New
Camera-Work
Photographs
(First Edition: Images made between
April 2024 -through- August 2024)
A 12x12" Inkjet Print PROJECT
Introduction
This 12x12" Inkjet Print blog PROJECT, entitled "New Camera-Work Photographs," will hopefully be the first of several forthcoming blog editions of new inkjet printed "straight" photographs, and the Symmetrical Photographs constructed with those images. Each edition will be identified with a framework of time in which the images were created. This first edition is dated (& revised): April 2024 -through- August 2024.
Note: This 12x12" New Camera-Work inkjet print PROJECT is different from all of my previous 12x12" PROJECTS in that the images being presented were not chosen in regard to a particular thematic concept or subject matter. Visit my listing of 2023-2024 12x12" Inkjet Print Projects to see the complete list of hyperlinked titles for the 12x12" thematic PROJECTS, the 12x12" Books, and the LARGER sized inkjet print projects.
The term Camera-Work is an historical term my mentor Alfred Stieglitz used for a high-quality fine-art quarterly photographic journal he published between 1903-1917. The images--some of the most important photographs being created in that early historical period when photography was not considered by many to be a fine art medium, were reproduced using the photogravure process. Stieglitz published images that he felt aspired to the highest ideals that he himself had personally advocated. Later on, Stieglitz would become one of the most influential and respected fine-art photographers of the 2oth century.
Between 1929-1946 Stieglitz opened and operated two very important and highly progressive art galleries in New York City: the 291 Gallery and An American Place, in which he exhibited the work of the most accomplished photographers, painters & sculptors working in the United Stated and Europe.
The photographs Stieglitz made between 1925 and 1934, which he termed Equivalent photographs, was a major influence on my own creative process. When I was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico (1969-72), my (required) MFA written thesis was based largely on the Stieglitz's theory of equivalence in relation to depth-psychologist Carl Jung's ideas about the psyche, the creative unconscious, symbols and the concept of synchronicity. (Visit my blog which summarizes the core ideas of my written thesis: The Symbolic Photograph - A Means to Self-Knowledge.)
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This project's title New-Camera Work Photographs is my way of distinguishing the difference between photographs I have made from newly created and newly printed image files with my digital camera (i.e., the "straight" photographs), and images I have been printing since February, 2023 from my archive of digital image files for my Inkjet Print Project. The bulk of the images I have printing with my new inkjet printer, since then, have been images from earlier blog project images which had only been published on my blog but never before printed. I initiated my blog in late 2010, so there was a lot of images that I had not yet printed, and in late 2022 I had a strong feeling that I should create a more complete print archive of some of my most favorite and meaningful images from my blog projects to complement all of the silver prints I had made in the 40 years (1963-2003) before I switched over to digital photography in 2003.
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In January, 2023 I underwent cataract surgeries on both eyes. Following those surgeries each eye developed retinal detachments from tears in the retina due to the stress upon my eyeballs during the cataract surgeries. Between January 17 and March 13, 2023 I experienced five eye surgeries, two on my left eye, three on my right eye. The retinal tear in my left eye was extreme enough to cause a vision problem known as aniesikonia, a condition in which the image size in my left eye is now different from the image size in my right eye. My left eye is also darker and degraded in quality relative to my right eye. This disparity of vision between my two eyes has made it difficult for me to "see photographically" in part because I now experience varying degrees of spatial disorientation, some dizziness and some balance issues.
I was told that my brain would eventually learn to correct for the disparities, but it would take some time and I would experience more-than-usual tiredness from the stress my eyes and my brain are under due to the disparities. The condition has continued to this day (July, 2024) and in the past several months the tiredness, dizziness and spatial disorientation I had been experiencing has gotten worse.
In the near future I will be undergoing some medical testing to determine if the extreme tiredness and visual disorientation is based in some other medical condition other than my disparity of vision. I look forward to the time when I can focus my creative process on creating new work full time rather than printing older images.
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There have been "bright moments" after the surgeries when the urge to a make new Camera-Work photographs have arisen, and some pretty good photographs have emerged, from time to time. For the record, I was able to make and publish some New Camera-Work inkjet printed photographs, and projects after the five eye surgeries. See the project lists below.
(Note: the Broad Book Road PROJECT and the Circle Photographs PROJECT contains a mix of new and old imagery; within those projects I have identified the new images with their dates.)
For the most part, however, since February, 2023 I have focused my creative energy toward making prints for my Inkjet Print Project. The 12x12" inkjet print Books came first, and more recently I have been making the thematic 12x12" inkjet print PROJECTS.
In choosing which of my "favorite" images I wanted to print for my inkjet print Books and PROJECTS, I have--for the most part--chosen the images which function for me as True, living Symbols. What I care most about, as an artist, is producing images which give visual form to the yogic idea of the Oneness of Being (photographs which conjoin corresponding inner-world and outer-world image counterparts). Stieglitz called these kinds of images equivalents; I call them Symbols.
I feel most fulfilled when grace as participated in my creative process and supported/directed the manifestation of this kind of meaningful image. My practice of making symbolic photographs combined with my various yogic practices gives me a deep sense of inner contentment despite my my vision problems. And, with patience, I remain hopeful that gradually my vision problems will change for the better.
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Regarding the work in this First Edition of
New Camera-Work, a 12x12" Inkjet Print PROJECT
(dates: April 2024 -through- July 2024)
The New Camera-Work images I am presenting here offer new variations on many of my most familiar conceptual & subject matter themes including the following: the Meadow landscapes,
fog, windows, suspended objects (bells and chimes), still lifes; images which approach visual abstraction. As I have explained earlier, however, this project was not intended to be thematic in nature; it is, rather, a collection of new camera-works.
The new work in this project is encouraging to me in the way that it affirms how, despite my continued and apparently worsening eye situation, I can still "see photographically" and make new work which continues to be meaningful to me in the most personally satisfying terms; and most importantly, that my connection to the grace of my Creative Process has been sustained. I like most images which emerge from my creative process that feel like "gifts." In other words, most of the images I am presenting here function for me as True, living symbolic photographs.
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This summer (of 2024) we have gotten lots of rain and intense thunder storms, and with that there have been lots of foggy mornings, mist and dew in our back yard, in the garden beds, and the Meadow. I love watching (and photographing) the changing drama of the light and atmosphere lingering low over the meadow and above its tapering woods.
Fog certainly represents (for me) the mystery of life and its Unknown invisible and yet palpable felt Presence. The yogic teachings are very clear about a divine presence that pervades our entire universe, visible and invisible, and all of its created things and spaces. That presence and its many names--such as God, Supreme Consciousness and the divine Self--are One, Equal and the same in terms of its experiential meaning. The True, living Symbolic Photograph is a concentrated visual form pervaded by grace, and its meanings transcends the limits of human perceptions, what is sayable, what is knowable to the intellect.
The human mind cannot grasp the mystery that unfolds within our Hearts and before our very eyes in every moment of every day, but we can experience it, even if we don't know what we are seeing or feeling; even if we cannot understand what we are seeing or feeling. The yogic sages tell us that the 'seer' and the 'seen' are one and the same; the mystery that appears to exist in the outer-world also dwells within each and every one of us--in the space of the Heart. Nothing exists that is not a visible or invisible form of the One, divine, Universal Self.
When my photographs resonate (for me) with this mystery, when they are functioning for me as True, living Symbols, I can engage them in a process of contemplation through which I enter directly into that mystery and get o know it better in a silent and yet resonant dialogue which manifests as an unsayable understanding.
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A brief note about "How to Best View My Online Blog Images"
If you are viewing this project on a desktop computer or a laptop, I encourage you to read my blog explanation regarding How to Best View My Online Blog Images. In brief, click on the images once, then once again; this will (hopefully) enlarge the image and present it in a dark tonal environment at its maximum viewing quality in terms of image sharpness, luminance, tonal gradations, etc. Once you have entered this alternate viewing space you can then use your zoom-in & zoom-out keyboard or menu options to adjust the image size, and darken or lighten your computer's screen brightness to suit your viewing preferences.
The New "Camera-Work"
Photographs
Image #1 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
(Dead trees in the South Meadow Woods, beyond the Pond)
Image #2 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
(Sunset, with luminous open sky shape over the South Meadow &Woods)
Image #3 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
(Sunset, with orange sky and dark clouds over the South Meadow, Pond & Woods)
Image #4 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
(Early Evening fog on the South Meadow, with a clear sky)
Image #5 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Evening view of the North Meadow with fog concentrating behind the pond & houses)
The dark wave-like meadow in the foreground creates an abrupt tonal change by the
softly illuminated fog. I like the warm feeling of the lights coming from the houses.
Image #6 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning view of the South Meadow beyond our neighbor's lawn and the South Pond)
Image #7 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning Bird with snail drawings on Picture window, South Pond in background)
Image #8 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning fog, South Meadow, viewed through our misted picture window (with bird wing)
A "Standing Figure" image can be seen in the center of the picture window;
I had photographed that figure seven years ago for my Giacometti Project)
Image #9 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning Dew on our picture window snail drawing
Image #10 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning Dew on our picture window with a snail drawing (yin yang 1)
Image #11 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early Morning Dew on our picture window with abstract (Sibelius) snail drawing
Image #12 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Back yard bells suspended in the morning fog below our backyard cloths line
Image #13 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Early morning mist on the bedroom window, small suspended chimes and curtains
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Image #14 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Little bedroom window & screen with morning mist-drops, North meadow & houses
Image #15 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Bedroom window & screen with morning mist-drops, blue curtain & yellow sunlight over the meadow
Image #16 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Bedroom window & screen, morning mist-drops, curtain reflection, yellow light on the green meadow
Image #20 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
A strange event sighted in the Vermont Woods near Broad Brook
Visit my 12x12" Inkjet PROJECT Quirky Photographs
Image #21 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Quirky Still Life: Plastic cup, wood angular bowl, granite base
Image #23 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"Quirky" Still Life (reflections on a tv screen)
Image #24 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Quirky Photography: A streak of sunlight on our kitchen ceiling
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New Symmetrical Photographs
Constructed with "New Camera-Work" Images
Visit my blog project:
Image #25 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ July 2024)
Symmetrical Photograph constructed with Image #2 (above)
Image #26 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ July 2024)
Symmetrical Photograph constructed with Image #15 (above)
Image #27 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ July 2024)
Symmetrical Photograph constructed with Image #16 (above)
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Six Photographs
(made in August, 2024 during . . . )
Our Family's Visit to the
1,000 Islands Region in New York State
Image #28 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"Still Life with Lamp." ~ The "still life" consists of a child's drawing on white paper, a stone
which had been placed upon the drawing, and a pencil with which the drawing was made.
I took this photograph on the first night of a three day vacation that my wife Gloria and I
took in August, 2024 with our daughter, Jessica, our grandson River, our son, Shaun
his wife Hao, and our grand daughter Claire (who made the drawing above). The
lamp sits next to a window of our Airbnb house which looks out at Lake Ontario
in the 1,000 Island Region of New York State. (Two nights later we looked out
of this window and saw the Super Moon shining in the sky and on the Lake.)
Image #29 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"A collection of red stones from Lake Ontario" The stones had been placed on the table
by the last Airbnb visitors. It had just rained, and when the clouds parted
the blue sky became reflected in the puddles on back deck table.
Image #30 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"A ring in the waters of Lake Ontario." The lake shore in front of the Airbnb
was covered with stones polished by the waves of Lake Ontario. We threw
and skipped stones in the lake after the rain and every day thereafter.
Image #31 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"River (our grandson) standing in Lake Ontario under a rainbow."
The light of the rainbow grew brighter and larger as we watched in astonishment until the
rainbow became perfectly brilliantly arched from one end of our view of the lake to the other.
River was the best stone skipper in our family. Here he is looking down contemplatively into
the dark reddish water following the rain. (He may have been looking for stones to skip.)
Image #32 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
"Hao reading under lamplight." I took this on the second night of our stay in the Airbnb.
Next to the Lamp on the table there was a beautiful framed black and white photograph
of a tree in the fog with its branches out-stretched forming a circular pattern. The
image surprised me; it reminded me of several of my own my fog & tree
photographs. (See my project Images of Eden.)
Image #33 12x12" PROJECT New Work (April ~ August 2024)
Third night: "A Lamp and its reflection in our bedroom window." ~ We had clear skies on the second
and third nights during our stay, and I enjoyed waking up during the night and seeing the lights of houses
and boats (passing-by) reflected on Lake Ontario. ~ I took this photograph just before I
turned the lamp off to sleep ~ I know these are not your typical vacation photographs. I
had just completed a photography project "Picture Window / Window Pictures"
and that seems to have influenced many of the pictures I made during our
Airbnb stay on the Lake. ~ I also made many "stone photographs" and
made frequent mention of stones in this six-image series. I have
made many "stone photographs" in my life. ~ I invite you
view my blog project "A Collection of Stone Photographs"
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This project was first announced on
my bog's Welcome Page on
July 28, 2024 with 21 images;
&
revised August 12, 2024 with six added images
&
revised August 25, 2024 with six images (1,000 Islands visit)
=
33 images totaled
Related Blog Project Links
How to Best View My Online Blog Images with your desktop or laptop computer.
Please visit the Welcome Page to my blog The Departing Landscape. It includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating from the most recent to those dating back to the 1960's. You will also find on the Welcome Page my resume, contact information . . . and much more.
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