intimate/personal space #1 ~ messy intimacy

Bed #1 • click to embiggenA few days ago I was visually attracted to my bed. There was something about the disorder that made me think of quite a number of things - comfort, warmth, intimacy, rest, rejuvenation, just to name a few of the sensations that suggested themselves to me by way of the rumpled bed. I can't say that all of those feelings / sensations were apparent to me at the time but they are now, now that I have pictured the scene and looked at the pictures.

Looking at the pictures and letting myself get sucked into the sensations caused me to think that a series might be possible - hence, intimate/personal spaces.

So, I started wandering around the house looking for the kind of spaces that seemed at first glance to arouse visual and intuitive experiences that were similar to the rumbled bed picture. I made a fair number of pictures and they all turned out to be total failures except for one. I'll present that one in tomorrow's entry.

What that second successful picture made clear to me was that I was confusing "messy" with "intimate". In the bed picture, the bed was messy and I realized that it was the "mess" that suggested a human presence which led to thoughts of intimacy and warmth - unlike my unsuccessful pictures of the total train-wreck mess in the teenage girl's room.

That mess seemed like it would be ripe for the picking but all it/I produced was pictures of a mess. There was no intimacy, no warmth, no comfort, no nothing like any of that. It was just a mess. One could certainly assume human activity of some kind was associated with the mess but that was not the kind of human presence I am after.

In any event, one of the prime motivators driving this series is the desire to get a lttle more person oriented, a little more intimate and little less distant with my subject than I have been with most of my previous stuff (with which I will continue).

FYI - I see this as a series of diptychs.

decay # 27 ~ pepper glop

Saran wrapped peppers with zucchini and lemon • click to embiggenOne thing that I have discovered with my decay series is that, during my selected subject decay/fermenting process, things decay in a different manner if they are sealed in saran wrap than if they are exposed to the air.

ku # 552 ~ remaking America

Delicate ice @ -6˚F • click to embiggenI didn't have much to say yesterday regarding the historic (give the word a rest already) event taking place in Washington, DC. In fact, because I was sick to death of all the media hype leading up to the event, my only participation during the event was to listen to the new president's inaugural address on the radio.

IMO, the address is what I have come to expect from then-candidate, now-President Obama - long on rhetoric, short on specifics. To be fair, I really didn't expect him to deliver a policy-wonk address, but, if he is going to truly seize the moment for "change we can believe in", he's got to get down to brass tacks PDQ/ASAP.

IMO, a broad non-specific mandate "to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America" just isn't going to cut it. Now, don't misunderstand, I want for the new president to succeed in leading the "remaking" of America. But he's got to start giving us specifics about the lay of the land he wants to lead us into.

I, for one, am not at all interested in "remaking" America into a redux of the one that has landed us in the mess in which we currently find ourselves. That was an America in which it actually made sense after 9/11 for the then-president to exhort us to "go out and shop" as an antidote to what ailed us. Which, in fact, is exactly what so many "loyal" Americans did to wretched and irresponsible excess which, in turn, helped lead us into a promised land of near economic ruin.

To his credit and to my sense of hope, he did speak of the possibilities of "what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity". The emphasis is mine. I did so because of something I read (by Robert Hughes, from his book, Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America) a number of years ago:

The fact remains that America is a collective act of the imagination whose making never ends, and once that sense of collectivity and mutual respect is broken, the possibilities of American-ness begin to unravel.

Essentially, Obama and Hughes are saying the same thing - imagination + commonality of purpose = common good.

imagination - IMO, and I am not alone, imagination has been sorely lacking in America, especially so in the last decade or so. To be more precise, what ever imagination existed, it was employed by the business class for sole purpose of expanding their wealth and well-being - imagining ways to accrue more and money money in whatever manner possible (as long as it did not require hard work) and f**k the common good. In addition to the many borderline-illegal financial schemes, some employed their imaginings to dreaming up a zillion meaningless/frivolous next-big-things with which to separate the suckers - AKA, the consumer class - from their money.

And, of course, let's not forget those legions of loyal American suckers without whom much of the covetousness inspired spend-and-get nonsense would not have been possible. Those near compulsive consumers whose imaginings were limited to how to acquire the next-big-frivolous-thing in whatever manner possible. Mortgage the house (and your future)? Sure, why not? You gotta love that funny money.

commonality of purpose - The "possibilities of American-ness began to unravel" decades ago when America's moronic grand dad stated that "government was the problem", which is essentially tantamount to proclaiming that "it's every man for himself". The public square in America was deemed to be a place fit only for free-for-all excesses. The idea of the "common good" came to mean something along the lines of, what's good for ME is the common good.

Witness the ridicule heaped upon Hillary Clinton and her mention of the notion that it take a village to raise a child. And, it's worth noting that most of that ridicule came from those swell beady-eyed-zealot folks who proclaimed that government - the BIG village - was the problem and that it takes an unregulated free-market - the free--for-all - to raise a child.

To me, remaking America involves getting our collective head out of the spent-and-get gutter and on to the business of defining what constitutes the common good. And then using our imaginations to do what's necessary to foster, reward, and protect that commonality. Otherwise, you might just want to use your imagination to picture what it will be like to stand in line for a ticket for the next merry-go-round ride to a redux of the bankrupt American "dream".

man & nature # 92 ~ the sub-zero beat goes on

-6˚F ~ Ice on trees • click to embiggenMuch to my surprise it was -8˚F this AM. So I couldn't resist getting out there and making some more really cold pictures.

After last week's sub-zero spell and picturing, it occurred to me that by adding a few more really cold pictures to the batch already on hand, there would be more than enough good pictures for a POD photo book. Today's batch brings the total of good pictures to the 12-14 number range which is more than enough to make a basic 20 page book. Although ... the forecast for the weekend is for more sub-zero temperatures ...

FYI, Mike Odonoghue asked for info regarding my cold weather kit: my kit is the same as it always is - 2 dslrs with camera straps, 3 lenses in a camera bag, and a tripod in tow.

For hand warmth, I use a 2 glove system - 1 light liner glove inside a heavier outer glove on my left hand (the hand that I hold the camera with) and just the liner glove on my right hand. When I'm not picturing, I keep my right hand tucked in my jacket pocket. On my recent picture making excursion, I was wearing just sweat pants and a turtle neck under a sweatshirt, so I tucked my hand into the pocket of the sweat pants.

That said, it should be understood that that clothing set up is for picturing in and around my village, not for trekking around in the mountains. Although, that said, it's worth noting that when I am trekking around in the mountains, even at -20˚F, after just a short time of walking through the snow with snowshoes and a pack, my body heats up like a furnace. At that point I start shedding my gloves, unzipping all of the vents on my lightweight one-piece winter suit, and even rolling up my sleeves.

As for my camera gear in such extended mountain conditions, one of the reasons that I went for the "pro" Olympus E-3 and "pro" lenses was the weather-sealed construction. However, extra batteries are a must and you absolutely must carry them on your person, preferably tucked inside a pocket close to your body for maximum warmth. I even sleep with them inside my sleeping bag.

In any event, as long as you are prepared to winter conditions, even extreme conditions, winter picturing can be fun and rewarding. And, in part, because all the fair-weather wimps are inside huddled near the fire, you can avail yourself of the opportunity to picture stuff that only a handful of others are attempting. Think of it this way:

The fewer imaginative people there are the better I say because it leaves more room for me to run around in. ~ Domonic Russo

civilized ku # 153 ~ good luck

Pizza remains • click to embiggenApropos of absolutely nothing on this day of a new beginning.

ku # 551 ~ shoot 'em all

Looking into the sun through an icy tree and a -23˚F mist • click to embiggenCAVEAT: It is rarely my intention to speak ill of the dead. In this entry I will speak of the dead but I will try my best to speak ill only of the living.

Just a few days ago Jean Keene, the much heralded (in most quarters) "Eagle Lady" of Homer, Alaska passed away. I am familiar with her works through a couple of online nature photo forum that feature Avian Photography. Her work has been a topic of controversy on these (and other) forums - is she doing a good thing or a a bad thing?

For those of you not familiar with her and her work, her "work" for a couple of decades has been the winter feeding of the eagles of Homer - 500 lbs of fish a day. Over the course of that time, the number of eagles that show up for feeding time has grown to over 200 - 300 or more each and every day. Over that same period of time the number of so-called avian photographers who show up for feeding time has grown into the thousands. So many, in fact, that they drive the winter economy of Homer.

The controversy surrounding her "work" (which, in fact, is really a "hobby", not a job) is the age old one of feeding wild creatures in the wild. For quite a while, this activity has been strenuously frowned upon by wildlife conservationists - it most often has the effect of tending to "domestic" wild creatures which causes them to lose many of their natural instincts for foraging for food. Not to mention that they then also tend to associate food with a human presence. That kind of habituation can lead to nasty encounters between humans and wildlife.

And, in the case of the Eagle Lady, irrespective of her intentions regarding the eagles, the effect of such a large concentration of eagles in one place was to wipe out / drive away the native populations of cranes, loons, and other avian species in that region.

Way to go, Eagle Lady.

And, as an added icing on the cake, now that she's gone the eagle feeding will come to an end - the Town Council of Homer banned feeding the eagles (with the single exception of the Eagle Lady) in Homer - and no one knows how many of the handout-dependent eagles will perish in the absence of a "free" meal.

Way to go, Eagle Lady.

Now, you can judge for yourself whether or not the aforementioned speaks ill of the dead but let there be no doubt about the following.

It is beyond my imagining why avian photographers would take any satisfaction from picturing what amounts to picturing birds feeding in a dump. But apparently quite a number of them do. So many, in fact, that there is a rising chorus of voices in Homer decrying the end of the eagle feeding because of its negative impact upon the local economy. So many, in fact, that it is estimated that over 80% of all of the published pictures of eagles were made in Homer at the Eagle Lady's fish dump.

With the exception of commercial photographers on assignment who need to get in and out quickly with the goods, I am at a complete loss to understand why someone would pay, on average $3,200, to book a "tour" to Homer, Alaska to visit a dump.

Now, I am not unaware of the fact that birders of both the observer and the picturing variety usually have a life-list of birds that they have actually seen and hope to see. They check them off like items on an automat food menu.

But, just like the nearly endless stream of pictures made at iconic locations - Half Dome, Horse Shoe Bend, Old Faithful, Rainbow Arch, et al - I don't understand the weird idea, to my way of thinking, of wanting to picture what has been pictured a zillions times before. I want to avoid like the plague putting my feet and my tripod feet in the same places that have seen a zillion feet and tripod feet before me.

To be completely frank, I am so sick and tired of images of all the iconic places that I don't even want to visit any of these places for any reason whatsoever.

An aside Here in our area, a just recently spotted owl of some kind or another (rarely seen south of the Canadian border) drew hundreds of birders hoping for a sighting and a picture or two. OK, that's fine - everybody needs to have a hobby. Hell, for number of years I collected autographs of famous blues musicians on my Gibson Les Paul guitar although, for what it's worth, I was really "collecting" the music-listening experience.

That said, I also find it totally incomprehensible why someone who claims to appreciate birds so much would partake in an activity that obviously does the species harm - and, as in the case of our Eagle Lady friend, other species as well. Are they so self-absorbed with their own picture making obsession that it's just a matter of damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead? Are they just take-the-easy-way-out assholes who are too f**king lazy to take the time and make the effort to actually picture an eagle in the wild? Something that I assume is a not an especially easy task.

IMO, all of these so-called wildlife/avian photographers are accomplishing little more than those so-called hunters who kill "trophy" game on a game farm - it's nothing more than shooting ducks in a barrel.

Wow. Big deal.

If that's all there were to it, I'd say let them have their "fun". But, unfortunately, in this case, shooting ducks in a barrel does real harm, not only to the "ducks", but also to other species as well. But, then again, maybe I am speaking ill of the dead, because, after all, it wasn't the photographers who were feeding the eagles .... they were just flocking like vultures around the stench of a rotting carcass - 50,000 lbs (a year) of rotting fish carcass to be exact.

man & nature # 91 ~ because it's fun

Birch Tree Lodge @ 0˚F in a light granular snowfall • click to embiggenOver the past few days since my -23˚F entry, there has been considerable speculation, here and elsewhere, that I am either insane or heroic for venturing out to picture in such weather.

The truth is that I just simply like cold weather and, up to a point, the colder the better. Unlike my aversion to really hot weather, the cold makes me feel invigorated and alive. That is assuming, of course, that one is properly dressed for such extremes as -23˚F and, by being so, one can actually feel anything and also remain alive.

My affection / some might say, "affliction" has its roots in my childhood during which I spent many a winter's day playing in the woods near my house. I was as dressed for the weather as one could be in those days which meant layers and layer of cotton clothing and the obligatory feet-in-plastic-bags-inside-of-boots. Needless to say, after an extended play in the woods, I returned home - water being heavier than air - weighing twice as much as I did before I left.

In any event, winter weather meant fun - building snow "forts", snowmen, snowball fights, skating in the backyard rink, "snow days" off from school, watching blizzards from inside a warm house, being kicked out of the house during a blizzard and being told to go play in the snow, sledding, and since we had little in the way of hills/slopes, being towed behind a car on a sled.

I can vividly remember one dazzling display of it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time when me and my chums spent a number of hours during a near whiteout blizzard on a snow day off from school building a snow wall (probably about 12 inches high) - made of blocks of packed snow (we always had a number of wooden crates/boxes on hand for making snow blocks for our various snow building enterprises) - spanning the street in front of my house. After which we retreated to our snow fort and waited for the sound of an unsuspecting motorist plowing into the snow barrier. Whereupon we would laugh ourselves senseless, wait for the car to depart and then spring from our fort, make the needed repairs to the wall and do it all over again.

Oh, what fun. At least it was until one extremely irate motorist exited his vehicle, assessed the situation - peals of muted laughter coming from the snow fort, a snow "quarry" of sorts in my front yard - and made a beeline to the front door of my house. So much for fun.

All of which may explain why, in addition to picturing in the cold weather, I spent 4 days during the recent deep-freeze making a backyard ice rink for Hugo.
The backyard rink • click to embiggenNow I won't try to sell you on the idea that 4 days of the combination of sub-zero temperatures, a sheet of plywood, a garden hose, and slow tedious ice-tending is my idea of fun, but, on the other hand, I can state that after all these years it was fun, in fact, a lot of fun and a bit satisfying to lace up the skates yesterday afternoon (a balmy 15˚F - felt like shirtsleeve weather) and spend an hour or two with the wife and Hugo on the ice.

The only downside, as you might be able to tell from the ice rink picture - fresh overnight snow on the surface, I am now consigned to a winter life of being a human zamboni. Ah, winter fun.

Update on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 01:03PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Mary Dennis wrote: "I heard a piece on NPR several days ago about how the canals and backwaters in Holland actually froze solid for a short period of time this winter (which they hardly ever do anymore I guess) and all the people bundled up, donned their skates, skipped work and school, built bonfires and made a holiday of it. Everyone came out of their houses, socialized and skated the day (or two) away. Then it melted....."

my response: Ah, Mary - interesting story but those wishing to remain in my good graces at this time are not uttering the word "melted" (or any derivation thereof) in my presence.

man & nature # 87 - 90 ~ welcome to Au Sable Forks at -23F

Welcome to Au Sable Forks • click to embiggen

Ice and mist on the Au Sable River • click to embiggenAs promised on yesterday's entry - "if it's-15F or below, I'll be out again tomorrow morning looking to make a really cold picture" - let it be said that I'm true to my word.

It was -23F this morning, so it was out the door for picture making.

That said, pursuant to the shedding some light on the subject entry of a few days ago, I must say that the light this AM was quite nice. Thank goodness, I'm happy to report, that I was embracing the light that I found rather than chasing it. You see, that way I can live with myself and rationalize the fact that I made such pretty pictures.

And, oh yeh, baby, it's really cold outside.