the card adapter), the iPad recognizes and displays all of the files on that card to include RAW files. You can then save a picture (or pictures) to an album on the iPad where they can be viewed (embiggened).

I have an app, Photogene, which can then be used to further process an image with Photoshop-type editing tools.. Photogene has a nice set of tools to include; sharpening, noise reduction, curves, white balance / tint, exposure, saturation, spot cloning, dodge/burn, masking overlays, histogram, rotate / straighten, crop, and enhancement tools (vignette / blur / frames / etc.).

While I am not about to do any critical or finished work on the iPad, Photogene does do a decent enough job of on-the-spot/go editing - especially so considering its $2.99USD price tag.

civilized ku # 1020 ~ an offer you can't refuse(?)

Mirror Lake ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
The next exhibit • click to embiggenLate last December, as I believe I mentioned here, my picturing desire for 2011 was to get my pictures out of my hard drive and onto walls, as in, exhibitions. To be honest, I never expected to be as successful in that endeavor as I have been.

Starting in the first week of January and continuing through late August, one of my bodies of work or another - presently 2 bodies of work simultaneously - has been, or will be, on gallery walls in one place or another. I am beginning to think a full year of continuous exhibitions should be my goal.

That said, the next exhibit, Twisted DNA ~ from father to son, should be a doozy.

After being invited to mount an exhibit of my work at the NCCCA Arts Center in Plattsburgh, NY, I suggested a father & son exhibit to the organization's executive director. She was interested and after checking out my son Aaron's Cinemascape work, she was all for it. So, it's on with the show.

All of that said, here's my offer to anyone willing to take me up on it - the exhibit should be rather stunning and very interesting, well worth making a trip to see it. Especially the night of the Artist Reception which will be held in conjunction with an on premise (outdoor) music (blues) and food event.

However, just to sweeten the pot, anyone who makes the trip - 10 miles, 1,000+ miles, whatever - will also have the opportunity to be a test subject (no charge) for my soon-to-be-launched Digital Printing Workshops. "Test subject" means you get a 1 or 2 days (your choice) of over-the-shoulder, hands-on, in-depth, digital printing instruction. No charge, no gimmicks, nothing to buy. Just show up and be amazed. Bring or create, on the spot, the RAW images of your choice.

In addition to the exhibit announcement included in this entry, I have, as an added inducement, also included a picture of one of zillions of scenic attractions which are found at every turn in the road / trail / river in this area. I would be happy to show you around or point you in the right direction, whichever you prefer.

This offer is good through until August 22nd (2011) - except the week of August 1-7.

FYI ~ the death of a friend of the Adirondacks (and the earth)

Anne LaBastille ~ AP PHOTO/Rob Fountain • click to embiggenEven though I never had the privilege (and, I'm sure, the pleasure) of meeting Anne LaBastille, it was with great sadness that I learned of her recent death. From a somewhat egocentric POV, I would loved to have shared my life without the APA book with her.

LaBastille's accomplishments were many, most, but not all, in the field of conservation and things ecological. Most, but again not all, of those accomplishments were (and continue to be) of great benefit to the Adirondack PARK. Her many books - like the so-called "Woodswoman" series, several of which are on our bookshelves - chronicling her life in a little hand-built cabin (no electricity, no phone, heated with a wood stove) in a wildness setting on 22 acres of old-growth forest, have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

As a result of her many national/international articles (published in National Geographic and a host of other publications) on the topic of conservation / ecology, her voice was heard round the world. So, it is refreshing to know that her death has been well noted with articles on her life in newspapers across the US of A.

A few excerpts:

LaBastille was a commissioner of New York's Adirondack Park Agency for 17 years, with an unpaid seat on its board from 1975 to 1993. The APA regulates land use in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park.

"We always knew she was going to vote for protection. No matter what the project was or the issue was, she would always come down on the side of protecting nature," said Beamish, who worked for the agency early in her tenure. "She was reviled for that by those who didn't believe in the APA or who didn't believe that the APA should be telling people what they can or can't do with their land. For them, she was seen as the worst of the APA. For a lot of people she was the best of it."

Bowes recalled that the cabin (ed: LaBastille's cabin), which had no road leading to it, was built too close to the lake, a land-use violation that prompted a neighbor to complain. He slid logs underneath it and inched it back in a rainstorm, while LaBastille worked away at her typewriter inside. - Washington (DC) Examiner

On August 7, 1992, during the debate over the findings of the Commission on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century, LaBastille's barns at her home in Wadhams were destroyed in a fire she believed was an act of arson by residents opposed to the APA (the Adirondack Council's offices were vandalized on several occasions around the same time).

"I'm a woman alone, so I'm a great target" she said at the time, "What's happening in the Adirondacks reminds me a lot of the death squad stuff in Central America [where the game warden she worked with was murdered]." Although she claimed at the time that she was doing so out of the demands of her career, she stopped regularly attending APA meetings and resigned the following year.

"Anne became a symbol to these people," former APA Director Bob Glennon (the man who captured arsonist Brian Gale in the act of torching an APA building in 1976) later remembered. "They'd point to her as a world conservationist and say she didn't represent the Adirondacks' point of view, meaning theirs." - Adirondack Almanac

And then there's this, which will endear her to me forever(wild):

LaBastille could also be outlandish and sometimes interrupted comment at APA meeting by saying. "It's a park, a park, a park." - Press Republican - Plattsburg, NY

IMO, you just gotta love (and miss) a woman like Anne.

FYI ~ the exhibit

Mission accomplished • click to embiggenThe wife and I drove to Blue Mountain Lake on Saturday in order to both see the exhibit and deliver a new and improved Artist Statement print - the original is visible on the right hand side of the above picture - which now includes a picture of the "no APA" house.

FYI, the exhibit opened on Friday but there was no opening reception so I have no idea how the work is being received. However, there will be a closing reception which will include a lecture by a representative of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Hopefully, that event will provide a good idea of the response created by the pictures.