an annual thing pt2

This tree, which resides in our front yard, has defied me to represent it adequately for years. I don't think this is "it" yet, but perhaps I'm getting closer. At least it's something different. The background is always the problem. Perhaps I will rent that lift and get it from thirty feet up.

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an annual thing

Every year I have to do it. Here's this year's version.

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Thanks Roger for asking about the D70.

something or other

amanata cokericollybia?These things seemingly appear overnight, showing the incredible diversity around here. An interesting fact from reading about fungi is that they are now considered to be their own kingdom in the classification system of lifeforms - neither plant nor animal.

something graphic - part 10,987

 

Whenever there doesn't seem to be much else at hand, there is always the commonplace. It being one of those days when I feel like going nowhere, but there is a powerful need to capture some images, I've got to walk 'round the yard and find what there is that presents itself. But the documentarian is not very strong. What then becomes obvious is some simple arrangement of objects of modern life. It's an exercise in looking.

age vs. beauty

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Perhaps "third time's the charm." These roses are holding on remarkably well. This probably has something to do with where they're being stored: in the basement where there is only a modicum of natural light, none of it direct. While they're now 13 weeks past their date of expiration, it seems they're more beautiful than ever, and haven't changed  much since the last entry. Which inevitably suggests another series.

And don't forget that this is evidence that some things do improve with age.

decay yes - disgust no

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Now that Mark Hobson seems to have abandoned - at least online - his Decay & Disgust series, I might as well add my 2 cents. This from a rather large bouquet that JDW received as a sympathy gift. Rarely do I find myself writing about the photograph at the head of the entry, but this one seemed to merit doing so. The flowers are almost more beautiful now than when they were fresh - but maybe that's me. Not surprisingly for such a large mass of organic material, they are indeed still quite fragrant. But that too is past its prime. I'll be curious to see how they manage further in time, now that they're safely stored in the multi-purpose-studio-extra-room space.

an appropriation or an homage? Pt. 3

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It wasn't much of a stretch to come up with this one. Struth's combination of images - Paradise & Dusseldorf - are probably more provocative than mine - putting his Paradise in my back yard. I feel like I'm still testing the waters with this "project." Which I'm giving the working title Landscapes in the Landscape. Certainly the 4 x 5 image created during this set up is rather different: more or less no depth of field in order to place the book appropriately and be able to distinguish what it is. The focus is on the book with the background a blur of color. Unlike others, I have little to say about what this is about, other than my love of photography books and making photographs myself. Why not combine them?

Hyphantria cunea

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Don't worry, they didn't get away. Horribly P.I. indeed, but nonetheless I doused them and toasted their asses. At least they made for some interesting photos.

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the museum is dead - long live the museum

 

 
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 With the arrival of BIG SCREEN teevee and full 5.1 home theater audio to the folks on the E'ville ranch, the space formerly known as The Museum is radically transformed into The Room. The furniture is rearranged so that the new gear is aligned along the interior stair wall. It's true that it sits opposite the three unit window, and prior to purchase I was concerned that glare from these windows would be a problem on the proposed plasma screen. Salesmen that they are, the guys at Stereotypes said "We've never had a problem." When it comes to glare on the screen, that is. All their plasmas in the shop are in windowless rooms. As it turns out, during the day glare is quite apparent, but not so bad that the screen becomes unuseable. Who is doing any serious viewing during the day anyway?

I think the teevee picture, as seen on one of these excellent plasma screens, has finally reached the quality of being able to compare the experience to watching film in a cinema. With this setup, I expect to be able to do some serious viewing. The 50 inch screen is actually big enough to read credits and even subtitles.

What's been seen so far, after a week? We're still getting used to the reality, but have sampled a variety of sources. The BluRay disc that came in the box with the player, Spiderman 3, is yet another lameo effects laden picture. For something really different, I tried out some Bad Cinema: XXX with Vin Diesel. This too was viewed in BD, and is not as high budget as Spidey, so the signal's not quite as good. I think I've been seeing this movie since Connery was doing Bond and Dean Martin did Matt Helms. With the attitude Diesel has at the beginning of the picture, why should he care at the end whether the entire population of Prague is poisoned?

Trying out a current release on standard DVD, the picture was still a phenomenally great cinematic experience. We watched Namesake, and travelled back and forth between the U. S. and India in Mira Nair's film about immigrants who never feel at home anywhere. There is much allusion to the Ukranian writer Nikolai Gogol (one of the main characters is named after Gogol by his father, and hence the title of the film), who I've never read. Probably time to pick up a book and do some fiction reading for a change.

With so much cinema to watch on a great system, who has time for books? 

quickly now

 

 
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In case there's a chance someone comes here that hasn't been to the Landscapist recently, be sure and go here. Mark asked us to make the link, so here it is. I try to be accommodating.

I'd like to learn more about this Print On Demand photo book concept. Or more correctly, I'd like to see the output. I question the quality, the paper, the size, the pricing. But others seem to be quite enthusiastic, so inevitably it's something to try out. I'm not quite certain I'm ready to put something together at this time, however. I feel like I'm still collecting data. I'm not going to be modest and claim that my work isn't good enough, or I don't have enough good photos to fill a book. What I do feel is that I've not got enough good photos that hang together to put in a book, at this point. I work so much more slowly than my digital compatriots, that I often feel like I'm in the center of a whirlwind, spinning around like one of those cartoon characters being wound up like a top. The work here at Man Made Wilderness is an attempt to put things together in some coherent context. But I need a lot more material to cull through before I'm ready to build a book.

Could this be a failure to commit? Possibly... I want to move at my own pace, one of the reasons I've been keeping my own company on the web the last couple of weeks. There's plenty of work to do around here without taking on projects that someone else deems to be worthy endeavors. 

kamera klubs

 

 
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I don't know, is this the proto-typical "leaf on a rock?" I like the view of the damage done by the striped and hairy critter in comparison with the fresh leaves.

excuses

 

The weather for today turned out to be exactly as predicted: 100% cloud cover, but only a 40 - 50% chance of precipitation. The leaves are finally off the trees, for the most part. In other words, perfect conditions to work on my Courthouse Project. Yet here I am, still in the basement typing. What are the excuses for today's lack of desire?

• Could it be that I stayed up too late Friday reading and "experimenting" with VueScan and ColorNeg? I'm not sure my results are even worth bothering to write about at this point. But by the time I finally went to bed, I had already nodded off several times in front of the screen.
• Could it be that I woke up too early?
• Could it be that there were planned activities for the day - CLW dancing at the Paramount; dinner out with friends; retrieving CLW from her friends - so no rest was available for the missed sleep the night before?
• Could it be that by the time we got home and I had done a bit more reading it was "too late" to get motivated to empty the van, load film holders, and get my pack together for an early departure this morning?
• Could it be that I never looked at the past exposures of Amelia and Lunenburg counties that I thought I was reshooting?
• Could it be that after referring to the sun plots that I created with this cool bit of software, it looked likely that I would end up with the same results that I already have after driving two hours one way?
• Could it be that I'm having second and third and fourth doubts about this project, even though I'm only a little more than half done and it's already two years old?
• Could it be that the idea and design of the project are from a time when I was looking to do something specific with a view camera which I didn't have much experience with?
• Could it be that I was looking for excuses to stay home today?

Looks like I found my excuses.

Instead of driving for four to five hours, I walked around the house with the Mamiya and a couple of rolls of Delta 400. I almost - but not quite - even had some fun doing it. 

some time later...

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One week later, for what it's worth...

gotta blow

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Thursday's rain and overcast made for the perfect conditions to work from home and look out the window. This is the view from where I sit working. Speaking of working, looks like it's time to get those leaves outta here. Time to burn up some fossil fuel.

There's No Place Like Home

South Fork, Rivanna River 

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It's going to happen elsewhere, but in the meantime, here's something for me to get started on. It's a continuation of what I've been working on for the past several years anyway: photography within my home county. Not literally walking distance from home, but there will be some of those coming as well.

Oh so very late to be able to get into this much now. But there are some good reasons to keep the cruising around for pictures to a minimum.