Postcards from the Creative Journey

820 Some Days You’re the Bug

Yesterday we were the windshield. Today we were the bug.

Today didn’t start so well. A hint was that last night’s post photography beer wasn’t particularly cold, but I didn’t notice too much. This morning, the orange juice wasn’t cold at all. This did not bode well for an early photographic start.

A domestic crisis ensued when we discovered the refrigerator did not restart when the trailer was set up the day before. Dealing with lots of meat that was thawed but not warm meant breakfast cooking was eclectic. In an attempt to salvage breakfast, my attempt at Loco Moco came up short. Other completely thawed meats were cooked up in a carnivoristic orgy of meat preparation. We now have quite a supply of cooked meat to use over the next week or two. 

Our delayed start left us with few options to photograph today. The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona on US89 was suggested as a pleasant drive. We took off down 89 and tried to explore some of the Forest Service Roads. That was a bust. We continued down 89 and the drive was absolutely beautiful. That was the good news. The bad news was there was no place to stop and photograph. State Parks and campgrounds already had their “Full” signs out anticipating the upcoming weekend. The canyon was steep and narrow and I found only one photograph worth making (from a spot festooned with no parking signs). It is a photographic rule that all scenic spots have "No Parking" signs.

We made it down to Sedona, had our auras checked, did a couple of psychic readings, bought some crystals and headed back to Flagstaff, trying to figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.

817 - Bristlecone Pines First Published 9/8/2015

The first photograph I purchased was a photograph of a Bristlecone Pine by Cole Weston. When the opportunity to photograph these ancient trees arose, I jumped at the chance. We took off from the floor of the Owens Valley and headed up to the Schulman Grove of Bristlecone Pines. This is the forest that is shown on all the maps and is frequently visited by tourists. We photographed along a couple of trails. After lunch we asked the Ranger if there were other groves. She mentioned the Patriarch Grove a mere twelve miles further up the mountain had some more Bristlecone pines. A short video in the visitor center convinced me the Patriarch Grove was the best place to photograph. She said it would take us an hour to travel the twelve miles.

It did. It was the longest and roughest stretch of "unimproved" road Brooks and I have travelled in a long time. But the reward was great. These ancient trees are growing out of rocks. We were alone at 11,300 feet among these "young” (1500 years old) trees. A cloud or two actually appeared to liven up a few compositions.

The trip back from Patriarch Grove to Lone Pine was harrowing as we made the 7,500 vertical descent (remember those unimproved roads?) with rapidly fading light was quite lovely – at least until it got completely dark. Photography is never convenient.

819 A Much Better Day

After twelve hours of sleep, I felt a whole lot better and the world looked a whole lot better, too. We headed back out to Sunset Crater to see if we could convert some reconnaissance into actual photographs. We were skeptical because the weather forecast spoke of rain. Weather forecasters have about the same accuracy as sports analysts. After some early morning sprinkles, the sky was filled with puffy clouds. An absolutely lovely day. The mighty Tundra plowed through the cinders and other off road terrain with aplomb. We were able to access some areas we would have never been able to access with previous vehicles. 

Our photo process is really very simple. We get in the Tundra and start driving down paved roads. As soon as we see a dirt road we turn into it and continue driving. Our motto for years is “Photography begins where the pavement ends.” And then we start looking. Years of making bad decisions on where to go has given us the intuition as to whether an area has photographic potential or not. 

Cinder Cone.

 

Afternoon scattered thunderstorm.

818 “Reconnaissance in Force”

General Patton advanced beyond his assigned position by ordering “reconnaissance in force.” That’s what we did today. The area around Flagstaff is rich with landscapes of the American Southwest. It is within an hour or so of driving to four or five National Parks or Monuments. Thus it was the selection of base camp for this safari. Being the first day of safari we chose a very close by and convenient location.

We set out to reconnoiter the Sunset Crater National Monument and spent the day cruisin’ fer snaps (which is the code phrase for driving around just looking for things to photograph) and wondering if some of the unmarked trails would swallow up our 4WD truck. We found some ruins to make some generally uninspired high quality tourist photographs. We watched storms pass by “on the other side of the mountains” and were happy we only saw some sprinkles, but the towering cumulus clouds that make for high drama weren’t there today. We made do with what we could see. 

 

816 It’s Never the Right Time To Begin A Project

This will be a tough blog to write because all you need to know is in the title of this post. As a veteran of projects of many types I can assert without fail that there is never a best time to begin a project. In fact, I would be wary if I were to begin a project of any type under favorable conditions.

Begin anyway. It probably won’t end up the way you want it to, in fact it just might even be better than you thought. If you don’t start a project you will never learn what you need to complete the project. If you don’t begin a project it will never be finished. While that seems kind of obvious it’s not a thought that comes to mind quickly.

In Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels, Detective Bosch has a sign taped to the wall of his cubicle. It says, “Get off your ass and knock on doors.” It was a reminder that thought does not solve cases, but activity does. Starting something makes it happen. Go out there and knock on the door of your next project.

815 - At Pavement’s End First Published 9/4/2016

I showed this happy snap as part of the 2015 photo safari blog, but I think it deserves another play. Our version of this platitude is “Photography doesn’t begin until the pavement ends.” When given the choice, we take the road less paved and hope it will make all the difference to our photographic lives.

The unpaved road means we are farther away from civilization and are less likely to have our landscape photographs mucked up with the detritus of a disposable society. Yes, you can photoshop a beer can out of the foreground, but isn’t it much nicer when it is not there at all?

The dirt road represents a dichotomy of experiences; it can be a new experience for those of us used to pavement and the old experience of something rustic and undomesticated. Less traveled means we can most likely find places with few people.

I look for locations where there is evidence of people, but they are not present at the moment. Most photographs of abandoned places seem to really stress the “abandoned” part that seems to say, “This place is empty because everyone is gone and not coming back,” rather than “No one is here right now, but we do have plans to return.”

With any luck I've started down some dirt road somewhere, camera and tripod at the ready. Of course, I'll share what's inspired me along this particular path.

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Photo Safari XXXVI is scheduled to begin in a couple of days. Brooks Jensen and I are heading back out on the road. Well, actually, Brooks is already out there on the road and I am going to join him for yet another photographic adventure. Stay tuned for some daily blog posts from the road. 

 

814 Projects that Span Time and Place

Most of my projects are those which are restricted to a specific place and time. I have worked in this manner for many years and surmise this process came from the Photo Safaris where I went to a certain place for a week to ten days and photographed “from can to can’t.” Decades long practices are exceedingly difficult to change.

The projects I truly admire are those that transcend a specific place and time. Multiple photographs from different places and times capable of engendering the same response to the audience. These projects are much harder to come by because they do require a long-term commitment to a specific idea.

813 - Looking at Photographs First Published 4/27/2014

I saw a show of contemporary photography at a local gallery. The quality of the images, well, let's just say it was contemporary photography. But I won’t disparage the entire effort because there were actually little islands of photographic beauty surrounded by a vast sea of over manipulated photographic self-indulgence and political correctness. There are still photographers out there who can compose an image and create artwork that does not rely on manipulation or pandering to a specific world view to gain acceptance. I was happy to see photographers gaining recognition through the excellence of their vision. I rejoice in their success.

But while I was enjoying some of the photographs, the “glass half empty” guy in me asked the question, “Do these photographs look good because of their proximity to really bad photographs, or are they intrinsically beautiful?” Suppose we hung the contemporary photographs on the wall next to "contemporary photography" of the 1970's era. (I chose the 70’s because that’s when I first began to appreciate photography)  Would they be considered barely competent? Or would they actually be “better” photographs because we have more advanced equipment, materials and a more sophisticated vision than we had forty years ago?

That’s something to think about.

812 How to Judge Artistic Merit

“_________ is a really good photographer.” One really wants to hear that, especially if your name is used to fill in the blank. How do you make that judgement? There are a couple of ways to make that judgement about your fellow artists. One way is to decide that the measure of artistic quality is in the quantity of letters following your name, a measure of academic achievement. Another way is to measure the number of accolades awarded by professional associations. Yet another measure is the length and depth of your Curriculum Vitae.

I might be alone in this consideration, but I regard academic achievement as education, and Professional association honors as a measure of loyalty to a particular organization. The Curriculum Vitae is a device to help you remember what you’ve done with your life. I am not a fan of these measures of artistic merit.

To me, the measure of merit is determined by the quantity and (especially) the quality of the artwork created. Credentials do not impress me. Great images do impress me. If you can create great photographs that’s the measure of Artistic Merit. Way back in the olden days, when view cameras ruled the photographic world, Fred Picker opined that if a photographer could “hang ‘em on the wall” they were a good photographer. If your images are good enough to have been “hung on the wall” you are a really good photographer.

811 - Velocity and The Long Tail Curve, First published 7/26/20

If you take years to do something the internet world probably won’t take notice of it. How often have you found a thread in a photo forum you could contribute to that is three pages back? You could comment but no one will see it because it’s three pages back. The internet has velocity.

That’s pretty much all that needs to be said about it. The half-life of art created to be viewed on the internet is probably a day or two at best. Should you be the type of person paying attention to what is being created on the internet you know art is constantly created, constantly changed and there is the hope it will be constantly improved.

On the other hand, the Internet never forgets and what you created can always be found if someone uses the appropriate search engine. While your work may be almost immediately forgotten, it can be seen and appreciated at some future time (don’t we all hope).

What we create can always be “new” to someone, somewhere just because they haven’t seen it yet. Consider classical music. The music of Back, Beethoven and Mozart has been around for hundreds of years. Yet every day someone is introduced to their music for the first time.

810 Let the Muse Know Where You Are

"I am a believer that the muse exists, but she has to find you working. So many people wait to be inspired but that's not how inspiration works."        -              Kenneth Wajda

While you are waiting for inspiration to strike why don’t you do some work? Nothing is more inspiring than working and having all sorts of ideas bubble up because you are thinking and doing rather than daydreaming. Most of my creative output is related to completing a project; a blog entry, a single topic publication or the monthly publication of my Journal.

When I work on any of these projects, I need to create ideas and methods to convert the ideas to actual creative output. The number of ideas I create increases with the work I do. I recently updated my website and as I went about thinking of ways to make it more enticing for my audience I came up with multiple ideas for projects. Once I start writing, be it a statement for a project, or an introduction for the Journal, I find the writing becomes easier and I generate more ideas which generate more ideas and pretty soon I have a backlog of blog entries. When I start looking for images for a Journal length project, I also come up with single images for the Daily Photograph Blog and threads for projects than span time and place.

Once you start working, the Muses just might find you.

I think the Muses were looking in the wrong part of the Jebediah Smith State Park. I just couldn’t get the hang of the place. It was all tight, jammed together and very vertical. I tried working at a smaller scale but that didn’t seem to work. I guess I was just too busy to hear what the Muses had to say to me.

Life is never perfect.

809 - It All Fits Together When You Think About It, First Published 3/1/ 2020

Life is full of chances, choices, experience and sometimes a little bit of luck. Our life is cumulative and where we are and how we respond to a situation can be influence by our experiences. An abandoned road in British Columbia and the rock walls right next to that road were my experiences on the first day of last year’s Photo Safari. We managed to gather some beautiful images before we left British Columbia because of the rain. A few days later we turned down a dirt road in Central Oregon. My side of the car was smack up against the rock wall of the Deschutes River Canyon. My roadside attraction of a few days earlier was still in my mind. I turned away from the vistas and became fascinated with the plant life hanging on to the steep basalt walls.

I would not have photographed the rock walls of the Deschutes River Canyon had I not remembered the recent photographs along the Fraser River. I was fascinated by the plants clinging to the side of the canyon and made those photographs into a project. The photographs were easy to assemble, but the only thing I could say about them was, “Hey, look at what I found!” Not exactly high art. I was stuck and needed to add some significant text to the project.

A few weeks later I was at the gym cycling my way to nowhere pondering the significance of my latest photographic project. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began singing, “Hey there mister can you tell me what happened to the seeds I've sown?” Hearing those lyrics I thought about the seeds landing among the rock cliffs of the Deschutes River Canyon. I thought of the parables of seeds being sown on different types of ground. The photographs began to make sense. I had time to compose a new folio statement while finishing my ride to nowhere

Tuesday was Mardi Gras, Taco Tuesday and I figured out the introduction to my latest project.

Tuesday was a pretty good day.

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The three projects mentioned in today's post are A Hard Land, Roadside Attraction and The Road No Longer Taken .

I updated my web site with a new presentation and a quicker way to access my publications and projects. 

Please stop by and download some publications.