man & nature # 209 ~ sizzling hot

The air was thick and damp • click to embiggenThere continues to be a fair amount of chattering and brattling re: manipulated pictures - no doubt fueled by the recent NY Times dustup. Various opinions have been put forth in an attempt to codify the idea of what constitutes a "manipulated" picture.

IMO, it's fruitless endeavour. In large part due to the fact that so many conditions of manipulation put forth have exceptions to the rule.

Consider the clone nothing in, clone nothing out rule. If a picture maker who has taken every step possible, within the medium's capabilities to do so, to make pictures that are true to the real - things like aiming to represent natural color and natural tonal range, using "normal"-ish focal length lenses, and so on ... if such a picture maker clones out a tiny spec of a branch which intrudes upon edges of his selected scene has he produced a manipulated picture?

Is his/her relationship of that of a cohort with the real been severed?

IMO, it has not - unless, of course, he/she has been hired by the NY Times to make pictures that bear testament to the proposition that stray-objects-never-intrude-upon-the-edges-of-pictures.

Consider my decay pictures. They are most assuredly "staged" pictures. With the exception of the background - the countertop, the sink, and the floor - everything in the picture has been selected by and placed there by my hand.

Are the decay pictures "manipulated"?

IMO, they are not. The pictures are about decay - the natural process of decay with which I have not interfered.

Did the decay happen in the place in which I pictured it? No. Did the decay happen on the surface of the plates, bowls, or other surfaces on which it is pictured? Sometimes, yes - sometimes, no.

Does this constitute "manipulation"?

In the context of what the pictures are about - decay - the answer, IMO, is once again, No.

Everything depicted in my decay pictures are represented as true to their real nature as the medium allows.

ALTHOUGH ....... are the plates (etc.) - part of those things denoted - chosen with an eye towards how they might draw the attention of the viewer regarding the meaning(s) - the ideas and notions connoted - to be found in the pictures?

Absolutely.

Those items, working in contrast to the decay, are selected for their illustrative ability to focus attention upon the illuminative properties of the pictures, that is, drawing attention to the notion of vanitas - which, means "emptiness" (from Latin) which loosely corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity.

IMO, neither of the aforementioned examples of changing or making a picture constitute manipulation, at least not in the pejorative sense that is most commonly used - that is the manipulation (no matter the method) of a picture with the intent to deceive.

Let me be clear about the notion of intent to deceive - this does not include making pictures with the intent to draw the viewer's attention to a particular idea or notions that the picture might connote as long as those ideas / notion are treated in such a manner as to be open to drawing one's own conclusions regarding those ideas and notions.

A negative case in point, this month's cover of Yankee Magazine.
click to embiggenThe picture on the cover is used to make the idea of driving through Vermont in the Fall seem an attractive and desirable thing to do - which, if one avoids some wide-spread and significant areas of rural poverty, it most likely is. However, in a time-honored tradition of publishing / advertising, the photo editor and/or editor of the magazine has chosen to sell the sizzle, not the steak. In fact, steaks do sizzle, but the pictorial suggestion
that Fall in Vermont "sizzles" as it appears in the picture is an outright distortion.

Interestingly, and rather ironically, in the same issue of the magazine the editor has also chosen to publish an article entitled, The Leaf Seeker: Jeff "Foliage" Folger Is On A Mission To Memorialize Fall In New England - One Tree At A Time. In an article sidebar which illuminates Folger's picturing MO and philosophy, he quite clearly states:

I see pictures with colors that Mother Nature just didn't create. Just because you can take that slider for saturation all the way to the right, that doesn't mean you should.

Apparently, in making the cover picture selection, the photo editor and/or editor did NOT (the word "not" was omitted in the 1st posting of this entry) follow that advice.

In any event, like hard-core pornography which was considered hard to define by Justice Potter Stewart (as he stated below), what constitutes a "manipulated picture" may lack clearly-defined parameters. Nevertheless, I agree with Justice Stewart:

I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it ...

man & nature # 208 ~ there's an odor in the air

Dew Drop Inn ~ Saranac Lake, NY • click to embiggenOn my recent entry re: ignorance, Paul Maxim commented:

...I object to Mark's assertion that Paul is "ignorant". Clearly, he is not. His opinion, at this point, is simply different than Mark's.

I will not back down or stand corrected on the idea of Paul Lester's ignorance, not on the issue of healthcare in general, but rather on his "doubts" about / denial of re: the existence of healthcare expeditions - specifically the one held annually in Wise, Virginia.

As for Paul M's assertation that "name calling" might get one applause from the choir but will get one "precious few converts" and that "[I]t just hardens the opposition", well ... IMO and experience, the "opposition", especially the one in the healthcare debate, is simply not interested at all in being "converted", informed, knowledgeable, or learned. The "opposition" is completely case-hardened and organized around the principles of disinformation, disruption, and disassociation from the truth and reality of the issue at hand.

Those individuals and organizations who have rallied under the banner of the 3 "D"s are, in fact, quite worthy of the label of "ignorant", if for no other reason than that of their actions (irrespective of their so-called "opinions").

So, why not call a spade, a spade? Surely not in the cause of protecting the idea of "bi-partisanship".

And as for "opinions" based upon ignorance, malfeasance, and other nefarious intent, IMO, those "opinions" are not just "simply different" from those opinions based on fact, observation, and informed research and knowledge.

Sure, opinions are like assholes - everybody has one and, one might postulate, even "entitled" to one. However, that doesn't make all opinions valid or of equal weight or consideration in an informed discussion / debate.

Returning the the notion of "assholes", everybody does, indeed, have one. However, some of them stink a whole lot more than others.

civilized ku # 202 ~ a good time was had by all

Various windows • click to embiggenLast Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aaron (the Cinemascapist) held his first photo workshop. It was a great success. Testimonials from the participants - who came from across the US of A - were many and brimming with praise and satisfaction.

Aaron did a great job and his idea for a last-evening gallery show (on Saturday) with work created by workshop participants was a great success (and lasted well past midnight). The opening was very well attended and 3 participants actually sold prints.

FYI, the last morning (Saturday) was reserved for "darkroom" work, AKA - Photoshop work, in the local community college computer lab where the participants worked on their workshop created images (2 ea.) for the show. The files were sent to me at around 12:30PM and by 4:15PM I was standing in the gallery (35 miles away) with an art case filled with 20×24' prints ready for hanging.

Also FYI, on Friday the workshop group visited me at my home primarily for the purpose of seeing Aaron's large-format gallery prints which are stored (and displayed) at my house. They were also in my village for a workshop photo location/shoot. Most of the group were followers of The Landscapist and one was surprised to find out that the Landscapist was the father of the Cinemascapist. As always, it was a pleasure and a treat to actually meet, in the flesh, readers of my blog.

One of the group, John Bailey - from the Boston area, joined me that evening for dinner in Saranac Lake. John is a Landscapist follower from way back - I presented some of his work back in December of 2006. You can see it (with a link to more) HERE.

My congratulations to Aaron for a job well done and here's hoping that the event gets even bigger and better next year. And to all of the workshop participants, it was great to meet you and spend time together, especially at the gallery show. For those of you who will continue to use my wide-format custom printing services, I look forward to building a one-on-one working relationship.

man & nature # 207 ~ reality challenged

Pay no attention to the man (or the mess he created) behind the curtain • click to embiggenIt has been oft stated that ignorance is bliss and, to a certain extent, that may be true. However, no matter how you cut it, ignorance is still ignorance.

Ignorance comes in many forms - there is the ignorance of the uneducated, that of the unaware, and that of the uninformed - all of which mean a lack of knowledge, learning, and information. And, it is worth noting that the word ignorance derives from the word "ignore" which means to refrain from noticing or recognizing.

The reasons for ignorance are many but the one that always amazes me is that of those who choose to be ignorant. That is to say, those who choose to refrain from noticing or recognizing the means and/or opportunities to be educated, aware, and informed or to acquire knowledge, learning, and information.

Why would anyone choose to be ignorant? My suspicion for this choice is that, while it may not exactly induce a state of bliss, it certainly provides a rationale for not dealing with inconvenient truths.

Witness the reality-challenged Paul Lester for whom nothing is unless he personally sees it. Despite numerous media coverage (print, web, broadcast) - replete with video and pictures, including at least one of a person receiving healthcare in an animal stall - of the annual healthcare expedition in Wise, Virginia where people stand in line, sleep in cars, and are basically herded like cattle in order to obtain healthcare that they can not otherwise obtain, Paul Lester has decided to refrain from noticing or recognizing, not only the fact/reality of the event, but that the healthcare system in the US of A is a horrific mess.

Paul Lester defends his ignorance on the specious and frankly quite lame notion that all of the documentation of the event is "hearsay" - he doesn't believe a first-person account of the event, not because that person lied, but because he (PauL Lester) just doesn't believe him (????). Judging from his entry on his blog regarding this topic, he believes it all to be "hearsay" because all media coverage is "spin" and "propaganda" put forth in the cause of supporting an "agenda".

Paul Lester also offered a couple really ignorant "observations" regarding why such an event might be needed (or not) - not that he actually suggested that it did exist:

I'm sure that there are some shortfalls in many rural communities where access to immediate health care is limited because of the poorness of the town, county, or, in the case of West Virginia, possibly the whole state. This could even be the case with health care reform. It doesn't bring the hospital closer.

Paul, here's a news flash for you - the primary lack/denial of access to healthcare is not geography nor is it limited to just poor rural communities. If you weren't so ignorant you would know this.

Paul Lester also stated that, in fact, maybe there isn't a need for such events because:

Also, there are hospitals that take uninsured folks.

Paul, another news flash for you - also, there are hospitals that do not take uninsured folks. And, even if every hospital took uninsured folks, you would know, if you weren't so ignorant, that using hospitals - usually emergency room services - for the everyday healthcare needs of uninsured folks is the absolute worst and most costly delivery method of those medical services.

All of that said, my suspicion re: Paul Lester's choice to be ignorant, is that his seemingly reasoned and rational explanation about why he is "quite careful these days about what I consider truth" is little more than a feint to veil his real agenda (about which I will not speculate - you can draw your own conclusions).

Or, maybe it's simply that he is too damn lazy to spend the time and make the effort to eradicate his apparent ignorance on the subject of the reality of healthcare in this here US of A. You know what I mean - spend the time and make the effort to determine, to decide, to discern what is, at the very least, (and despite the belief that there is no objective reality) more true than not regarding this topic.

However, I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen because for so many ignorance is indeed some form of "bliss".

Update on Monday, August 17, 2009 at 12:42PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: "Ron" wrote: "Talking about Ignorance, how are we going to pay for "free" healthcare without bankrupting us all?"

To which "the infamous j" responded: "Ignorance is not recognizing a red herring when one is presenting it ... Name one modern economy that is going bankrupt from providing their citizens with some form of universal healthcare"?

my response: Well, Ron? We're waiting for an answer.

And, here's another question for you - who the hell ever said healthcare was going to be free?

Of course it has to be paid for and, quite frankly, it's very difficult for me to believe that the richest nation on earth can't afford or figure out a method - one that doesn't bankrupt us - to pay for universal healthcare.

And, as long as you brought up the subject of "bankrupt", here's another question for you - care to put up a guess on the number of individual Americans who have lost everything because of a bankruptcy due to healthcare costs? And, as long as we're piling on question-wise - how many of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare related expenses actually had health insurance (at least at the start of their illness)?

Come on, Ron. We're waiting for your answers. (Here's a clue for you on the bankruptcy question - I just can't help wondering how many are Tennesseans?)

man & nature # 206 ~ stand up and be counted

Median topiary • click to embiggenThere are those who, like Mary Dennis, might wondering how I live my life. Do I walk the walk that I often write about here on The Landscapist. Driven by that curiosity, Mary asked (it's a fair question):

What are you actually doing about the things you care about other than blogging about them? ... I'm interested in hearing what concrete things you have changed in your life to be more in line with your deeply felt system of beliefs.

The quick and easy answer to that question is, to borrow a line from Mary, I live a life with two eyes open. By that I simply mean that I try to live with my eyes, my mind, and my emotions attuned to the world (both around me and at large) with the knowledge that whatever I do, it matters or, in other words, with the knowledge that actions, both large and small, have consequences.

FYI, this way of living does not represent a change for me, a fact that I would attribute to my Catholic upbringing / education - an education that stressed (on the secular front) personal responsibility, compassion and understanding of/for others, charity, good works, and respect. Now that is not to say that I am a perfect practitioner of those principles but I am accutely aware of them in my everyday life.

All of that said, I realize that that statement might be a bit vague for some so I'll mention just a few specifics.

When it comes to the environment, we have always driven high mpg compact cars - cars that are well below our economic means. We live in a relatively modest "recycled" house, once again, well below our economic means. In both cases, we are trying to minimize our carbon footprint.

Again, re: the environment, our recreational pursuits are strictly human-powered - canoeing, biking, hiking, and the like. When I golf, I walk. I belong to a club that uses only reclaimed water, no pesticides, and has many protected sensitive-environment areas on the course that conform to the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.

We try our best to be responsible consumers - buying what we need rather than what we want. Which is not to say that we live an austere life, but rather that we are definitely not part of the shop-till-you-drop or the live-to-shop crowd - not by a long shot. When we do buy, we try to buy quality stuff that will last as long as possible so that we will not have to replace things until they literally wear out after long use.

And when we do shop, we patronize small local businesses whenever possible and that includes our participation in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) which means we buy virtually all of our seasonal food directly from a local farmer. We also buy most of our beef, pork, and poultry from a local farm as well.

In our community, we participate in a number of charitable / volunteer events (the wife is on the Board of the Local Red Cross). Our daughter (my step-daughter) just returned from a week of volunteer work on a New Mexico Indian reservation. My step-son is about to embark on a 1 year stint to teach English in Korea in hopes of improving his chances for Peace Corp volunteer acceptance.

Which brings up another very important part of our life - we take very seriously the notion expressed by Crosby Stills Nash & Young - teach your children well. We want them to live lives with two eyes open. Is there anything more important for a parent than that - to pass on values and knowledge that will help them to lead responsible lives?

Mary also mentioned that she thinks "about these things all the time and I have discussions and debates in real time with friends, family and sometimes strangers on the street or in the grocery store line." To which I would say that it sounds like she lives with two eyes open because, while thinking about these things is important, attempting to raise awareness regarding these things is what really matters.

That is a big part of the reason that, here on The Landscapist, I not only write about photography but also about those things that matter to me that fall outside of the purview of things photographic - an attempt to raise awareness about things that need to be thought about, talked about, and dealt with.

Regarding those public-square things that affect us all - things that concern the body politic - one of the most important and responsible things an individual can do is to be an informed citizen and to take a stand regarding those issues - a stand informed by knowledge and fact.

Writing this blog requires a sustained and time-consuming effort on my part. It is, not to brag, no small/easy feat. It is my hope that what I have to say, whether one agrees with it or not, is of some real value to those who encounter it.

Mary, I hope that all of this helps to provide an answer to your question. I would not consider my life to be "heroic" in the sense that I do extraordinary things when walking the walk. But, on the hand, it seems that in our world, especially here in the US of A, just living with two eyes open is, in fact, somewhat extraordinary.

man & nature # 205 ~ come on and surfari with me

Boogieboard dudes • click to embiggenSometimes photographers just wanna have fun.

Hugo, who has quite the penchant for making life-event schedules such as - "I will boogieboard by myself when I'm 5", was 5 days shy of his 5th birthday when these pictures were made (by the wife) last week at the Jersey Shore. So, it was piggyback boogieboarding for him or no boogieboarding at all.

Fortunately, on the only day that I actually visited the beach - late in the day after a very hot and muggy round of golf - there were some pretty good swells and breakers (5-6') that allowed for decent boogieboarding - waves that the big surfing dudes would call "ankle busters".

Nevertheless and fer sure, we were able to catch quite a number of really bitchin' rides all the way into the beach from about 50 yds. out in the bone yard. Even though we never shot the curl or got in the green room, Hugo (who is obviously a grommet, aka - a young hodad) thought the whole deal was mongo gnarlatious. He was stoked.

The fact that he didn't have to experience a wipe out or a neptune cocktail (after which one usually starts selling buicks) made the surfari totally awesome. Hugo was amped to the max. If the words "cowabunga" or "bonzai" were in his vocabulary, he certainly would have used them instead of repeatedly saying, "cool, way cool".

Me? I was just trying to breathe cause the stranglehold Hugo had on my throat was rather gnarly, dude.

FYI, if you need them, translations can be found here.

civilized ku # 201 ~ just thinking out loud (again)

The beach • click to embiggenA number of comments re: a reincarnation of the FSA photography project, here and on other blogs, thought the idea had real merit. The wife even suggested that those of you on the west coast might even spend time picturing the August 11-18 "healthcare expedition" at the Forum in LA. Good idea.

Paul Maxim (who knows a good entry when he reads one) posited that "maybe there are people out there right now doing that kind of work independently, but a more organized effort couldn’t hurt." - a sentiment with which I totally concur. But, a "more organized effort" would require quite a commitment of time and effort to implement. It would also require that commitment from a number of individuals.

That said, unlike the FSA program which required lots of office / storage space and money for film, processing, and printing, the web / digital age makes those things unnecessary or at least minimal by comparison.

A minimal web presence, a mission statement, a call to action, and contact with groups like RAM and other "free healthcare" providers to explain the mission and gain access / approval to picture events are the basic requirements that it would take to get the thing moving. Obtaining non-profit status for the entity would also be a must.

Individual photographers, like the healthcare providers involved in "free health" events / clinics, would be volunteers who see a need, have a pertinent skill, and want to do something about it.

A corporate sponsor would be nice and if everything were handled in an organized and professional matter, a sponsor or two shouldn't be too difficult to find. There would be expenses (overhead) and it would also be nice if the program could offer grants or stipends to volunteer photogs to be used to help defray expenses like travel.

I also think that, like the FSA program which started out with one objective - picture rural poverty - and then spontaneously grew to encompass much more - picturing the totality of the face of America, the project could over time provide a look at life in this here US of A during a time of substantive change - the times they are a-changin.

As Dylan wrote/sang quite a few decades ago - the wheel's still in spin and there's no tellin' who that it's namin' - and that's the interesting thing, there's no telling who the spinnin' wheel is namin'. It could get better, it could get worse.

I also like Dylan's advice to "writers" and "critics" to "keep your eyes wide" - if only he had used the word "photographers" instead of "critics", there'd be a ready-made theme song for the program.

It is also worth noting that the pictures that would result from such an effort, while they would open the eyes / educate a vast number of Americans, they could also be used to influence (and shame) some of our elected representatives - again, from Mr. Dylan:

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

But, all of that said, I'm just thinking out loud here. If you haven't noticed, I do that a lot here on The Landscapist and what I find extremely frustrating is the paucity of response, input, and action from the many visitors who follow this blog on a regular basis.

To paraphrase Cyndi Lauper maybe it's true that photographers just wanna have fun.

civilized ku # 200 ~ Andreas, this one's for you

Shore bikes • click to embiggenSingle-speed, balloon-tire, and colorful bikes are all over the place in Stone Harbor, NJ.

The bikes are rentals and each bike is numbered. The number is very important because there are only a limited number of colors and no one uses a bike lock. So, if you want to be able to pick your bike out of a crowd, you had better remember the number.