civilized ku # 2024 ~ blue # 1

Early evening light ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThe color blue and, by association, the color cyan are not often prominently on display in my pictures. IMO, the reason for this bias is threefold: 1) blue/cyan or most shades thereof are near the bottom of my list, favorite color wise - no blue/cyan cars, no blue/cyan paint in/on my house, little in the way of blue/cyan clothing, etc., 2) my eye is not attracted to blue referents, picture making wise, and, 3) I don't live in an environment where blue/cyan colors are very dominant as they are, say, in Markus Spring's series, Couleurs Du Maghreb (1-8).

When it comes to picture making, I don't consciously avoid blue/cyan colors (as I most emphatically do in my selection of material goods) and, although there may be a bit of subconscious avoidance, those colors can be found in some of my pictures. However, blue/cyan colors are, as mentioned, rarely featured and, equally rare, are seldom causal, picture making motivation wise.

That said, over the past week or so, I have, in fact, been responding to blue/cyan colors - the beginning of my blue period? - as a primary reason for making a few pictures. I can not explain the rather sudden awareness to these colors. Perhaps it is simply because I don't live in an environment where blue/cyan colors are very dominant - oceans, blue skies stretching to a distant horizon, and the like - so, when blue/cyan colors strike my eye and tickle my sensibilities as they recently have done, I just can not avoid making pictures which are instigated by seeing those colors in a stand-out-of-the-crowd kind of way..

In the Early evening light picture in this entry, the blue reflection on the car, together with the subtle but very measurable blue/cyan on the house across the street and in the clouds, as contrasted against the warm light cast by a street light / Xmas lights / Xmas tree were what caught my eye ...

... however, as I am not a color screamist, in processing the picture I did remove quite a bit of blue from the clouds. As is most often the case with sky/clouds when pictured at night, the clouds were recorded as hyper-saturated blue in appearance - a level of saturation well beyond how they appear to the eye. Consequently, whenever any of my pictures include the night sky, I always de-saturate the way-over-the-top blue.

In this picture, I also de-saturated the blue/cyan in the car sky reflection and the houses across the street. In all cases, the amount of de-saturation was based upon what looked "natural" to the eye yet to a level which would still evidence the cool/warm color contrast which motivated my picture making response to the scene.

FYI, while the following 2 entries quite obviously are part of my nascent blue period, it should be noted that blue/cyan colors are also quite prominent in the Whiteface from Monument Falls picture found in the entry ku # 1136 ~ out of sight / out of mind (the entry immediately following the blue pictures). That picture was made within the time frame of the makings of blue # 1-3. Although, in fact, those colors were not a conscious picture making factor in the Whiteface from Monument Falls picture.

Perhaps my subconscious mind is telling my eyes to atone for their blue/cyan sins of omission.

civilized ku # 2023 ~ blue # 2

Reflection on street ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2021-22 ~ blue # 3/3a

Variations on a reflection ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

ku # 1136 ~ out of sight / out of mind

Whiteface from Monument Falls ~ Wilmington, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn response to my whining in the the best ever, most perfect holiday gift - what I want for Xmas entry, Anil Rao contacted me with a holiday gift exchange offer. Anil has created a new folio, Fractured, which he has graciously offered in exchange for some of my work (yet to be determined). I am looking forward to viewing his new folio and I certain that it will be the equal of his Rocks and Stones folio which I already possess.

In his Email, Anil mentioned that his Fractured folio is featured in LensWork Extended #97 (online - membership only) along with an interview with Brooks Jensen. As coincidence would have it, recently, I have been thinking about how, with the passing of Borders bookstore, I have not purchased any photo periodicals in the past 5-6 months - Borders is was the only bookstore within 150 miles - without taking a ferry ride or leaving the country - with a half-decent selection of photo periodicals.

Anil's mention of LensWork, a periodical I would regularly purchase at Borders, reminded me that I should give some thought to subscribing to a number of such magazines. Unfortunately, that prospect creates a few problems for me: 1) I don't necessarily want each and every issue of a given magazine - some issues are not always to my liking, content wise, and being able to browse through them at a newsstand was my method of pick-and-choose, and 2) magazines, via the mail, often show up bruised or mangled and, once again, being able to pick through them at a newsstand for the best condition examples was a plus.

That said, at this time, I don't have an alternative. It's subscriptions or nothing given the fact that I am not about to travel 150 miles every month for the express purpose of buying magazines. So now it would seem that I have another problem - 3) trying to determine which photo magazines are worth subscribing to.

Any suggestions?

civilized ku # 2020 ~ the best ever, most perfect holiday gift - what I want for Xmas

Power station ~ Franklin Falls Pond ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAs I sat on Santa's lap, I told her ... er, ahh, I mean, him that I hoped to find a new lens - specifically the new Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45 mm f/1.8 lens - under the Xmas tree. However, what I didn't tell Santa about was my desire to buy from / swap picture books with some of the followers of The Landscapist (what I really want for Xmas).

Santa managed what I interpreted to be a favorable nod to the lens idea but she, once again I mean he, would have reacted far less favorably to the photo book buy/swap idea. Santa knows who's been naughty or nice / good or bad and, from my experience, she (ok, I give up - in my house Santa's a she) knows that most, if not all of The Landscapist followers are bad when it comes to making POD photo books.

Maybe I should have asked Santa for a number of sets of photo-book-making cajones to be doled out to some of The Landscapist followers out there (figuratively speaking, of course, for the ladies in the crowd). I mean, seriously, what's it gonna take to get some you off the mark on this idea? Maybe some of you could include the idea on your New Year's resolutions list.

What's the harm in trying? If you just can't get it done to your satisfaction, no one is going to make you stand in the corner wearing a dunce hat.

FYI, I have been quite pleased with the sales of the Twig book. It's very gratifying to know that it will be viewed in the US of A, Canada, Europe, and Australia. I also find it interesting that most of the sales are to Landscapist followers who have never commented on the blog nor had any prior contact with me. Very nice.

civilized ku # 2019 ~ looking

3 people looking ~ Mt. Royal - Montreal, CA • click to embiggenI also like to look.

tangles, thickets, and twigs ~ fields of visual energy

Twigs - the book ~ sample spreads • click to embiggenMy POD picture book, Tangles, Thickets, and Twigs ~ Fields of Visual Energy, arrived yesterday and, self serving as it may sound, it is an incredible piece of work.

The book - 12×12inch hard cover, 36 pages, with 30 9×9inch color plates (to include 1 visual joke - FYI, even the wife burst out laughing when she saw it) - is my first it's-about-time attempt at organizing / editing my so-called "twig" pictures. Pictures made over the past 7-8 years which have been sitting (languishing?) in my 3,400+ pictures finished picture folder just waiting to be brought to the fore. After viewing the book, I can state unequivocally that it was well worth the time and effort.

As is so often the case, the pictures, when viewed as a body of work, make quite an impression and a very strong visual statement. While each individual picture in the book is, IMO, worthy of consideration as stand alone "greatest hits", when viewed together, they positively sing - musically speaking, all the individual notes come together to create quite a pleasing symphony.

All of that sales spiel said, the book is available for purchase. The price is a moving target - Shutterfly is currently offering a 30% discount which brings the price down from $90.00US to $70.00US. If you're not in a hurry and can wait until Shutterfly offers a 40% discount - mostly likely right after the holidays - the price will be $60.00US (all prices are + shipping).

If you are interested (and who wouldn't be?), email me with your mailing address (so the book can be shipped directly from Shutterfly). I will advise you of current discounts and the book's "market price" before placing the order.

Current Book Price

North America (includes shipping) $62.00 USD international (includes extra shipping cost) $70.00 USD

Price includes shipping cost. The International book price reflects the extra cost (via USPS First Class Mail) for overseas shipping.

Update on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:21AM by gravitas et nugalis

ADDENDUM - 12/15: As of today, Shutterfly is offering a "Limited Time" 50% discount. So, today's "market price" for the book is $50.00US + shipping. As they say on late night TV, "Act now! Operators are standing by."

PS - Since this book is already selling well, I will order a few more to keep on hand (at the $50.00US price) for those who need a little more time to think it over.

civilized ku # 2018 ~ letting your eyes work from inside out

In-home tableau ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenA few days ago in the still life ~ the light entry, I opined that I believe many studio based picture makers most often know light better than their non studio based picture making brethren. Along similar lines, it is also my belief that those who demonstrate an ability to make good still life pictures* are also damn good landscape picture makers, arrangements of color / form / shape / space on the 2D print surface wise.

IMO, this is true simply because the picture maker in question has an innate sense of spacial and color relationships. That sense is not something they have to think about when making pictures. Rather, it is something they just "feel", which is why, when asked, most can not define / explain how they do it with any sense of a replicable MO.

As Nike says (or did say - I don't keep up on such things), they "just do it". Or, if you prefer a more picture making oriented quote, as Edward Weston stated:

Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection.

This notion reduces the "rules" of composition to an after-the-fact description, as opposed to a before-the-fact prescriptive method of making good pictures, compositionally speaking. This descriptive awareness is useful for discussing composition (aka: one element of why a picture looks good), but it is not so useful for the creation of art - an act which most often requires "breaking the rules", or, perhaps more accurately stated, the creative act of making new rules.

Most amateur picture makers, when seeking a replicable compositional formula, react in both horror and dismay when confronted with the idea of composition as being a feel-it thing. How, they ask, can I learn to "feel it"? Or, more to the point, can it be learned? And, if I can't learn to "feel it", am I doomed to forever making compositionally clichéd pictures by consulting and following the "rules of composition"?

The answer to the last question is, "yes". But ...

... IMO, one can learn to "feel it", but it requires a very concentrated effort (and, it should be noted, making that effort doesn't always guarantee success). That effort - often measured in years, not months - revolves around identifying, in your own body of work, those pictures which "work" for you. That is to say, those pictures which work for your eye and sensibilities. Once identified, study those pictures, looking to discover an after-the-fact descriptive awareness of why they "work" for you.

Once you recognize that after-the-fact descriptive, you have begun to get at least a fledgling feeling for your own personal sense of composition. However, avoid, at all costs, trying to over analyze it and turn it into to logical / rational proscriptive "rule" to be employed in all of your picture making. Rather, learn to identify that same feeling of "it's just right" when at the point of making a picture.

As Weston also stated, it's all about learning to ...

... Let the eyes work from inside out ... [T]hen so called “composition” becomes a personal thing, to be developed along with technique, as a personal way of seeing.

*In my commercial picture making salad days, about 50% of my work was spent in making still life pictures. To this day I still can not shake the impulse to "arrange" things - case in point, scattered all over our house are a sizable number of my still life tableaux (witness the picture in this entry). When the wife is in a generous mood, she calls these arrangement, "your museum(s)". At other less generous times, she refers to them simply as "clutter".

I don't think she understands how important these things are to my growth and refinement as a picture maker. Although ... guess who she asked to decorate and arrange her office (which resulted in a actual paying commission to do likewise for another partner in her firm.