chapter 517

2/22/2019

Impressionism

it's not real

Realism verses abstraction that is the question. Or is it?

I like to photo manipulate, ie post processing with photo imaging software. But all photos are inherently the products of manipulations by a camera's design capabilities, settings and their internal software handling of the image anyway. So all photos are manipulated by definition even though some like to think that it's the "correct" image just as it came out of the camera.

As Kodak told me eons ago, "a photo should tell a story". The above rendition tells the story I wanted to convey. It's all about communication isn't it? I shot in burst mode, several shots per second because we were moving down the street just holding the camera loosely in one had down at Lucas's level. I'm adopting the perspective of a 5 year old boy not the adult pointing a camera down at a child. No time to stop - pose - focus etc because I prefer the candid anyway. It shows the carefree attitude of the moment. But I had to cut and paste Misha into this shot from a half second prior because her head was slightly different without her eye showing. This image is not a lie because it represents what was occurring at the time without playing a video of it.

Also I had to erase Mommie Melissa who never wants to be photographed and was walking off to the side but still in the frame. Therefore, I had to bring in some of the housing and curb from another frame.

Then I use Photoshop and Topaz to do a variety of HDR high dynamic range to bring out the image, then artistic filters of Simplify Underpainting but masking the central subjects so as to retain their basic real images. This gives the effect of focusing attention on the main subjects while allowing the viewer to feel the background and understand where and when the event was taking place. It was a cold 20 degree winter's walk in the suburban neighborhood.

Are your pictures an accurate portrayal of your life or are you manipulating what you want others to see? Are you representing real life or are you in fact filtering the images anyway to what your idealize life is about? Manipulation is ok, it can be good. It can also be bad but that's another chapter.

I recently had the occasion to revisit my 2017 trip to the Grand Canyon (photographically). Colleen took this shot in panorama mode by cell phone. That is a real nice feature capability of those new fangled cell phones. It is also another sort of manipulation. I added the radiation clean up guys because of the contamination that tourists have been exposed to at the Visitors Museum for the last couple decades. I doubt that there is much real concern but there could be for some folks. We did not go into that tourist museum, preferring to see the real thing anyway. The typical bureaucratic coverup is interesting however. My manipulated picture now tells a story much bigger than the Grand Canyon itself. I tagged the Grand Canyon Village with this picture on FB but I have a feeling they might censor it. They manipulate their images to show how wonderful wonderful everything is there. Fake reality.

Drinking 400 million year old water was fun last week. We were there a day before the Park Tour but the newspaper article mentioned how old they believe the water in the deep rock formations are. I never realized that most of the people always filling up at these springs are actually getting normal tasting spring water not the yucky mineral spring water. Colleen's daughter Karissa came for a few days and we did some touring of Saratoga. I might have used a graphical filter here to enhance the color. K-girl was not fond of the pink colored borrowed winter coat.

Had a great tasting Cafe Au Lait last week at Barnes & Nobel Starbucks. French Roast coffee with steamed milk. I asked permission (unusually) to photograph. Explained I just wanted to capture the mood not the detail of who she was. I have been drinking NavierA cafe con leche an espresso with chicory type from Tampa that Colleen brought up from her last trip there. It's deep dark strong and delicious. It can be purchased via Amazon or at El Molino. Danny Fernandez is the current generation owner of the business his grandfather started after stowing away on the Navier ship from Spain to Cuba in 1921. Danny is interviewed in this video at the historic La Segunda Bakery don't forget to watch from the beginning to understand cuban bread.

Fisheye camera trick lens - no. Just a security mirror at James & Sons Cigar shop in Saratoga. Karissa is doing some marketing for a cigar bar in Florida so we were doing research. I did my own research and found these two wonderful videos on line:

The Rocky Patel cigar story and the Arturo Fuentes Cigar (Tampa Bay) story. There is something special about cigars, coffee, spirits and Tampa. It's a thing.

The landfill of photo album history is full of bad pictures that no one cares about. You could also say beauty is in the eye of the beholder (you can quote me). I want to leave a worthwhile record; that is my legacy.

A few links for the photographically curious:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/review-of-topaz-simplify-4/

https://digital-photography-school.com/create-art-with-your-photos-using-topaz-simplify/ 

https://daily.jstor.org/when-photography-was-not-art/ 

https://petapixel.com/2016/06/07/predictable-trend-photography-criticism/

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