Passion/Dispassion

 

Dispassion

Over time, and through usage based on definitional perceptions, words will sometimes take on negative connotations. We all know about passion or the mental state of being passionate about whatever we obsess over, but what of a person who is considered to be dispassionate? 

Sounds terrible to think that one might be dispassionate or exhibit qualities (such as they exist in this case) of dispassion. 

Since the invention of photography in the early 1800’s, the craft and art has provided many forms of expression, from landscape, street, photojournalism, and all types of images encompassed within those genres. One known, but little discussed form of photography, is that of death photos. This is where dispassion comes in, particularly when viewing those images that were taken in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. One can research numerous articles about the when, how’s and why’s of death photos. 

My Aunt Jeanie, a national award-winning photographer in the early 1960’s, began taking death photos of immediate family members in the 1990’s. I continued her tradition in the early 2000’s. It takes a high degree of dispassion to endeavor this type of photography. It’s easy when the images are from strangers decades ago, but not so much when the subjects are family in the contemporary now. I avoid viewing her photos and my own of this genre. While I  made the decision to not engage in the taking of death photos in the future, I failed in that declaration when my Mother passed. Those are images that are not for publication.

Working with digital tintype images, the subject matter of the ancient and ever-present human conditions of aging and decline has presented me with a compelling “need” to document. These images, of which I’ve taken a fair number over the past year, may or may not ever be presented in whole or as a series. It’s a personal exploration requiring a high degree of dispassion. I honestly don’t fully understand this stated “need.” 

But such is the art of photography. Such is the drive of any art form, whether photography, painting, writing or music. The kind of photos I’ve been taking in this emerging series requires passion. It also requires a dispassionate approach in the creative process of this subject matter. 

If you have a negative idea of what “dispassion” or “dispassionate” mean, I encourage you to open a dictionary. Both passion and dispassion require open minds. They also require passion on numerous levels. 

©Rick Burnett Baker

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 

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

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

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 

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

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

"The prize may be out of reach, 

but the journey to every destination

is sometimes its own reward."

-RBB

 

Lieber State Recreation Area. 

Cagles Mill Lake, Cloverdale, Indiana.

Photo/Text © 2021 Rick Burnett Baker 

Slightly better than Motel 6.  Not quite as good

as Super 8. 

Lonoke, Arkansas

Click camera image in the top right column to visit my website & galleries. 

A New Pledge

 

For my Facebook 4th of July post I decided to stir the pot, so-to-speak.  I knew it would rile my right-wing friends, and I also didn't expect to get any engagement with the post.  I was correct about the second part of that:  The post only received one angry emoji.  

On the above image of a US flag with the stars replaced by corporate logos, I overlaid the new Pledge of Allegiance that I created some time ago.  It's an accurate rendering of what this once-named Constitutional Republic has become, which is a corporatocracy.  All our so-called representatives are bought and paid for by lobbyists who do the bidding for favors to the multi-national companies that rule the world.  They certainly rule this country.  

I felt it was long past time for us to have a new pledge that more accurately describes where politicians' allegiance lies, and where all aspects of citizens' lives are determined.  Of course, the SCOTUS set that stone with the 2010 Citizens United ruling, which is just another example of how that branch of government is totally corrupt, and is the weakest link in our system of Checks & Balances.  So, here it is, and you can now place your right hand over your wallet and left hand in your pocket jingling your change as you recite Rick Baker's Pledge of Allegiance:  

                                                

July 5, 2022

Rick Burnett Baker 

Rochester, NY.  

Taking A Stand

Stories Told and Untold 

Taking a stand for justice isn't only about self.  There are myriad stories,  to be told without  posters, slogans, or words. 

Photo ©Rick Burnett Baker

Rochester, NY 2020

SERIES PREVIEW PART 3: The Overlay of Touchstones & Time

THE OVERLAY OF TOUCHSTONES & TIME 

As in the previous two posts, this is a sampling of images and text previewing my developing series in conjunction with the Raffles Bicentennial celebrations currently in progress and continuing through the end of 2019 in Singapore.  Refer to the previous posts for other image overviews of this project. All photos and original texts ©Rick Burnett Baker 

These four images are of benches on Coleman Street, adjacent to St. Andrews Cathedral. The text is inlayed in each bench.  I've then overlaid other Singapore images onto these bench photos. I felt that the message here is what we in the US talk about and what Singapore actually does. These images would represent the last four images in an exhibit of this series. 

"TO BUILD A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, BASED ON JUSTICE AND EQUALITY, REGARDLESS OF RACE, LANGUAGE OR RELIGION, SO AS TO ACHIEVE HAPPINESS, PROSPERITY, & PROGRESS FOR OUR NATION." 

Photos ©Rick Burnett Baker

Taken February, 2019. 

SERIES PREVIEW, PART 2 "The Overlay of Touchstones & Time

THE OVERLAY OF TOUCHSTONES & TIME
As in the previous post, this is a sampling of images and text previewing my developing series in conjunction with the Raffles Bicentennial celebrations that are currently in progress and continuing through the end of 2019 in Singapore. Refer to the previous post for the overview of this project. All photos and text ©Rick Burnett Baker

____________________

"Surrender is the spirit of trust, 

the loving touch of all known and unknown;

A communion of being." 

-RBB

____________________

"Pause for reflection and memory; 

forest and lake; stillness and breeze. 

Prayer, like the wind, is movement." 

-RBB

____________________

of every passing

we are 

fire and ash, 

water and stone, 

flowers and earth

we are

sons daughters

mothers fathers

of every

passing and ascent 

of night to 

day. 

-RBB

____________________

"We are most beautiful when we are not, 

for in that image is the seed

of all that behold 

beauty."  

-RBB

____________________

"We memorialize our veterans for being noble and brave. 

If ever humanity learns the greater lessons of war,

we will have truly honored them." 

-RBB

____________________

Image Notes: 

Image 1: Base photo is Masjid Sultan Mosque, Singapore. Overlay image taken on Muscat Street @Arab Street. 

Image 2: Base photo taken at Wei Too Fa Gong Taoist Temple, Pulau Ubin. Overlay image of the monks taken on Mosque Street, Chinatown. 

Image 3: Base photo taken at Sri Thendayuthapani Hindu Temple, Singapore. Overlay image taken at  Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple, South Bridge Rd. 

Image 4: Base photo taken on Smith Street. Overlay image of young tourist girl taken on Temple Street. 

Image 5: Kanji War Memorial. 

All photos and text ©Rick Burnett Baker 

Exhibit Preview: THE OVERLAY OF TOUCHSTONES & TIME

THE OVERLAY OF TOUCHSTONES & TIME
This sampling of images and text is a preview of a developing series in conjunction with the Raffles Bicentennial celebrations that are currently in progress and continuing through the end of 2019. All photos and text  ©Rick Burnett Baker.

____________________

A touchstone to the past is most often a house, school, building, or a place where we used to hang out with family or friends. Years later, when we return to any of those elements of our past, we are sometimes flooded with myriad emotions and memories.  One element of touchstones that we sometimes forget is that those memories were most often created, not simply by a physical structure or place, but by the people who shared those places with us. 

​

In Singapore, so many of the places that Singaporeans, expats, and visitors remember fondly have disappeared to the ever changing landscape of development and redevelopment.  This project will explore some of my personal touchstones, but also those that older Singaporeans remember, and younger generations never knew. 

This will be a photo narrative, in the spirit of the Raffles Bicentennial, spiced with commentary, quotes, and poetry!  This will also be a challenge to the younger generations of Singaporeans to create their own, new touchstones, keeping in mind that people will be the most cherished part of those new creations. 

____________________

"When we pull back the curtain of our inner child

we unleash the art of creating our future." 

-RBB

____________________

"I had designs on you. 

Paths were carved from every decade 

of emotion, a blueprint unfathomed.

I'm long past the dedication, ribbon-cutting, cornerstones; 

You are a time capsule, empty."

-RBB

Adapted from my 2014 poem, 'metropolis'. 

____________________

"We stand where heritage has drawn us. 

self is the gathered vision of history against uncertainty."

-RBB

Adapted from my 2013 poem, 'crossings'. 

____________________

Sometimes we create temporary touchstones..... 

 

(Love Locks @ Clarke Quay, Singapore

Text on image is an excerpt from my 2013 poem titled "milieu".)

Click on image to enlarge:

____________________

"We are view, we are days, we're the 

looking glass windows to unnamed futures." 

-RBB

Adapted from my 2012 poem, 'paths'

***

Image Notes: 

Image 1: Base photo taken at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) Waterloo S. 

Overlay image of “Superkid” is the side of a building at Heritage Chalet, Pasir Ris Park. 

Image 2: Base photo taken at Dakota Crescent Estate. Overlay image take at Chinatown Complex.

Image 3: Base photo is a stylized rendering of an applied mural in the pedestrian underpass near Boat Quay in 2013. The overlay is Raffles Statue, Empress Place. 

Image 4: Love Locks @ Clarke Quay. 

Image 5: Photo of Raffles Statue overlaid on an image taken at Marina Bay Sands.  

Linguistics Of Music: A Portrait

"Portraits should offer more than perfectly 

lit images of someone's face. 

They should open a window 

to that person's essence." 

-Rick Burnett Baker

We were privileged yesterday evening to have Cellist Kevin Maa join us at the Montanus Gallery for a photoshoot and impromptu 'concert'.  Kevin is an accomplished musician, and has been auditioning for entrance into Rochester NY's acclaimed Eastman School of Music.  (Visit these embedded links.)

Here are a few photos I took during our session.  These are not typical 'portraits' but rather what I call 'candid portraits' that attempt to peer deeper into a person's being.

Portraits should offer more than perfectly lit images of someone's face.  They should open a window to that person's essence.

We wish Kevin the very best in his artistic and professional endeavors!

"Rapture" 

 "Adagio"

 "Nurture"

 "Listen To The Melody"

 Kevin Maa

"Interlude"  

 "Linguistics" 

All Photos ©Rick Burnett Baker 

All Rights Reserved

Prayer And Redemption? Asceticism Or Madness?

What is the human condition if not uncertain?  I may believe that I'm normal and sane.  My view of the ascetic's behavior will serve to validate my belief.  

The deeper questions require me to qualify that reasoning.  In quiet moments alone, am I the one most in need of prayer and redemption? 

Click on photos to enlarge: 

Prayer serves to plead, beg redemption, or 

give thanks.  Sometimes it's a soliloquy over

real or imagined states of being. 

To witness is a public display of personal belief.

Motives often remain painfully personal. 

The face of resolve reflects determination, 

reluctance, gratitude, anger, relief or any 

number of emotions.  The face of madness,

however, reveals nothing. 

Photos/Text ©Rick Burnett Baker 

All Rights Reserved 

This photo essay is an excerpt from my developing series "Dream: Please Excuse Our Appearance"™.   This photo essay/exhibit is tentatively slated to show in late summer of 2018.