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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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BODIES OF WORK ~ PICTURE GALLERIES

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    ADK PLACES TO SIT / LIFE WITHOUT THE APA / RAIN / THE FORKS / EARLY WORK / TANGLES

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In Situ ~ la, la, how the life goes onLife without the APADoorsKitchen SinkRain2014 • Year in ReviewPlace To SitART ~ conveys / transports / reflectsDecay & DisgustSingle WomenPicture WindowsTangles ~ fields of visual energy (10 picture preview) • The Light + BW mini-galleryKitchen Life (gallery) • The Forks ~ there's no place like home (gallery)


Entries from August 1, 2009 - August 31, 2009

Monday
Aug312009

man & nature # 224-226 ~ just doing it

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A Hike up Owls Headclick to embiggen
College girl, aka - coma girl, was hoping to see Hugo one last time before she returned to college on Saturday. As luck/coincidence would have it, I received a phone call at 9AM Friday from Hugo's dad (The Cinemascapist) that he had missed a notice that Hugo' pre-school would be closed that day - would I pick up Hugo from his mom's workplace around noon? That was a spot of good luck for college girl.

Hugo's mom works at The North Country School which is conveniently located (for our purposes) just down the road from Owls Head. I had been promising Hugo a hike to the top of Owls Head for the past 2 years, college girl had a planned hike for Friday that did not happen, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do to satisfy a number of wishes and promises.

So we did it.

Friday
Aug282009

man & nature # 223 ~ dazed & confused?

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Bill's Bait & Beer Shop ~ Brainardsville, NYclick to embiggen
Over the pst year or so, it has become increasingly apparent to me that a fair number of amateur photography "enthusiasts" tend to run into a wall of sorts when it comes to making better-than-average prints of their pictures. That wall is almost always the one associated with the learning curve involved in coming to grips with Photoshop.

And one of the hurdles involved coming to grips with PS has nothing at all to do with PS or even picture making per se - it's a simple matter of computer literacy. On a very regular basis, I am continually amazed at how many intelligent people I know sort of freeze up when they sit down in front of a keyboard and a computer. Add to that the dizzying idea of keeping up with the computer Jones - constant software, operating system, and even hardware upgrades - and the whole thing just seems intimidating and unnerving.

So, I'm curious - how many of you feel that you making or even capable of making better-than-average prints? Does PS seem like some sort of alien species language? Do ideas of screen calibration, ICC profiles, and the like seem overwhelming?

Friday
Aug282009

man & nature # 222 ~ the beat goes on

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I really dislike golf cartsclick to embiggen
The wife and I continued on our winning ways yesterday with another golf event victory. It's almost getting to be boring.

I attribute our success to my relentless pursuit of golfing purity. For example, at yesterday's event in which there was a field of 170 participants, I was the only golfer who walked the course (propelling my golf push-cart in front of me the whole way). Imagine that, walking a golf course. Other than the fact that I consider walking a golf course 3-4 times a week a great form of exercise - a typical course is a 4.5 mile walk, walking allows me to stay "loose" and actually concentrate on the game.

Staying loose and concentrating on the course / game makes a big difference for me. On a typical course, my handicap is an 8, which means that on a par 72 course I would be expected (on a good day) to card an 80. However, even though I've never actually figured it out, when I play golf out of a golf cart, I almost always can plan on adding an additional 6-7 strokes to my score. That's why I only use a golf cart on new upscale "resort" courses, so many of which are not walking friendly.

It's a sad fact of modern golf life that, when I say want to walk the course (or when I pull up to the bag drop and take my push cart out of the car), they look at me like I have lobsters coming out of my ears.

Thursday
Aug272009

man & nature # 221 ~ the dream endures

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Johns Brook ~ Keene, NYclick to embiggen
Whatever anyone might think about the Kennedys, there can be no disputing the fact that the family's story has played out like the greatest greek tragedy ever written. Rare, indeed, are families that have given more in the service of their country.

I am deeply saddened by the latest of those tragedies - the untimely loss of the voice of the Lion of the Senate. Amongst the many cruel twists of fate that Ted Kennedy had to endure, to be forced to sidelines as a spectator by a terminal condition during the national debate on healthcare - the cause of his life - is both cruelly ironic and ultimately tragic.

His voice as advocate for a wide range of causes, not to mention his ability to reach across the aisle to find and built common ground consensus, are exactly what the nation needs at his time. No one in government was (or is) better at articulating and illuminating a cause or a subject - not even the great speechifier, Barrack Obama - than Ted Kennedy.

On this sad occasion, 2 Irish blessings come to mind:

Teddy boy, may the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

And, may those who love you, love you; and those who don't love you, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping.

He will be missed.

Wednesday
Aug262009

ku # 622 ~ creative thinking, pt. II

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Johns Brook ~ Keene, NYclick to embiggen
In response to yesterday's APA topic, Stephen Connor commented:

.... there's a fairly large flaw in your plan for housing-specific expansion into protected land. Where does it stop? The "small expansion" of today will result (maybe) in a small drop in housing prices. As soon as that land's been sold off, prices will begin to rise again.

In most places in this here US of A, a "small expansion" often does turn into runaway sprawl. Not so, in the Adirondack Park of New York State. Setting aside the idea that a small expansion into public land in the Park is even possible, "protected land" within the blueline is protected by a 1894 amendment to the NYS Constitution. In article XIV it states:

The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands ... They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.

The beauty of this protection is that any attempt to change or amend this constitutional amendment is a long and difficult process. Unlike those states which allow constitutional amendments to be added / changed / deleted by a simple referendum at the ballot box, in NY the process is not so easy.

As I understand it in order to amend or change the constitution it requires an act of the legislature (a proposal to change/amend) which then must be passed by 2 successive sessions of the legislature followed by a referendum vote by the public. This long deliberative process basically prevents any "spur of the moment" or politically expedient measures from being adopted.

It is important to note that several threats to the forever wild amendment that were approved by the legislature were subsequently rejected by the public by using their veto power (the referendum vote).

All of that said, the forever wild clause/amendment is the reason that the APA can not actually grant/approve of the use of state lands (that might be adjoining hamlets, villages, and towns) for housing. It would require an act of the legislature and a referendum vote to allow that to happen - not a very likely scenario.

What the APA could give approval to is affordable housing development on some large tracts of private land that adjoin hamlets, villages, and towns. But chances are slim that the APA would do so without some form of a community land trust as part of the deal.

In answer to Stephen's comment, a community land trust is a legal vehicle whereby a non-profit tax exempt organization owns a parcel of land which they never intend to sell. Then (taken from yesterday's link re CLT) ....

... they provide for the exclusive use of their land by the owners of any buildings located thereon. Parcels of land are conveyed to individual homeowners (or to the owners of other types of residential or commercial structures) through long-term ground leases.

The CLT retains an option to repurchase any residential (or commercial) structures located upon its land, should their owners ever choose to sell. The resale price is set by a formula contained in the ground lease that is designed to give present homeowners a fair return on their investment, while giving future homebuyers fair access to housing at an affordable price. By design and by intent, the CLT is committed to preserving the affordability of housing (and other structures) – one owner after another, one generation after another, in perpetuity.
(italic emphasis is mine)

FYI, the formula that is employed to give homeowners a fair return on their investment - the house, NOT the land - is typically tied to an economic index such as the cost of living index.

Truly enlightened and informed local business leaders / elected officials might also suggest the idea of deferred 2nd mortgages programs in order to assist low-moderate income individuals / families acquire a house on CLT land. These programs typically divide the mortgage on a home into to parts - a 1st mortgage and a 2nd mortgage.

The 1st mortgage might be for 1/2 of the purchase price of the house (or some fraction thereof) and would be paid for in typical long-term mortgage style. Payment on the 2nd mortgage is most typically deferred until the 1st mortgage is paid in full. No interest is accrued on the 2nd mortgage during the deferral period. If the house is sold before the 1st mortgage is paid in full, the full mortgage (1st + 2nd mortgage) must be satisfied unless the new purchaser meets the income guidelines for a deferred 2nd mortgage in which case the same deferred 2nd mortgage program stays in effect.

My point in all of this is quite simple - if local business leaders / elected officials are really concerned about economic development and affordable housing in the Adirondacks as the means whereby the flight of working class individuals / families might be mitigated or (gasp) even reversed - thus insuring vibrant local communities and economies - they need to get beyond mouthing the same tired platitudes and lambasting the demon APA as the root of all evil.

As per my usual M.O., I am not holding my breath.

Tuesday
Aug252009

man & nature # 220 ~ creative thinking

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Asgaard Farm ~ Au Sable Forks, NYclick to embiggen
As I have mentioned previously there is a regulatory body here in the Adirondacks - The Adirondack Park Agency, commonly referred to as simply the APA - that fills the classic role of "whipping boy" for not only many Park residents but also many business leaders / elected officials as well.

It would take a month of Sundays to list all of the accusations and epithets that have leveled at the agency but chief amongst them are the ever-popular; government intrusion into the lives of little people at the behest of and for the benefit of the "down-state elitists" (this one is over a century old); ruining the local economy by discouraging development; limiting access to state land; limiting land owner rights; and killing people because of their strict guidelines regarding cellphone towers.

Now let me state right up front that I am an APA advocate. That is not to say that I think the agency is "perfect" or that I agree with every decision it makes regarding land use (both public and private), but it is to say that, without question, if land use decisions were left up to the free market and the "little people", this place would be a mess.

A case in point - many local business leaders / elected officials are calling for the need for local economic development (duh?) because so many locals, especially the young, are being driven out by the lack of good jobs. The APA is almost always named as culprit number one responsible for this lack of local economic development.

The common cry is that if the APA would just get off the backs of honest and hardworking individuals (regulation, "bad" - free market, "good"), everything would be just fine. However, as those who are living life with two eyes open in these current economic times know, that idea can and very often does go horribly awry.

But that said, few, if any, local business leaders / elected officials can point to any specific ideas regarding what type of economic development is even possible in an area like the Adirondack Park. Simply stated, just by nature of its natural topography alone, it's a fact of business life that the largest wilderness area in the eastern US is not a very hospitable place for industrial development on anything but a very small scale.

Sure enough, there are a smattering of small manufacturing and high-tech businesses within the Park boundaries, but they are the exception, not the rule, to what is primarily a tourism / service based economy. To my knowledge, the APA has never prevented or discouraged such businesses from locating / operating within the "blueline" (the boundaries of the Park).

At one time, many years ago, the timber and mining industries provided a large number of Park residents with decent jobs /income. But those days are gone, not because of APA regulation, but because national / international consolidation in those industries has decreed that it is not profitable to harvest timber and mine on those lands that they still own in the Adirondacks.

All of that said, here's the issue that is the elephant in the room that no local business leaders / elected officials ever talk about. The issue that is first and foremost with hindering economic development and driving locals out - the increasing lack of affordable housing within the Park.

Sure enough, some business leaders / elected officials give lip-service to the need for affordable housing but the thing that never gets mentioned - IMO because the reality is in direct conflict with their just-let-the-free-market-work mentality - is that there is so little affordable housing because the free-market has driven the price of housing within the Park out of the reach of working class families.

The soaring cost of real estate is the result of the market demand for both second/vacation homes and that for retirement homes (for those of means). Some locals have decided to fuel this demand by cashing in their investment (sell their house). Some have actually been forced to sell their home because with soaring property values comes soaring property assessments and soaring property taxes.

The consequences of this situation are twofold - one way or another working class families can not afford the cost of living within the blueline, and, with the loss of the working class, businesses that might like to locate within the blueline have a problem with the fact that there is no working class (and how does a business recruit the working class when there is a lack of affordable housing?).

Some would blame the APA for the lack of affordable housing because hamlets, villages, and towns are not able to "grow" beyond their current boundaries - they are surrounded by "forever wild" state land, as protected by the state constitution and regulated as such by the APA. However, on this point, the APA is just simply doing the job it was created to do - maintaining the protection of the forest preserve by protecting the public and private resources of the Park through the exercise of the powers and duties provided by law.

That said, the APA is doing its job based upon the State Land Master Plan, which was signed into law in 1972, followed by the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan in 1973. But here's the thing, according to the APA - "both plans are periodically revised to reflect the changes and current trends and conditions of the Park."

It would seem to me that that notion could allow for some expansion of hamlet, village, and town boundaries specifically for addressing the need for affordable housing for full-time, working class family residents.

In order to assure that land was used for that purpose and for no other use (and to protect that use for future generations), notions such as community land trusts have to be considered and implemented as part of a master plan. Unfortunately, such ideas as community land trusts are meet with skepticism and outright derision by most free marketers. You know the mantra - socialism, communism, government power grabs, and so on, ad nauseum.

IMO, most (not all) local business leaders / elected officials (many of whom are business leaders), who give only lip-service to the idea of economic development and affordable housing under the guise of benefiting the local working class families, are looking out for themselves and their economic welfare first and foremost. It is the same as it ever was.

And, please, if you choose to comment on this topic, any and all references to tinkle-down economics will be summarily dismissed and deleted.

Tuesday
Aug252009

man & nature # 219 ~ Jay Range

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The Jay Range ~ Jay, NYclick to embiggen
3 frames auto-stitched in Photoshop.

Monday
Aug242009

man & nature # 216-217 ~ we're not in Kansas anymore 

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Mailbox, newspaper box, and weather frontclick to embiggen
As mentioned in the following entry, the wife and I encountered an awesome and rather eerie weather display last evening.

In the accompanying diptych, the 2 pictures were made 30-60 seconds apart and at slightly different angles, the mailboxes were lighted by oncoming car headlights. IMO, that light added an even greater sense of weirdness to the scene.

This scene and the one pictured in the following entry are great examples of the f8 and be there picture making premise. Although in this case, to be more accurate, it was f3.3 and be there.