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Thursday
14Jan2010

hither & yon

DateThursday, January 14, 2010 at 05:35PM

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There are always interesting combinations to be found. What is most remarkable about this sort of thing is the way the mind can put pieces together that are widely disparate, which may not have been viewed for months. Software only helped find the physical location of the pieces, and then create the combo. But it had nothing whatsoever to do with making the mental connection in the first place.

AuthorKMW | Comment2 Comments |
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Sunday
10Jan2010

what was I thinking? (pt 54c)

DateSunday, January 10, 2010 at 10:24PM

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Some photographs are perfectly obvious upon viewing at any distance of time. The sunset was gorgeous, the animals were adorable, whatever. This one is more of a problem. What was the reason for the approach to the subject?

It wasn't the scenery I was looking at while wandering around in two feet of snow. The blanked out ground was erased from the composition, creating relationships between the visible elements that are not ordinarily evident. As mentioned previously, somewhat flippantly, I was most certainly attracted to the repaired crack in the concrete block wall, which signals movement of the ground beneath the corner of this building. It jags its way down the wall into the top of the fence, which leaves the two dimensional surface in an almost solid plane that turns 90 degrees and offers a barely opaque plane that disappears out of the frame, creating a tense imbalance. I think I actually saw all this while framing the view. And even more, that eludes me now, some three weeks after the fact.

For some other fascinating views of a walk in the snow, totally different from these, look at where Mauro Thon Giudici has been recently.

AuthorKMW | Comment2 Comments |
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Wednesday
06Jan2010

what was I thinking? (pt. 54b)

DateWednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:29PM

During our recent blizzard, despite my claims that I was never leaving the house again, the morning after my commutation ordeal I did indeed leave the house: long enough to carry a camera a distance of some quarter mile to observe whatever was (not) happening at the "center of town" and expose two rolls of film. On my way, there were some oddities that caught my attention. Looking at the exposures now, I wonder what I had in mind at the time. Maybe it was the cracks in the wall? Shapes in the starkness of the landscape? Or was it the snow on the fence? No, there's hardly any snow on the fence... It was the fence and the crack in the wall and the abstraction created by the two feet of snow. Yeah, that must be it. Whatever...

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I'd like to believe there is less of this sort of questioning going on as I do this photography thing longer. Surely if I can't figure out what I was after, there is little chance of demonstrating to anyone else what it was I was looking to display. Apparently I was "exercising my eye," but hadn't quite gotten warmed up yet. Ordinarily these kinds of exercises get edited out and shuffled into the contact sheet bin. Today I'm interested in the process of finding an image from a recent session that really works for me. We walk around and look and see, releasing the shutter any number of times, but only occasionally do we find subjects that really excite us. What is it that makes the spark?

 

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Better, but it's a fairly small crop from a 6 x 7 original. Couldn't get closer without trampling on the scene.

 

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Better still. But the spark didn't last, perhaps because I shortly after this went back inside, tired of struggling through knee high snow.

AuthorKMW | Comment2 Comments |
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Sunday
03Jan2010

the 3 sibs

DateSunday, January 3, 2010 at 12:15PM

RDW; JHW; KMW; MoM in bkgnd

This is what we do on Christmas. Anybody want to share theirs?

AuthorKMW | Comment2 Comments |
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Tuesday
22Dec2009

where's the hog path at?

DateTuesday, December 22, 2009 at 09:48PM

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Better put this up, or it's not going to happen.

The night prior to this photo, it took 5-1/2 hours to get home from the market, a trip that ordinarily takes 15 minutes. It was truly a challenge to yours truly's sanity and patience. At least I wasn't one of the unfortunates who spent over 24 hours in their car, as some out there did. You might say people around here don't know how to handle their vehicles in the snow. Alas, 4-5 days later, we're still digging our way out of 24 inches of this white stuff.

AuthorKMW | Comment2 Comments |
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Thursday
17Dec2009

a bad day

DateThursday, December 17, 2009 at 07:10PM

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Monday
14Dec2009

comcast buys nbc

DateMonday, December 14, 2009 at 09:47PM

Old news...Are we supposed to care?

The 3D sucked, and the flat version was cheesy. But otherwise the display technology was impressive. The "holiday" display in the Comcast headquarters, that is.

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Sunday
06Dec2009

achieving new heights

DateSunday, December 6, 2009 at 03:15PM

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Foregoing the expense of renting one of these, I opted to make a phone call to the building owner across the street, in order to gain access to his roof. It only took about two years to make the call. But the assistance I received was substantial. This allowed me to cross one more county off my list of 93 for the court house project, which leaves me with six unvisited counties, and another three with multiple buildings that haven't all been recorded. I'm going to cross them all off in 2010 - then start reshooting those with technical problems. And maybe rent that towable lift once or twice to see the tops of buildings like Bath, Highland, and Culpeper counties.

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Monday
30Nov2009

down in a hole

DateMonday, November 30, 2009 at 10:13PM

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Part of our "holiday" travels.

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Sunday
29Nov2009

one more - why not?

DateSunday, November 29, 2009 at 09:03PM

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Wednesday
25Nov2009

evolution

DateWednesday, November 25, 2009 at 08:07AM

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

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Monday
23Nov2009

blue

DateMonday, November 23, 2009 at 06:37PM

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Bigger would be better, but alas I would have to take you by the hand and lead you to this place.

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Sunday
22Nov2009

genteel decay

DateSunday, November 22, 2009 at 11:28AM

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From Friday's two hour wait while getting vehicle serviced - at least it doesn't feel like a total loss of time.

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Friday
20Nov2009

more aggressive grading

DateFriday, November 20, 2009 at 10:34PM

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.

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Thursday
19Nov2009

aggressive grading 102

DateThursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:23AM

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

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Sunday
15Nov2009

aggressive grading 101

DateSunday, November 15, 2009 at 05:05PM

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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.

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Sunday
08Nov2009

"it's only a shed"

DateSunday, November 8, 2009 at 03:04PM

So we were told. I can hardly wait until the painter gets done with this baby!

 

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For those who care about the process: there are approximately 30 cuts per section of two square panels. Two of us spent at least a day to get all the way around this thing with all the x-es. (It looked better without them.)

The other notable condition about this structure is the material(s) that comprises the outer layer: Hardi-Plank siding in 4 x 10 sheets, and Azek polyvinyl chloride trim in various sizes. Both materials are intended to last forever. This intent appears to have been achieved. The problem is the waste. Azek is fairly obnoxious stuff to work with - we didn't become carpenters in order to be plumbers, which is what it feels like now that we're building with PVC - and the sawdust will eventually get into the ground and the water system to everyone's detriment. PVC is made from guess what? Imported petroleum, of course. Wikipedia says worldwide production is expected to reach 40 million tons by 2016. The off cuts go to the landfill, and will eventually decay, breaking into small particles that will leach into the water system. One hundred years from now, they're not going to appreciate our desire for "convenient longevity."

But it appears to fit right in with the "Post Modern Condition" of the original structure, which I originally wrote about here, when we started this project.

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Friday
06Nov2009

Chris Jordan

DateFriday, November 6, 2009 at 07:27PM

In writing the recent entry on Edward Burtynsky, I was inspired to look at Chris Jordan's work again. It's definitely worth a look, and especially his newest work Midway, from a recent journey to the North Pacific island that is located at the apex of the Pacific garbage gyre. This is more bad news about how we are poisoning ourselves, and everything around us. In this case it's thousands of young albatross birds that have died of starvation because they are being fed a diet of plastic garbage by their unknowing parents. Jordan has photographed hundreds of decayed corpses to show the contents of their body cavities. This is amazing and powerfully disturbing stuff. But obviously only through awareness can we hope to do anything to change the problem.

Which leads one to wonder, if you care enough to look at the photographs and be affected by them, what are you going to do to change your lifestyle so that you don't contribute to the problem? Our lives are full of conveniences that have unintended but powerfully negative consequences. How do we become aware of them?

Look at the photos and change your life.

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Wednesday
04Nov2009

an annual thing pt2

DateWednesday, November 4, 2009 at 09:26PM

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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Tuesday
03Nov2009

an annual thing

DateTuesday, November 3, 2009 at 07:19PM

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

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Thanks Roger for asking about the D70.

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