man & nature # 16 ~ how deep can you go?

End of a rainy day • clikck to embiggen"There is a difference between looking at photographs--which has become a common cultural practice in connection with reading newspapers--or seeing the image. The latter refers to reconstructing the photograph by exploring the deep structure of the image--which involves the application of practical knowledge and creative insights and relies on the cultural or historical consciousness of the reader. Looking is the visual routine of readers, seeing is the visual practice of the literate."~ Hanno Hardt

Hmmmm ... "the literate".

What's in it for you? Are you into "exploring the deep structure of the image"? Do you understand your own "cultural or historical consciousness"? Can you even have a "creative insight" regarding a photograph without being aware of and understanding them?

And, other than yourself, who are you making pictures for? The literate or the looker?

Just a few questions that have come to mind. Any answers?

man & nature # 19 ~ reading a photograph

Meacham Lake beach • click to embiggenGetting back to things photographic as opposed to social commentary rants and bloggeritis, I thought that this statement from Joel Meyerowitz was interesting and informative:

I find it strangely beautiful that the camera with its inherent clarity of object and detail can produce images that in spite of themselves offer possibilities to be more than they are ... a photograph of nothing very important at all, nothing but an intuition, a response, a twitch from the photographer’s experience.

This picture of Meacham Lake beach, part of Meacham Lake State Park, is a "photograph of nothing very important" - a lifeguard on his perch, a sandy beach, a single boat, a few bathers, the sky, and receding mountains is at first glance not that unusual or unique. You've probably seen something like it before. These elements are essentially Barthes' studium - about which he states:

The studium is a "kind of education (civility, politeness) that allows discovery of the operator." It is the order of liking, not loving. News photographs are often simple banal, unary photos which exemplify studium because "I glance through them, I don't recall them; no detail ever interrupts my reading: I am interested in them (as I am interested in the world), I do not love them."

Yet, "in spite of itself offer possibilities to be more than it is". Therein is the potential for Barthes' punctum - "that accident which pricks, bruises me ... These are the photos which take our breath away for some reason that was completely unintended by the photographer"

Regarding punctum, Barthes also states that:

Sometimes, the punctum reveals itself after the fact, as a function of memory ... It is a testament to the pensiveness of a photograph ... This pensiveness is the strength of a photograph. The pensiveness is, again, a political element of photography. While most photographs offer only the identity of an object, those that project a punctum potentially offer the truth of the subject. They offer "the impossible science of the unique being."

True to Barthes notion of "completely unintended by the photographer", the punctum of the Meacham Lake beach picture, which I "discovered" after the fact was not in my mind as I made this picture - I was merely practicing the art of not thinking without falling asleep. I was picturing, as Meyerowitz suggests, with only "an intuition, a response, a twitch from the photographer’s (my) experience", aka, my state of ku.

The after-the-fact punctum which pricked me was the realization - after viewing the picture for an extended length of time - that I had pictured a "truth of the subject". That truth of the subject is simply this - the Adirondack region, outside of a few villages, is a vast empty place. A place that is tread upon very lightly by the hand of man because, by deliberate decisions and political actions, it is protected by the NY State Constitution as "forever wild".

Take note of the distant forested shoreline - public land - that is devoid of human development. Notice the absence of motorized watercraft, and by association, the quiet that pervades the scene. By connotation, compare that to more "civilized" waterfront vacation locations at the height of the summer season. And, guess, what - no cell phone coverage either. Almost unbelievably, all of this "impossible science" of "unique being" is within a few hours drive of the enormous population of the megalopolis of NE US of A.

Perhaps this punctum pricks only me because I know the "story". Perhaps to most it is just a picture of nothing very important. But that particular punctum causes me to think that this picture just might be the best picture I have ever made that captures a unique sense of place of the place in which I live.

A sense of place that depicts why I love it so deep in my bones.

man & nature # 18 ~ I'm back

A speckled beauty • click to embiggenTo be honest, I haven't returned with a belly full of fish. However, I do have a smallish boat load of pictures.

I'll be back in the full-time saddle on Monday, because today is a day of rest, recuperation and, oh yeah, my birthday. So, I'll be doing some other stuff today.

FYI, I'm not getting older, I'm just getting better.

man & nature # 17 ~ gone fishin'

Fishing the Au Sable • click to embiggenAs the saying goes, no guts, no glory.

No one has stepped up to the plate to guest host The Landscapist for this week so you'll just have the archives to peruse for the time being. I'll be back next Saturday with a boat load of pictures and, hopefully, a belly full of fish.

See ya then.

man & nature # 16 ~ empty yet aware

After the rain • click to embiggenMost who know my thoughts and notions regarding the photo activity know as critiquing know that I think, as do many others, that the single most inane and somewhat insulting comment one can make regarding a picture is the nevertheless ubiquitous "I would have ...." remark. Simply put, as an artist, I could give a damn what anyone would have done given the same referent.

Think about it. It's my picture, one that reflects my vision which is derived from how I see the world and how I feel about what I see. It is my expression of my notions of how my pictures should look and feel. My vision springs from who I am. Why the hell would I care, even in the slightest, how you would have done it?

The only thing I care about relative to others and my pictures is what others feel and think about what I am saying with my pictures - do my pictures communicate with others? As Garry Winogrand stated:

For me the true business of photography is to capture a bit of reality (whatever that is) on film ... if, later, the reality means something to someone else, so much the better.

And, inversely, when I view photographs made by others, I just look at them for what they are, not what they might be. Someone else has seen something and, by picturing it, brings it to my attention. It's entirely up to me to relate to that fact - the fact that is a specific photograph.

When dealing with the fact that is a photograph, I am much more interested in what it (and the photographer) might have to say than how it was made. It never occurs to me to think what I might have done with the same referent. For the most part that is simply because it's not in my nature to do so when viewing art but, on another level, I know that to do so would only interfere with or set up barriers to listening to what a photograph / photographer is trying to say.

Which is to say that I view pictures in the same manner with which I make pictures - with an "empty", yet aware, eye and mind, aka, a state of ku.

IMO, the best thing to keep in mind when viewing pictures are the words of John Loengard:

There are two kinds of photographs: mine and other people's. I never think of what I might do myself when I look at someone else's pictures...

Update on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 11:44AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: the Cinemascapist, aka, Aaron Hobson wrote:

a little ditty from Jonathan Swift (1693)

Haply you judge these lines severely writ
Against the proud usurpers of the pit;
Stay while I tell my story, short, and true;
To draw conclusions shall be left to you;

my response: exactly so.

man & nature # 15 ~ liquid sky

Driving rain drive • click to embiggenI'm not one to say, Chicken Little-like, that the sky is falling - even though, environmentally speaking, I do firmly believe that quite a number of chickens are coming home to roost. Chickens that, even though we gave birth to and fostered them, are very much unwelcome and very annoying guests. I also firmly believe that the only question that remains to be answered is whether they eat us or we eat them.

That said, I must say that for the second year running, the month of June is turning out to be wet, wet, wet. Not mid-western US of A destructive wet, but a lot of rain nevertheless. And just to make it interesting, the rain storms are uncommonly violent and severe - very sort lived and nasty, albeit 3 or 4 storms a day. High winds, hail, and sheets of water that turn our front sidewalk and driveway into a fast running 4-5 inch deep stream are the general order of the day.

Global warming / climate change predictions have opined that such is to be expected, much more the rule than the exception it used to be. And, so, in fact, it seems to be.

But, actually, here's the point of today's entry (just to let you know where I stand on the issue) -

I am sick and tired of hearing / reading the "it's just the earth's natural cycle of warming and cooling" rationale for what is going on. Simply put, sure the planet has had a number warming / cooling cycles which were, indeed, natural but anyone who thinks that spewing a zillion tons a day of manmade climate-change pollutants into the earth's atmosphere is an act of "nature" needs a huge reality check. And maybe even a sharp slap upside the head with a sledge hammer as well.

That bullshit rational for continuing to live an ego-centric and eco-destroying "lifestyle" is ... well ... bullshit. It ranks right up there with naming trees as a significant source of air pollution. Yep, sure. And ketchup is also a vegetable. Kiss my mercury-tainted ass, morons.

Lest anyone think that any of the preceding is venting about a pet peeve, let me quote the now departed George Carlin;

“I don’t have pet peeves, I have major, psychotic hatreds.”

man & nature # 14a ~ what I saw last evening

A truly weird vision • click to embiggenTo be more accurate, the entry title should read - what I saw last evening but was unable to picture.

But ..... in fact, this representation is almost exactly what I saw. It couldn't be any more true if I had actually pictured it. The reality of it seemed quite unreal. Strange. Surreal. Other-worldly.

And, credit where credit due - my thanks to the wife. If I had not gone to the kitchen, where I was greeted by this spectacle from the kitchen window, to answer her phone call, I would have never witnessed a thing. Weirdly enough, as I said "hello" and my mind was boggling at the sight before me, the wife said, "I'm driving home and looking at the most intense rainbow I have ever seen." To which, after I immediately adopted my of course I'm an ever-vigilant and prepared photographer guy persona, I coolly and calmly replied, "Yep. I see it too."

After which I scrambled my ass off getting gear and making it to the 2nd floor porch.

man & nature # 14 ~ what a ride

After the storm • click to embiggenOver the past few days I have used the phrase "hot and humid" in a couple entry titles because, well, it's been very hot and humid - part of the stifling heat wave that has enveloped the east coast of the US of A.

Well, it all came to a screeching, crashing, thunderous halt yesterday - literally. A cold front entered the region around noon bringing severe thunderstorms with nearly continuous lightning, torrential downpours, golf ball sized hail, and 80 mph winds. The front came in 2 -3 waves, lasting until around 8PM last evening. Downed trees and electric wires, power and communication outages all over the place - many still continuing this AM.

After it was all over and I was enjoying a very refreshingly cool breeze in the gloaming, nature reared its head with a dazzling display of light and color. So, at precisely 8:33:16 PM & 8:36:46 PM (EXIF data), I pictured these two scenes.

My only disappointment was the fact that I was not able to capture the occasional streak lightning that was going on as a backdrop to the rainbow (right between the rainbow arch) - something I had never seen before.

FYI, the color in these pictures is straight from the camera (via RAW) and very accurate, although, I do admit to moving the H&S slider 10 points to the desaturate end of things.