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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

  • my new GALLERIES WEBSITE
    ADK PLACES TO SIT / LIFE WITHOUT THE APA / RAIN / THE FORKS / EARLY WORK / TANGLES

BODIES OF WORK ~ BOOK LINKS

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, 2011 - August 31, 2011

Tuesday
Aug302011

FYI ~ damage pictures

Here are a few pictures of damage around Au Sable Forks - quick edit on my iPad because we still have no electricity. Top to bottom:

Our driveway
Local bridge
Local bridge #2
Destroyed house
Car wreck on our street
Evening without electricity - reading a book on the iPad

Monday
Aug292011

FYI ~ goodnight Irene

Who would have thought that a storm which started in the southern hemisphere could have such devastating effects all the way up here in Au Sable Forks?

Who would have though that a very small brook, 2 blocks away from our house could turn our street into a raging river, leave 3 feet of water in our backyard, 8 feet of water in our basement, submerging the electric panel box and new furnace - meaning no electricity for us for 3-4 days, and turn our driveway into a river of mud?

Who would have thought the same storm could leave our entire village without water for an estimated 2-3 days, cause a host of Main Street businesses to shut down after sustaining 10s of thousands of $$$$ damages and inventory losses, and close bridges leaving our village virtually isolated?

And, who would have thought that acquaintances from New Jersey, upon hearing of our plight (via facebook?), would call first thing this AM and offer to let us use their cottage on Fern Lake - 8 miles out of town - until our house is functioning again?

Who would have thought?

Not me.

Friday
Aug262011

civilized ku # 1092 ~ pictures that have subjects and yet aren't attached to their subjects

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20 TON BRIDGE / 900 FEET ~ Wilmington, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

You can't photograph a thing in general, you can only photograph specific things. So then the problem in terms of there being an indefinable quality of the subject is how to somehow elude the hardness of their specificity. Maybe elude is the wrong word because you can't elude it. Maybe it is more important to enter into the indefinability of anything, no matter how concretely it appears to have been portrayed. ~ Jeff Wall

I find it very interesting how many (most?) people who find themselves intrigued with / interested in a picture - which, on its face, doesn't fit the pretty picture mold - have no idea what it is, in their viewing of the picture, that has so interested / intrigued them. The most often heard comment in such circumstances is, "I don't know why I like this picture, but I do."

IMO, the viewer has been touched, at some level of their being, by the indefinable quality of a picture's depicted referent. I also believe the viewer's perplexity comes from the fact they are not very adept at consciously connecting with the level of their being which has been pricked by the unthought known.

Thursday
Aug252011

civilized ku # 1091 ~ everyday stuff

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Remains ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Why, some might ask, do you make pictures of this stuff?

Well, I think Jeff Wall stated it best when he said:

The everyday, or the commonplace, is the most basic and the richest artistic category. Although it seems familiar, it is always surprising and new. But at the same time, there is an openness that permits people to recognize what is there in the picture, because they have already seen something like it somewhere. So the everyday is a space in which meanings accumulate, but it’s the pictorial realization that carries the meanings into the realm of the pleasurable.

Wednesday
Aug242011

civilized ku # 1090 ~ BBQ

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Tail O' The Pup ~ Ray Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Tuesday
Aug232011

civilized ku # 1083-89 ~ variations on a sundown 

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Late sun on the golf course ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 1 • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 2 • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 3 • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 4 • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 5 • click to embiggen
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Sundown in the notch # 6 • click to embiggen
After 2 days of rain, yesterday dawned blue sky, fluffy clouds, and sunny. Those conditions continued until (and beyond) 3PM when I decided it was best to get out of town - the wife and company were cleaning out the basement and garage, creating a very dangerous I-might-have-to-do-some-grunt-work situation.

Upon my arrival at the first tee in Lake Placid, the sun was still shining bright and all was right with the weather world. By my arrival at the third tee, dark ominous clouds had moved in and light rain began to fall. The light rain continued until I arrived at the 18th tee although I did have to seek shelter once when the rain was coming down very hard for about 20 minutes.

After the round was over and I was loading up the car, the sun appeared and bathed the golf course in warm late-day light. I stopped what I was doing and made some pictures. On my drive home, the sun, as it was setting, and clouds played a game of hide and seek. I stopped for about 10 minutes and made more pictures - seen here in sequential as-I-made-them order.

Good thing I got out of town when the getting was good.

Monday
Aug222011

civilized ku # 1080-82 ~ cloud-a-rific

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From the 15 yard line ~ Au Sable Valley HS / Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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From the track ~ Au Sable Valley HS / Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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From the clubhoude deck ~ North Country GC - Rouses Point, NY • click to embiggen
Two of the past three days have been, to my eye and sensibilities, visually dominated by some interesting clouds. Not spectacular, but, in relation to the environments in which I found myself, interesting.

Saturday
Aug202011

bubble girl

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Blowing bubbles ~ Westport GC, Westport, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen