Postcards from the Creative Journey

1158 Another Thought on the Artists Statement, First Published 6/10/2018

It is difficult to make words and photographs work together and it takes some time to create the synergy between the two. I have been working with words and pictures as part of my photographic art for about twenty-five years. It is sometimes difficult to create the right balance between what you photograph and what you write.

When your words and photographs argue, you have to let the photographs win. Photographers’ primary means of communication is the image. If you have some extra words you really want to use, save them for another project. You can always go out and make some new photographs to work with the words you really like. Wouldn’t that be a challenge? Starting with the statement and then making the photographs fit the words?

You never know when you will need a clever phrase or intriguing title for your next project. Write down those clever phrases or potential photographic titles because you never know when you will need to use one.

1157 A Pleasant Detour

Weather and Holiday closings have kept us from our appointed photographic endeavors over the last few days. I stumbled into a little project on the way to picking up dinner. In taking a leisurely, circuitous route to pick up our dinner in downtown Troy, New York, I detoured through an alley that was used as a canvas. It was not a graffiti laden spot, but Trompe L'oeil wall paintings that I thought I would share with you.  

1156 A Disparity between Technique and Art

I think the disparity between technical and artistic proficiency is the major source of my dissatisfaction with contemporary photography. In the past, it took years to become technically proficient in the analog darkroom. The extended time required to achieve technical proficiency was a good thing because it also took years to develop artistic maturity. The growth of the two skills was in sync.

In the digital age, technically proficiency is easily achieved, but it still takes years to become artistically mature. Now, the major criterion for photography is the ability to manipulate a digital file to give it, pop, snap, pizzazz, mid-tone sparkle, or whatever social media calls its version of a competently edited digital file.

The sad part of this, is that photography is being judged on technical merits and not on the content of the image and the image’s effect on the audience.

1155 How the Other Half Lived (Safari XLI)

(View from the Servants' entrance. The main entrance is hidden by some large trees.)

We moved from the humble, Spartan world of the Shakers to the opulent lifestyle of the very, very well-to-do but a few miles and a philosophical light years apart. The goal on the 24th, was to visit and photograph, Olana, the hilltop mansion of American Painter Frederic Church. In the true Edwardian fashion of the late nineteenth century, the home was jammed to the gills with books, paintings, objets d’art and souvenirs from many trips. I can’t share too many images from our afternoon on the hilltop because the tight quarters and high dynamic range of light will require a lot of digital editing before they look the way I want them to look. 

For all you photo enthusiasts out there, all the image processing is being accomplished on my Chromebook using Adobe's web based Lightroom app. It's really pretty good replicating the functions of the desktop Lightroom. The only caveat is performance is based on the quality of the internet connection. 

1154 May 23 Finally shakin’ it all off (Safari XLI)

After a day of high brow discussion and photographic research, we went back to the Hancock Shaker Village to finish off our photographic efforts. The big draw at the Village is a circular dairy barn that was years ahead of its time in design and construction. I spent some time photographing the barn and the other buildings we did not get to on the first day. Being the type of guy that likes old historic buildings and technology, it was a most enjoyable and productive few days. 

 

Missed this still life the first time around, from the seed building. 

1153 Are Criteria for Acceptance Fixed or Variable? First Published 3/14/2021

While looking at old images as part of the More Memories than Dreams Project one of the first questions is, “Do we judge by the standards of the time, by today’s standards or do we need to place them in context of the artistic journey?” It’s a good question that I will be facing as I “return to the days of yesteryear” assembling a collection of photographs for the Project. I think the selection of images will be based on exactly what I want the project to be about. It could be historical, it could be “greatest hits,” or it could show a progressive artistic growth.

I think this question will be answered when I begin looking at proof sheets. It’s one of those essential project questions that will be answered along the way. I am not going to think too hard about it right now because of a discussion I had early in my career with my General Project Manager. He told me it was more important to start doing something rather than to try and think the whole thing through before beginning work. His experience was that plans rarely (if ever) remain unchanged. Doing was more important than thinking because you’re going to change along the way no matter what.

1152 Going to be a Clean Sweep (Safari XLI)

We didn’t do much at all on the 21st, some business issues and intermittent rain showers kept us from heading out for more photography. Today (Wednesday) we anticipate unseasonably hot weather with rain so we are heading to museums and art libraries for air conditioined intellectual amusement and high brow conversation. We don't know if there will be any photographic opportunities along the way. 

In the meantime, here are a few more images from Monday’s Hancock expedition. Hancock is a working farm and as farms go, there is a considerable amount of dirt sprinkled around the various buildings. There were brooms everywhere for cleaning. Where did the brooms come from?

The brooms were hand-made at the farm for all to use. The Shakers also sold them to people in the World.   

This is the second hand made broom factory I’ve seen. The first was last year at the Wyoming Territorial Prison, a temporary home for one Butch Cassidy.

1151 Whole lotta’ Shaker goin’ on (Safari XLI)

The Brick Dwelling

The rust got knocked off, the creative engine finally turned over and we set off for a “real subject,” The Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I do enjoy historical locations, Americana, architecture, skilled crafts and a look into the past. Found all of them at Hancock. We did the best we could in the four hours we spent there. We covered about half the site and agreed that a second trip sometime in the next week would be a good thing.

The Brethren's Shop (Downstairs)

Chair, Sister's Weave Shop

1150 Starting Slow (Safari XLI)

Not wanting to go all out on Day 2, we headed out to find a subject we knew about. We’ve photographed old airplanes before, (The Erickson Collection in Madras, Oregon) so we felt confident about the subject matter. In this case it was the Empire State Aerosciences Museum (ESAM) at the Schenectady Airport.

Every collection has their speciality and ESAM was Cold War and Viet Nam era aircraft. We didn’t have the space to move around the planes, so I abstracted parts of the aircraft just to get my eyes working again. 

That day was kind of like visiting an VA hospital for air warriors. The airplanes were just being warehoused at this location because there was no room for them at other air bases. Most of the planes we saw were “on loan” from Air Force or Navy installations. I wish they were kept in better condition because they deserve better than that.

Top: Royal Air Force Scimitar

Middle: A-10 Warthog

Bottom: Mig-15

1149 On the Road Again ( Safari XLI)

Been on the road a few days and it’s taken some time to get back into the swing of things. The journey was simple, Raleigh, NC to Albany, NY. I started out Wednesday morning at 7:00 AM and arrived in Albany on Thursday morning, just after midnight. Late departures, mechanical failures and weather caused all the delays. My luggage arrived on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, we knocked off some of the rust by heading back to the Albany Rural Cemetery to see what it looked like in the Spring, after a tough winter. I also have to learn how to deal with Adobe’s Lightroom on the Web to start processing the blog images. Last time I came to Albany it was only for a few days because the big attraction was heading to Acadia National Park. This Safari, we’re going to stay pretty local and see what stories we can tell in this part of the world. 

More Safari posts as life goes along. Stay tuned. 

1148 Do You Have A Personal Style?

I was listening to some new music, and I heard an opening guitar riff and thought to myself, what’s Eric Clapton doing on this recording? Eric Clapton has a personal style that I was able to identify after only a few bars. Do you have personal visual style that people recognize?

It’s easy to recognize great photographers through their visual style. In fact, that’s one of the things that professionals strive to do; make their approach to the subject at hand distinctive and recognizable. Ansel Adams had his style, so did Edward Weston and the rest of the f/64 school. The Post-Modern era is filled with different styles in approaches to the photographic world.

Personal photographic style takes patience to learn the basics of photography, learn about photographers who preceded you and found out what worked for them. Navigating among those influences to pick up ideas and approaches you can make your own. Then once, you have defined your personal style, then you can begin to wonder about which is the “One to Represent You.”

1147 Depth of Feeling and Depth of Focus, First Published 4/4/2021

I think it was Edward Weston who spoke of a preference for depth of feeling rather than depth of focus. The admonition is for photographers focusing on the technical aspects of the craft rather than the emotional side of the task. While we must agree that conveying the thought behind the photograph, having a technical failure really defeats the intent of the photographer. Happily, the advance of technology has made the question, “Will this photograph turn out OK?” superfluous. It is almost impossible for a modern camera to make a technical mistake.

If we can eliminate (or at least dramatically reduce) the physical sources of a poor photograph, then what hurdles must we overcome? The answer is simultaneously easy and tremendously difficult. The answer is we have to come up with original content that will delight, amuse, educate, and satisfy the audience for our images. This is a task that is not for the faint of heart. It requires us to be able to communicate out thoughts and feelings in a visual manner.

All we have to do is look at the many photographs we see every day to understand the difficulty of this task.