civilized ku # 435-438 ~ mora na maidine dhuit.

Irish to the core? • click to embiggen
Victuals 'n brews • click to embiggenThe wife and I spent last Saturday evening sampling beers and food at an ARC St. Paddy's Day fund raiser.

The food was served in courses (5 in all) - to be more accurate, butlered - in 1/2 hour intervals. The beer samples were on continuous offer throughout the evening. Various brewers and distributors were set up around the banquet room, dispensing their liquid pleasures on demand - all the while a live Irish band serenading in the background.

IMO, the best of the lot by a long shot, were the brews from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, which bills itself as offering Off-centered stuff for off-centered people. That may indeed be true but, if that's the case, feel free to call me off-centered.

Due to my unfortunate fate, re: frequent trips to South Jersey, I have a passing acquaintance with a few (of the many) Dogfish Head brews (the brewery is in Delaware). One of the wife's brothers usually has plenty on hand, including one of my favorites, 90 Minute IPA.

However, prior to last Saturday, I had not had the extreme imbibing pleasure of sampling Raison D'Etre, a brew described as "a deep, mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins, and Belgian-style yeast. As complex as a fine, red wine." The tasting notes suggest that the palette will be tickled by "pit fruit, decadent, winey, raisiney, and malty" flavors. Say whatever they will, it's a great brew.

And the good news is that a good bit of the Dogfish Head offerings will now be available in our area, albeit at only 1 location - a Shell Gas Station / Convenience Store - that is located right on the wife's route to home from her office. Imagine that, all your liquid needs at one location - how convenient.

civilized ku # 434 ~ a good question

Plastic storage containers • click to embiggenIn yesterday's entry, civilised ku #426a Anil Rao commented:

In Civilised ku #426a, the brightness of the power cord does strengthen the relationship with the light streak, but IMHO it looks strange. In the previous version it blends in much better with the wall and I am inclined to believe that is what it would look like if I were to see it in person. Of course, I wasn't there so I could be wrong. Since you pride yourself in presenting the truth, I would be interested in hearing your explanation of what is going on in these two pictures w.r.t. to the cord.

My response: Other than to state that civilized ku # 426a is, indeed, a more accurate representation of the scene as it appeared at the moment of its making than is civilized ku # 426, it is also well worth stating that it is a more accurate representation of the scene in as much as the characteristics and the attendant limitations of the picture making process - the apparatus and its image - allows.

In the particular case of civilized ku # 426a, the limitation of the apparatus and its image that concerned me was that of the range of light - from dark to light - that existed in the scene. Specifically, how that range of light would appear in print and, most importantly, how that appearance would compliment, or not, what I was seeing at the moment of depressing the shutter release.

In practice, what that meant was that I would initially expose for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they may. However, doing so left the shadow under the shelf a bit too dark to reveal the "small detail" that I was most interested in revealing - as is made evident in the first picture (v1) in the civilized ku # 426 entry.

So, as is very often my wont, I made several bracketed exposures that would be useful in making a "master file" in which I could elevate the the tonal value of the shadows to not only reveal the "small detail" but to also achieve a look and feel that was more "natural", or, in other words, more "truthful" to what the scene actually looked like to the eye.

The purpose of this whole picturing making endeavor was to reveal the fact that the relationship of the power cord to the light streak did indeed, and as you so accurately stated, "look strange". The fact that the "strangeness" of the relationship is more evident in the blended-exposures picture is, IMO, the proof-is-in-the-pudding evidence of the picture's truthfulness and its intrinsic characteristic as a cohort with the real.

civilized ku # 433 ~ eggs (on my face)

Sink drain and egg yokes • click to embiggenHis memory jolted by yesterday's mention of a "valuable grand prize", Nick S remarked that, ".... now that I think of it, I never received my print from the "Bucket"contest".

All I can say is, "Damn ... I don't know whether to cry or wind my watch", because, sure enough, there was a grand prize awarded from the Bucket contest. After reading the entry linked to by Nick and then digging into my email archives, I did, indeed, find a email folder labeled "decay winners" in which there were copies of emails - dating back to 04.22.08 - from both Nick and Jaap Bijsterbosch. Those emails contained their respective choices of "grand prize" decay pictures and their mailing addresses.

Well scratch my back with a hacksaw. Thank goodness someone remembered. That said, the prints have been made and a trip to the post office is on the schedule - pending mailing address confirmation from Nick and Jaap.

Now all I have to remember is what it was that the wife wanted me to do today - or was it tomorrow?

civilized ku # 426a ~ details, pt. II

Spring sunlight through the bathroom window • click to embiggenI realize that many of you must be hanging with bated breath while awaiting the disclosure, re: the small detail as seen in the Spring sunlight picture that was posted in the civized ku # 426 entry of last Wednesday. So, without further ado ...

... the small detail - as correctly surmised and so stated by the very first guess/comment from Matt Dallos - was the power cord (on the wall beneath the radio) that merges with the streak of bright sunlight on the top and front of the soap box.

It is worth noting that many of the other "guesses" were spot on the money regarding other things that I was aware of as I was making the picture, but they were not as important to my eye as was the cord / sun streak combination.

However, that said, I must sheepishly confess to the fact that, as I was finally getting around to this entry explaining about the "small detail", I noticed (much to my chagrin) that I had posted the wrong version of the Spring sunlight picture in that entry. This mistake may have mislead many of you in as much as the cord / sun streak relationship as viewed in today's entry is much more obvious than it was in last Wednesday's entry.

All I can state is that I am very thankful that there wasn't a valuable grand prize offered to the "winner" - say, something like an Olympus EP-1 together with every 4/3rds-m4/3rds lens ever made - because the wife, AKA - the lawyer, might have had a hard time pulling my chestnuts from that messy fire.

But that said and getting back to the picture (v2) ... the reason that the cord / sun streak caught my eye was most likely due to the fact that I have been a longtime fan of John Pfahl's Altered Landscapes work.
Altered Landscapes © John Pfahl • click to embiggen It was in that body of work from the mid-late 1970s that Pfahl created some very interesting pictures that played with both the viewer's mind and eye relative to the idea of 2D vs. 3D space.

As can be seen in the pictures on the left, Pfahl used a wide array of visual devices and optical tricks in order to fool the viewer's eye and mind (more so when viewing actual prints as opposed to web versions thereof) into seeing those "devices" as having been pasted or drawn on the surface of the print rather than as actual objects in the scenes he pictured.

As an example, the tape on the museum columns and walls (or on the wooden shed image or the rock study image - as can be seen in the above link), which really does appear to be on the surface of the print, must have required hours of time to set up. When I viewed an actual print of this picture, I experienced a nearly irresistible urge to try to remove the tape from the surface of the print. It was definitely more than just a bit freaky. IMO, this stuff is pure visual genius.

And, as it must be stated, my small detail, or, as it might be labeled - Ode to John Pfahl, is kid's stuff by comparison.

FYI, a "face" was never part of my awareness. And, to answer Mary's question - NO, I do not talk to the man in my bathroom. I save it all for the Serv-O-Matics in my life.

decay # 36 ~ stuck in my head

Decay potpourri • click to embiggenOver the past week or 2 a number of things that I have read have gotten stuck in my head.

I can't seem to shake the thoughts that have been engendered by these various thought thorns. One recent notion in particular is nagging at me like a missed picture making opportunity:

Maybe talking about photography and its qualities is a bit like talking about wine and trying to describe it ... ~ Jörg Colberg @ Conscientious

Feel free to venture an opinion ...

civilized ku # 432 ~ more stuck in my head

Abigail Adams and dried flowers • click to embiggenAnother thing that I've read recently that has stuck in my head:

"We are in an exceptional time for photography as the art world embraces the photograph as never before and photographers consider the art gallery or book the natural home for their work" ... The democratization of technology now ensures the continued surplus production and distribution of the photographic image ... (raising) the specter of the medium's collapse ... crashing under the weight of its endless profusion. ~ from Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980

Feel free to venture an opinion ...

civilized ku # 431 ~ even more stuck in my head

Curtain, screen, and an overcast day • click to embiggenAnother thing that I've heard recently that has stuck in my head:

"You think too much. ~ Mel DiGiacomo - on the occasion of his listening to my opinion about some of his new "experimental" pictures.

Feel free to venture an opinion ...

civilized ku # 430 ~ a shared truth about the nature of reality

Serv-O-Matics • click to embiggenIt is certainly true that on occasion here on The Landscapist there is heated debate and discussion about quite a number of topics, both picture wise and culture / society / politic wise - especially so regarding truth and reality.

However, I do believe that there is one truth about the nature of reality with which there is little, if any, disagreement. Who amongst us would beg to differ with the notion that a household without a Serv-O-Matic is like a day without sunshine.

IMO, I can't begin to imagine what my life would be like without a couple of Brandt Peters Serv-O-Matics around the house to talk to - get a little support, a little advice, and a little insight into things that really matter.

And why not? After all, they exist, as is clearly stated on the boxes they come in, To Serve and Protect. And you know they will because they are Quality Tested • Performance Guaranteed.

CAVEAT: for the younger readers in the audience - always keep in mind, once again as clearly stated on the boxes they come in: This is not a toy. Recommended for ages 15 & up

PS - Brandt Peters has a blog HERE.