October 2014

They Only Come Out at Night Salt Lake City, Utah 2014

Happy Halloween–don’t forget to lock your doors and windows!]]>

One for the Record Books Arbon Valley Road, Idaho 2014

Nothing special about this particular photo or this particular spot on the map, but it commemorates for me what must be a personal record of sorts. Last Saturday, while driving some 219 miles on two-lane roads in the middle of the day from I-80 just west of Wendover, Nevada to I-86 just west of Pocatello, Idado, we passed or were passed by another car going in the same direction as we were exactly zero times. I didn’t count the number of cars that passed us going the other direction, but it was not very many. Now that’s an empty highway. As much as I like driving deserted highways, I don’t routinely keep track of how far I go without passing or being passed by another vehicle, but that has to be a record. It doesn’t take much to make my day sometimes.]]>

non-art exhibit needs a good artist statement. (Or should I say non-artist statement.) Here’s a good one for an exhibit I’m considering titled Contemporary Non-Photography*:

Contemporary Non-Photography is a meditation on the fragmentary nature of presence and the collision between external reality and the internal space of memory, daydreams, and the subconscious. The mundane, rote engagement, daily landscapes and moments of seemingly little import provide a vacancy and spaciousness allowing for psychological drifts into a presence of greater resonance. This body of work illuminates and in turn embraces these interstitial moments that make up the majority of ones life.

Contemporary Non-Photography considers how to describe this obfuscated reality. The images serve as keepsakes of a desire for presence within the poignant normalcy of life’s in-betweens.

*Except for the exhibit title I made up, this is a real artist statement I found in the book  Crusade For Your Art: Best Practices For Fine Art Photographers, by Jennifer Schwartz, Crusade Press. Kindle Edition. (It might be important to point out that it was presented in the book as an example of a bad artist statement. But that’s probably only because Ms. Schwartz was thinking outside the realm of the genre of non-art.)]]>

Makoshika #25 Makoshika State Park, Montana 2014

One last shot of Makoshika before moving on to other subjects.]]>

museum dedicated to the concept (or not, it’s hard to tell). I’m thinking of switching to non-photography–it will cut my equipment and supply costs dramatically.  ]]>

Makoshika #24 Makoshika State Park, Montana 2014

Even though its pedestal isn’t much to write home about, I like this balanced rock because of it’s Brobdingnagian egg shape and because the texture in this light looks like craters on the surface of the moon. I guess because of the confusion of scale in some of these photos it might be appropriate to point out that this “egg” is some six or seven feet tall (not including the pedestal), hence the reference to Brobdingnag. It’s interesting to note that eggs actually did play a role in Gulliver’s Travels, but in Lilliput rather than Brobdingnag.]]>

Makoshika #23 Makoshika State Park, Montana 2014

I’ve saved a couple of my favorite balanced rock photos from Makoshika for last. With a polarizing filter and some judicious Photoshop work, this shot looks almost like it was taken at night under a fill moon.]]>

Thumbtack Abstract Glendive, Montana 2014

A weathered bulletin board with an interesting minimalistic pattern.

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Smoking Parlor Glendive, Montana 2014

The VFW goes all out (within the law anyway) for their smokers. Their smoking parlor has two windows on it that can be closed but no door, again apparently qualifying it as outside technically if not in spirit of the law.]]>

Smoker’s Lounge Glendive, Montana 2014

Behind the same bar as yesterday’s photo. This was apparently the bar’s ways of accommodating smokers in light of the no-smoking laws. Apparently essentially having a complete room except for one missing wall qualifies as being outside–even though in this case there is a heat duct piped from the back room of the bar to the seating area.]]>