civilized ku # 2571-74 ~ glimpses

Glimpse # 1 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 3 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Glimpse # 4 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenConnecting the barrier island of Stone Harbor / Avalon / Sea Isle to the mainland is a narrow 2.5 mile causeway. The causeway is flanked on both sides by waterways with wetlands / marshes.

For most of its length, the north side of the causeway highway has only a very narrow strip of land which separates it from the water. On the south side, the strip of land is just wide enough to accommodate a number of small cottages most of which tend to be clustered side-by-side in individual groupings spread out along the length of the causeway.

As one is driving past these side-by-side clusters of cottages, a swivel-headed looky-loo can, in the openings between the cottages, catch quick glimpses of the marshes, wetlands, and waterways. IMO, a picture maker could spend the better part of an morning / afternoon / evening - pick the light of your choice - making a body of interesting pictures of these glimpses. Making pictures not only of the sea/landscape beyond but also of the bits and pieces of cottage life which are crammed in the little tableaux between the cottages.

(un)civilized ku # 2566-70 ~ the end of another era (impending)

Mine is bigger than yours # 1 / 2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is bigger than yours # 3 (2 views) ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is will be bigger than yours # 1 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Mine is bigger than yours # 4 / will be #2 ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenIn my recent entry, subtitled - the end of an era?, I used a question mark because, well, there is always the chance (however improbable) that I might return to The Shore at some future date. In this entry's subtitle I did not use a question make because, well, IMO I believe the following is a foregone conclusion (no question about it) ....

In my last the end of an era? entry, I listed 3 primary reasons why I dislike and will, therefore, not be returning to the Jersey Shore. The heat and humidity and resultant misery (physical and emotional) are and have been a constant. However, the demands of item # 3 - the intellectual exercise of trying to deal with the all encompassing shore culture of over-the-top / nothing exceeds-like-excess conspicuous consumption - have increased at an exponentially accelerating pace over the past 15 years. To wit ...

The wife has been vacationing at the shore her entire life. For most of that time, the shore had been an unaffectedly unpretentious vacation community. Houses / cottages were modest in size* and Main Street was comprised of an assortment of modest shops offering modest goods. With the obvious exception of the never ending heat and humidity, the place seems like a place I might actually like and enjoy.

Not so anymore. Like a locust plague, the nouveau uber-rich have arrived and their primary activity is buying up multiple properties, tearing down the "classic" shore houses / cottages, and erecting 10,000 sq ft. "second home" McMansion monstrosities / atrocities. That is not to write that all of the classic dwelling are gone, but they're disappearing at an alarming (to me, at least) pace, increasingly so over the past 2-3 years.

IMO, in a decade or less, the few classic shore dwelling which still exist will be like museum / curiosity pieces. And the middle class (albeit now the upper middle class) vacationer, well, the ubers won't have them to clutter up the now upscale high-end retail shops - hey, who doesn't want to pick up a Rolex or diamond bracelet (or two) while on vacation - which currently line Main Street. (And, I can't help but wonder how long it will be before the wife and her family will be priced out of their 5-6 decade long tradition of vacationing in Stone Harbor.)

While at the shore, what hangs over me like a palatable pall is not only the literal dismantling of the classic shore infrastructure (and with it, the loss of the unaffected / unpretentious coexistent shore culture), but also the energy consumptive / environmentally destructive aspect of this kind of nothing-exceed-like-excess life style.

Do these people have no sense whatsoever regarding the impact their actions have on a culture or the planet? Judging by their actions, I think not.

FYI, lest anyone think I have a problem with wealth, think again. As long as one comes by their wealth honestly - and dare I say it in this greed-is-good era? - creates some living wage jobs for the "common" people, and "gives back" to the community (local, national, global) some of what you have gained from it, so be it. Unfortunately, many if not most of today's uber rich believe that lots of money means they are free from any and all considerations and constraints regarding the common good.

*More and more, seems like another planet in a galaxy far, far awayCottages ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2563-65 ~ redux

Dingy at sunset ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
In between glimpse ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

Rooftop mini golf ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenAs is my habit, upon my return from a trip I re-process and re-post pictures which I had processed on my iPad and had posted while on that trip.

Update on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 02:25PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Overall the "redux" versions have more life and "purity", whatever that means. I guess this is attributed to RAW processing control and a calibrated display?"

my response: Yep, RAW processing + calibrated display + knowing how use the info in the PS Info Palette = life and "purity".

And, IMO, "purity" means eliminating color casts, both global and local - most often both in the same picture.

civilized ku # 2563-65 ~ the end of an era?

Docked sailboat ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
In between ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
Rooftop mini golf ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenI have come to the conclusion that my lovehate-hate relationship with the South Jersey Shore has run its course. The time has come for me to put myself out of my shore misery, if for no other reason - although there are many many other reasons - than the fact that my misery causes misery for the wife.

My misery is 3-fold - 1) physical (extreme heat and humidity which leads to water retention and swelling of the joints and limbs), which leads in turn to 2) emotional misery - it's as if I get my period and even the slightest irritation results in a nasty bout of pms. And then there's the 3) intellectual exercise of trying to deal with the all encompassing shore culture of over-the-top / nothing-exceeds-like-excess conspicuous consumption.

All 3 items, when taken together, have proved to be too much for my ability to cope.

FYI, more on item #3 after my return home.

kitchen life # 44 ~ mid-day sunlight

Sunlight ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2562 ~ the form of presentation creates a stage like situation

Electric fence / Asgaard Farm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

The form of presentation creates a stage like situation in which the light that saturates the images and glows on the observer extends the carefully constructed image space into the space of the observer. By referring to itself, the presentation takes on the status of a discourse: in the form of address lies a reference to an I and you and here and now of representation. ~ Gregor Stemmrich, in his essay Between Exaltation and Musing Contemplation: Jeff Wall’s restitution of the program of Peintre de la Vie Moderne

civilized ku # 2561 ~ poetry / photography

Some of the stuff above the kitchen sink ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenFor those of you who have been following the progress of the nascent pictures + words project and might be wondering what the point of the endeavor might be, consider this:

Photography has many similarities with poetry. There's not a strong relationship between the disciplines, but there is a tight one between the sensibilities. ~ Larry Towell

That written, if poetry - or in our case, poetic verse - isn't your thing, and, if looking at pictures in the manner as described by Nathaniel Hawthorne is not your thing ...

Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.

... or in the manner suggested by Ernst Haas ...

...one of the problems of photography, it tends to be a surface sort of thing if we are not careful ... take a picture and move on. Make a picture of what something looks like, but that's not at all what photography is. We have to learn to photograph not what it is but what else it is.

... then in all probability, pictures + words ain't your thing as well. Which, of course, is fine. Cindy and I are well aware that our project will not appeal / resonate with everyone. In fact, we realize that we are creating something which only a small segment of the picture viewing audience will "get" / appreciate, or, for that matter, even attempt to "get" / appreciate. Which, once again, is fine with us.

And, lest anyone think we are trying to be elitist / arrogant / effete artists, we are just operating under the assumption that, as Julian's grandmother used to say, "every pot has a lid".

diptych # 39 ~ 30 yards apart / reckoning truthfully

Evening light / morning light ~ Taylor Pond - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

The doubt that the work celebrates is not the same as the angry alienation of the fashionable rejectionist; neither is it the passivity of the man who counts all evils to be equal, or who calls a flawed good no better than an evil because it is imperfect. It is, rather, the active refusal to render the world beautiful just because we desperately want it to be that way, combined with the refusal to render it ugly just because we distrust our longing for beauty. It is at all times reckoning each against the other, and it is authentically hopeful for as long as the doubter can persuade himself that he is reckoning truthfully, of which he must of course persuade himself anew, every moment his eyes are open. ~ Leo Rubinfien

My blog entries have been somewhat few and far between and short on writing due to the fact that summer is flying by. It's been filled with travel, getaways, and work for clients and my pictures + words project amongst other things. And, from here on out, it doesn't get any less busy - next week is the Jersey-Shore-from-hell week and, the week after we return, it's off to Rist Camp - a beautiful rustic Adirondack camp - for 4 weeks. During those 4 weeks, I also am taking Hugo to Rochester for a 5 day hockey camp.

The Rist Camp is only 40 miles from home as the crow flies but 80 miles as the car drives. I will be stopping home from time to time during those 4 weeks, so I will be posting now and again - maybe more, depending upon internet access at the camp.

That written, my thanks go out to those who have stuck with me, blog wise, during this lean period. Hang in there and your patience will be rewarded after the summer is over.

BTW, hope you are enjoying your summer and having as much fun as I am.