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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, 2012 - December 31, 2012

Thursday
Dec272012

civilized ku # 2432-35 / kitchen life # 35 ~ holiday whitening with holiday reds

Red pepper in zip lock bag ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen1044757-21364253-thumbnail.jpg
B-ball hoop ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
1044757-21364267-thumbnail.jpg
Red truck ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
1044757-21364324-thumbnail.jpg
Red sleigh ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
1044757-21364345-thumbnail.jpg
Red ribbons ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
One of the benies I get from reading Aline Smithsoon's LENSCRATCH, in addition to viewing the interesting pictures from a wide variety of picture makers, is Aline's regular mentions, re: picture exhibition submission opportunities. While I am not a fan of submitting pictures to picture competitions, I often enjoy viewing the final selections thereof.

My favorite form of group picture exhibitions is the type Aline often conducts / publishes on L E N S C R A T C H - every submission is accepted / published. Her most recent exhibition, the 2012 LENSCRATCH Holiday Exhibition, can be viewed here. I did not participate in that exhibition but I have in others, to include the next exhibition, YOUR FAVORITE PHOTO FROM 2012, which will be published on January 1, 2013.

All of that written, the reason I bring up the topic, picture competitions, is because most competitions are conducted around a specific theme-based submission criteria. I have taken to using some of those individual themes as a guide for viewing my picture library with the intention of identifying individual theme-based bodies of work which are "hidden" within my library of nearly 5,000 pictures and counting.

That viewing M.O. has surprised me by the number of unintentionally created bodies of work there are lurking within my total body of work. And, by identifying them, I am now able to organize and work toward intentionally expanding those bodies of work.

As an example, I never set out, with the deliberated intention, to create a body of work entitled Rain. However, over time I have, in fact, made lots of pictures in and of the rain. While I made those pictures as a result of my picturing what I see M.O., to be honest, I never thought of those pictures as an individual body of work which was independent from my total body of work. Nevertheless, the Rain pictures have emerged, by dint of theme-based viewing of the pictures in my library, from the total mass of my picturing endeavors as a legitimate stand alone body of work.

FYI, that written, it should be understood that I have worked on several bodies of work which, from day two, were undertaken as intentionally created individual bodies of work. Good examples of those would be; single women, decay & disgust, pictures windows, art reflects, and tangles. However, please note (as written), I began to pursue these bodies of work in earnest on day two, not on day one, because ....

(I usually found that if I had a preconceived idea for a project it wouldn’t amount to much. Discovery — an aggressive receptivity, if you will — of what is in the landscape provides the inspiration for new ideas. ~ Richard Misrach)

... while it has often been stated / written that, in order to be successful in one's endeavor to make good pictures, one should choose a referent one cares about and then set about picturing it, IMO, there is a better way to go about selecting a referent for in-depth investigation, picture making wise ....

There's a whole world out there and, therefore, a whole world of picturing possibilities. Although, from that nearly endless array, a few picturing possibilities might enter one noggin based upon familiarity and culturally conditioned habitual thinking, IMO, one might be better served by spending a fair amount of time and effort picturing anything and everything within the range of one's environs and regular daily life. And then ...

.... after amassing an extensive number of pictures, take a long look at the results to see what, picturing without thinking about it, pricked your eye and sensibilities. I'd be surprised if something doesn't stand out, seemingly unbidden, like a sore thumb, screaming for continued attention.

My previously mentioned bodies of work were conceived on (symbolic) day one when, as I was picturing anything and everything, my eye and sensibilities were pricked by something which, in a very real sense, came as a surprise to my rational / conscious picturing mind. That is to write, I wasn't born wanting to picture decay, tangles, or picture windows (et al). Rather, I discovered those picturing interests by mucking about, picture making wise, all over the place on a wide picturing landscape.

(symbolic) Day two dawned when I awoke to and clothed myself in picturing possibilities hitherto unimagined.

Anyone out there tried looking, theme-based wise, at your work to find "hidden" bodies of work? And, if you have an ongoing body of work, how did you come upon it?

Monday
Dec242012

civilized ku # 2431 ~ Merry Holly Daze to one and all

Snowman and Xmas trees on slate trivet and kitchen table with napkins, napkin holder, coarse kosher salt, and salt shaker ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenXmas card 2012 • click to embiggenIt seems like very time I go to our village drugstore to renew one of my prescriptions - 6 and counting - I end up buying one (or more) of these little sculpted in the USA / manufactured in China figurines. Ever since I was a little kid, I have always been a sucker for miniature things. Don't know why, it just is.

In any event, I pictured my most recent purchases for use as our family Xmas card.

Friday
Dec212012

diptych # 19 (civilized ku # 2429-30) ~ it's begining to look a not like Xmas (god bless America)

Rain / cat butts ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenDecember 21st and it's raining cats 'n dogs outside. Inside, the cats have parked their heads where the sun don't shine. For some reason, it all brings to mind the Republican led (?) US House of Representatives (god bless America).

If there is a more dedicated group of reality deniers other than those idiots - climate change, election losses, guns-don't-kill-people-people-kill-people, nobody dies because they can't get health care, not to mention the "legitimate rape" and the 47% things, to name just few parts of the real world they choose not to occupy - I've never heard of them (the idiots at Fox-icon News don't count because they're not idiots, they're just outright liars).

That written, as we enter the heart of the Xmas / holiday season, I don't want to dampen the festivities and good cheer by going all political on you. Instead I thought I would share part of Xmas wish list ....

.... I'm hoping for a bunch of hang gliders so, when the country goes over the "fiscal cliff" (god bless America), I and mine can glide off that cliff and soar merrily around like care free birds on the wing (above both the fray and the rabble). And, just to keep the gliding around more fun, a small arsenal of carry-on AK 15s would be nice*. You ever know when they might come in handy.

While the hang gliders remain a remote possibility, the AK 15s are most likely not. They have been selling like hotcakes since the Newtown Massacre (god bless America), so they are in short supply. Although, that's not because of diminishing inventory, there are plenty still around. No, that's not it ...

... it's an artificial shortage caused by gun dealers who have stopped selling those type of weapons of mass destruction - not out of any sense of public good, but rather, because they know as soon as a real threat of a ban on such weapons emerges, the price they can charge for those weapons will skyrocket out of sight (god bless America). In any event, it's certainly reassuring to know that the free market always "gets it right" (god bless America).

FYI, there's a great song, Swimmin' In The Big, aka: Bathing in the Waters of D'Nile (scroll down to # 7 and give a listen), which kinda sums it up rather nicely. A few lyrics from that song ...

My job is so secure and my government is stable
The weather’s getting better, a little warmer every year
And now we’ve got free trade, and everyone will prosper
The locals here are happy, I think I’ll have another beer

Ho, ho, ho. (god bless America)

*Legend has it that a Vietnam War helicopter gunship door gunner, when asked how he could kill women and children, answered: "Ya just don't lead 'em so much". (god bless America)

Thursday
Dec202012

civilized ku # 2428 ~ worry, worry, worry

My neighbor's back yard ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

..amateurs worry about equipment,
professionals worry about money,
masters worry about light,
I just take pictures
... ~ Vernon Trent

Wednesday
Dec192012

diptych # 18 (civilized ku # 2427 / ku # 1230) ~ try it, you might like it

Tangledness • click to embiggenA short while back, on the kitchen life # 34 ~ Doubting Thomas entry, wherein I requested small body of work pictures for consideration (re: my magazine project), Colin Griffiths wrote/asked:

The first thing I thought when I read your post was, "Oh, I'd like to be a part of this!", but then as other thoughts come forward my enthusiasm has been confused ..... Here's the problem that I have with your generous invitation: many of us have already seen each other's images as we regularly visit one others blogs. I don't have anything else to offer beyond what's already seen. I would also feel somewhat embarrassed at regurgitating what everyone has already seen ... and concerned that it was seen as indulging in self gratification. Perhaps you could explain/outline what value we might gain from any successful submissions, that allows us to develop as photographers going forward.

my response: Colin / et al, your comment - many of us have already seen each other's images as we regularly visit one others blogs - is fine, as far as it goes but how many others does that include? Double, triple, quadruple digit numbers? Most likely, it's a smallish closed-loop club which, again as far it goes, is OK but is that the limit of your desire for your pictures to be seen / shared?

To be perfectly clear, at this time I am claiming no numbers, re: the viewership of the combined online / print magazine but I believe, over time, it could grow to be quite respectable. As the numbers grow, so can the visits to your little corner of the blog-o-sphere and the feedback / comments, re: your pictures, could help you "develop as a photographer going forward".

And, you can never know where exposure of your pictures might lead to - exhibition opportunities, even more exposure, more publication .... all of which are venues in which your pictures are seen / shared. I mean, I may be wrong about some and there are those with a healthy dose of narcissistic personality disorder, but isn't showing / sharing your pictures one of the reasons we all engage in picture making activity?

And then there's one of the primary reasons for my interest in undertaking this project - viewing pictures in print. I have made my feelings / preferences, re: print vs. on-screen picture viewing, well known. To reiterate, IMO, the on-screen viewing experience is but a pale imitation of the act of viewing a picture(s) in a printed form.

Colin, to be precise and direct, I like viewing your pictures online but only inasmuch as I like viewing them online better than not viewing them at all. I am certain, beyond any doubt, I would enjoy and appreciate those same pictures much much more if I were to view them in printed form. With modern high quality POD printing technology, printed pictures can be produced in a manner which is, for each and every viewer, visually much more true-to-the-makers-intent than can be delivered without the eye fatigue and without all the variables inherent with on-screen viewing.

All of that written and re: your concern about "indulging in self gratification", what's wrong with a little self-gratification now and again? Try it. You might like it.

Wednesday
Dec192012

diptych submission ~ John's Barber Shop

John's Barber Shop ~ A diptych by Bill Delanney • click to embiggenAlong with his diptych, Bill Delanney included this information:

Have been using diptychs for a new series I've been working on. This image is of John's Barber Shop. A neighborhood shop. When I walked in, around 2 in the afternoon, he was asleep on the couch. I asked if I could make a photograph and he said ok. When I took him a print a few weeks later, he said " I don't look sick at all". A few months later he passed away.

Thanks Bill.

Tuesday
Dec182012

civilized ku # 2424-26 ~ taking the long view

Main Street sidewalk # 1 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen1044757-21304596-thumbnail.jpg
20 Main (the bar) ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
1044757-21304634-thumbnail.jpg
Porches / Palmer Street ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
While I continue to make pictures of what I see, I have started making pictures for a new body of work body, tentatively titled the long view. The title derives from the fact that I am picturing with my 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 4/3 lens (with the 4/3 > µ4/3 adapter). All of the pictures are/will be made @ 200mm (400mm 35mm equiv.).

This is a different picturing M.O. from my "normal" M.O. of picturing what I see - rather than just going out and about and picturing what I see, I will head out to make pictures of a particular type. This new for me personal picture making M.O. is more about making a picture as opposed to picturing what I see. Actually, truth be told, making pictures is not new for me inasmuch as my former commercial picture making M.O. was all about making pictures.

If my stated distinction between making and picturing what I see seems a bit obtuse, think of it this way .... whereas most of my personal picture making is instigated by seeing something which pricks my eye and sensibilities, for this new body of work, I will have to (with picturing malice aforethought) seek out things which fit my desired intentions. The intention being to visually "stack" a multitude of referents within my frame of reference.

With that in mind, I must actively seek out very particular referents, referents which occupy a somewhat miniscule portion of my eye's total field of view. With that consideration in mind, I will be concentrating my long view picturing efforts upon more urban type environments, or, more accurately (taking in to account my particular Adirondack PARK environs), village / hamlet type of environments.

The absolute master of this kind of picturing is Jay Maisel . While his work is not limited to the long view, he has made a rather tidy commercial picture making living with telephoto lenses. As soon as I have a decent body of long view work, I'll be taking up the offer from my good friend, Melchior Anthony Pasquale Di Giacomo*, for us to pay Jay a visit.

*read what Mel has to say about his good friend, Jay Maisel, HERE

Monday
Dec172012

civilized ku # 2423 ~ waiting for eggs

Toast and juice ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

A painter’s picture maker's eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. ~ William Henry Fox Talbot

... with my apologies to William Henry Fox Talbot.