NYC window, East Village • click to embiggenPreviously, I mentioned John Pfahl's Picture Windows book from his 1978-1981 series of the same name.

One of the big differences between his picture windows pictures and mine is the nearly total lack of interior detail in his pictures. I am fairly certain that his "choice" of this approach was in fact a "Hobson's Choice" - the technology of the day simply did not allow him to capture the full range of light presented by such a scene. Consequently, he composed tightly to the window itself and the interior walls provided a mostly featureless "frame" to the exterior view. This was an effective visual device that lent emphasis to the outside view.

My picture windows occupy much smaller portion of the picture than Pfahl's do. There are number of reasons why I chose to picture this way, but, I was afforded an actual choice because of today's digital darkroom technologies - all of my picture window pictures are a blend (manual, not HDR) of at least 2 different exposures of the same scene - 1 exposure for the exterior scene and 1 for the interior scene.

I have chosen to picture in this manner because I am most interested in exploring the relationships between the inside and outside worlds - a task that was difficult but not impossible in the good 'ole analog days. A task that is much easier to pursue in the digital era.

IMO, one of the blessings and banes of the digital darkroom is the seemingly endless possibilities of image editing that are available. It seems to me that there is quite a bit of doing it because I can stuff being done that creates little more than technical showmanship and/or excesses. But perhaps that is to be expected when kids are given a new toy to play with.

Ink, Inc. • click to embiggenAs I write this, Aaron and (his) the wife are on their way to NYC to attend the New York Photo Festival, the first international photo festival in the US and billed as The Future of Contemporary Photography.

Amongst the many activities and events scheduled during the 4 day festival is tonight's New York Photo Awards Ceremony. Aaron has the honor of being selected as a finalist in the Personal work / fine art series awards category.

Also of note, and not related to the NYPF, was a recent phone call from the Pittsburgh based Silver Eye Center for Photography. Earlier this year Aaron had been accepted into a juried group show at the Silver Eye. He subsequently donated one of his Cinemascapes, Steeltown to the SE benefit auction. The phone call from the SE was to thank him for paying their electric bill for the year. The photo fetched $3,000 at the auction.

For those of you not familiar with Aaron's Cinemascapes, or, if you want to check out his newer pieces, click here

N. Jersey kitchen window • click to embiggenI am thoroughly enjoying a bit of downtime. The big tourism marketing piece along with several others is done and so is the biggest pain in my ass, the bedroom renovation - 2 bedrooms turned into 1 with the walkin closet of her dreams for the wife.

bedroom renovation

Looks like I'll have a bit of time to recoup and rethink, photography-wise. Item #1 on the agenda is to create a picture-only site for my photography. The time has come to present my pictures in category galleries -

ku - landscapes of the natural world
man & nature ku - signs of humankind in the natural world
urban ku - cityscapes (big and small)
picture windows - views of the world outside
decay & disgust - decying things on my kitchen counter

Can anyone out there recommend any gallery software or a hosting service with gallery templates?

The press check from hell room • click to embiggenOn urban ku # 185, Mike asked, "In post 516 you mentioned photographing in the Amish Country — were you able to do that?"

Answer; "No." Thanks to a number of issues at the printer which were exacerbated by a printer's rep who was a total idiot when it came to estimating when I should be on hand to check a press sheet and, just to make matters infinitely worse, how long I would need to be on hand while they fixed various press snafus and assorted other issues. The net result was that I ended up spending most of my time at the printer with some 4 hour food-and-sleep breaks thrown in. This went on 'round the clock for almost 48 hours straight.

When it finally wrapped up at 3:45 AM on Thursday morning, I slept for 8 hours, then ate breakfast and headed home - a 7 hour drive. I just did not have the energy to take a detour and make pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't even have time to hook up with a Landscapist reader who did answer my open request to get together and have a beer. By the time I could get together, he was too busy. Oh well, maybe next time.

FYI, on Wednesday, May 14, PBS is airing (nationally) the 2 hour program, The Adirondacks. The program is organized by the four seasons and features 4 ....

.... passionate characters, each with a unique perspective on the region .... a craftsman restoring one of the legendary Great Camps, rustic retreats for the super rich of a bygone era; an Olympic hopeful training in Lake Placid, home to two historic Winter Games; a young visitor climbing his first Adirondack High Peak; and North Country Public Radio reporter Brian Mann's story on proposed development in Tupper Lake ... "

THE ADIRONDACKS conveys why living within these protected lands makes for an extraordinary human existence. For many people, questions about the relationship between man and nature are largely theoretical; Adirondackers, however, confront these issues in their everyday lives as loggers, conservationists, innkeepers, artists or athletes. As viewers get to know these engaging characters, they may contemplate their relationship with the natural world in a different light.

I would highly recommend this program for those of you who have a PBS affiliate that airs THE ADIRONDACKS. It sounds as though it will provide a good look at where and how I live my life.

picture window, NYC - click to clickOne thing I am getting in the can on my trip is plenty of picture windows and I am really starting to warm up to this series/project.

The one opportunity that I have on this trip that I don't as much at home is that of picturing business / commercial windows - hotels, printing plants, etc. As I work along, the possibilities start to seem endless.

In any event, today's picture window picture is of the view that you get from a $1.3 million dollar NYC apartment kitchen window - a featureless concrete wall with a thermomator. Ahhh, life in the big city.

East Village cemetary oblisk, NYC - click to embiggenOn my way to Amish county, I spent Monday and Monday night with my friend Robert in NYC.

Before we hooked up I spent a considerable amount of time walking the streets of NYC looking for a Verizon store in order to replace my cell phone which had disintegrated that morning. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the time but it was a gloriuos NYC day and no matter how many times you walk the streets of NYC, there is always something new to see.

After a very frustrating day at the press check, I am hoping to get out into Amish country tomorrow and poke around.

Bathroom window • click to embiggenHey all, let's get serious about the picture window thing. The POD book thing seems to have fizzled, at least to my knowledge. So, maybe a smaller undertaking will be a bit easier to accomplish.

Two statements, each offering very opposing POVs about photography, have recently come to my attention.

The first is from an article in the NY Times, Sepia No More, that is receiving a bit of photo-blog attention. In the article, the author, Virginia Heffernan, tries to describe and come to grips with the Flickr phenomenon. She believes that there is a Flickr "style" that has emerged - pictures that "are digital images that “pop” with the signature tulip colors of Canon digital cameras ... (photos with) still more levels of processing — including the otherworldly contrasts achieved with high-dynamic-range photography ... becoming only more eye-popping and stylized." Pictures that are made specifically for online presentation - eye-catching at thumbnail size and easily "read" at typical online sizes (500-1000 pixels).

I thought this might be of interest to you because of a few comments made recently about making pictures with the specific intent of online presentation and "acceptance". But, the statement(s) that me most from the article were the comments by a Flickr "star" (profiled by Heffernan) who has;

...written a treatise extolling digital manipulation called “I’m Not a Photographer,” deriding mainstream art photographers who “show you shoes hanging on wires, pink boxes in the green weeds, little black girls with blue eyes and nuns sitting under billboards of naked men.” On his Flickr profile, he calls the classic film camera “The Robot Camera Machine” and proposes digital processing as the antidote to film’s inhumanity.

My only response to that is simply that it is spoken just as I would expect a child of the age of hyper sensationalized media saturation to speak. With the ubiquitous and dominate form of visual stimulation coming from the masters of manipulation - the advertising "experts" with films, television and the web running a close second, it is no surprise to me that someone who swims in that water or breathes that air thinks that a manipulated world is the norm. It seems that the "real" world is more than just a bit bogus to them.

Contrast that attitude with these 2 statement from of Walker Evans;

Photography is the capture and projection of the delights of seeing; it is the defining of observation full and felt.

Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.

By presenting these distinctly differing opinions about the medium, I am not trying to propose that one idea is right and the other idea is wrong. Evans' notions have stood the test of time and much great photography that adheres to his ideas has been created both prior to and after his statement.

Those of the Flickr "star" have yet to tested by time and only time will tell whether the pictures created to the flickr standard have anything meaningful and lasting to say or that they are just a passing thrill-a-minute kind of thing.