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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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    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, 2013 - August 31, 2013

Saturday
Aug312013

civilized ku # 2585-89 ~ life is good

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Return to Paradise ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Camp visitor (Wolf spider?) ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Hugo skates ~ Rochester, NY - • click to embiggen
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Hugo scores ~ Rochester, NY - • click to embiggen
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Morning fog ~ Rochester, NY - • click to embiggen
Arrived back at Rist Camp yesterday evening after 5 days in Rochester with Hugo for his hockey camp. The camp was a success as can be partly evidenced by the above picture which is a faithful representation of his execution of a nice deek which got the goalie moving laterally, after which Hugo beat him like a rented mule by tickling the twine. The goalie did not know whether to cry or wind his watch.

While in Rochester, I had a nice but quick lunch with John Linn along with visits to a number friends, drank some beer, went to a minor league baseball game, played golf with some old guys, gave the X-wife some what-for, and wrapped up the trip with a visit to Wegmans where I secured a mother lode of Zweigles and snickerdoodles, thus making the trip a complete success.

It's raining and overcast today, making it a perfect day for relaxing in front of a warm fire to take off the dampness - not to mention the warm glow of the tv screen with a Notre Dame football game on broadcast - and just hanging out while the wife waits on me, hand-and-foot, as I recover from a somewhat hectic 5 days and recoup my Adirondack equilibrium.

BTW, the spider, whatever its nomenclature might be, is approx. 2 inches in size, tip-to-tip.

Monday
Aug262013

civilized ku # 2584 ~ wild, but not so wild

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Wild deer ~ Main Street/ Old Forge, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Sunday evening, on my drive through the Adirondack PARK to Rochester, Hugo and I came upon a fawn feeding in someone's lawn. Mom and sibling were not in sight.

We stopped the car, got out, and approached the fawn. Hugo stayed low and moved right up to the fawn which came right over to Hugo and sniffed his hand. At that point mom and another fawn appeared on the scene and mom approached Hugo to sniff his hand. Finding nothing to eat on offer, they all turned there attention back to feeding on the lawn.

Obviously, these deer are very acclimated to humans. These are not the only deer I have seen grazing on the lawns of Main Street, most often in the dead of night. I think the village of Old Forge as an entity and its inhabitants are, at the least, tolerating this situation, if not outright encouraging it, as tourist attraction.

The situation gives rise to many questions.

Wednesday
Aug212013

civilized ku # 2582-83 / ku # 1255-62 ~ Jimmi Nuffin's first beaver dam and other Newcomb delights

My intention was to post most of these pictures in separate entries but I have so many new pictures from my stay here at Rist Camp that I'd never get through them all if I did that.

From top to bottom:

2 redux on my first nite life entry
a late day look at the birch that will be the subject of an extended body of work
4 pictures of the marshy wetland below the first beaver dam Jimmi Nuffin had ever seen
the birch again, this time in the rain
the wife on her hammock
rain and mist over Lake Harris (view from Rist Camp porch)
2 pictures of reflections in the front windows ar Rist Camp

Much more to come.

Wednesday
Aug212013

ku # 1253 ~ nite life in the woods # 2

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3AM full moon ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Woke up last night about 3AM to make water and I noticed that it was rather bright outside, hence the picture.

The picture required a fair amount of processing in order for it to look like night time as opposed to a night-for-day kinda of look which is the de rigueur look which seems to be the preferred look of most night time landscape picture makers.

FYI, my first from Rist Camp iPad picture processing and posting, civilized ku # 2575-79 ... et al, was less than successful inasmuch as the app I was using - photogenie - isn't very good at downsampling files for use on the web. Things get a bit unsharp which kinda sucks. So I tried another app - photoforge - which does a fine job of downsampling but not so good at preserving the density / tonal quality of the processed image.

Each app has various processing capabilities that the other does not - photogenie has burn, dodge, and cloning tools whereas photoforge does not. Photoforge has layers which photogenie does not. Photoforge also has an equivalent of the PS History Palette which is a very useful capability. There are other differences as well.

Consequently, my current iPad processing workflow is to start out with photogenie, save and open in photoforge for further processing. After processing and downsampling in photoforge, I have created a workaround using Curves in photoforge which preserves the tonal quality of the file for use on the web.

Monday
Aug192013

(totally) civilized ku # 2580-81 ~ night life in the woods

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The wife and the fireplace ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Lamp, easy chairs, raccoon ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Monday
Aug192013

(totally) civilized ku # 2575-79 / ku # 1251-52 ~ Eden, Nirvana, Paradise, Shangri-La, Elysian Fields ... 

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Rist Camp porch ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Rist Camp porch ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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View from Rist Camp Porch # 1 ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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View from Rist Camp Porch # 2 ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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On the Rist Camp fireplace mantle # 1 ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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On the Rist Camp fireplace mantle # 2 ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Poised on a Rist Camp cabinet ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
.... pick one if you must but, as far as I'm concerned, any one name / title describes where I'm staying for better part of the next 5 weeks. And, IMO,this place makes the South Jersey Shore seem like Hades, the Infernal Region, Gehenna, Hell, the Abyss (pick one).....

FYI, these pictures are iPad processed and subject to change. I'll be returning home for a day on Wednesday and will redux these then. In any event, I'm pretty certain you get the picture.

Friday
Aug162013

diptych # 41 ~ eat healthy, it's good for you

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Clothlines ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Over my many years of association with the medium of photography and its apparatus (aka: conventions and vernacular), especially that of picture making as art, I have come to realize that the one quality I appreciate most in a picture is that of wondering why a picture maker made the picture I am viewing - a question which incites in me a desire to move beyond the visually obvious.

To wit .... if upon first viewing a picture, a picture maker's intent and subsequent execution thereof hits me in the eye like a big pizza of pie (for me) that's not amore because (again, for me) it's not so much of a story.

More often than not, the why-did-he/she-make-this-picture? thought happens when the picture maker has taken me to a scene I've never seen previously - both visually and emotionally / intellectually. A picture which requires me, by visual force* if necessary, to get involved with the picture by using more than just my eyes.

To my eye and sensibilities, there is very little more visually forceful than an exquisitely rendered representation of an "ordinary" scene. TMEaS, that characteristic / quality in a picture literally begs the question, "why was such care and attention taken to illustrate such a 'mundane' subject / scene"? And, because I have a mind which is often driven by curiosity and a desire to learn a new trick or two (keeps life interesting, does it not?), I can't help but try to find an answer to that question.

In a nut shell and all of that written, I am not so interested in pictures which provide easy answers. Rather, I am interested in those which pose questions and, hence, food for thought.

After all, when all is said and done, are you not what you eat?

Thursday
Aug152013

diptych # 40 ~ bookends

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Late day rain / early morning light ~ Stone Harbor, NJ / Northway - Exit 30 - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
One of the best things about going to the South Jersey Shore is leaving the South Jersey Shore.

In both cases, going to and leaving from, my drive has always been during the dark of the night. By so doing, I avoid the slow moving parking lots called the Jersey Turnpike and/or the Garden State Parkway. At night I can make the trip in six-and-a-half hours, whereas by day, the same trip can take 8-9 hours or, worse case, even more time.

In any event, on my drive home, I generally time it to hit the southern border of the Adirondack PARK just as the sun is starting to lighten the sky. Before I reach my exit on the Northway, I get to witness a nice sunrise and the drive from the Northway to my home is undertaken in warm early morning light - it's a wonderful welcome back home respite after the long drive.

This year, on the evening of my departure from the shore, I was treated to an early evening rain with the sun masked by haze (mist + humid air) which basked the landscape with a warm pleasant glow. If the light show, as nice as it was, was an attempt by the weather gods to entice me to return to the shore, it didn't work. Or, it could have just been a goodbye and good riddance token to show their appreciation of my self-imposed exile from the South Jersey Shore.

On the other hand, as I approached my exit on the Northway (you can just make out the exit sign in the picture) the morning light show made me think and feel liked I had returned to the Promised Land.