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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..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

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Entries from April 1, 2010 - April 30, 2010

Friday
Apr302010

civilized ku # 480-82 ~ eye see nothing / closed

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Interstate exit chain store oasis ~ somewhere in Tennessee or Kentucky • click to embiggen
I've been putting off a final reckoning, re: my road trip from hell revelation / epiphany because, to be honest, I still haven't completely come to grips with the thing.

That said, I can't help feeling that there is a rather direct connection between the addiction to making / viewing pretty pictures and the eye-see-nothing aversion to seeing the real-world mess that constitutes so much of everyday life.

As noted previously, it is a if, as Plato suggested, we all live in caves with which we have become quite comfortable and which we believe to be the one and only true nature of things - or, at least the one and only true nature of things that we choose to accept. Consequently, when we leave the caves and encounter the light of day, we are blinded to a reality that we steadfastly refuse to see.

What I find depressing is that now that we can take our caves with us - that is, all of our portable media devices - there is no reason to even try to see what's in the light of day. Just keep your head in your cave-space and ignore all the rest. Unfortunately, the net result of living in a spoon-fed cave-space is the death of imagination, curiosity, and creativity.

And, doubly unfortunately, when imagination, curiosity, and creativity die - as they apparently have for the majority of the denizens of the good 'ole US of A - we end up with a lot stuff in the light of day that no one sees and no one wants to deal with.

And, in the process, so much of real value that is ignored or isn't seen is lost and disappears - only to be replaced with even more messy stuff that we ignore or refuse to see.

Friday
Apr302010

civilized ku # 478-79 ~ it wasn't all bad

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Bombs away golf ~ Cumberland County, Tennessee • click to embiggen
Road trip from hell aside, the golf in Tennessee was quite good. We played 6 courses in 5 days. The weather was excellent. I kicked ass and knocked my old balls around the old golf course.

My only complaint was that none of the courses, with the exception of 1 Jack Nicklaus Signature course, were designed for walking. The Jack Nicklaus (aka, the Golden Bear) course, Bear Trace at Cumberland Mt., is 1 of 5 Nicklaus designed Bear Trace courses in Tennessee - 4 of which are located in Tennessee State Parks.

Thursday
Apr292010

civilized ku # 477 ~ eye see nothing / closed

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POWERADE - $1.19 ~ somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee • click to embiggen
Plato said that when you finally emerge from the cave and have stopped staring at the shadows dancing on the cave's wall, you are blinded by the light of day.

Thursday
Apr292010

Drill baby drill

Hey, Sarah - how's that workin' out for ya, baby?

Thursday
Apr292010

civilized ku # 476 ~ product placement

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Hygeia - Personal Protection ~ somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee • click to embiggen
A fine example of southern early childhood sex education. Or, maybe there just wasn't enough room over the adult urinal.

Thursday
Apr292010

civilized ku # 475 ~ live and learn

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Quality Fuels ~ somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee • click to embiggen
It seems that there is, as expressed by Stephen, a bit of curiosity out there, re: my roll baby roll entry and ...

... how you came to be trapped with 3 such uncongenial traveling companions.

The trip was planned as a dual-purpose event - play a lot of golf and check out Cumberland County, Tennessee as a suitable retirement location for my brother, the now-retired US Postal employee. Over his years in the Postal Service, he had become the unofficial golf outing/trip organizer for a group of about 16-20 other postal employees. Together, they made many annual Spring golf pilgrimages up and down the Mid-Atlantic coast.

That said, my brother asked me to accompany him and 2 of his USPS golfing buddies - retirees all - on the trip. Sounded like a good idea - and golf-wise it certainly was - so I accepted the offer.

My mistake was to not go with my late-blossoming (during the week before the trip) instinct that, once we reached our destination in Tennessee, being without my own means of transportation would lead to a very limited range of things-to-do options beyond the golf courses. Like, as it actually turned out, when they sat glued to the TV for 2 afternoons and evenings watching the NFL draft - thank god that I had taken a couple books along for just such an eventuality.

It also occurred to me that my traveling companions might not be very inclined to listen to my kind of music / PBS radio, but I must confess that I did not consider the possibility that they wouldn't listen to anything, music/radio wise, nor that there would be an absolute keep-on-pressing-on mindset to the road trip.

In any event, the idea of 4 guys traveling over that 1,600 mile distance (round trip) in 2 cars really didn't make much sense for a number reasons, not the least of which was the fact the travel was premised on 4-way sharing of the cost of gas, tolls, etc.

So, I went with the flow and learned a valuable lesson - the next time I and 3 other guys are going on a road trip, it will be in a vehicle of my choice with my eyes on the road and my hands upon the wheel. That way, I can trap them in my version of what to them might be a road trip from hell.

Wednesday
Apr282010

relationships # 9 

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At The Italian Grille ~ Cumberland County, Tennessee • click to embiggen

Tuesday
Apr272010

civilized ku # 474 ~ roll baby roll

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Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel • click to embiggen
After a journey of 1,600 miles -Rochester, NY to Cumberland County, Tennessee and return - I now know no more about the countryside through which I traveled than I did before I left.

The reason for that rather astounding and somewhat depressing situation is the fact that for the entire 26 hours of travel time I was basically held prisoner in an interstate interred extended-cab pickup truck by 3 eye-see-nothing-and-eye-don't-want-to-see-anything traveling companions. And, to make matters even worse, they had no interest whatsoever in listening to music or anything else other than the not-so-melodious drone of the mechanical machine.

That said, it was this situation which led to my previously mentioned revelation / epiphany, re: the human condition, good ole US of A style. And that revelation / epiphany arrived in my head as a question -

how can supposedly sensate, sentient, and thinking beings be so utterly uninterested and uninvolved in their surroundings? How can they be so completely oblivious to the notions of curiosity, exploration, and the opportunity to learn / discover something new?

I mean, I could make a list a mile long of the places and things we passed through/by that would have made for some very interesting diversions from the tedium of a 13 hour interstate driving marathon. Let me mention just 3 - Ohio Amish country, Kentucky Bluegrass / Horse Breeding country, and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (distillery tours)- that could have been very interesting indeed. Amazingly, there was less than zero interest on the part of my traveling companions for such activities.

However, truth be told, they were little different, if at all, from the tens of thousands of other intrepid interstate interred traveler-drones who were following the same brain-dead itinerary as themselves - keeping their eyes on the road and their hands upon the wheel until the gas runs low and it's time to stop at one of the same-o same-o interstate chain store oasis and fill 'er up with stop-and-go gas and fast food and then roll baby roll.

I must confess that I don't know why this experience comes as a revelation / epiphany for me. Perhaps it is simply because throughout my life I have been so far removed from the actual reality of that culture (as opposed to the somewhat abstract awareness of "knowing" that it exists) that the act of experiencing the actual fact of it came as a complete shock to my sensibilities.

Stay tuned for more regarding how I believe that this brain/curiosity-dead eye-see-nothing culture impacts the art and craft of picture making and picture viewing.