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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

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BODIES OF WORK ~ PICTURE GALLERIES

  • my new GALLERIES WEBSITE
    ADK PLACES TO SIT / LIFE WITHOUT THE APA / RAIN / THE FORKS / EARLY WORK / TANGLES

BODIES OF WORK ~ BOOK LINKS

In Situ ~ la, la, how the life goes onLife without the APADoorsKitchen SinkRain2014 • Year in ReviewPlace To SitART ~ conveys / transports / reflectsDecay & DisgustSingle WomenPicture WindowsTangles ~ fields of visual energy (10 picture preview) • The Light + BW mini-galleryKitchen Life (gallery) • The Forks ~ there's no place like home (gallery)


Entries from November 1, 2011 - November 30, 2011

Wednesday
Nov302011

civilized ku # 2003-05 / ku # 1135 ~ catching up

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Wall display ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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Building Lots (for sale) ~ Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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20 Main / Thanksgiving day ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Tangle with birch trees ~ Saranac, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Over the past 10 days I have made over 40 "final" pictures. That is to say, 40+ "keepers" which are processed to finished standards. Which is not to say that each and every one of them will see the light of day in one form or another. But, that said, there are quite a few good pictures in the bunch.

It is also worth noting, that I do not, for one reason or another, get around to posting every "good" picture I make. Even if I wanted to post them all, there isn't enough time left on any given day to do so. So, I tend to post only the best of the best and leave the rest to be dealt with in another way.

In any event, here are 4 pictures from the 40+ last 10 days pictures I have processed and saved. There will be more to follow.

Tuesday
Nov292011

FYI ~ a note

a note from Renee

Every time the wife and I visit Montreal, we stay at the Auberge du Vieux-Port, a quaint 4-star hotel in Old Montreal. In addition to the fact that the hotel is rated # 7 in Canada and # 2 in Montreal, the staff is utterly magnificent. As has been stated by many, it's like staying with friends.

In particular, 2 of the staff - Matthew and Frederic - are indeed our friends (Matthew is mostly likely coming to visit us with his wife and child later this winter). Depending upon when you arrive, Patrick and Feredic are the first to greet you at the curb. They handle your luggage, park your car, and during your stay they there for your every need.

Federic has an interest in picture making so I usually bring some of my work along for him to see and we spend some time talking picture making. On our most recent trip, I brought my life without the APA book. I left it with him and during our stay he circulated it amongst other staff members. As a result, Federic purchased a copy of the book and I also received the note (pictured above) from Renee (another staff member).

While that was a very pleasant surprise, it is turning out to be a regular occurrence. In addition to some gallery / exhibition sales, during my last visit to my cardiologist, he purchased one. Recently, while dining out in Westport (here in the Adirondacks), the chef purchased 5 books. It seems the book really strikes a chord with those who see it, even in Canada where the issues, re: the APA, are not exactly front and center.

I find these ongoing sales to be rather extraordinary inasmuch as the book is a POD book and consequently, a bit pricey ($40.00US) for a 20 page book.

Seems like it's time to approach a book publisher with the book. There is one in particular which specializes in Adirondack books with regional appeal.

Wish me luck.

And PS - Renee, thanks for the note (and, in the best sense of the phrase, the kick in the butt).

Tuesday
Nov292011

civilized ku # 1199-2002 ~ evening walkabout - dusk to dark transitions

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Le Piano Rouge ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
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Rue de la Commune Est ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
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Rue de la Commune Est ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
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from Rue Saint-Paul Est ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
Strangely enough, last Friday as we drove north, all of the signs of our day before Thanksgiving 12 inch winter wonderland snowfall gradually disappeared. By the time we crossed into Canada, all signs of snow were gone. In Montreal, it was light sweater weather and ideal for a late day / into the evening walk - a stroll before dinner and another afterward.

Tuesday
Nov292011

civilized ku # 1196-98 ~ red knife

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Stash Cafe ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
A dinner, under a red lamp shade, comprised of 3 appetizers - assorted perogies, potato pancakes, and fried kielbasa and onions.

Tuesday
Nov292011

civilized ku # 1195 ~ sure, why not?

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Nativity display # 2 ~ L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal - Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
A Polish take on the nativity.

Obviously, the most intriguing aspect of the crèche exhibition was the unique ethnocentric imagination employed in the creation of the various nativity scenes.

Monday
Nov282011

civilized ku # 1194 ~ black friday and other weirdness

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Nativity display ~ L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal - Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
My apologies for not posting since last Wednesday. The brief hiatus was due to the fact that, after an enjoyable Thanksgiving with family, the wife and I thought it best to flee the country in order to avoid all of the open-at-midnight, doorbuster, perfect-price!, pepper-spray-the-opposition Black Friday weirdness. The decision to live the life of expatriates, albeit for only 3 days, was a good one. Especially so for the fact that we were able to experience a different form of weirdness - an exhibition at L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal (Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal) of 200 nearly crèches (nativity sets) from over 100 countries around the world.

Truth be told, we had planned, well before Thanksgiving, on visiting our neighbor to the north in order to attend the Pittsburgh Penguin / Montreal Canadian, aka: Pens Vs Habs, hockey game, which, in fact, we did. However, the wife found out about the crèche exhibition prior to our departure and while she didn't make an issue about seeing it, I had no trouble seeing the out-sized monkey on her back which she carried around Montreal for the entire 3 days.

So, prior to our departure back to the good ol' US of A, we climbed (in our car) Mt. Royal and many of the steps of L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal and were amply rewarded with a very interesting (and, at times, weird) look at how the rest of the world sees the birth of the Christ. I pictured a number of the crèches and will share some of them with over next few weeks.

Re: picturing the crèches - I totally missed the no picturing sign. However, that said, I was not the only one making pictures of the crèches although I was the only one using a camera as opposed to a cell phone. Upon exiting the exhibition, I did notice the picturing prohibition notice but at that point it was too late - my sinful ways were faits accomplis.

In any event, I mentioned to the wife that there didn't seem to be any no-picturing police in evidence. Without missing a beat, she pointed out that they didn't need no stinking no-picturing police because the big guy in the sky, just like Santa Clause (the other big guy in the sky), knows when you've been bad or good. So, I guess I'm busted.

Wednesday
Nov232011

civilized ku # 1193 ~ anything that excites me, for any reason ...

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Squash ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
... I will picture it.

When I first began my blog, I named it The Landscapist simply because my primary picturing endeavors were devoted to picturing the natural landscape, Adirondack wise. The Adirondack PARK - 6 million acres, the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined - seemed to dictate a "pure" landscape approach to the making of pictures.

However, after a decade of living in the Adirondacks, I have come to realize that it is the mix of nature and man - co-existing in a sustainable, albeit tinged with tensions, relationship - which makes this place so unique. The nature of that nature/man mix has slowly but surely caused me to come to a new understanding of the inexorable co-dependency of each upon/with the other. I can no longer think of the natural landscape as being independent / separate from humankind.

In a way I never fully realized before living here - keeping in mind that, prior to living here, I had visited the Adirondacks more times than I can count - how my attitude toward the natural landscape was somewhat attenuated (limited?) by a pre-occupation with the affairs of humankind. Since living here, the natural world has crept under my skin, permeated my conscious and subconscious mind to the point of being so integrated with my self that I no longer think of the natural landscape as something special. It has become just part of what is.

That is to state, I think of the natural landscape as I think of my body - in the total scheme of things, my body is nothing special. It's just a body. It's a pretty good functioning body, but it's just a body nevertheless.

Part of my body's functioning is dependent upon a functioning natural landscape which, like a body, can (and certainly is being) be abused. And, thinking of the natural landscape as an extension of my body and my body as an extension of the natural landscape, that is, a total integration with each other (it/I are one), I don't want to abuse the natural landscape any more than I wish to abuse my body and wish that others would think the same way.

All of that said, I still think the title, The Landscapist, fits this blog, albeit in a much expanded and richer meaning. I still picture the landscape, it's just that I consider everything to be part of the landscape. Consequently, for my eye and sensibilities, trying to stick to making picture of just the natural landscape is to confining, to limiting to the idea of trying to come to grips with the real of "all that there is".

And that's why, as an example, I consider my kitchen counter to be exciting and to a certain extent full of mystery and wonder. Therefore, I pictured it. But now, I consider it to be just part of the landscape.

FYI, speaking of the total landscape as a picture making category, I think the following quote is somehow quite pertinent:

Hardening of the categories causes art disease. - W. Eugene Smith

Wednesday
Nov232011

civilized ku # 1192 ~ yesterday, late autumn - today, winter

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First snow ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Yesterday, when the sun went down, it was a late autumn, albeit cold, day. Today, when daylight arrived, it was full on winter.

What a difference a day makes.