ku # 779 ~ an interesting pov, picture maker wise

Water's edge and leaf ~ Bog River / Low's Lake region - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt is somewhat interesting how it is that I find stuff about picture making while reading something that is not about picture making.

In this case, I was reading one of my "pulp fiction", albeit hardbound with nice paper, muder mystery / suspense novels that I came across this little bit of commentary:

A picture isn't a part of the experience - its a composition outside of the experience. The photographer chooses the angle. He chooses what will be in the picture, and what won't. If the picture is a world, then the photographer is the god of that world (ul. emph., mine) ~ from Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

IMO, a good picture is a "world" unto itself. While it is a visually self-contained world, re: referent wise (aka, the noted) - the picture maker chooses the angle and what will be contained therein - the connoted can be connected to a much broader world. A world that can be as rich as the viewer's life experience. A world that can be enriched by a viewer with a wide range of experience, knowledge, and an open and creative mind or a world that is diminished by a lack thereof.

The picture maker's (god's) "job" is to open the door / provide the window to other worlds that he/she sees with aware, sensitive, and ever-seeking eyes.

ku # 777-78 ~ Odonata

Odonate shed skin ~ Bog River / Low's Lake region - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Odonate shed skin ~ Bog River / Low's Lake region - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAs coincidence would have it during our wilderness canoe trip, Hugo found the shed skin of a Hudson Whiteface dragonfly (Leucorrhinia hudsonia) on a tree trunk.

On that trip we had brought along the latest edition of Adirondack Magazine which, coincidentally, featured a cover picture of and an article about the Low' Lake / Bog River primitive/wilderness region in which we were paddling and camping. However, unbeknownst to us until we read it (after finding the shed skin), the magazine also had an article about the species of the order of Odonata - aka, dragonflies and damselfies - that are found in the Adirondacks. FYI, there are approximately 140 species of dragonflies / damselflies that call the Adirondacks home.

The unexpected coincidence stems from the fact that accompanying the article was a picture of the Hudson Whiteface dragonfly that Hugo had found - a picture that illustrated the shed skin of that very same species of dragonfly.

ku # 773-76 ~ 4 more reasons, picture wise, why I don't like the Jersey Shore

Water break ~ Bog River / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Intrepid paddler ~ Bog River / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPlease forgive me, re: more Hugo paddling pictures. Although, some of these pictures are just flat out nice landscape pictures, but I just have to give Hugo his props.

The kid just takes to a canoe like a duck to water. I'm sure that there are other 5-years-olds out there somewhere that have undertaken a wilderness solo canoe trip but I haven't met/seen any of them. Neither had quite a number of other paddlers we passed along the way. To say the least, they were quite surprised - some even rather stunned - to encounter a little kid paddling his own canoe.

As we paddled along, other paddlers were inclined to spontaneously comment along the lines of, "How old are you?", "We're proud of you", "Keep up the good work, kid" along with a few quiet exclamations of "holy shit!".

On the last day of our trip as we were approaching the take-out, Hugo mentioned that, "If I were a skeleton, my arms would be falling off." And, to give him his props - I give him lots of credit for pushing his limits.

Way to go, kid.

civilized ku # 582 ~ people picturing

After a swim ~ Bog River / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPeople - know and unkown - have been slowly appearing in my "serious" pictures. That said, there has been no conscious or concerted effort to make that happen in my picturing - it's just kinda happening.

In fact, it's happening in much the same manner as my gradual shift from "pure" landscape pictures (ku) to my signs-of-humankind in the landscape (civilized ku) did - slowly but surely, over an extended period of time. However, to my way of thinking and acting, there is one primary difference between making pure and/or civilized landscape pictures and the making of peopled pictures - that of how the pictured people are represented.

In the current state of pictures-as-art (as opposed to family and friends snapshots and the like), it is quite fashionable - and I don't mean that in a disparaging sense - to represent people as a rather self-affected lot - people posing with a very-much-aware-of and staring-at-the-camera (occasionally not) "vacant"/ deadpan expression. Perhaps that is in fashion because it does, in fact, illustrate the rather detached, self-centered, and emotionally cool attitude that is representative of much of the populous, especially that of the younger generation.

A good example of such pictures can be found in Michael Frahm's work, The Excerise Of Look And Fail To See.

When viewing these pictures, I don't detect much human "warmth". In most cases, after working my way through a handful of such pictures - pictures in a single body of work - I tend to lose interest or, perhaps more accurately stated, I just don't want to see any more pictures that are, to my sense and sensibilities, rather "lifeless" and somewhat depressing.

That said, I am aware of a few picture makers (I'm reasonably certain that there are many more that I am not aware of) who manage to circumvent the fashionable thing and picture people with at least a modicum of human warmth. One such picture maker, David Strohl, is making some very inviting / interesting pictures that include a people presence in his Drift Savanna project.

What I like most about Strohl's people pictures is the often subtle and, therefore, interestingly human expressions that he captures in his picturing. The people just simply appear to be being themselves in a rather "honest" and straightforward expression of themselves. Consequently, to my eye and sensibilities, I want to see more, not less, of these pictures. For the most part, his pictures make me want want to meet the people portrayed in them or at least not want to avoid them in a chance encounter.

I can't say that about the people in Frahm's pictures. They may, in fact, be very nice and interesting people, but they don't look that way in Frahm's pictures. At least, that's how I see them - both the pictures and the people portrayed therein.

All of that said, it could be opined that today's people picture and few recent others seem to be drifting more toward Frahm's way of seeing rather than that of Strohl.

To be honest, I'm not certain that is way I want to go and I think that the only way of avoiding that is to approach my subjects and let them know that I am making a picture of them. Hopefully, I can coax an "honest" expression or two out of them although the question then becomes, is it really honest?

"civilized" ku # 580-81 ~ when ya gotta go, ya gotta go

Primitive amenities ~ Bog River / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 576-79 ~ my disappearing act, explained

Camp stuff ~ Bog River / Low's Lake Primitive Area - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Paddling ~ Bog River / Low's Lake Primitive Area - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenYou may have noticed that I haven't been around for the past few days. The wife, grandson Hugo, and I have been paddling about the wilderness for 4 days.

The trip was an oh-boy-my-heart-is-working / birthday (mine) cruise.

It was also Hugo's first self-propelled wilderness canoe trip. A few weeks ago, Hugo had quite decidedly declared that he wanted to paddle his own canoe on our upcoming trip. So, a new 28oz. carbon-fiber double blade paddle purchase later, off he paddled in our 12ft. / 20lb. canoe. And, just to prove that he wasn't just 5-year-old paddling-poser, he insisted on loading it up with all his gear - clothes, a few toys, sleeping bag, camp chair, a tarp, fishing pole and tackle box.

I am very happy to report that a good time was had by all.

civilized ku # 573-75 ~ playing catch-up

Swimmer ~ Blue Mt. Lake - in the Central Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
The beach / the lake ~ Blue Mt. Lake - in the Central Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThe heat and humidity has kept me indoors in air-conditioned comfort playing a lot of catch up on the computer. I've gone on a print making binge, banging out quite a number of big prints from the Epson PRO7800 - 22'×22' images on 24'×24' paper (when trimmed).

As egocentric as it might sound, I am really impressed with the print quality - not to mention the artistic/ aesthetic quality - of my pictures. Consequently, this round of printing has caused me to deal directly and realistically with the idea that I am not going to win the lottery, which I would need to do in order to mount and display my pictures to archival standards.

Therefore, I have decided, at this stage, to label my prints as "Artist's Proof"(s) and mount them for display to something short of archival standards. I am certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that so mounted they will last longer than I will. And that's just fine by me.

FYI, the beach/lake diptych pictures were made by standing in the water, picturing the beach, and then turning 180˚ toward the lake. The diptych illustrates a July 4th mid-afternoon "crowd" on an Adirondack beach.

Any one wondering why I don't like the Jersey Shore beach in July and/or August?

before and after ~ then and now

Radishes • click to embiggenSince my acquisition of an Olympus E-P1 (late last December) I have gradually evolved to the point that almost all of my personal picture making has been accomplished with just 1 lens - the Lumix (Panasonic) 20mm f/1.7 (35e=40mm).

Truth be told, when I first mounted/used the lens, I was more than a bit apprehensive about its angle of coverage/view - 57˚/diagonal - which tended to be more toward the "normal" range, albeit slightly wide-angle, than the wide-angle range that I was accustom to using - could I adjust to the "tighter" / less inclusive angle-of-view? Would I not be able to get the picture by limiting my use to that lens? What would I "miss"?

In fact, every time I left the house I took my E-3 and its array of lenses, so, in reality, I wasn't actually limiting my picture making, equipment wise. I could turn to my regular lens-of-choice, the Zuiko 11-22mm f.28-3.5 (with µ4/3 adapter), at anytime that I deemed it necessary.

However, and much to my surprise, the need to do so never arose. The transition to "seeing" within the lens' angle-of-view was entirely seamless and intuitive. There was no angst, consternation, thrashing about, or any other form of conscious awareness that something had changed. Life and picture making went as before.

Why this came as surprise to me is somewhat of a mystery or, perhaps more accurately, the result of advancing age mental decrepitude - what I was doing, normal-ish focal length wise, was nothing, more or less, than exactly what I had been doing in my 8×10 view camera salad days.

During that picture making period, a 10inch (254mm) f6.3 Kodak Commercial Ektar lens was the only lens ever mounted on my 8×10 Arca Swiss for personal work (as opposed to commercial work). That focal length lens falls into the normal-ish, albeit slightly wide-angle, range on an 8×10 view camera.

So, double duh .... I didn't feel constrained or limited then so, not surprisingly, I don't feel so now ... triple duh.

In fact, like back then, I feel rather "liberated" in my picture making - it is almost totally about seeing and picturing. The only technical considerations are exposure and focus, which, quite frankly, makes making pictures about as easy as it gets.