civilized ku # 736-39 ~ funeral/graveside - it was a sunny day

Into the church ~ Merchantville, NJ • click to embiggen
At the cemetery ~ Cherry Hill, NJ • click to embiggenSome grandson's as pallbearers, some other grandchildren at the graveside, and Celtic music (it's big Irish family) by the wife's brother (playing the penny whistle).

civilized ku # 731-34 ~ history lesson

Independence Hall ~ Philadelphia PA • click to embiggen
Hugo's history lesson ~ Philadelphia PA • click to embiggenWhile at Independence Hall (during last week's funereal sojourn) I purchased a book for Hugo - Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School - so that he could take it to school.

In his essay, Fart Proudly (aka: "A Letter To A Royal Academy"), Franklin - living abroad as the American Ambassador to France - was responding to a request from the Royal Academy of Brussels for scientific papers. Franklin thought that many European academic societies were quite pretentious and rather occupied with impractical pursuits.

Franklin's suggestion was for a scientific study of human farts with the aim of improving the smell of human farts - preferably by means of a drug that would render the odor "not only inoffensive, but agreeable as Perfumes".

It read, in part ...

I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year...Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age. It is universally well known, That in digesting our common Food, there is created or produced in the Bowels of human Creatures, a great Quantity of Wind. That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it. That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind.

civilized ku # 730 ~ the day that Alice died

Family and friends ~ Merchantville, NJ • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 729 ~ Autumn color # 50 / on seeing

Lawn, car, branch, and bushes ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn yesterday's entry, ku # 826, I deliberated upon the distinction between seeing and making a picture of what you see. IMO, seeing and making a picture of what you see - although very obviously related acts - are actually quite different activities.

One could spend the better part of an hour (or a day) seeing things without making a single picture of what was seen. Or, conversely, one could spend the better part of an hour (or a day, or, for that matter, a lifetime) making pictures that are little more than the work of a parrot, no seeing required. FYI, I would opine that the former activity is time well spent whereas the latter is simply time spent.

That said, let's get on with the notion of seeing - IMO, the whole of seeing is presented in very succinct fashion in the previously proffered (civilzed ku # 725) quote by Stephen Shore ....

.... what the world looks like in a state of heightened awareness ... it’s that awareness of really looking at the everyday world with clear and focused attention ...

It should be noted that being in a state of heightened awareness with clear and focused attention on a constant basis might just be a recipe for sensory overload. On the other hand, I am not so sure that that state can be switched on and off at will. Nor do I believe that is some mystical state that requires the mixture of Zen and the ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms - although, for the terminally inhibited, that might be the only course of action.

IMO, and in my personal experience, attaining a state of heightened awareness is best achieved by living a life of simply paying constant attention to the world around one's self - simply being aware of what the hell is going on in your world. No more slouching towards Armageddon. Sit up straight, open your eyes and mind, and pay attention.

an ASIDE: Exactly what you might choose to pay attention to, picturing making wise, is completely up to you. Some might be interested in the social life of ants while others might be more interested in the color red. What piques your picture making interest(s) doesn't really matter as long as you have a genuine interest in something with which you have a very personal connection.

To avoid sensory overload (both mental and visual), I keep my paying-attention-dial set to "moderate" which makes it relatively easy to dial it up to a higher setting when something in my world pricks my attention. Other than the fact that I prefer living life in an aware state of eye and mind, picture making wise I find it much easier to move the dial from moderate to heightened than I do from off to on.

Now, if all this seems a bit elementary, just let me state that I am continually surprised - one might even say, "dumbstruck" - by the number of people, picture makers included, who seem to regularly miss even the most obvious of stuff. While they do manage to avoid running over pedestrians in a crosswalk, what they don't see could easily fill a 16GB CF card.

So, if you are afflicted with a paying-attention disorder, how do you develop and encourage a greater - or fledgling, if that is the case - sense of awareness of the world around you - aka: seeing, as opposed to just looking?

In many of the how-to photography books (with the word "mastering" in their titles), there are a host of "exercises" devoted to attaining a great awareness. Things like going into your bathroom and making 20 pictures, or, if making 20 pictures is easy, then making more pictures up to the point where there are no more pictures to be made. Or, at least until the point where it becomes difficult to make any more pictures.

IMO, this is a pointless exercise, re: the act of seeing. If you want to hone your ability to see, the next time you go into your bathroom to sit on the toilet, spend some time looking at things with the aim of getting a feel for the place and the things in the place. Pay attention to light, color, shape, textures, the relationship of one thing to another or the relationship of one thing to the whole of it all.

And then, instead of making pictures of it all, think about / ponder all that you have seen. Let it seep into your bones because, while the camera is a tool for recording what we see, so is the intellect. The camera does not bestow purpose, only the intellect, assisted by emotion (aka: passion), can encourage and develop that critical-to-the-act-of-seeing ingredient.

civilized ku # 728 ~ I'm back

Hearse ~ Pennsauken, NJ • click to embiggenAs promised, I thought about the act of seeing during my funereal sojourn and my first crack at that nut is found in the next entry.

It should be noted that I have much to write about the subject but I can not be certain that it will all come out in the "correct" order. Think of my writings here on The Landscapist, re: seeing, as the rough draft of an eventual book on the subject because, if I am going to put the effort into this thing, I want it to end up on the printed page where it won't disappear into the ethereal ether of the blogosphere / www.

ku # 826 ~ Autumn color # 49 / on seeing

Red leaves / blue berries ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhile I was away I did have some time to ponder the notion of seeing and the most prominent conclusion that resulted was that neither teaching nor learning how to see is an easy undertaking.

That said, clues and hints, re: the act of seeing, can be found quite readily in the words and, quite obviously, in the pictures of those who are very successful at seeing as well as putting the results of that act into their pictures. And, make no mistake about it, seeing and making good/interesting pictures of what you see are 2 distinctly different skills.

To be perfectly clear on that distinction, I would opine that while many are very accomplished at making pictures, relatively few are very adept at seeing anything beyond what everyone else sees, aka: the obviuos. They are, in the words of Brooks Jensen, making pictures that represent what they have been told (or conditioned to believe) are good pictures ...

Real photography begins when we let go of what we have been told is a good photograph and start photographing what we see ~ Brooks Jensen

And, relative to the making of such "good" pictures, Jensen also states that ...

... eventually every photographer who sticks with it long enough arrives a technical plateau where production of technically good photographs is relatively easy. It is here that real photography starts and most photographers quit

... hence, the many who are adept at making "good" pictures but are failures, re: the act of seeing. They are very good at noting the obvious - what everyone else sees - but no so good at really seeing the not so readily apparent.

One reason (amongst many) that this is so was addressed by the American artist and teacher, Robert Henri, in his book, THE ART SPIRIT ...

The greatness of art depends absolutely upon the greatness of the artist's individuality and on the same source depends the power to acquire a technique sufficient for expression ... [T]he man who is forever acquiring technique with the idea that sometimes he may have something to express, will never have the technique of the thing he wishes to express ... [T]he technique learned without a purpose is a formula which, when used, knocks the life out of any idea to which it is applied ... technique can only be used properly by those who have definite purpose in what they do, and it is only they who invent technique. Otherwise it is the work of parrots ....

To wit, most would-be artists put the cart before the horse. Their efforts are first directed at acquiring / "mastering" technique when, in fact, they should be learning how to see. By first acquiring technique they become slaves to the technique and can only see the world through that lens (photographically speaking).

All of that said, you've read it before and I'll write it again - want to learn how to see?

STEP # 1 - remember to forget. Forget about all that you have been told is a good picture. Start to look at the world around you and begin to see what you can see.

STEP # 2 - one camera, one lens is the way to go. Simplify the technique / technicals and get on with the act of making pictures for the act of making pictures will help you to be able to connect with the act of seeing.

civilized ku # 728 ~ Autumn color # 48

Lousy Autumn color ~ Everywhere - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAfter getting my surgeon's (sort of) OK, Hugo and I are heading out to Albany early Thursday AM where we sill catch a train to NYC and from there and another train to Philadelphia.

The wife has been in South Jersey (Merchantville) since last Saturday. She and her siblings have been keeping watch at their mother's bedside since then. Mom's death, not unexpected, is imminent so Hugo and I are heading down to be there with family and friends and for the services.

I don't know if I will be posting anything for a short while but, that said, I am taking Sven W's (and Markus Spring's) request seriously. Both have suggested that I offer "relevant guidance" and "positive instruction" regarding learning to see. In fact, yesterday's civilized ku # 725 entry, which contained 2 very pertinent-to-the-art-seeing quotes, was a first step in that direction.

That said, I would suggest that you read an entry by A. Cemal Ekin (on his blog, Kept Light) as a very pertinent counterpoint to the drivel and dreck dispensed by so many so-called "masters" of "fine art" photography. And, while you're at it, pay special attention to his statement - the knowledge of the medium and its qualities elude many photographers let alone many who view their work - because knowledge of the medium and its qualities is a paramount notion re: learning how to see.

FYI, I'm taking a pen and notebook .... yes, you read me right, a pen and a notebook in order to jot down my thoughts and ideas about seeing.

See y'all soon.

civilized ku # 727 ~ Autumn color # 47

Corner windows ~ Wanakena, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI'm tempted to include this picture in my picture window series but it doesn't really conform to the specific criteria of the formal qualities of that body of work.