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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

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Entries in urban flora (4)

Monday
Dec072015

urban flora # 19 / diptych # 195 ~ chaotic messes

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urban(ish) flora ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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meter mess ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

As evidenced by the picture - made in the small village of Keeseville, NY - of the unfettered growth of urban chaotic scrub in this entry, it should be obvious that kind of scrub growth is not limited to big urban areas. In fact, it would be far more accurate to write that urban scrub growth is quite common to areas marked by depressed economic circumstance or as a result thereof. Keeseville most definitely fits that description.

Perhaps my working title, urban flora, for this body of work needs to be amended to include some notion of blight.

On a different but similar topic of blight, Pittsburgh is also a prime example, but not the only example, of what might be labeled electric blight. That is, the rat's nest of wires, meters and other electronic apparatus which is placed willy-nilly on the facade of homes and businesses without even a passing regard to order or unsightliness. And, once again, this phenomenon is most common in areas of the same depressed economic circumstances as urban blight, flora style.

While it is certainly possible to create objects of beauty - pictures, in and of themselves - by organizing lines, shapes, colors and the like within the frame of a picture, to the naked eye they most often are little more than an eye-sore.
Wednesday
Dec022015

civilized ku # 3013 / diptych # 194 / squares² # 12 ~ "terrible crap"

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urban flora ~Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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urban flora ~Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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urban flora ~Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

I few entries back I wrote about my reading of a-person-not-a-dective-but-functioning-as-one novel and the protagonist's view on the affected art world (aka: the academic lunatic fringe). As I continue reading through the series of books featuring the same protagonist*, I have encountered a number of other of the protagonist's pronouncements on the subject of art, including this exchange with an artist ....

When asked, after making an insightful comment on a woman's painting, if he is a "Member of the club" ....

"Hell, woman, I even know the trick words that mean absolutely nothing. Like dynamic symmetry."

"Tonal integrity?" (she responded)

"Sure. Structural perceptions. Compositionally iconoclastic."

She laughed aloud ... "It's such terrible crap, isn't it? The language of gallery people and critics, and insecure painters ...."

After this exchange the artist asked the protagonist what "his words" on the subject of good art might be. His response ....

"Does a painting always look the same or will it change according to the light and how I happen to feel? And after it has been hung for a month, will it disappear so completely that the only time I might notice it would be if it fell off the wall?"

That exchange comes very close to my feelings and thoughts as applied to art in general and photography in particular.

While the surface of a photographic print doesn't change with the light that falls upon it (although the perception of color may) as can the textured surface of a painting, a good photograph (like any good art) has the ability to re-engage a viewer, over time and with repeated viewing, with different perceptions - the prick of one's eye and sensibilities - of a picture based upon the different feelings and emotions the viewer brings to the viewing thereof over time.

IMO, all art is personal - as made by the maker and as seen by the viewer - and breaking down its individual components via the discussion of "terrible crap", iMo, sucks the life out of a piece of art.

Think of it this way .... I've seen some visually amazing and engaging pieces of Lego constructions. Some on a massive scale and complexity. While I wouldn't label them exactly as Fine Art - although some might - nevertheless, they are the result of some individual's very creative thought and execution.

Be that as it may, their artistic genius is in the sum of their parts - quite literally, thousands of parts. The genius is not to be found in the parts themselves. Looking at the individual parts does little to enhance the viewing experience. In fact, by directing one's attention to the individual parts (dissecting it), one stands a good chance of missing the "Big Picture".

iMo, the "Big Picture" is all about how a picture pricks the eye and sensibilities of a viewer well beyond the initial viewing. The whys (often quite arcane / tedious) and the hows (often quite speculative) of it - things so precious the academic lunatic fringe and their cohorts - are, for the most parts, sidebars which, as afterthoughts, may provide the viewer with some understanding of how the how and why of a picture may affect one's feelings about and perceptions of that picture.

However, I never read or think about the hows and the whys until well after a picture or body of work has pricked my eye and sensibilities. Because, iMo, it's all about the picture, in and of itself.

*Travis McGee, the fictional character featured in 21 crime fiction books written - 1964-1980 - by John D. MacDonald. Travis McGee, the character and the novels, have the prototype for many fictional crime fighting characters. On that subject it is worth noting that, with the rerelease of his novels, all of the books have an introduction by Lee Child (nom de plume of Jim Grant), the creator of the character Jack Reacher, a-person-not-a-dective-but-functioning-as-one, and that series of books (20 and counting).
Monday
Nov302015

civilized ku # 3011 / squares² # 11 ~ urban flora continued

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Urban flora ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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Urban flora ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

As mentioned in my final Pittsburgh entry, I was heading out with my eye and sensibilities attuned to urban flora. So I did and within a 1 hour walk around the Lawrenceville neighborhood - law school girl lives there - I had pictured enough urban flora to start a pretty nice body of work. During my walk I made 18 pictures which, together with the 6 I made the previous day, gives me a solid start on an urban flora body of work.

While my intention was to start a Pittsburgh based urban flora project, I won't be back in Pittsburgh until next June (law school girl's graduation). Consequently, I am encouraged to continue my urban flora picture making quest whenever I find myself in an urban area or any place where I might find unfettered growth of chaotic scrub.

I am also quite certain that, if I take the time to peruse my picture library, there will be a fair number of preexisting urban flora pictures to add to the collection. Some of those will most likely have been made during past trips to Pittsburgh because, apparently, when in Pittsburgh, I can't avoid seeing and picturing urban flora.
Friday
Nov272015

civilized ku # 3010 / triptych #24-25 ~ urban flora

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Red patio set ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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urban flora ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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urban flora ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

If I were in Pittsburgh for an extended length of time (7+ days without any pressing social commitments), now or in the future, I believe that the picturing project I primarily engage with would be that of urban flora. The reason is simple - most of the neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh are rife with the unfettered growth of chaotic scrub, most notably, but certainly not limited to kudzu.

The reason's for this phenomenon are many but chief amongst them are the hilly topography of the city with many steep uninhabitable ravines and hillsides and the spread of urban decay which accompanied the collapse of the steel industry and the subsequent loss of population - between 1970-1990 the city lost over 30% of its population.

In any event, I'm heading out to see what I can see with my eye and sensibilities attuned to urban flora.