civilized ku # 2076 ~ a reference

Stove / cooking ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenJust in case you missed the Reference notification on the emotionally charged ~ a question entry, Andreas Manessinger responded to the topic on his site.

FYI ~ race results

Winter Carnival NBT Bank Ice Skating Race / 2nd Grade Division ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • no embiggenHugo, aka: the grandson, wins his division in the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Ice Skating Races.

Pictures, top to bottom:

1) Even though Hugo drew the outside lane, he's hanging in there at the first turn.

2) Half way through the first lap, Hugo's pulled into 2nd place and is drafting, Apollo Anton Ohno style, the leader (a ringer from Long Island).

3) By the first turn of lap 2, Hugo has grabbed the lead - by means of a sweet dive to the inside after the 3rd corner - and is starting to stretch it out.

4) Half way through the final lap, Hugo's cruising right along and stretching it out even more.

5) At the finish, the rest of the field is nowhere in sight and, in a show of sportsmanship, Hugo begins to stop before the finish line so as to add a second or 2 to his average lap time in order to not embarrass the 3rd Grade competitors.

6) The Medalists (l-r) - 1st place / Hugo, 2nd place / the Long Island ringer, 3rd place / one of Hugo's hockey teammates.

ku # 1138 ~ rare sighting

Artic/Tundra swans ? Vermont Green Mts. ~ Lake Champlain / Peru, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenUnfortunately, I did not have my 400mm (35mm equiv.) lens with me when I saw these, very rare for these parts, 3 Artic/Tundra swans on Lake Champlain - 2 adults + 1 young swans. The swans seem to have taken up winter residency on Lake Champlain near Au Sable Point. They are rarely seen around here but the mild winter has allowed them to hang out here rather than much farther south down the Atlantic Coast.

I could use this sighting to launch into a weather-weirding / climate-change scree but it's a nice day and I don't want to upset the flat-earth / anti-science crowd.

FYI, I'll most likely head back to Au Sable Point with the long lens.

civilized ku # 2075 ~ date night

Night life ~ Wilmington, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenThe wife and I went out on date last night to hear some live music, drink some beer, eat some pub food, and spend some money. A nice time was had by all.

Update on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 11:51AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: re: my comment, "A good time was had by all", Scott Hussey wrote: "Even with John Tortorella on the television?"

my response: Most of the time, the wife was completely absorbed (as was I) by my wit, charm and ruggedly handsome good looks, albethey slightly elderly, so Mr. Tortorella was barely noticed.

civilized ku # 2074 ~ picturing your life

At rest on my parent's grave - on the occasion of the death of the ex-wife's husband ~ Mt. Hope Cemetery - Rochester, NY (concept by me / pictured by The Cinemascapist)• click to embiggenThanks for all the thoughtful comments, re: the emotionally charged ~ a question entry. As always, I really appreciate it and I believe such responses / discussions are both interesting and instructive for all concerned. Thanks again.

Some of the comments mentioned the idea and the problems / barriers / inhibitions of picturing people / strangers whom one might encounter on the street / in public places. That picture making MO most certainly qualifies as making pictures of people but it's not exactly what I had in mind when writing about emotionally charged picture making - in part because the genre known as street photography can very often produce pictures which are as "cool" and emotionally detached as landscape pictures.

IMO, in many cases (but certainly not all), the people in such pictures are somewhat less-than-interesting lifeless forms like a prop, a bush or a tree in a landscape picture. After all, it's got to be difficult (but not impossible) to create an emotionally charged picture of a person or persons with whom the picture makers has no intimate or personal knowledge or connection. That said, one of the exceptions to that situation is to be had at the scene of some sort of tragedy or spectacular event.

The lack, on the part of the picture maker, of personal knowledge of a street photography subject is also why (once again, IMO) so many pictures of people made in the name of that genre exhibit such lifeless expressions of the faces of the observed. Or, on the other hand, if the expression is not somewhat lifeless, it is one of awkwardness or oddness - a fleeting expression which, quite frankly, tells the viewer nothing about the subject other than the fact that at any given moment a person can be pictured with their tongue hanging out of their mouth or some such similar expression.

All of that said, my preference for people on the street pictures is in the vein of that practiced by Eliott Erwitt, Martine Barrat, Teenie Harris, or Bruce Davidson (most notably in his East 100th Street work). In their work, there is exhibited a much more well-rounded (emotionally) and a somewhat more intimate human connection to the people in their pictures. There is, if you will, a warmth that is severely lacking in much of the cool and detached gaze of their street photography counterparts.

That does not mean that everything and everyone in their pictures is all peaches and cream. There is plenty of dark-side content, actual and implied. There is also plenty of irony, paradox, and some wit to be found in their pictures. However, there is most definitely an underlying compassion and dignity, on the part of the picture maker toward their subjects, which is brought to bear in the act of their picture making.

In any event, I believe that one must be engaged on some level - other than the simple desire to make pictures - with the people one pictures in order capture emotionally imbued pictures. IMO, I believe Martine Barrat said it best when she stated that ...

... she photographs her life and sometimes she takes pictures: it isn't the same thing.

I couldn't have stated it better. And, in my experience, I make my most emotionally imbued pictures (sometimes highly charged) when I engage in the act of picturing my life. At other times, I take pictures. It's most definitely not the same thing.

civilized ku # 2071-73 ~ hodgepodge

2 garbage bins ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

Coffee maker ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

Hotel pool ~ Cherry Hill, NJ • click to embiggen

Images are enigmas which are solved by the heart. ~ Giordano Bruno

emotionally charged ~ a question

Death in the ER ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggenI have posted this picture previously. I am doing so again, re: my recent entry, people ~ telling it like it is, because I have come to notice that, when I post a picture with what I consider to be a high emotional content (human condition wise), it rarely instigates any comment and that fact makes me very curious.

That said, I make pictures in all kinds of situations and environments. I always have a camera with me and if something catches my eye and/or attention, I am most likely going to make a picture of it. A family portrait next to my mother in her coffin, a cute little kid on the beach, me all wired up and ready to have my heart stopped and re-started - they are, in a sense, all the same to me, picture making opportunity wise. It's all part of life / living. It's also why the ex-wife made it a point to tell me - at her husband's wake - that she wanted no pictures made of him in his coffin.

However, I have come to notice that not all picture makers feel the same way. In particular, I have started to wonder about those picture makers who picture the landscape - nature, urban, or otherwise. What I have noticed about them is that they rarely make pictures with people in them. Humankind, in the guise of actual people, are remarkably absent.

I wonder why this seems to be so*.

Is it because, as a group, landscape picture makers are uneasy in dealing, lens-to-face, with other people - especially so, in highly charged emotional situations? Or is it simply because they do not wish to "intrude" in those situations**? Do landscape picture makers deliberately choose to make pictures of such nature/urban referents because of the somewhat cool and detached picture making gaze that is most evident in the making of their pictures?

I am very curious, re: this topic - do you have any thoughts on the subject? Have you ever made any emotionally charged pictures? If so, have you shared them with others? Would you share them with us?

*FYI, in viewing the websites / blogs of many of the followers of The Landscapist, I have yet to see an intimate, emotionally charged picture.
**Although, it could be stated that hiding behind such an "excuse" is a great way to avoid dealing with such situations, picture making wise and and on a more intimate personal level.

Update on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 09:06AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Craig Tanner wrote the longest comment ever made here on the The Landscapist. You can read it here.

Here's an excerpt: ... I will always shoot landscapes. Its my first love. But my life has been profoundly changed for the better over and over again by approaching people with my camera and I just can't say the same thing about the pure landscapes I have seen and photographed. There is almost no risk in shooting the average pure landscape shot and hence there is less chance for learning and reward. Most people would love to have a more meaningful and connected life but they don't want to be the ones who take the risks to get it ...

civilized ku # 2069 ~ (some)things go better with Coke

Kissing balls ~ Westville, NY • click to embiggenThis sign can be read understood in several ways. The wife and I, coming upon it and immediately laughing out loud, understood it in the non-hanging-pomander sense.