Farewell ...I Mean Good-bye G+

The recent advent of Google's decision to close G+ has me thinking and re-thinking my use of Google products. Most specifically, this blog. I just re-opened this blog for it's simplicity and functionality.
Alas, I have made the decision to migrate away again. My new blog will allow me to post material without giving up any copyrights...I do like that idea.

Here is the new site:
https://photographicimpressionistic.com/



Thank you!
Mark

Going Home

A place

In the mind

In the heart

Where we say

"I belong"

Bridal Agreement

Walk near

Transformed ions

Heat activated

Ice to water

Its life 

A laughter

In silence

Made this below Bridal Veil Falls - Yosemite Valley. The trees were thick and the available light was minimal. I asked the river to slow down so I could freeze the action and it bellowed its displeasure to the thought. "Why would I do that? I was frozen yesterday. Around here, we only move forward!"

So, I leaned against a tree and balanced myself as best as I could, and made a two-second exposure handheld.

Outside In, Inside Out -

Sometimes we just watch it all go by

Most of the time though

We gotta "get in it"

To feel alive.

Jumper

There's not enough time in the day
Is what we say

Yet every single night we fall asleep
Jump from the bridge
Into the deep

Ay Caramba!

Why so sad?

Just look around.

It's not all bad.

Down on the ground.

Baby Ducks

Cliché

If I go to the pier:

High Steppin'

My daughter's pygmy goats...

Walk With Me

My dear, the pipes are calling

Sounding dread and hope

And yet should my return

Be of only dreaming

Hold me hand this once more

And remind me now my bonny lass

Why I must go

(Inspired by "Danny Boy")

The Other Side

Most peaceful places

Lack lions and humans

Which Way?

            If you hang around under the bridge, you're going to find some stuff!

At Some Point

I stopped caring what everyone else wanted me to do with my art. And in some sense I assume a lot of people stopped caring about what I did...mostly because it did not fit into their preconceived ideas, nor did it add to their tribal movement. (Or maybe I just suck!) Clubs are great. We can belong to them, and we can hit people over the head with them. Take your pick, both are exclusionary, discriminatory...the ultimate excuse for cliques. Why am I so bitter today? Man, I need a vacation.

Something different:

Honey, have you seen my plane?
Yes, you left it right by your pants....like you always do!

Oh The Banality Of It All!

Suddenly....no wait...
Not suddenly....
As a matter of fact as slowly as is usual.
Spring has descended like the seeds of the cottonwood. Drifting, landing, accumulating.
It happens e-v-e-r-y....s-i-n-g-l-e.....y-e-a-r!
There is no fanfare to shake us up and remind us. It just happens and (mostly) we don't care. Well, except maybe as it applies to what we need to wear for the day to be comfortable.
It's boring, especially when our experience of it is from an automobile travelling at 58.6666667 feet per second (40 mph). Or off in the distance we notice, "hey look the field is green".....and that's it. Over.
Noted.
Whatever.
But those opinions are no matter to boring people like me. You see, some of us like to go right into the middle of those changes and watch them happen. There may be small swarms of caterpillars wandering the trails and in several weeks, we know moths or butterflies will be hovering about in all their splendor. Male bush-tit, phoebe and wren species will put on displays vying for mates. Mallards will defend their mates with vicious battles to win the right to procreate.
Migratory species will descend thick and heavy. Some will mate and lay their eggs. Some will travel northward bound.
There is a lot going on, but the only way to see it is to get in the middle of it (as unobtrusively as possible). The first years of doing this are great, but it's the subsequent following years that are most revealing. Patterns of species are realized, and certain beliefs can be challenged through simple observations.
A renewed respect is inevitable, and the realization that we humans are so ignorantly pompous and self important almost always manifests itself.
Recently, a fellow photographer bellowed the concern that ALL photographers need to become more political in their work. (Apparently very unhappy about the current political climate.) This paradigm seems to control much of the exhibitions across the board in public life. We Must Fight! We must Change (something). We Must We Must!!!
That is ok I suppose....to be so wrapped up in a "cause" that every sweaty pore reeks of those self-important singular statements.
At this point, I would need to apologize to that photographer, because I say NO. My observations of nature have zero correlation to politics, and I refuse to mix the two. Can we just for a moment consider the poison of telling anyone how they are supposed to approach their work. Maybe I like to look at things as the way they are and represent them how they uplift me, or send me to transcendental places. These are moments of joy. Why would you ask me to taint these intimate moments with politics? Think about it next time.
That is not to say that I am not political, nor does it not escape my attention that we need to take better care of our earth. And it doesn't mean that I do not support political groups that are looking to that end. It just means that the filth of politics will stay out of my work, because regardless of how banal it may seem to everyone else, the beauty I attempt to convey is...enough said.
Peace

Don't Touch Me

Scritch scratch
In a patch
Looks so fine
Poisoned wine
Leaves of three
Let it be

Bye Plane!

Years ago.
I made photographs of my beautiful daughter on the branches of that tree.
It was warm and the fields were brown.
She is now married and teaches art...and would probably not even consider attempting to climb what is left of the tree.
A few years later.
My wife and I made photographs of an engaged couple who were to be wed.
They moved to Alabama, and now have a baby.
Not too long ago.
I watched a wren family feed their chicks in a hole at the end of one of the branches.
The male was a bully, and bossed around the mama relentlessly.
When I returned to see how they were faring....they were gone.
Not a trace.

Post processed in TOPAZ

Multiple exposures

Sailor's Dock

After many days
Of pitch and roll

Spray and foam

A dry place

Relatively speaking

No more crash

No more creaking


Lensbaby - Zoneplate Optic

The Indelible Mark of Freedom

Once it hits you, it just becomes a part of your workflow.
Instinct.
Pushing out all the rhetoric that others cage themselves with opens the mind to all possibilities. No more narrow field of view. The camera is set up manually...even focus is made manually.
There is no regard to manifestos, "classic techniques" or "the masters" (means and methods). These are respected, but mean little to a walk that looks to understand  the holistic experience at the personal level (interpretive impression). 
Color over there, warm components right here, crazy level lighting in that direction, subjected forms at that level over there with specific values  that will add to the message.
There is a sense of urgency as colors and clouds are shifting continuously. Test runs are made to confirm value interactions...and then it all busts loose before it changes too much. One frame.....second frame....wait....wait....third frame subject is not cooperating. Sometimes the wait just takes FOREVER before finishing....(several minutes). By then the light has changed! Adjust for changes. Maybe a secondary subjective value? Yes...there...that's it....BAM!
Occasionally, it works. Other times I have to leave the area completely to find the final segment because too much has changed.
Then people complain when I use post processing.
Right.

Once again...I have been informed that my work does not fit a determined mold for gallery representation. Rejection is not uncommon in this saturated market. I get it...it has more to do with marketability than anything else.

Triangular Trance

As I stood by the lake, my gaze transfixed on the play of light on water and I fell into a trance.
Fully awake, yet transported into another dimension, I left my body. Walking into the cool waters, I turned and saw myself looking into the air towards the mountains.
Turning and looking up, I saw myself rising in the form of a bird. My body was no longer old and decaying. Gravity no longer had its hold over me.
I was free.
Truly, truly free.


Multiple Exposures-Lensbaby Edge 80 Wide Open  + Radial Blur Added

Arsenal - Landscape Photographer Killer?

Product Here: https://witharsenal.com/

It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to harness the functions of the new tech cameras and create an intelligent point-and-shoot remote. I have only briefly reviewed this product page, but am impressed with what this thing may actually produce.

It appears that if you mix someone who is a software developer and amateur landscape photographer, this is what you get. Apparently, no longer will you need to understand the limitations of the camera to get a fine art level photo. This device will figure it out for you by assessing the scene, run some calcs and spit out a perfectly made shot.

Good for him! The product has generated over $6m for production and will be available in June.

So what does this mean?

This development will make fine art photographers out of many who are good at composition. It won't be their efforts of making settings with the camera, but that won't matter any more. Not all art buyers are photographers...and... they really don't care "how you got the shot". At the least, it will add yet many more landscape photographers adding their work to the www. Ultimately, this will drive down the perceived value of artistic prints (my opinion).

That's fine I guess. I have always touted the idea of embracing technological advances. What will go away is the idea that a person is a "photographer". Someone who understands how to control the output...with digital or film.

The high sales of photography by any one person is really not just based on ability. It is also highly reliant on smart marketing....something which I have no time for currently. This strength will become even more apparent in the coming years (my opinion)

It will not do this:

(Not yet anyway)

The Magic of a Song

It starts as a poem in the heart of a wordsmith.
Written down, spoken aloud.
Edited.
Rewritten.
How does it roll off the tongue?
Is the cadence "right"?

Does it tie you "to the kitchen floor"?

Once it works in the mind and all is in its place.
It is set free for listening.
For interpretation.
To follow and open the mind

Sung by anyone else
With chops, without chops
It overwhelms and the singer is left without any choice.
Just sing it.
It's mine, yours, it's everyone's... everything

Unstoppable.

Summer Thicket

It's crowded

Here, in the thicket

Where everything is

Being lost

Becomes the refuge 

Of preference

Breathe

Listen to the wind
The breath of our earth
Sit and be still


Lensbaby

Ground Squirrel

Is nothing like ground beef, or pork.

If a ground squirrel lives in the ground

Then I must be stucco human

Mono Lake Visitor Center Lawn 

  

Where Rivers Are Born

Opportunities
To cleanse ourselves
Left the building

Long ago

Presently
The remaining remedy

Stabs our backs

But necessary

Mount the conveyor

And keep the mouth closed
For god's sake
Keep the mouth shut

Long enough

To pass under it's power

Water, crushing the hatred

Exposing the old purity

Respect of self
Respect of others