another instance of my inability to conform

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This is a photograph that could benefit from an audio component. Or at least it would make the reality of its nature more immediate. But as I wrestle with what it is that I want to do with a motion picture capture device, it is fairly obvious that what "typically" works is not a collection of still images, even complimented with sound. The question that is posed by director Peter Watkins in his critique of the media and film making, is whether we can find other means of communication through visual media that transcends the hegemony of the three act structure of virtually all story telling.

This extreme crisis for global civil society AND for the environment, falls into six principal areas under examination: • the role of the American MAVM [Mass Audio Visual Media], with their disastrous impact on global politics, social life, and culture • the somewhat less obvious, but equally dangerous role of the MAVM in most other countries • the role of global media educators (encouraging young people to enter the mass media as acquiescent professionals, or to accept the mass media as passive consumers) • the role of film festivals and of film makers themselves • the complex role of the counter-culture movement • the role of the public.

Crucial to Watkins' analysis of the MAVM is his examination of the Monoform:

To explain to new readers: The MONOFORM is the internal language-form (editing, narrative structure, etc.) used by TV and the commercial cinema to present their messages. It is the densely packed and rapidly edited barrage of images and sounds, the 'seamless' yet fragmented modular structure which we all know so well. This language-form appeared early on in the cinema, with the work of pioneers such as D.W.Griffith, and others who developed techniques of rapid editing, montage, parallel action, cutting between long shots/close shots, etc. Now it also includes dense layers of music, voice and sound effects, abrupt cutting for shock effect, emotion-arousing music saturating every scene, rhythmic dialogue patterns, and endlessly moving cameras.

He proposes alternative ways of viewing (see especially this section of his statement), and that the entire process of media production become more democratic through subjects and audiences becoming involved and a part of the means of communication.  After all, the word implies some sort of two way process, rather than the simple passivity of a silent audience in a cinema or on the couch in the living room.

Can a lone landscape photographer find a way through this minefield?

over the hill and through the woods

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At least in this photo, I'm on the privileged side of life. But as predicted, I'm now fenced out of this location. The gaps have been plugged, and access is now denied. There might still be a gate that's not been finished, but it's only a matter of time before that gets closed up too.

burn baby burn

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Kind of a cheap, obvious shot. But I like it anyway. This is after all what these machines are ultimately for.

This comes from a week and a half ago, but since I'm still practicing "slow photography," as Sam Abel once termed it, it takes at least that long for something to go through my brain, the camera, the lab, the scanner, image manipulation, uploading, composition, and who knows what else. What's the hurry, anyway?

a dusty road

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This is about to get fenced in, meaning I'll be fenced out. So hopefully there will still be a chance to poke around a bit more, aftrer spending some time there again this past weekend. It has occurred to me that I might ask permission for access. But that's more preproduction planning than I'm usually willing to devote to a picture, and surely kills the momentary glee of finding an interesting location. The film's in the lab and John's having troubles with parts for the E6 machine, so no telling when we may see the exposures. This snap from an old pea shooter will have to suffice for the time being.

evolution

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The changing landscape - from one man made feature to another. How long before it changes again?

more aggressive grading

Without really remembering it until moments ago when I found this photo while looking for something else, I realize there has been some allusion to this "aggressive grading" technique so visible in the development community around here prior to these most recent entries. It's had me in some awe for a while, as can be seen here. There are other examples around town, but it's a challenge to show something so massive, that takes place over a period of months, in a 2 x 3" photograph.

Another image from my foray into the fog last weekend , which appeared in the previous two entries, has been placed in the Exploring the Wilderness gallery.

aggressive grading 102

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 Somewhere in the vicinity of this and this. But it's obviously all been wiped "clean."

aggressive grading 101

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Another example of the site work that appears to be the norm around here these days: flatten it out and then try to sell the land. After most of a week of rain, it was a mucky mess out there. Location undisclosed, even though I was outside the secure area. But once the fog lifted, I felt rather exposed, and decided to make myself scarce.

widespread murder

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This landscape has been noticed over the years, if not daily, certainly frequently. What's with all the dead trees? There must be 30 - 50 mature sized trees that are standing dead. Where there's curiosity, there's a photograph - or three. Little was I prepared for what I found.

What I found is clear in the last four photos, but may not be apparent without some words. All the trees have been intentionally killed - by the hand of some tool wielding human with a plan. Since I was trespassing on the land, I have no idea who the owner is, or what their intention for it is. One can only imagine scenarios for what was in the mind of the perpetrator, and whether he was indeed the land owner or some wronged party seeking revenge.

As a member of a society that takes great stock in individual rights, and especially the rights of land owners, I can't really dispute what an owner does with the resources on his land. Although as a civil society we do indeed regulate with a high degree what land owners are permitted to build on their property. But in this instance, whether this land owner kills his trees over a period of several years, or chooses to rip them out and mulch them in a matter of days in the course of "improving" his land, I really have no place to say much.

Nonetheless, it makes me wonder what was going on in the mind of the hatchet man while he systematically went around this piece of property and cut a ring in the periderm of all the mature trees, a simple but surefire way to terminate the organisms.

a dilemma

With an hour or so prior to breakfast to find some material for a photograph the morning of Monday, August 10, I headed out Humm's Road, crossed the single lane bridge over the 5 mile road from the dolomite mine to the processing plant, and continued to the end of the road, where I pulled off to the side and parked well out of the way. No one was in sight, but I could hear the distant thrum of the powerful processing plant where immense slabs of dolomite rock are crushed into a powder used in steel and float glass manufacturing.

After a quick preview of a potential site beside an abandoned pit mine, I returned, set up the Linhof, and recorded this image, now found in the Exploring the Wilderness slide show. There were potential images everywhere, and I fully intended to return later the same day, but it was time to return to the bosom of the fam who was patiently waiting for me to do some breakfast.

I returned to the rented Red Dodge Avenger and opened the trunk lid without opening the doors to the cab, experimenting to see if this could be done. Indeed, it works. I absently put the key ring with both of the two keys to the car on the latch mechanism inside the trunk, noticed that it dropped out of sight into the trunk, and swung my pack off my back and into the trunk. It took only another couple of moments to arrange the pack and the tripod. Perhaps only twenty seconds had elapsed since I set down the keys, but nonetheless, in a haze of empty headed blankness, I slammed the lid of the trunk shut - with the keys inside. It took another five seconds for the severity of my stupidity to sink in. I was at the end of a deserted road two miles from an intersection with the main thoroughfare through the island along which vehicles only traveled every hour when the ferry unloaded. I had absolutely no means of communication: our phones didn't work on the island, and I hadn't bothered with the walkie-talkies because I would be out of range. Indeed I was at least ten miles from the cabin where the family awaited my return before they commenced their day's activities.

What is to be done? Firstly, assign blame. That was easily accomplished for the next five minutes as I circled the mocking vehicle while I bellowed repeated admissions of my mental minuteness. Ultimately, what's the answer?

Start walking...

Ragged Mountain Natural Area revisted

No reason it should have taken so long to make this available - other than the usual film based procrastination excuses. It's now been added to the Exploring the Wilderness slideshow.

on the trail

Thought we were going to be able to finish our walk around the city on the Rivanna Trail this weekend, with only a couple miles remaining. Alas we lost the trail where it crossed a major road, since we couldn't find the trail sign on the far side of the road bridge buried in the undergrowth half way up the hill. We know it's there because we walked on local streets to the next park, found the entrance to the trail and walked back to where we lost the trail with the sign buried in the underbrush. Which leaves one last section from Quarry Park out to the Rivanna River along Moore's Creek past the water treatment facility for Charlottesville.

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Ragged Mountain Natural Area

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It's unusual to find water projects such a subject of controversy here in the eastern U.S. But this 980 acre parkland is the site of a county/city reservoir, with a proposed upgrade to the dam, to the tune of some $143 million, has understandably stirred up a lot of emotion. The proposed modifications will increase the lake size substantially in the hopes that it will be adequate for the coming fifty years. BUT it will require pumping the water through a new nine mile pipeline from another lower county reservoir, which will be abandoned instead of being dredged because consultants (for the dam project) have estimated the cost of that remediation at some $200 million. Meanwhile, local business people and dredging experts have proposed the work might only cost $20 - 40 million, still a hefty chunk of change. The increased dam and lake will necessitate the loss of 180 acres of mature hardwoods in the Ragged Mountain reserve - along with the trail visible above, and be spanned by an interstate highway.

The issue seems to be whether conservation and dredging can provide adequate sources of water for years to come. Or whether plans need to be made to increase the storage capacity to meet disputed growth needs. A typical controversy that involves disputed numbers, conflicts of interest, hidden information. At least the details seem to be out in the open now, so that all the trade offs can be considered reasonably. Will the debate continue for another 25 years, as the Meadowcreek Parkway debate has?

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new slideshow

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The gallery of images that used to link to a scrollable page have now been placed into a slide show with some kind of rather opaque sequencing. Follow the link to the left, Exploring the Wilderness, or here.

a return to normalcy

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After a rather harrowing two days of head congestion, parts of which time was spent driving east through the flatlands, we arrived in our state's most populous region. We were far from the only ones visiting the beach in April, but an evening stroll on the "boardwalk" was a pleasant affair that included only a few others.

The next morning, after the free breakfast - during which an inordinate number of individuals exhibited incredible patience to brave the waffle experience - far more people were out taking in the air and the views. The weather had improved over the previous day's as well...

I won't deny that we've contributed to the commercialization of this area. We stayed in a new hotel with the ocean nearly at our feet. The hotels do a fine job of blocking the view - unless you are willing to pay the tariff, and become part of their clientele.

My other pet peeve? City vehicles driving on the beach, driving on the boardwalk, driving everywhere pedestrians should have exclusive access. Another reason it's hard to consider this thoroughfare a boardwalk.

a week, already

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No excuses really, but there seem to be other concerns lately. I've fallen off the treadmill of posting and reading out there on the world wide wasteage, the ultimate black hole of time.

Here's something from last week from nosing around the neighborhood while waiting for CLW during dance class. It may eventually show up on Google Earth south of CHO - those are landing lights/strobes in the bgrnd.

greetings from Grundy, pt. 4

 

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Joe Reifer commented about the first Grundy entry:

My gut reaction was that this is a pretty insane man vs. nature shot. But then I realized the semantics are wrong. Obviously the game is over and it's a man defeated nature shot.

and TJ Avery also pointed out:

Here in flat, featureless Houston, the common method of building anything is usually to reduce the land to nothing but dirt first. Our neighborhood was built just that way. The result is that everything existing now (houses, trees, shrubs, green spaces (what few there are), and streets) are 100% man-made or placed by man in a desired fashion (i.e. per some design).

...You could argue that the clean, orderly appearance of such HOA (home owner's association) governed neighborhoods is beautiful. Why else would so many want to live there? But it's all fake. Not one bit of it was shaped by nature in a natural way.

There is plenty of evidence of nature being literally blasted into submission, especially in the latest addition to my "Continued Exploration" gallery. But most of our suburban and urban landscapes have no natural element left to them - that haven't been managed and rearranged by humans.

I think we look at landscapes like these in Grundy and are in awe of the manipulation because the human presence is still so fundamentally tenuous. With a density of only 54 people / square mile, there aren't too many of them physically present. But their works of destruction certainly are. On the other hand, go to any city and we accept the fact that the natural world has been subjugated to such a degree that it's not anywhere in our consciousness. The masses of concrete, steel, and humanity completely overpower the environment in which they stand, whereas we can still see perfectly clearly the environment in which a place like Grundy stands.

Which is the more "truthfu"l environment? (Is there any point in such a question?) Grundy seems much more a work in progress than somewhere like New York, Houston, or Los Angeles. In which case it probably stands a better chance of being "saved" from it's own "progress."

greetings from Grundy, pt. 3

 

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It wasn't until I was leaving that I became aware of it, but since Grundy is built on one of the few flat pieces of land in the county, and that bit of land happens to be in the flood plain at the intersection of the Levisa and the Slate rivers, they're currently in the process of surrounding the town with a concrete levee with movable gates, courtesey of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The county lost most of its records in a 1977 flood, so they have good reason to try to prevent this from happening again.

The only non courthouse large format photograph of this past weekend was from Grundy, somewhere I'd definitely like to visit again, despite my claims of ugliness from the past couple of entries. A scan of the 4x5 original has been added here. Grundy happens to be ripe territory for visual evidence of large scale manipulations of the environment by humans.

greetings from Grundy, pt. 2

 

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Despite what may be claimed by John & Margaret Peters in their book Virginia's Historic Courthouses, that Buchanan County became one of the wealthiest in Virginia after the oil "crisis" of the early 1970's, the Wikipedia entry lists the county as the poorest in the state and among the 100 poorest counties in the country. A cursory afternoon drive by viewing from this past weekend also confirms that it is one of the ugliest places in the state. Not the landscape itself, which is a warren of mountains and streams in the eastern Appalachians. As per usual, it's how humans have shaped it that has made it such an atrocity.

With only about 29,000 residents in an area of 504 square miles, there is a population density of about 54 people per square mile. Compare that with Arlington County's 7000 per square mile. The problem appears to be that 90% of those individuals live in mobile homes, surely some of the least attractive housing ever developed for humans. Buchanan County really has no flat land on which to build dwellings, so the housing/trailers are grouped along the stream beds. While there may be a population density of only 54/sm, the ubiquitous trailer and the associated debris of modern life contribute to an environment that is overwhelmingly visually polluted. In the summer it may be less obtrusive, hdden by foliage. But at this time of year, without any snow to hide its ugliness, the intrusion of humans on the land is blatantly obvious.

NOTE TO SELF: spend more time in Buchanan County to see if the above impressions stand up with repeated visits & further photographic exploration

greetings from Grundy, pt. 1

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This just in from the western portion of our great state of Virginia. Much of the damage in Buchanan County was inflicted in the early part of the 20th century. Now I think they are still trying to deal with the damage done by earlier generations. 180 degrees behind me was the site (the large cleared area inside the river bend) for a Super Wally World that was never built. No telling if it ever will be.

Update on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 07:06AM by KMW

An interesting note about the Army Corps of Engineers photo on Wikipedia: compare it with my photo of Grundy in Greetings from Grundy pt. 3. All the buildings between the road through town and the river at the outside of the curve have been removed. That area is now either part of the levee system or outside of it's new boundary. It looks like fully half of the commercial space of Grundy has been removed to protect the other half.