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.

new additions

 

A couple of "new" images added to the "Continued Exploration...in progress" page. 

time for photography?

 

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There does seem to be a lack of entries here for the recent past. An easy explanation - beyond having little to write about: too much other media. Naturally the primary culprit is the damn teevee. Think it's seductive? Try living with a 50 inch screen and full "surround-a-sound" and see if anything other than couch occupation gets done at night. I feel intellectually engaged by my viewing, so it's not an entirely passive activity. But it's not an activity which generates any useable output, either. Unless I make the effort to come here and comment upon the material that has been consumed. It's still a consumer enterprise, and I'm trying to limit such things. Obviously the time spent commenting has been limited.

In an interesting intersection of media, while I'm reading a copy of Richard Price's Clockers, we're also working our way through the first season of the HBO series The Wire on dvd. (Turns out, Price was one of the writers at some time during the production of the series. Not, I guess, of the material we're currently viewing.) Perhaps not co-incidentally, the similarities between the book and the series  are quite striking: they both are told from the perspectives of the two sides of the "war on drugs." On the one hand there are the Clockers - the dope peddlers - and on the other there are the Knockos - the narcs and cops who try to catch them. They are given equal billing and equal respect.

This was really supposed to be an entry about my excuses for not doing photography, because I've devoted so much time to reading and watching. Added to books and teevee are the occasional magazine, revisiting favorite recorded music with an expanded audio system, blog perusal, and general curiosity. On top of this would be some unease generated by The Wire viewing. It's so good that it makes one want to attempt something similar. Damn, I want to put on a show too! What do I know about? My life at work, in the construction industry. And what is the primary culprit for hijacked time? My life at work doing The J-O-B. It still requires attendance during the major portion of waking hours, leaving only scraps of time to be filled with this or that activity: writing teevee scripts, reading books and blogs, making still photographs; and occasionally writing a blog entry.

It's certainly not that there is a lack of material to write about. It's rather that there are so many things going on, that entries here get pushed farther down the list due to the inherent observational quality of the material. To live  a life of activity, it is necessary to do more than reflect upon the possibilities of a life.

Anybody out there got anything to add? 

vernacular

 

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While thinking about this location, which is on the other side of the crown of the watershed from where I headed this morning, I was reminded of another location from three and a half years ago, which can be seen here. There are obviously a number of similar elements, but it was the Quicksand sign that really did it for me. It's not in view in this one above, but there was a sign at the edge of the frame seen in another exposure that didn't capture the overall view as well as the one that's been posted. I went for the better view of the two eras of architecture that stand buttt to butt across a diminishingly small "natural" area.

The quicksand warning has got to be someone's wry idea of a joke. Does anyone really believe such a thing exists - in Virginia? Yet another illusion manufactured by the image makers in Hollywood, that has become embedded in the popular culture. Some more vernacular, in the imagination.

the loot

                  

With the entire enterprise "scaled back" from what it's been in previous years, and with attempts to not participate in the end of year consumer panic, this was a suitable amount of gifting.

It was good to see the fam for the annual gathering here in Virginia, and we hope all made it home safely. More tomorrow about some of our activities. 

self portrait & a confession

Not quite sure what it means, that these last four images are all from the same day 14 months ago. Could it be as simple as:

• I like the shapes, textures, & colors
• they are flat, nearly 2 dimensional compositions that expose my predilection for simple, shallow visuals

As for the confession, here goes:

All the images included here on ManMadeWilderness and printed for the  exhibit of same have been manipulated in an image editor. Yeah, yeah, what's the big deal? Okay, here goes... I don't use Photoshop. There, I finally said it out loud.

I'm prompted to make this outlandish confession because of the amount of time I spent working on today's photo... in my demo copy of PS CS3. It's slick. It has cool features. I don't really know how to make it work. But I got better results in only a couple of minutes by using my standard editor: Corel PhotoPaint. It does pretty much the same thing as Photoshop, costs a third as much for twice the functiionality, and I've been using it since version 8 so I know it fairly well by now. There you have it. The full truth. I've outed myself to the world.

I DON'T USE PHOTOSHOP!!! If people start looking at me funny from now on, I'll suspect it's a result of this late night admission.

somewhere around the corner...

 

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This is how I'm feeling about now. While all is overtly working out well - near as I can tell, at least - there is some nagging feeling that I'm going about things in an awkward and round about fashion. But it could be that I'm spending entirely too much time at work, and not enough on photography. My own, that is, rather than reading about other people's thoughts about what is or isn't dead. You'd think there was another crisis in faith, ala the God Is Dead  revolution of the 60's.

Be that as it may, I need to go lie down. 

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.

some time later...

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

photojournalism or still life cinema?

 

world's largest push-pin

While recently trespassing on some No Man's Land terrain, an activity that is nearly impossible to not do when exploring many places in the eastern United States if not in a public parkland, I was reminded of the kinds of imagery that used to strike my imagination when I attempted to create small cinema narratives. I was intrigued by a location and the potential for its discovery, as if coming upon it for the first time ever. In this case, it was emerging from the forest onto a large open earthen dam, a water retention declivity during times of intense rain run off. There are a number of visual elements in this location, and they certainly cannot all be contained within the scope of a single image.

What's really the best form for such an investigation? A static succession of still images that doesn't really give much of an impression of movement into the landscape? Or literally moving the camera in some kind of film/video POV forward movement? I've always been much enamored with the "reality" presented by the long takes that were choreographed for such films as Weekend, Touch of Evil, which is discussed by characters in a similarly long take at the beginning of The Player, and especially the end of The Passenger. Obviously the resources brought to bear for these films is unavailable to me for a rather random visual experiment.

So an alternative of some sort must be found. But it is the film La Jetee, a 1960's experimental masterpiece by Chris Marker, that most often comes to mind when considering how else to do something like this. A film that consists entirely of still frames - except for one exquisite moving image - this is the grand daddy of ways to tell a story with still images, and a voice over.

Since I know nothing about the history of the photo documentary style of story telling, I don't know what to draw on from that realm. It's not likely though to include investigations of the landscape, at least not in the specific detailed manner I imagine.

Well, I see I've lapsed into enough generalities during the course of the several hours it's taken to compose these few words, that the train of thought has petered out long ago. In essence I'm looking for a form to use to tell about discovering a new landscape location with a series of photos. Whether the experiment will get beyond the conceptual stage is another matter entirely. 

let them free!

Be sure and check the Continued Exploration page to see more images not in the original exhibition.

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.

Roping update

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Now here's a curious phenomena - which I've observed years ago in a not dissimilar vein.

Oh yeah. By the way, the roping has gotten better. Still not ready for Prime Time, still not consistent, but decidedly better than several weeks ago. My short term goal has been achieved. I was able to learn how to spin a flat loop. Now that I've gotten to the point where I can do it somewhat reliably, it might be time to go back and read what the experts have to say about the way to do it. But I feel pretty good that although it probably took me ten times longer than many people take to learn something this insignificant, I've gotten well past the initial spazz behavior that began the activity. Once again "perseverance furthers." Whether I am capable of learning more difficult tricks remains to be seen, and no doubt will require considerably more perseverance.

Okay, so the curious phenomena: when I went out to practice roping Sunday afternoon after my return from photoing, the first spin of the session was pretty darn good. I was able to pass the rope over to my right hand, keep it going there for a few seconds, pass it back to my left, and still keep it spinning. I might have keep the rope turning for a minute total. Subsequent attempts became less and less successful, to the point that I was right back to the beginning not being able to spin the rope at all. As far as I could tell, I was doing nothing differently than the first spin when I came outside to start the session. How can this be?

I adjusted my technique a bit to be certain I began the way I knew was the recommended method. That's better. I kept at it for a while longer, and was once again able to spin a flat loop, but still probably not as neatly as the first one of the day some 30 minutes previously.

So what is it about starting out at an activity that one knows how to do, albeit in a rudimentary fashion, and being able to immediately exhibit some degree of proficiency, but then lose that proficiency the longer one practices?

And does this have an analog in photography, specifically in my own photography? Is it true that when I go out in the field, are the first images I capture the best, the truest, the most immediate? The longer I stay out, do subsequent images suffer from an overly analytical mindset? Perhaps... but I'd like to believe that I'm still open for surprise and an exciting image to present itself, as I walk farther into the field.

lines & cones

Music Education Center
 

There is something about these simple forms that really attracts my eye(s). What could be simpler than two lines and two cones?

Bed of Grass redux

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Here's the actual  bed of grass from earlier in the week. 

Bed of Grass

 

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While waiting for Claire during her violin lesson on Monday, I went into the no man's land at the end of the runway. (This is going to be intentionally vague, BTW.) If ever there was a Man Made Wilderness, this is one.  It was a fairly productive 45 minutes: 60 images. I was in some kind of photographic zone, but I'm afraid it was a "quantity" not "quality" one.

There are several observations about this issue, one that has been discussed elsewhere until the life of it has been drained totally dry. But I've got to add my two cents anyway.

When I go on one of these photographic sprees, it feels as if I'm using a shotgun approach to the location. It's a nice departure to look for a moment,  take an exposure , turn around, take an exposure, move a few feet, take an exposure , turn around again, take another exposure. It's  a release of the critical judgement that comes into play when using the large format. I can't work fast enough to operate in this manner, and the box of exposures would be too costly. But the shotgun technique hits a lot of different objects slightly, whereas taking the time to set up the 4 x 5 doesn't necessarily guarantee better results, but it does tend to force me to find the essence of the location and work on that in only a few exposures. It feels like I'm pre editing and digging in deeper than the casual glances of snapping away at everything.

The disparity in quality between a piece of 4 x 5 film and a 7 mega pixel p&s digicam is so great that my consideration of the end results it severely skewed towards the large format. I can't really take these "snapshots" very seriously, and I don't think it's the amount of effort involved to gather the images that is the issue. Or is it?

I study the 60 exposures that I came home with from Monday afternoon and think, "Hmmm, not too bad. Some decent stuff. Can't do anything with it (except post it on Man Made Wilderness.)"

I study three or four 4 x 5 exposures from a longer session in the field, and often think a pretty fair number of them look really nice. Better than decent. "Hmmm,  what am I going to do with this? Wish I could afford to make 4 foot x 5 foot prints. But where would they go, anyway?"

In fact, it looks as if the amount of time required to produce what appears to be fairly similar results on a web site is absolutely the issue. Given the ability to have the same result, why would you opt to spend more time on a given activity?

I'm still not ready to make the move to digital, though. 

A Sunday Kind of Thing

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In what appears to becoming a Sunday avocation, here's the latest progress report.

Ever the tireless self promoter - NOT - here's a link to the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society's annual Spirit Walk. By the time this is posted, there's not much time left to get in on the action. Tickets are probably still available for the Sunday - tonight - tours. This weekend has been centered around this activity, and the reason for the sudden interest in trick roping.

Three years ago the fam took the tour through the historic district of Charlottesville on the 11th Annual Spirit Walk. Guided groups encounter famous - at least locally and some far beyond the region - personalities from the 18th to the mid 20th centuries. We enjoyed the experience enough that the following year Claire and I decided to become part of the spirit crew. She played Jefferson's grand daughter Cornelia Jefferson Randolph, and I the county jailer John Martin. This year, Claire is a nameless street barker - affectionately known as "Alice" - who is extolling the wonders of the 100 year old amusement park Wonderland.

Much to my joy, I've found myself cast as the 19th century cowboy legend "Texas Jack" Omohundro. Each of the characters on the Walk are given two minutes to present whatever information they deem noteworthy and entertaining. It's not easy to encapsulate the essence of a life, even one as short as TJ's, in two minutes. He was one of the first cowboys to perform on stages throughout the eastern cities, with the much better known Buffalo Bill Cody. Part of his act on stage was trick roping, and hence I've found motivation for a new activity.

The acting thing is still at least as nerve wracking as it ever was twenty years ago when I used to go on stage more frequently. Perhaps even more, now that I'm farther away from doing such things on a regular basis. It's annoying and exhilarating not necessarily at the same time or in equal portions, but certainly contained within the totality of the experience. It's an immediate form of experience, but as with most modes of performance, it's often more for the psychic well being and mental needs of the performer than it is about the form, the material, or an audience. In this brief interview between the film makers Doug Aitkin and Werner Herzog,  Herzog has a few amusing things to say about "the theater." I guess I'm not quite ready to let it "expire," but the experience in a closed space, the theater as it has become institutionalized, surely is one of our more artificial environments. Even at it's most realistic, it is still completely conceptual in nature. On the other hand, these "street performances" couldn't be more intimate. We're within spitting distance of the audience, and it's hard not to get some energy flow from the experience. Mostly it feels like it's from me to the viewers, but I guess that's part of the therapy process. The immediacy can have its drawbacks, as was exhibited Friday night, when it rained most of the entire four hours we were on the street performing and waiting for groups to come into our performance zones. Thankfully it was never a deluge, but it was certainly wet enough that we all got damp. I was much appreciative of being able to wear a hat as part of the costume.

As for the trick roping - it's come a long ways, but is still "not ready for prime time." Nonetheless, I've attempted to display a flat loop, and several times Friday evening was able to pull it off for people to see. Last night, it felt like there was only one group that got to see a successful spin. But I think the performer immediately preceding me and I have successfully worked out the transition between the two of us - she is now doing TJ's introduction - and depending upon how well my spinning is going is when I let out my exclamatory Yeehaw that turns the crowd around.

In fact, it's now time to stop diddling around here and go outside and work on my roping.

a new hobby

 

 
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 I've decided that I'm going to learn how to do some trick roping. It's going to take some time. But that's okay. It's already - after some 5-8 hours of practice - become something of a meditation thing. Spin the rope over and over again, trying to figure out what is different about the few times that it works more correctly than the times when it hits my leg or the ground. Tonight it appeared as if I will indeed be able to spin a flat loop, the most basic of tricks. I got it to work quite a few times, and even accomplished rolling the rope over in my hand while spinning, so that it doesn't become hopelessly tangled.

It's been a long time since I decided that I would take something up that I know nothing about and determined that I am going to succeed at it. Of course the definition of "success" has to be measured in terms of low expectations.  The first two or three hours were pretty hopeless, and even now that it's going better, I can't say definitely what I'm doing differently. What surely is different, is the determination to accomplish something totally alien to most of my body of knowledge and accomplishments.

FYI

More new images not in the exhibit have been added to this page.

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.