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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 December 1, 2008 - December 31, 2008

Wednesday
Dec312008

picture window # 19 ~ the long view

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Noel and narcissusclick to embiggen
Another year has come and gone. As the holidays come to a close and another Gregorian-calender year begins, I would like to wish all of you a happy new year.

I can't help but think that 2009 is going to be a very interesting year.

Wednesday
Dec312008

civilized ku # 149 ~ color me warm

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Mom drinks, the Eagles win, all is right with the worldclick to embiggen
This past Sunday evening in south Jersey a bunch of the wife's siblings and in-laws (or outlaws as we are sometimes referred to) took mom out for a drink. The bar / restaurant (managed by one of mom's grandchildren) was stoked up with Philadelphia Eagles fever as they (the Eagles) laid a licking on the Dallas Cowboys and thereby, against all odds, squeaked into the playoffs. All was right with the world.

Photography-wise, I was snapping away with ISO 400 @ 1/6 sec. and with the WB set for daylight which, of course, renders the scene's color "inaccurately". I do so because, for most artificially lit interior scenes, the warm color rendering helps preserve the feeling / ambiance of most places.

Although, I must admit to post-processing the color results - first in my RAW conversion and then fiddling / fine tuning in PS - to a point about halfway between daylight (5200K) and tungsten (3200K). That point does vary depending upon the light source color temperature in as much as when the light source is pure tungsten (3200K) I process the WB to a point closer to the "correct" setting in order to avoid too much "warmth".

In any event, it's safe to say that, when it comes to indoor color, I have no cast-in-stone color standard. I just work it until it looks and feels right.

Tuesday
Dec302008

civilized ku # 148 ~ is it real or is it Memorex?

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Hugo pictures Lily and Lily returns the favorclick to embiggen
On our holiday trip to New Jersey, Hugo made a paradigm-changing discovery about pictures. To be precise, moving pictures and, in particular, moving pictures as viewed on a television screen but, nevertheless, certainly one that is applicable to still pictures as well.

As mentioned, we (8 of us) interrupted our journey to south Jersey with a 4 hour stop in Newark, NJ to see a professional hockey game - the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the New Jersey Devils. It was a significant event for Hugo for 3 reasons - 2 eagerly anticipated reasons and 1 totally unexpected. The first 2 reasons were, simply enough; 1) his first in-person NHL hockey game, and, 2) his "date" with Lily at that hockey game. Both reasons were eagerly anticipated, especially the date part (have I mentioned that he is 4 going on 16?).

Unanticipated reason #3 came as a big surprise to me and to Hugo - Hugo has viewed countless Penguins games on television. He is well aware of players and stars like Sid-the-Kid and the Candy Man. His personal favorite is former Penguin Gary Roberts. We don't know why that is, it just is.

So, when we arrived in the arena, the teams were still on the ice for their pre-game warmups. While the wife was standing in line for refreshments, I took Hugo into the arena to see the whole deal - lots of people, the jumbotron, lighting effects and all of the general hoopla that is a pro-sporting event here in the good ole US of A.

As he was taking it all in, I pointed out Sid-the-Kid and the Candy Man down on the ice, whereupon he looked and looked and looked some more at them, especially so at Sid-the-Kid. His gaze was intense and I could almost hear the gears and bells and whistles sounding in his head. After a few minutes of looking and thinking, he turned to me and said,

"I didn't know Sid-the-Kid was real.", and, a little later, "I didn't even know Roberts was real."

Just like that, his view of the world changed in an instant. And, just like that, my view of what's the most important thing that he can learn for his future life - that is his ability, in a media saturated world, to distinguish real from the imagined - also changed in an instant. Sure, sure, reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic are much needed tools for survival but, if you really think about it, when it comes to distinguishing between need and desire in a media world saturated with pictures (both moving and still) that are solely intended to seduce and excite the lust to consume, a basic understanding of what's real and what's fanciful is a very important skill to have.

A skill that most people seem to have ignored or never have possessed in the first place.

That is why, Hugo and I are about to embark upon a concentrated program of both picturing and picture viewing. Nothing real "heavy", just what seems to come naturally to him - he does seem to genuinely like to both make and look at pictures. and that's a language that I would very much like him to learn right along side the language of the written word that he is currently starting to learn.

Not to mention, I really like how kids see their world. 1044757-2308085-thumbnail.jpg
Hugo and Lilyclick to embiggen
It is definitely quite different from the way adults see their world. IMO, that is is especially true when they picture each other. I believe that is so because when picturing each other, they relate to each other kid-to-kid as opposed to when an adult pictures them and they relate kid-to-adult.

I submit as evidence of my kid-to-kid vs kid-to-adult theory, the pictures that accompany this entry - the 2 kid-to-kid pictures above and my kid-to-adult picture on the left. IMO and to my eye and sensibilities, there is a sense of ease and directness as well as a far less posed quality that is very apparent in the kid-to-kid pictures than that which is captured in the kid-to-adult picture.

Call me crazy, but I am acutely aware - from viewing the pictures - of the fact that Lily and Hugo were sharing a very different picture making dynamic with each other from that which they were together sharing with me. Each gave to the other as part of the picturing act something that was quite different from that which they gave to me.

Both Hugo and Lily engaged in chimping after they made their respective pictures but neither have seen a print of their efforts. I will be especially eager to watch Hugo view his picture of Lily when he visits on New Year's day.

I really wonder what it is he will judge to be real.

Tuesday
Dec302008

civilized ku # 147 ~ back from the land of make-believe

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Hugo gets a haircut at Fun Kuts Kids ~ Merchantville, NJclick to embiggen
New Jersey just might be the absolute best example of what is wrong with America.

And, IMO, first on the list of wrongness is the unchecked suburban sprawl that has consumed so much of the state's rural landscape. One need only traverse the state - north to south (or vice-versa) - on the rolling parking lot called the NJ Turnpike to see firsthand what the hand of unregulated growth and development has wrought.

If this is what people consider to be living the American Dream, they can count me out. Way out. In my case, 300 miles out.

Thursday
Dec252008

civilized ku # 145 ~ a swell time

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Xmas dinner at The Lake Placid Lodgeclick to embiggen
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Tree trimmingclick to embiggen
After an absolutely wonderful Xmas eve of dinner and tree trimming at our house with Hugo and his mom and dad, followed by an equally fun Xmas morning and breakfast with the same crowd, the wife and I spent an afternoon of rest, relaxation, and recreation followed by dinner at The Lake Placid Lodge.

Tomorrow it's off to South Jersey with the same crowd for the big wife-family Xmas party with a 3 hour stop along the way in Newark, NJ to see the Pittsburgh Penguins play the New Jersey Devils.

Wednesday
Dec242008

civilized ku # 144 ~ Ho Ho Ho

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Caroling at the marshmallow roasting fire and Saint Nicholas Chapel at Santa's Workshop ~ North Pole, NYclick to embiggen
Happy Holidays - May whichever Spirit of the Season that you hold near and dear be with you and yours.

Tuesday
Dec232008

picture window # 18 ~ it's cold outside

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Fresh snow and bone-chilling coldclick to embiggen
Some say that the act of making a picture removes one from the experience of the moment. Those who think so are heard to proclaim that, on occasion, they put aside the camera in order to more fully experience whatever moment it is with which they are engaged.

This notion has always left me a bit puzzled because I have never really felt that particular conflict of interest. I suppose that is because I don't make a big deal out of the simple act of making a picture - bring camera to eye, adjust exposure if needed, look, and press the shutter release, return to "reality". How hard is that?

And, if your looking comes in the form of being really attentive to your surroundings, how the hell can a heightened state of awareness detract from a given moment?

Although, it does seems to me that most who are picturing / experiencing conflicted are those whose looking is bloated with thinking. That is, thinking about things photographic - looking for leading-lines, thinking about composition, et al (aka, the rules) - in short thinking about what kind of picture you are trying to make.

For me, thinking instead of looking ruins everything - it ruins both the moment and the chances of making a good picture. Ansel-the-Magnificent said it best:

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs

It has been opined by some that the "rules for making good photographs" are, in fact, little more than after-the-fact extrapolations made from good pictures. To be totally cynical about it, that could mean that those who are the keepers of the faith in the "rules" just make up rules after seeing a good picture in order to create a "good-picture" making coda for those without imagination who wish to repeat the already observed fact.

IMO, the single most destructive notion to the act of making good pictures is to fall victim to the idea that "you need to learn the rules before you can break the rules", which, IMO, is akin to the need to spend a year in a Nike sweatshop making sneakers before you start working on your jump shot. And, just to make matters worse, keep thinking about that year making sneakers every time you attempt a jump shot.

Monday
Dec222008

man & nature # 83/84 ~ I need a chuckle ... or two ... or three ... or ....

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A cold and snowy Adirondack winter eveningclick to embiggen
Did you ever think about having your pictures psychoanalyzed?

Which, of course, would basically be the same as having yourself psychoanalyzed. But instead of sitting / reclining around in an analyst's office for hours on end, why not just convert all those hours spent picturing into psychoanalytical material - prints - and send them in for an in-depth reading? I mean, if as artists, we are tapping into our inner-selves and letting it all hang out in our prints, I don't see why a good psychoanalyst couldn't tell us a lot about our selves just by looking at our pictures.

For many personal reasons (which I will not get into at this time) I have been thinking about this idea recently. However, one non-personal thing that I have noticed, and you'd have to be either blind or totally isolated not to notice, is that there is a proverbial ton of pictures out there being made from a very personal POVs. And, if there is one monumental effect from the digital "revolution" photography-wise, it has to be the ease with which a picture can be made and, consequently, the number of people making pictures.

What I am struck by as I make way around the picture-making world on the internet is the sheer number of pictures being made with a my own very personal relationship to the world POV - a kind of photographic variation on Jame Thurber's My World and Welcome to It. Except, of course, Thurber's weapon of choice was humor whereas most of today's picture making observationists seem to be of the deadly serious variety.

Found in their observations, there is irony, cynicism, and cool detachment / observation aplenty. However, in my experience it seems that humor is in very short supply and, IMO, more's the pity. In my most fevered imaginings, I would dearly love to attend a gallery show opening (photography division) where everyone was standing around laughing and chuckling rather than just sipping wine and somberly contemplating the work at hand.

So, I have 2 questions - 1) is anyone out there aware of a picture maker whose stock in trade is humor, or, at the very least, a bit of levity? Hell, I'll even settle for some wry observations, as in, dryly humorous often with a touch of irony, and, 2) do you have a humorous picture or 2 that we could see?