Sunday, February 5, 2023

Perceptions

 


Images from my "throwaway" files, 
edited in VintageScene FX



EXPERIMENTS IN PERCEPTION

(Or, What does this have to do with photography?)  


Reimagine the present as the past.  How would your POV change, or would it?  Compare the wonder of early 1800’s images, and even the first known photos, to the absolutist images of today, and explore the sense of wonder and imagination from both points of view.  


Consider our notions of a “throwaway society” in terms of photography and what we today deem worthy of exhibiting compared to how we appreciate imperfect images from the past.  How does that comparison square with our personal and collective ideals of worthiness and value of any given photo? 


Can we learn value and appreciation of beauty, history, and our surroundings by exploring and reconsidering the “throwaway” components of our efforts to capture the “perfect” photo?  


As photography enthusiasts, are we too quick to judge images as throwaways or duds due to the evolution of photographic tools and our modern expectations for results we can achieve with those tools, and does that dampen our ability to see beyond imperfection, thus narrowing the definitions of art and beauty?  Do imperfections in any given photo enhance its intrinsic beauty or appeal?  How does the often touted benefits of large megapixel capabilities of our modern, ever evolving photo equipment and software reduce our ability to see beauty and worth in mundane or lower quality images?  


Does the use of present-day editing software to create imperfections in already imperfect images defeat the purpose of said software? 


The oldest known surviving photograph titled “View From the Window at Le Gras” was taken around 1826 by Nicephore Niepce using his photographic invention called heliography.  That process created a one-of-a kind photo on a pewter plate treated with bitumen of Judea which is a naturally occurring asphalt containing light-sensitive properties.  The photo was a grainy, blurred, purple tinted rendering of buildings that are barely recognizable as buildings.  This photo is sometimes shown as a Helumt Gershein enhanced version that belies the primitive nature of the original photo taken by Niepce. The original is currently part of the permanent collection at the University of Texas-Austin.  


The Niepce image is often regarded with awe by photogs and the general public despite its mostly unrecognizable content.  


Combing through my old files of photos, I’ve been looking at the images that would nearly always be considered as throwaways or duds.  I’ve edited these photos from an “ancient” point of view, imagining them as the early primitive art form of photography, and also viewing them from a modern stance of abstract imaging.  Few people like or appreciate blurry, grainy, abstract photos, and the common refrain might be, “What the hell is THAT?  I just don’t get it!”  Others will glibly ask the rhetorical question, “What does this have to do with photography?” 


Thus, when asking the question, “What does this have to do with photography,”  try to understand how your preconceived expectations of photography determine what you consider as beauty, art, or perfection.  Next, ask yourself if that answer might be the the same for every other viewer of photography.  Remember that any given image will elicit a thousand reactions from a hundred people.  From simple images of street signs to the esoteric renderings with blur, grain, and abstract qualities, every photograph is photography.  Not every photo can be described as “fine art” photography, but anyone who has to ask the question of, “What does this have to do with photography” should reevaluate their use of imagination, curiosity, and even humor.  Having to ask that question suggests more about the one asking, than the photo itself.  


I encourage photography enthusiasts to break out of their insular views and habits, and explore different avenues of the hobby and art.  Re-imagine the images you’ve passed by or rejected, and engage in experiments of perception.  Imagination breathes new life into a hobby, and might lead to fun and exciting directions, despite some people who “just don’t get art,” or who’s perceptions are blurred in the ruts of habit and dogma. 




©Rick Burnett Baker 


Wednesday, February 1, 2023

A Study In Archaeology


 

From my various nude, semi-nude, and abstract overlay images over a period of some 45 years.  I'm gradually preparing some of these photos for a coffee table book during the coming year. 


"Burial Mound" 
 




©Rick Burnett Baker 

Cosmos

 




Cosmos 




Signs of plentiful years abound:

Open gates, rotting fences, 

dormant tree branches.  A path of 

sanity is rutted with mud, tears of 

the cosmos indifferent to wishes of any

living creature’s roiling blood. 


Colorless forests quietly

harbor life, bereft of purpose, as if

purpose is pain. Disquietudes of a               

breeze are mournful melodies sung by 

no one willingly.  I walk slowly, stepping 

over cow patties, shedding tears as rain.


Becoming one with a scene is neither 

required nor necessary to gleaning its

beauty or gore.  Life’s significance, 

likewise, depends on nothing said or 

implied within grief’s spiritual vacuum, 

hollowed by what was and is no more. 



©Rick Burnett Baker


Thursday, December 29, 2022

Health Is Mental


 This is from an emerging 3am inspired, hopefully temporary selfie series titled, "The Unflattering"



Health Is Mental


What is mental health?  As of the past few years, and now at the end of 2022, “mental health” is a buzz phrase. 


It’s been an excuse for bad behavior.  It’s touted as a solution for what we see as societal ills.  It’s a way to abdicate responsibility for our actions, both personally and collectively.  It’s a sense of shame when we can’t see the symptoms within our own skulls. 


Sometimes it’s permanent.  Sometimes it manifests only on occasion, situationally.  Those two aspects are not always mutually exclusive.  One can wish. 


Situationally is the one we occasionally experience during crisis.  What’s disturbing and concerning is that the world is in a constant state of crisis.  What’s amazing is how we garner resilience to ward off the permanence of such an ecumenical state of mind.  Hopefully, that is. 


What is a buzz phrase, or buzz word?  They are, perhaps, coping mechanisms created to sustain humanity until working solutions can be found to move us beyond mere sustenance and stasis, and into a positive framework. Health itself is mental.  Hopefully, that is. 


   ©️Rick Burnett Baker

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Lines Of Skin

 

Three images from my various nude, semi-nude, and abstract overlay series over a period of some 45 years.  I'm gradually preparing some of these images for a coffee table book during the coming year. 


"Holy Water"

2013



"Hither"
 
2013




"Nocturn"

2013







©Rick Burnett Baker 

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Chewing The Cud


Ruminations. (Or Chewing The Cud)
Looking at this bowl of succulents one may see a plant. Amazingly, its parts are potential new plants. Break one off and it will root and form another entity. Several other plants in my home have that same potential. I take hope and inspiration from this phenomenon of ancient ways of nature, yet doubt and trepidation pull and push at my mind simultaneously when considering human mortality. Must be an age thing.




©Rick Burnett Baker
Digital Tin-Type by R. Baker

Friday, December 2, 2022

REALIZE

 

Realize

“Realize,” I whisper to myself, “you have it pretty good. Roof over your head, food, freedom of movement, (even though your personal mobility is temporarily disabled) and the luxury of complaining about things.”
“Realize,” I answer back, “life is taking natural, sometimes unpleasant paths that we all expect and comprehend, yet resist with all our emotional and intellectual wherewithal.” 
There are lulls in life, some voluntary and others brought on by the natural, unpleasant paths previously mentioned. Surely I’ve experienced such periods in my past. I simply don’t remember them as I’m recognizing and will no doubt remember this current one in the future, assuming there is a future. 
When all’s said and done, what relevance to the great scheme of things do our efforts hold to the relativity of all that’s come before and all to come before the great void? That’s a rhetorical question that manifests in all of us at different and similar times, and in different ways throughout life. Answers will come, hopefully, at varying times, or in some cases, not at all. I’m anticipating the former.





©Rick Burnett Baker
Rochester, NY