ku # 1333 / triptych # 25 / 4-frame ku # 1334-36 ~ picture making luck

approaching snow squall ~ Wadhams, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
distant snow squall / 3 views ~ Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
sequential views ~ Au Sable River / near Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

This weekend past, we were treated to (depending on your POV) the winter to come in the form of quite a number of short inconsequential snow squalls. And on a personal note, I engaged in a first wright of winter passage inasmuch as I donned my long underwear for an outdoor event (and glad I did - see above approaching snow squall picture).

IMO, picture making wise, the change of seasons can offer splendid picture making opportunities. Very often there are very fleeting windows of inter-mingled seasonal weather which truly prick my eye and sensibilities. These picture making opportunities are also a vivid example of the adage f8 and be there inasmuch as, picture making wise, you snooze, you loose.

Or, to paraphrase Louis Pasteur, "In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind picture maker." Which is one reason why I always go about with 3 cameras each with a different focal length prime lenses.

triptych # 24 (kitchen life / civilized ku / ku) ~ what is beauty (in photography)

the gruel radiance of what is ~ various locations • click to embiggen

My apologies to Robert Adams for co-opting the title of his book, Beauty in Photography (link is to a review of the book), which is a collection of Adams' essays on picture making. A book which, IMO, should be a mandatory read for anyone with a camera who aspires to making pictures which are more than snapshots.

Over the years, I have read and re-read the book, in whole or part, a number of times. As my picture making worked has matured, along with my understanding of it (and the why of it), the essays in the book most often reveal, not unlike good pictures, new understandings with the re-visiting of them.

As the title of the book implies, Adams has wrestled with the notion of beauty and as my picturing making moved from primarily commercial work to that of personal / fine art work, I too struggled with the word and the notion of beauty. However, one thing I knew from the start was that I had no interest in making pictures which conformed to the bourgeoisie idea of beauty or, as I labeled them, pretty pictures. Adams' take on the idea was/is spot on with mine:

Beauty seemed to me then an obsolete word .... what had the term to do with the realities of the this century?

Now to be certain, I came across Adams' words long after I decided that I was drawn to and wanted to make pictures of the "realities" of my 7/10 of a century which pricked my eye and sensibilities or, as James Agee stated, "the cruel radiance of what is". Or, as I wrote over 8 years ago at the start of this blog, photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful.

Adams wrote that photography, more than any other art, is tied to (the) use of specifics or, as I have written (many times over the years) that the single characteristic of the medium of photography which distinguishes from the other visual arts is its inexorable and intrinsic attribute as a cohort of the real. So, that being the case, the driving force (preternatural?) of my desire to make pictures has been to plumb the depths of any and all of specifics of the world without regard to their adherence to commonly perceived status of conventional beauty.

All of that written, as I have continued on my picture making path and despite my initial aversion to the word beauty, I have learned, as Adams wrote:

... the word beauty is in practice unavoidable. Its very centrality accounts, in fact, for my decision to make photographs.

ku # 1316 / diptych # 162 / triptych # 22 (ku # 1317-19) ~ the unbearable lightness of light

stand of trees ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
libations / tree fungus w pine cones ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
it's never quite the same ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

I suspect that people who, in their daily routine, normally would not pay too much attention to light would find it nearly impossible to ignore "the light" at a place like Rist Camp.

I have often written that, in my picture making, I rarely "chase the light". That more often than not, I only make pictures which feature "the light" when it chases me. Which does not mean that I don't appreciate "the light" when I see it. However, I will not always make a picture featuring "the light" when I see it. To the contrary, I often deliberately avoid making a picture of "the light" because I have absolutely no interest in making yet another cliché picture of it.

Re: "the light", George Eastman, the man who put a camera in the hand of any everyday person who wanted one and made picture making easy (you push the button, we do the rest) said:

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

With that statement, it could be reasonably postulated that Eastman was advocating "chasing the light". On the other hand, no one knew more about the "mechanics" of light striking a light-sensitive surface than Eastman and his legion of research and development cadre. For him and them, knowing about light was their key to photography.

In any event, at Rist Camp "the light" is chasing me minute to minute, or so it seems.

FYI, George Eastman also said:

The world is moving, and a company that contents itself with present accomplishments soon falls behind.

George must be spinning like a top high-speed drill press in his grave.

triptych # 21 / pano / ku # 1307 / civilized ku # 2950 ~ the end is nigh

RGB swimming ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Kelleher family migration to beach for clan picture ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
dune top ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
poolside moment ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

It was Woody Allen who said (in the movie, Sleeper):

"I'm what you would call a teleological, existential atheist. I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey."

I have no doubt that I'm in one of those "certain parts of New Jersey" of which Allen was speaking. That's why I am so grateful that, in 12 hours, I'm outa here and on my way back to civilization where I'm fairly certain there will be at least a minimal amount of intelligence.

civilized ku # 2948 / tourist picture / triptych # 20 / ku # 1305 ~ there, back again and in between

fire hydrant in the middle of nowhere ~ Plattsbugh, NY • click to embiggen
lawyer-in-training / lawyer ~ Plattsbugh, NY • click to embiggen
wild mushroom risotto, sirloin tips, duck wings / Latitude 44 Bistro ~ Plattsbugh, NY • click to embiggen
Lake Champlain ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Met the wife and the daughter for dinner yesterday evening.

On the way there, I stopped to make a picture - hydrant in the middle of nowhere - with the new 25mm f1.8 lens. Once there, in between the coming and the going, I made a picture of the wife and the daughter with the same lens. Purchased the lens for its shallow DOF possibilities. The remaining 3 in between pictures were made with my "normal" 20mm f1.7 lens. As was the back again moonscape on Lake Champlain picture.

All in all, a great evening ... great company, great dinner - the apple cider glazed duck wings with crumbled blue cheese was especially good, and great picture making opportunities.

tourist picture / panoramic / ku # 1299-1300 ~ a birthday "kill"

Hugo + 1 of his largemouth bass ~ Hitchins Pond - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
swimming ~ Hitchins Pond - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fallen tree ~ Hitchins Pond - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
attack helicopters / Bog River Flow - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Just returned from a multi-day backcountry / wilderness canoeing sojourn. The trip was arranged by the wife as a fun-time birthday (mine) gathering and, not surprisingly, everyone had fun. It was a wonderful birthday gift.

On the trip there 2 surprises. The first, on the evening of our first day, was the collapse onto our wilderness campsite of a very large tree. A tree which had been snapping and groaning since our arrival and I deduced it was only a matter of time before the tree came crashing down. And, after moving tents and canoes out of the project landing zone, the tree did come crashing to the ground. Fortunately, no harm, no foul.

Surprise number 2 happened on our paddle out. As we entered into the start of a wide turn in the flow, 2 military attack helicopters came swooping around the bend / trees below treetop level. We heard them coming before their overhead pass so I was able to get a camera out of my camera dry bag and make a few pictures despite their very fast speed. And I do mean fast.

The noise of the birds (military speak) was very very loud and, as they descended even lower over our canoes, the pilot in the lead machine waved to us out of the open door of this helicopter as he was executing a hard-banked turn onto / over Higgins Pond. I am certain that he had "killed" us, simulation wise, before he wished us well.

Inasmuch as I am not a the-government-is-coming-to-take-us-away conspiracy nut job, I enjoyed the encounter and was left wondering how the wife had arranged the flyover.

triptich # 19 / ku #1294 ~ staring contest

cattle ~ Conroy's Organics / Beekmantown, NY • click to embiggen
cattle staring contestants ~ Conroy's Organics / Beekmantown, NY • click to embiggenThis past weekend, the wife, my friend Robert, and I went to Beekmantown to tour a new passive solar house (it's visible in the lefthand triptych picture). Conroy's Organics was nearby so we stopped in for a little refreshment and I ended up engaged in staring contest with a herd of Scottish Highland cattle.

Inasmuch as the cattle were showing an inclination to stare at me until the cows came home, the cattle won.

civilized ku # 2806 / diptych # 92 / triptych # 18 ~ into the chasm

Bailey / Hugo ~ Au Sable Chasm, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
start / finish ~ Au Sable Chasm, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
in the chasm ~ Au Sable Chasm, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt's a little early for Indian Summer - sunny, clear, and warm (70˚F+) - but yesterday's weather sure seemed like it, making it a perfect day for a visit to Au Sable Chasm.

Au Sable Chasm is just 10 miles down the road from Au Sable Forks. The chasm has been a tourist attraction since it opened for business - it is privately owned - in 1870, which makes the place one of the earliest and oldest tourist attractions in the US. The chasm canyon - it's a canyon, not a gorge - itself is approximately 2 miles long and up to 150ft deep.

The Au Sable River flows through the chasm - the chasm begins at Rainbow Falls - and in some places, as it winds its way through the canyon, the river is 60ft deep. At times the water flow is heavy and swift (after rains) and at other times rather gentle and placid. In either case, there is a set of rapids located in the lower third of the river, all of which can be traversed by rubber raft or, if you are especially adventurous, in an inner tube.

In any event, Hugo and his friend Bailey, who had a day off from school, thought the chasm was "really awesome". They especially enjoyed exploring along the lower canyon walls looking in nooks and crannies for fossils and other things (in particular, centipedes). The featured find, in their opinions, was a grotto filled with cairns.

Needless to write, a good time was had by all.