civilized ku # 781 ~ inexhaustible subject matter / on seeing

Listerine light and screws • click to embiggenPicture-worthy referents are everywhere. If you find yourself in a "creative" slump, picture making wise, IMO you're sleep walking around with two eyes closed. You need to wake up. At least that's how I see it.

Subject matter all around me seemed inexhaustible….Yet what makes these photographs is their objectivity. This objectivity is of the very essence of photography, its contribution and at the same time its limitation. The photographer’s problem is to see clearly the limitations and at the same time the potential qualities of his medium, for it is precisely here that honesty no less than intensity of vision is the pre-requisite of a living expression. The fullest realization of this is accomplished without tricks of process or manipulation, through the use of straight photographic methods. ~ Paul Strand

civilized ku # 780 ~ taken in / on seeing

Grand Union ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Of all my photographs, the ones that have most meaning for me are those I was moved to make from a certain vantage point, at a certain moment and no other, and for which I did not draw on my abilities to fabricate a picture, composition-wise or otherwise. You might say that I was taken in. ~ Paul Caponigro

I made this picture "from a certain vantage point, at a certain moment and no other, and for which I did not draw on my abilities to fabricate a picture, composition-wise or otherwise." Indeed, you might say that I was taken in.

For those who might wonder what the hell it was that took me in ... as I was returning to my car after making the Northern Insuring and RESERVED PARKING pictures, the relative warmth of the store interior - as suggested by "the light" therein - in contrast to the cold foreboding clouds together with the somewhat human scale of the store (with its "traditional" copula) in contrast to the looming and seemingly impenetrable brick wall (with it's "high-tech" satellite dish) just took me in and stopped me in my tracks.

You know - kinda like what it means to be human while standing in the shadow of the march of "progress".

civilized ku # 779 ~ irrelevant, humanly limiting exigencies vs. "the spirit of fact"/ on seeing

Northern Insuring ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

I am not trying to express myself through photography, impose my personality upon nature (any manifestation of life) but without prejudice nor falsification to become identified with nature, to know things in their very essence, so that what I record is not an interpretation—my idea of what nature should be—but a revelation or a piercing of the smoke-screen artificially cast over life by irrelevant, humanly limited exigencies, into an absolute, impersonal recognition. ~ Edward Weston

Now I'm not certain exactly what Weston means when he states that he is "not trying to express myself through photography". Perhaps it is a self-effacing attempt to not draw attention to himself because, in his mind, he is just a conduit through which "revelations" flow. Or maybe it's just his way of saying, "It's all about the pictures."

That said, I do appreciate the fact that Weston (in his picture making) did not to "impose [his] personality upon nature". That's a stance that stands in direct contrast, nature photography wise, to the "creatively interpretive" pretty-picture crowd about whom art critic / author Sally Eauclaire states ....

... Playing to the multitude of viewers who salivate at the sight of nature, such photographers ... [D]rawing upon the Hudson River School's legacy in painting, burden it with ever coarser effects. Rather than humbly seeking out "the spirit of fact", they assume the role of God's art director making His immanence unequivocal and obtrusive.

In any event, if the meaning of the word "nature" is expanded to include "the everyday world in which we live", I am, and have been, totally down (in my picture making) with the idea, of "a piercing of the smoke-screen artificially cast over life by irrelevant, humanly limited exigencies...".

You know, in the picture making world, it's kinda like in the real world wherein "the spirit of fact" is being trampled to death under the weight of the "truthiness" of half-baked beliefs.

still life # 14 ~ /on seeing

Still Life ~ Duquesne Light (Pittsburgh, PA) Ad • click to embiggenThis might be rather shocking to some, but, over the course of my 30 year commercial picture making, virtually all of my pictures were vertical rectangles - very few square pictures amongst them. Obviously, that's because every picture was for publication on pages that were vertical rectangles - magazine ads, annual reports, marketing brochures / catalogues, books, and the like. Other than some pictures made in the panoramic format (mainly for editorial and annual report work) and some square polaroid pictures (editorial work), the only exception to the vertical rectangle format was pictures made for use across a double-page spread which were made in the horizontal format.

That said, the reason for today's vertical rectangular picture is for the purpose of, once again, grappling with the notion of composition*.

Vertical rectangular format aside, the salient point about the picture, composition wise, is that it is a still life picture. A picture in which the composition is entirely manufactured. The act of combining parts or elements to form a whole (read * at the bottom of this entry) was entirely arbitrary inasmuch as there was no "map" or directive given by the client (Duquense Light - a transmission and distribution of electric energy company). The only requirement for the picture was "to make a picture that represents our company's services in support of contractors and architects".

So, after rounding up a bunch of appropriate props - many more than pictured here, I set about playing around with them in order to arrive at a visually pleasing arrangement. In doing so, I was assisted in no small part by my "sense of harmonic proportions" (see civilized ku # 773), not to mention about 20 sheets of 4×5 Polaroid film. Never once did I consider / consult "the rules of composition".

Now, lest anyone think this recounting is an exercise in self aggrandizement / promotion, here's the point ....

It has been noted that some of the picture-making instructional books have examples of various compositional rules / styles and that some of them also have suggested "exercises" that are supposed to help one improve / one their picture making skills.

Well, after posting the gourd & dry flowers picture in civilized ku # 776, I got to thinking about the thousands of still life pictures that I made in my commercial picture making days. Even though I used my seemingly preternatural sense of harmonic proportions to make those pictures - pictures that made my clients very happy, what occurred to me was to wonder whether the process of making a still life picture, composition wise, could be "reverse engineered" in order to help someone without a preternatural sense of harmonic proportions develop such as sense.

After contemplating that possibility, I am convinced that such an "exercise" - making a still life picture - could be a tremendous aid in developing a sense of harmonic proportions.

Think about it. You start from nothing, gather a few items, and arrange them - from a fixed camera POV, not from your eye's POV - in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. In the digital world, you can picture each and every arrangement variation (instead of using a lot of polaroid) for "analysis" on the camera's LCD (chimping) and on the computer screen, or, eventually, in print.

Think about it. In the absence of any guide / map, AKA - "rules", you have to depend upon the "feel" of how the things look / work together to form the whole. Some arrangements will look and feel disjointed, awkward or "wrong". Others will look and feel synergetic, harmonious, or "right".

Think about it. There is no hard-and-fast "right" or "wrong" in this exercise. Much depends upon your own innate / native sense of right" and "wrong" but that, in fact, is precisely the point - you will begin to identify your personal sense of "right" and "wrong". You will begin to sense / understand what works for you which should be the basis for developing your own personal way of making pictures of what you see.

Think about it. Developing the ability to make a successful still life "composition" and recognizing it as such, will eventually help you - out in the "found" picture making world - recognize / see, relative to your referent and your intent, a combination of parts or elements that form a visually pleasing whole.

Think about it, and, please let me know what you think about it.

*as stated previously, I don't believe that there is such a thing as "the rules of composition" but I don't know what word to use, other than "composition", when discussing the structure of a picture. So, when I use that word, it should be understood in the simplest manner - the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole. And, IMO, there are about a zillion-and-a-half ways of combining parts or elements to form a whole, picture making wise. In fact, when it comes to great / good / interesting pictures, I would venture that there are as many ways of combining parts or elements to form a whole as there are pictures.

civilized ku # 778 ~ reserved parking

RESERVED PARKING ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 776 ~ gourdgeous

Gourd and dry flowers • click to embiggen

decay # 40 ~ unintended consequences

Remains • click to embiggenAlbeit unintentional, the wife finally got with the decay program.

Normally, I must wait around - sometimes days, sometimes weeks - while various things decay to the point of a picture-worthy state but, over the weekend, the wife shortened the wait time by going to bed and leaving (forgetting) a pot with a chicken carcass (making chicken stock) simmering on the stove. The result, decay-wise, was a thing of beauty for which I am very grateful.

That said, I am assembling a Decay & Disgust portfolio, a book, and a limited edition 10 print Decay & Disgust folio. The portfolio is for submission to galleries.

A complete up-to-date online Decay & Disgust gallery can viewed HERE

civilized ku # 775 ~ a beetist mandala

Beet juice stains • click to embiggenIn light of the recent entry about right-brain / left-brain notions, civilized ku # 766, I am very curious about what side of the brain you use when making pictures. Or, since the brain rarely uses one hemisphere of the brain totally independent of the other, it would be more correct to ask which side of the brain is your dominate side?

Do you even know? Have you ever taken a LB/RB test? There are a zillion of them to be had online.

While I'm curious, how much does your LB or RB hemispheric dominance effect how you make pictures? And, do you think that your LB or RB hemispheric dominance effects / determines what you prefer to picture?