civilized ku # 2010 ~ no uninteresting things

Down escalator ~ L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal - Montreal, CA • click to embiggen

A camera is truly a license to explore. There are no uninteresting things. There are just uninterested people. ~ Jerry Uelsmann

civilized ku # 2009 ~ the life of objects

Rue Barré ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen

I believe that photography loves banal objects, and I love the life of objects. ~ Josef Sudek

Update on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 11:29AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "...these 3 recent quotes work really well with the images... including the earlier post with the quote from Sir Ansel. Where do you find them? Is your brain capable of recalling such things from the volumes you must have read?"

Juha Haataja also wrote: "That was a great quote! (Sometimes I wonder how you find all these - you must have an excellent library!)"

FYI, Juha is referring to the quote found in the civilized ku # 2010 entry.

my response: I do read a lot - books (fiction, non-fiction, photography related), periodicals, and the like - not just photography related stuff. With all of that reading, it's not at all difficult to amass quite a number of quotable quotes. Many of the quotes I like are tabbed in books and periodicals for easy future reference. I also keep a digital domain quote file comprised mainly of quotes I have found online.

A surprising number of quotes from this collection do stick in my head. Although, true be told, those stickies are rarely recalled verbatim and, when I wish to use them in print/online, I must look them up in order to get them right.

The real trick is not remembering the quotes, it's remembering where to find them when I need to reference them.

civilized ku # 2008 ~ rentless fidelity

China town ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggen

What the human eye observes causally and incuriously, the eye of the camera notes with relentless fidelity. ~ Berenice Abbott

civilized ku # 2007 ~ 3940

4 mailboxes ~ Clinton County - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn fit of inquisitiveness, John Linn asked:

How much time do you spend picturing vs. processing? How do you find the time? What is your incentive to make so many images? Does creating pictures provide personal satisfaction or does it come from showing your work?

Re: time - I spend much more time processing than I do picturing. Nothing unusual in that inasmuch as my picturing is rarely done during picture making purposed outings. My cameras are always with me wherever I go and when I see something that captures my eye, I picture it. Consequently, my picturing is primarily a spur-of-the-moment type activity which is not very time consuming simply because it is an adjunct to my daily routine/life.

Processing time, per picture, varies dependent upon a number of variables. At a minimum, 15-20 minutes for an "easy" image is the norm. Those more "difficult" images - exposure blending, mixed WB, lens distortion/ perspective distortion fixes, etc. (most likely a combination of 2 or more of those issues) - require more time, up to an hour or so per image. That said, and making a wild guesstimate, the average time per image is most likely, in the 35 minute range.

So, on any given day, it's 35 minutes x the number of pictures to be processed, understanding, of course, that I do not have pictures to be processed on every single day. On most days, my time is my own, so the time spent picturing/processing is not an issue.

Re: my incentive - Ansel Adams said it best ....

... it is increasingly clear to me that my art relates more and more to a sublimation of my closeness to the natural world, it's events, light itself, and the positive... it is a personal expression based on observation and reaction, that I am not able to define except in terms of the work itself.

Re: Does creating pictures provide personal satisfaction or does it come from showing your work? - Yes and yes.

FYI, the 4 mailboxes picture is a good example, typical of my picture making activities and the time I spend picturing. I made the picture during a car ride to a press check for a client. I was not out and about looking for pictures to make. The mailboxes were there, I was there, I saw them, and I made a picture of what I saw - very much a see, react, act (quickly). That said, I tend make pictures in the manner of Sir Ansel ...

...with most of my photographs, the subject appears as a found object, something discovered, not arranged by me. I usually have an immediate recognition of the potential image, and I have found that too much concern about matters such as conventional composition may take the edge off the first inclusive reaction ...

Processing time was about 30 minutes.

single women # 19 ~ bartender

Bartender ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 2006 ~ Xmas at the Pyramids

Nativity scene from Egypt • click to embiggen

Teenie Harris ~ an American original / a highly recommended book

all images © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Teenie Harris • click to embiggen
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all images © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

One of the most fortuitous unintended consequences of my time spent living in Pittsburgh, ranking right up there with meeting and marrying the wife, was my "discovery" of the work of Teenie Harris. That encounter took place on the streets of Pittsburgh - specifically in the Strip District (aka: public market) - where, during good weather, a street vendor set up a display of Teenie Harris pictures for sale.

For me, it was love at first sight and I acquired 3 11×14(ish) prints. I don't remember the price but I believe it was in the $20.00US/per print ballpark. Little did I know that Teenie would come to be considered as the most important black picture maker chronicling the lives of black Americans in 20th century America. In hindsight, I should have acquired many more prints but I was hesitant at the time because rumor had it that the street vendor had engaged in some sort of shady deal with Teenie (or possibly his wife) by which he had possession of Teenie's negatives.

That rumor most likely stemmed from the fact that in 1998, the year in which he died, Teenie was in the process of suing, for noncompliance, a person with whom he had signed (in 1986) a management agreement contract. As it turns out, the suit was eventually settled in Teenie's favor and all of the negatives (80,000+) were returned to his estate. In 2001, the negatives were purchased by the Carnegie Museum of Art (in Pittsburgh).

All of the suing / purchase activity came as news to me when I recently came across an advert for Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story, an exhibit of 987 Harris pictures currently on display at the CMOA (through April 7, 2012 - and, yes, I will be going to Pittsburgh to see the exhibit). Needless to state, I am extremely pleased to read that the collection, a true photography treasure, is in good hands and is being properly conserved, scanned, and and cataloged.

And, speaking of treasure, I have purchased, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival thereof, the exhibit catalog/book. IMO, the book is an absolute must-have for anyone with an interest in picture making. And again IMO, much of Teenie's work stands on an equal footing with that of Walker Evans, albeit somewhat (but not entirely) different in intent and scope.

All of that said, I will have more to write on the pictures themselves.

FYI, the bottom-right picture of the Tyler family was published - June 13, 1959 - in the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper (the black newspaper by which Teenie Harris was employed from c.1941 until his retirement c.1976, after which he worked for the newspaper on a freelance basis until c.1983). The Tyler family picture was accompanied by the following cutline (caption):

Please Help Them - Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tyler and their six children, who are being forced to move from a tinder-box house at 2817 Berthoud St., are in extreme mental anguish this week because they have no place to move. Can you help them?