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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, 2015 - August 31, 2015

Thursday
Aug272015

civilized ku # 2971 / diptych # 160 + artwork ~ Adirondack grandeur

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creamery and herdsman's house / Santanoni Great Camp ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Santanoni Great Camp ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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rendering - Santanoni Great Camp ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

It doesn't matter how many times I hike the 5 miles to Camp Santanoni, it never fails to impress (from this page on the Adirondack Architectual Heritage website) .....

Camp Santanoni, built 1892-93, had three main groupings of buildings, totaling 45 buildings in all. The Gatehouse Complex, situated at the edge of the hamlet of Newcomb, included an impressive gatehouse with its monumental, stone, gateway arch and eight staff bedrooms, a caretaker’s home, and assorted barns, wagon sheds and other buildings.

A mile farther into the estate, the Farm Complex included a massive set of barns, four farmhouses and workers’ cottages, a stone creamery, workshop, chicken house, kennels, smoke house, root cellar and other service buildings. With imported and domestic breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry, Santanoni had probably the largest farm operation ever associated with a family estate in the Adirondacks. It supplied the camp with its meat and produce, while surplus dairy products were sold in Newcomb and sent to Albany for the Pruyns and their friends.

The Main Camp at Santanoni was situated 4.7 miles from the Gatehouse Complex, farther into the estate on the shore of Newcomb Lake, with an excellent view toward the Adirondack High Peaks. The main lodge was actually a grouping of six separate buildings – the main living and dining lodge with two bedrooms upstairs; four sleeping cabins with a total of six bedrooms; and a kitchen and service building with seven staff bedrooms – all connected by a common roof and porch system. 1500 trees were used in the log construction.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, it's a must see.

FYI, the diptych pictures were made looking left and right from the left and right corners of the main building. As can be seen on the rendering above, all of the separate buildings were connected by a massive deck under a single massive roof.
Wednesday
Aug262015

tourist picture / civilized ku # 2970 / (foreign) kitchen sink # 27 ~ here, there and everywhere

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sitting and watching / iPhone picture ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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playground rules / gloamimg ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Rist Camp sink ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

No matter where you go there is always a kitchen sink.

Monday
Aug242015

tourist picture / civilized ku # 2969 ~ now for something completely different

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cat + dog / iPhone picture ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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day's end at the beach ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Thursday
Aug202015

tourist picture / civilized ku # 2968 ~ ying yang 

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Rist Camp tree with Edison-Ron ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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icons ~ Valley Forge, PA • click to embiggen

I find it hard to cope with the fact that I have posted a cat picture 2 days in a row. So I figured if a posted a more manly picture of the car I drove in the Philadelphia area I might be able to regain some of my picture making machismo.
Wednesday
Aug192015

single woman # 32 / tourist picture (single cat) ~ one of these things is not like the other

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diner and a screen ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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our cat, Edison-Ron, enjoys the view (iPhone picture) ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Tuesday
Aug182015

ku # 1314 / diptych # 159 ~ back in our real world

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late day light / birch ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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PM / AM views from porch ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

After dealing with the NorthEast interstate madness (Mass. / N.J. / PA.) for the better part of 14 days, Rist Camp is the perfect soothing / restorative tonic for regaining one's senses. In fact, when returning from Philadelphia on Sunday PM, a cheer (accompanied by clapping) went up from those (Hugo, The Cinemascapist, and The Landscapist) in the car as we crossed the Blue Line into the Adirondacks. The Cinemascapist was also heard to explain that "living in the Adirondacks has spoiled me living in or around a big city". Ditto from me.
Monday
Aug172015

civilized ku # 2966-67 ~ chillin' out

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rink waif ~ Marlborough, MA. • click to embiggen
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The wife and the fireplace ~ Rist Camp / Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Returned from hockey tournament in Philadelphia directly to Rist Camp, my primary residence for the next 5 weeks. I will be driving to my real home in the next 2 days to fetch my computer and accessories so I can work and post entries. Back at you soon.
Thursday
Aug132015

ku # 1309-13 / diptych # 158 ~ can you hear what I hear? can you see what I see?

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tidal mash ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
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surf ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen
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same dune - different lenses / light ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggen

In yesterday's entry I linked to an essay by JÖRG M. COLBERG in which he emphasized his desire to view pictures which create a "dialogue". That is, by his definition, "... the dialogue someone’s work has (or attempts to have) with everything else."

What I infer from that statement is that Colberg is looking to find a meaning which is implied / suggested beyond the obvious literal observation of a picture's referent - what Roland Barthes deemed as a picture's punctum: the wounding, personally touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with the object or person within it. OR, what I describe as a picture's illuminative quality (as opposed to its illustrative quality).

Much has been written about a picture's meaning, its illusiveness, its malleability, and, in the case of the academic lunatic fringe, its preeminence (meaning over visual) in the act of picture making. While I place absolutely no stock in the ALF's preoccupation / fetish, re: meaning, I certainly agree with notions of meaning to be found in a picture as illusive and malleable.

All of that written, I have a question .... it seems to be a significant part of the human condition to look / search for meaning (why are we here / what's the meaning of life, etc.). In light of that fact, it would appear that many bring that approach to the medium of photography. But the thought occurs to me that perhaps we are asking too much of the medium when it comes to the idea of meaning. Which thought does by no means that I believe meaning in pictures is not possible.

In fact, I still and always will believe that the best pictures are those which, in addition to their visual merits, ask questions and/or introduce the viewer to something (s)he finds challenging and/or thought provoking to at least some extent. How far one can take that idea, re: deliberately creating intended meaning in a picture (the WOW factor really doesn't qualify as meaning), is, IMO, open to very legitimate question (other than pure outright propaganda).

And, of course, no matter the picture maker's intent, meaning wise, the viewer can assign to a picture any meaning (or none at all) (s)he can conjure up inasmuch as what the viewer gets out of a picture is very dependent upon what that viewer brings to the picture viewing table. After all, stupid is as stupid does, and, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.

FYI, in the same dune diptych the pictures were made from about the same vantage point but with different lenses. They were made approximately 45-60 minutes apart. The sky over the ocean at the beach can change rather quickly.