But is it art?

I was thinking about this at length yesterday when I was running.

Is this "art"?

"Tomatoes"
That's an HDR image I made from a series of photographs I took last August.

Here. This is the basic photo of the image depicted above:

Is this art?
Of course, the work of Ansel Adams is art. He could create a masterpiece with a Brownie camera. He could and he did. Proving, by the way, it has nothing to do with equipment. Of course photography is "art". I never gave it much thought. Photographs hang in galleries. Framed photographs cover the walls of our homes and offices.

But when really, does a "snapshot" become a "work of art"?

Back in the day I had "mastered the medium" (at least I thought I did!). I used all kinds of different films for different reasons. I used one kind of film for portraits. Another for landscapes. Another for documentary work. I used technique and style to direct attention to what it was I saw. I'd use different chemical treatments and procedures (I had a darkroom too...) and papers and filters and, oh, all kinds of tools and techniques and there was never a shred of doubt in my mind; I was doing "art".

I don't know why it is I find digital photography so much different from chemical photography. It is for sure very different. Oh I think photographic film is a far superior medium than digital sensors and I can write a paper on that. But more than that, I sometimes wonder, as I tweak an image's color balance in Photoshop (aka "'shopping"), what's so different about that than say, using a filter while printing an image on paper?

I still haven't quite figured it out. I just don't feel like an artist when I'm using Photoshop. The passion and the extent of engagement is just so much different.

So. To answer my own question? Ya, I suppose it's art. But it's not as clear as I'd like.

Pet Projects. Part 2.

My second pet project this year has been scanning some old slides.

Cape Cod Light April 1981
Many years ago I supported myself for a time as a photographer. Oh I did stock material and weddings and advertising and some newsworthy things. I have hundreds and hundreds of slides, mostly Kodachrome, and an additional hundreds, if not thousands of negatives. I sent what I felt were the better ones to these guys to be scanned. They did an excellent job and I'm very pleased with their service.

It's said a (good) picture tells a story. Which is true. But I think a good picture evokes a story. Still photography freezes a moment in time and has the power to make one wonder. Abandoned places have always fascinated me - they make me wonder in a way occupied places don't. I chose to share this picture because it's been bothering me. It's the Cape Cod Light keeper's house in 1981. Cape Cod Light, also called Highland Light, in N. Truro, MA, is historically significant.

Cape Cod Light, also known as Highland Light, N. Truro, MA, April 1981
I thought it would be fun to look up the light on Google Maps and see an aerial view where I took these pictures. But the pieces don't add up. Nothing looks right as I remember it. Then yesterday I figured it out! They moved it!

In 1996 they moved the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper's house is gone forever.

But the mystery doesn't end there. The lighthouse keeper's house pictured above was built in 1961 and, according to the record, was used as housing by the Coast Guard until 1986. So why is it boarded up in 1981? I have no idea. Maybe it was boarded up for the winter and only occupied in the summer months? I find it hard to believe the Coast Guard was anxious about Winter weather!

It remains a mystery.

I like this picture better:

I think it's more timeless and has a romantic quality the color picture doesn't have. It's not a desaturated version of the picture above. Black and white pictures need to be made from black and white film. I'm old fashioned about that. Back in the day I'd carry different cameras with different films. The first picture and the last picture were taken with different cameras. Same lens, same tripod in the same place, different camera with different film.

Winter 2011/2012

I've been somewhat remiss. I still haven't picked my "Picture of Winter" for 2011/2012. The single most distinctive quality of the season was..."mild" and I remember it as rather mundane.

So I was very surprised to find that I had 532 pictures I felt were worth keeping! And that the season actually was more interesting than I remember and, as usual, picking a "Picture of the <Season>" was challenging.

Winter 2011/2012. The orchard at Nashoba Valley Winery 13 January 2012.
I think that picture would make many observers think "Winter".

I have runner ups and honorable mentions but frankly, that's cheating. Part of the game is to pick just one. But I just have to include this one. I can tell it's Winter. I can tell it's mild. I just love this picture. Are they coming or going?

7 January 2012. 60° F.

Pet Projects. Part 1.

What's wrong with this picture?

Medfield State Hospital, Building D1, 16 April 2012
Nothing really.

I've had a couple of pet projects occupying my time in the past few months. One of them is High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.

The brightness range of an image from its darkest shadows to its brightest highlights is the image's dynamic range. The human eye can see an almost infinite dynamic range. Photographic technology has a (very) limited range.

As a practical matter this means is that one simply can't have a photograph with details in both the shadows and the highlights at the same time. A photograph can have one or the other, not both.

Photographers generally expose the scene for what it is they want to emphasize in their final image. Is the "subject" in the shadows? Overexpose. Is the "subject" in the highlights? Underexpose. It can be a little more complicated than that but that's basically the technique for managing limited dynamic range.

So here.

This is normally exposed
You can't see much detail in the shadows under the porch roof. And at the same time you can't see much detail in the paint peeling off the columns.

This is overexposed (by 1 f stop)
You can see more details in the shadows here but the highlights are completely "blown out". You can't see any lines delineating the bricks or the slate tiles on the roof. And the porch roof line isn't that white.

This is underexposed (by 1 f stop)
You can see some detail in the highlights, the lines delineating the bricks on the wall and tiles on the roof. The peeling paint along the porch roof line. But the shadow detail under the porch roof is gone. The shadows are basically ... just black.

Now, the business of HDR photography is digitally combining these 3 different images into a single image that captures more range than is possible with the single image. It's like saying take the first image as...the image, and take the shadows from the second image, and take the highlights from the third image.

I have not been at all impressed with the "digital darkroom". I've mostly shrugged it off. Of course I crop my pictures. And I tweak them often. Adjust the exposure here and there and do a little retouching ok, but I've found it's more about economics than it is creativity. I can't do anything (that I want to do) with Photoshop that I couldn't do in a darkroom.

But this is something different. I think. This really does have the potential for artistic expression. The final images will have high contrast (which is mostly undesireable) and, in the image above, I deliberately got heavy handed with it to make a point. The subject has a surreal quality to begin with so I think even given its heavy handedness it kind of works.

Now it's more about finding the best subjects for HDR photographs and applying a light enough hand to have the observer thinking "now that's a beautiful picture" rather than "what's wrong with that picture".

Here's a great tutorial on creating HDR images with some free software which is a great way to learn more.

The year in review - 2011

This time of year I often recall the previous year. 2011 was a good year for a whole host of reasons.

L and I enjoyed some positively stellar rides.

20 August 2011
We still haven't sorted out our canter. Oh, of course she can run like the wind but we need to work on transitions and collection. That will just have to stay on this year's "to do" list. Our "thing" is trail riding but that's no excuse. She can do schooling exercises as well as just about anyone. And those are important. I learned an important lesson just yesterday. I'll have to blog about it.

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I have roughly 3650 pictures from 2011. And those were the keepers. If you take that many pictures you're gonna have a good picture here and there.

A Masterpiece

Another Masterpiece. Well. The horse is!

Many of them are just moments from daily life

The view from my office window. 21 January 2011

Driving to work, 20 June 2011. Yes that's a horse farm. It's not Kentucky but we do have a lot of horse farms around here.

Driving to work, 14 July 2011. The corn is early.
Someday all the daily life pictures will be just fascinating to someone I'm sure. We take the things in our daily lives so much for granted. You realize of course, sometime very soon, many people won't even know what this is:

A...pay phone?!

Sometimes I tried to go "poetic" and "artistic"

Remember this? Same place, 22 January 2011

I *love* tomatoes. 27 August 2011

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And I just like to document my favorite things

Old favorites...

A little extravagant sometimes

Gazpacho. Summer in a bowl!
New favorites...

I discovered Spanish wine in 2011!

I really like Spanish wine
I discovered the wine (and cuisine) of Puglia.

You mean.. it's.. not all about.. Tuscany?
I made Spring Rolls! I never made Spring Rolls before. These were my very first Spring Rolls. It takes a little practice.

Shrimp Spring Rolls
And the leftover vegetables inspired me to make something I call "matchstick salad". Cut carrots, pickling cucumbers, celery, green and red bell pepper along with a jalapeño or a Serrano pepper into matchsticks, mix with some chopped lettuce and dress with an Asian dipping sauce. It's light, it's healthy and satisfying.

I have another new favorite. A friend of mine says this doesn't look very good. I dunno. I can't agree. I should really give credit to where I found this but I just don't recall. It's not an original recipe but..it is a deceptively simple, declicious tartine.

A deceptively simple tartine
Marinate some red onions and carrot curls in extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt and rosemary.

Crumble some goat cheese on a slice of your favorite rustic bread. This is a whole wheat Tuscan pane from a local bakery. Lay some snow peas on top of the goat cheese. Then add the marinated onion and carrot. This is a delicious sandwich I have all the time during the Summer. I think Chianti goes great with it. But I think Chianti goes great with everything.

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These guys made for a huge surprise in 2011.

Tomatillos. 18 September 2011
I've had all kinds of salsa verde and I never really liked any of it. But along around September I had a *ton* of garden fresh tomatillos.

Garden fresh tomatillos
I researched tomatillo recipes and found that basically...the *only* thing you make with tomatillos is...salsa verde.

So I was faced with kind of a problem. I would have really hated to waste them. I wasn't about to chuck 'em out. And I don't like salsa verde. And nobody I know even knows what they are so I couldn't give them away.

So I picked a salsa verde recipe at random. I roasted the tomatillos, chopped them by hand, and made some salsa verde.

Absolutely delicious salsa verde
Much to my surprise, I just *loved* my homemade salsa verde. So did everyone who tried it. I honestly don't know what made the difference. Garden fresh tomatillos? The way I roasted them? Hand chopping them? The simple recipe? I just don't know. But here's how you make delicious salsa verde:

• Peel the papery outer layer off your tomatillos and rinse them thoroughly in warm water. They have a sticky coating on them under the paper. You need some warm water to get that off. Not all of it comes off though. It's harmless.
• Coat them in olive oil and roast them in a 350 degree oven oven for 30 to 40 minutes
• When the tomatillos have cooled put them in a bowl and give them a few strokes with a potato masher. Then, a handful at a time, chop the mashed tomatillos on a cutting board and transfer to another bowl. This is going to be messy. It's worth the trouble.
• Add a pinch of salt, chopped red onion, minced garlic and your favorite chopped chili peppers. I was lucky. I just happened to have garden fresh Cayenne peppers all season long. They were a treat.

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I don't know if I'd call this my picture of the year but there is something I really like about this picture. Funny, I don't know exactly what it is. I just like it a lot. Maybe it was the time of year. Or the time of day. L and I ride out here all the time. This is our road to the woods. Looking at this picture I can feel the breeze. I can hear the crickets. I can smell the hay. Everything is just right with the world here.

18 September 2011

Fall 2011

Picking my picture of Fall 2011 is challenging this year. Mostly because Fall was...bland. I don't really have one single picture that I think says..."Fall" from 2011.

This is a favorite from the season. And it says "Fall" to me. That's a closeup of L's neck and shoulder from the front with her rhythm bead necklace. It's the color of the light and her winter coat that make it "Fall". I just love her winter coat! I can practically smell her when I look at this picture.

5 November 2011
Of course I have to include this, at least as a "most memorable moment" from Fall 2011. The (big) snow storm in October.

30 October 2011, 8:12 am
With any luck that will also be the last snow of the season! Actually, the snow I don't mind so much. It's the cold I hate!

There are other things that always say "Fall" to me.

Kitty starts sitting in the sun.

It's bourbon cider season!

I like this on ice
Even though you can get this in August and September it really is meant for celebrating the harvest season and always means Fall to me.

The Origin of Oktoberfest style beer is an interesting story
And of course with much sadness, I have my last ear of corn for the year...

The last ear of 2011 corn. 10 October

Summer 2011

Sometimes I get behind with my "picture of the season" and I'll make my pick within a few months. Sometimes I have a lot of pictures which speak of the season.

But this summer I knew the instant I saw it. It's this one.

10 July 2011
One can clearly see that's a sparkling summer day. The first cut hay baled in the background. Some farm equipment. Corn is coming up. I took that picture while riding L back from the woods. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon. That was a most perfect summer day.

I've got half a mind to make that picture into a poster.

Spring 2011

My picture of Spring 2011.

Sunday 15 May 2011
The 15th of May was a cool, damp, rainy day. Sunday. Sometimes I run on Sundays. I didn't ride - I went for a run that Sunday afternoon. I passed this car parked under a flowering tree. I have no idea what kind of tree. Maybe a crab apple or a cherry tree. But this was the day this tree had dropped most of its flowers and the car had been parked there under that tree long enough to be covered with the dropped petals. I liked it. I decided if it was still there when I was done with my run I'd go back and get my camera.

As it turns out, for me, that's the picture that says "Spring" to me.

This merits an honorable mention however.

My pond, Sunday 8 May 2011, 10:12 am
This is *clearly* Spring. This picture almost makes me smell Spring.

And here, This is just a pallet by the door. It's the newness of the leaves that makes me think Spring.

Pallet. 21 May 2011

Winter 2010/2011

I have pictures of every storm throughout the winter of 2010/2011. I had 25 "candidates" for my Winter picture. But this is the one.

Winter 2010/2011
We've had worse winters. But not recently. This was 12 January. This was the first really serious snow of the season. Suggesting we were to have a winter to remember. We had storms like this every few days for weeks. Looking at this picture makes me want to go have a hot cocoa.

This was the sidewalk down the street on 30 January. Crazy.

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Of course blueberry pancakes are good anytime. But they're especially good when the snow is shoulder deep. This actually was breakfast on 30 January!

The best of 2010

It's along about this time of year I go through last year's pictures looking for what I think is the best. I can take 10k pictures in a year. Digital cameras have made it so easy! Just go ahead and click away it's not like you're spending anything on film.

It's a minor obsession and people are now so accustomed to me taking pictures of everything they don't even notice anymore.

My favorite picture from 2010 is:

Summer Table
For technical merit I love the light. I shot 6 frames of this table setting at different exposures and angles and I used a flash for a couple of frames. In fact here's the same picture in this post with a different crop and a flash filling in the shadows. I think the natural light however makes it feel more like summer and I like the long shadows. That was in August and I think it looks like it.

I like the composition. The salami platter leads your eye into the frame from the lower left corner where it then wants to run the length of the basket, curl around the caprese salad and run up along the bottle where it then exits the frame from the top right. I think it flows in a pleasant way.

And the subject of course is a favorite thing, at a favorite time of the year.

It's very hard to pick a single favorite from a year. I have a lot to choose from! But as I went back and forth I just kept coming back to that picture. The year had many highlights and lowlights and that picture makes me feel good.

I've talked about seasonal favorites here and here. One goes through dry spells now and then so sometimes I just don't have a seasonal favorite.

Oh and this, by the way, is my Spring 2010 favorite! But that's just me.

Spring 2010
You see, I remember that day like it was yesterday. You know that very first day in the Spring when it looks like Spring, it feels like Spring, and it smells like Spring? Where *everything* just says "Spring"? This was that day last year. L and I had the most enjoyable ride. I can't think of a better way to welcome the Spring and with the way I hate Winter that's a huge thing for me. I can get almost manic when I feel the Spring coming.

I find maybe 1k of those 10k pictures are worth keeping and some of those I think are quite good.

Some several lifetimes ago I made my living as a photographer. So let me share 3 secrets to taking good pictures:

• Learn some technique. You need to know how your camera works. Experiment and learn how the settings impact the image. And you don't need all kinds of equipment. I have a "nice" camera and I take *tons* of pictures with a little compact pocket camera. And you know what? I've taken the same pictures with the "nice" camera and the pocket camera and compared them and find the images generally compare favorably.
  
• Learn composition. There are some hard and fast rules but the one of the best ways to learn about composition is to study things you like. When you see a picture you like in a magazine stop and look at it. Study it. Try to figure out what it is you like about it. Do the same thing when you watch TV. Or see a movie.
  And, as part of learning composition, be mindful of backgrounds! The single biggest mistake most people make is looking at what they're taking a picture of. Rather than looking at the whole picture.
  
• Take lots of pictures! Odds are when you take a lot of pictures some of them are bound to be pretty good.
  

Equine Affaire

The Equine Affaire was last weekend at the Big E fairgrounds in West Springfield. Massachusetts. The Equine Affaire is the event of the season. An equine trade show. It's huge. It's the largest multi breed showcase pretty much anywhere.

Canadian Horses were in the house!

L's breeder, Normand Litjens (Ferme Litjens), Canadream Farm and Dream Horse Canadians had set up in barn C to both promote and sell Canadian Horses. Good job!

Normand opened Pfizer Fantasia with Ranch-l Xabon Arlequin in harness. Very exciting for fans of the Canadian Horse.



It was nice to see people we only see once or twice a year and I brought home a pretty new halter for L. That nice shiny nameplate didn't last long. One good roll and no more pretty nameplate. No mind. I just want her to have a leather turnout halter. Might as well be a nice one!



Here's another contender for Summer 2010. It's basically the same as this picture here but a different angle.



I don't remember exactly when I took this picture. I can look it up next time I mount my archive disk. It was this year. It makes me a little sad. This (old) gate opens into an abandoned pasture. I remember using that pasture for my Quarter Horse B years ago. Now the fences are gone and it's all overgrown and that gate hasn't swung in who knows how many years. It makes me acutely aware however of the passage of time and how poorly the property has been maintained. This would probably be a really good black and white picture.

Update November 25: This picture was taken sometime in July 2010.