Category: On The Road

while along the roadway… away from the regular places

picture post… Burnside Powells

Posted on Posted in as written, book shelf, minimum daily requirement, On The Road, picture post

from walkabout.. driving by, during rain, went too quickly. These were the slower version, a day or so later. The blue windows got me. In the mist, they seemed bluer than in this AM sun.

Text on the table was Auerbach’s Mimesis. Picked up in Portland during 2014 trip. What does that have to do with the pictures … don’t know, yet.

mimesis notes -- prompts, since the answer changes more often than the question
-- what is reality
-- what is a portrayal (of reality)
math itself is an analysis, a synthetic formulation of reality./ it proves and approves itself
by definition... is math a science or a philosophy

LONG QUOTE, from the epilogue, which I took as my prelude around 1963..
"the interpretation of reality through literary representation or “imitation,” has occupied me[ Auerbach] for a long time. My original starting point was Plato’s discussion in book 10 of the Republic—mimesis ranking third after truth—in conjunction with Dante’s assertion that in the Commedia he presented true reality. As I studied the various methods of interpreting human events in the literature of Europe, I found my interest becoming more precise and focused. Some guiding ideas began to crystallize, and these I sought to pursue.
The first of these ideas concerns the doctrine of the ancients regarding the several levels of literary representation—a doctrine which was taken up again by every later classicistic movement. I came to understand that modern realism in the form it reached in France in the early nineteenth century is, as an aesthetic phenomenon, characterized by complete emancipation from that doctrine. This emancipation is more complete, and more significant for later literary forms of the imitation of life, than the mixture of le sublime with le grotesque proclaimed by the contemporary romanticists. "

Marfa In Two

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, art stuff, On The Road, picture post

My first visit to Marfa was early days of my Texas time. Living somewhere is better than visiting. Sometimes, some places, maybe not. One place means you can walk many times, using the same tripod holes. Wear them out, they are yours. Changing places starts with a blank paper. Most people revert; they go blank when they see a new place. Too frequently, they find the place as others have found it. The Card Shop Calendar.

— After my set: Wo Ist Tejas. Finding that all places share three versions of the world. In near space the differences blur until in intimate space they separate. The ring of awareness

I like grouping, at first, by pairs, later by parts; finding sets in dispersed settings. Not because of symmetry, but because of depth; I see very different depths in almost every scene, every part of the world. Seeing one thing, one city as two things, cities is innate. Progression between points is more than direction.

Cartesian thinking that we can map our doing, our goings. Everyone is a rancher. No one ranches. That is Tejas, Mexas.

Locations: No Country for Old Men

Travel is easy. It was easier before Trvmp’s Fear Years.

quickstep across

Posted on Posted in minimum daily requirement, on photographers, On The Road, pipelineTagged , , , ,

— Although The video is not mine... it is worth my time, perhaps yours also. What does it consider?

YouTube (YT) is a key supplier of opinions. It is the Hot Media. It is widely dispersed, with sense, nonsense. Its basis is advertising, so like water in a desert it may nourish, it may also poison. YT channels stratify the field. Entry layers gaining greater advertising hits. This is like the threaded online boards, except they are in decline, with YT continuous increasing attention. Even in the time after TikTok and pulse viewing.

I wouldn’t link to a poison. I don’t know this person, not even his work, other than what is shown in the video. His imagery isn’t my reason for directing you to his video.

one video about roadtrip… my response after the video. My response is here, rather than on YT, so I can better remember my shorthand. YT responses are better for a short statement sent into the bucket. Please watch the YT version.

The nature of film is the image is not seen immediately. Polaroid was in every commercial studio as part of the solution to this boundary. Polaroid along with messenger service and a quick turn lab within a few blocks was the method of New York photography. Why we dominated. We had the community, the infrastructure nourished its own. Manhattan was home to Madison Avenue, the source of work and seemingly unlimited funds to maintain this intense group of photographers.

selected transcript from the video.
  • Travel with chemicals -[else] keep them concentrated. Process one-shot.
  • Pickup distilled water at gas/rest stops. Also, ice for temperature control of process.
  • learned to stay, shoot enough to “distil” the composition.

This equipment he takes surprises me: a scanner. His reasoning is to verify that his camera and process are producing useful results. This is a hybrid thinking solution. I carry duplicate cameras. For bellows based cameras, carry electrical tape, or “bellows” patch (scuba glue).

I suspect he is now a digital first photographer, since it seems he was using film as input to scanner. He liked the camera, had fun with film. So it goes.

Travel opens the world. The road trip is a standard of photographers. Even studio photographers make road trips (Avedon) , just rarely is that considered their prime work.

–> other bit about travel to tripod spots.