The Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Here’s an informative article in the New York Times about the Smithsonian Photography Initiative.

Of particular interest within the Smithsonian’s project is the series of articles called Click! Photography Changes Everything written by “one hundred experts in their fields to explore the ways photography has changed a broad spectrum of disciplines—from anthropology to astrophysics, from media to medicine, from philosophy to sports.”

Check it out! 

Ten with Jenn

Jenn is my niece. She models for me when she’s home from college.  She’s here on spring break so I decided to interview her.

1 – Who is Jenn and what does she do?

I’m a 22-year old student at Lock Haven University double-majoring in Biology and Chemistry because I want to go to pharmacy school. I play basketball and run when I’m not studying. On breaks I model for my aunt, the photographer, and work in the pharmacy department of CVS.

Life is boring right now but when summer comes it’ll pick up.

2 – How often and how far do you run?

I try to run as much as I can during the week. Lately three days, but I’d like to run everyday. I can run further on treadmills because of the slow pace. When it’s nice out I run along the Susquehanna River.

3 – Name three great things about living in Lock Haven and three bad things.

Oh my goodness, I don’t think there is one great thing. (Laughs.) No, there are great things. Like the scenery. That’s it.

Three bad things: 1 – Small town. Nowhere to go and nothing to do.  That makes it sound terrible. (Laughs.)  2 -Wal-Mart is the only place to go for anything. Well not for anything, but…most things. I went to Wal-Mart one time and the guy that was ringing me up, I guess he was my age, he said hi and I said hi back, and I was just being polite, and he started going off on this tangent about how he plays this video game on the computer about dragons, and how you really gamble your money with it, and that’s what he uses his paychecks for. He went on for five minutes. It was crazy. 3 – The train goes through the town five times everyday, and the engineer feels the need to be louder at night with his whistle, or whatever it’s called.  It rattles everything!

4 – What’s on your iPod?

Lots of Beatles. I like to play “Good Day Sunshine” when I’m driving. Jay-Z, Counting Crows, The Doors, Paramore. I like upbeat things when I run. I also have Britney’s latest album, I think it’s called “Blackout,” and some Kelly Clarkson.

5 – Do you collect anything?

I picked up a bunch of seashells in Florida last summer. That’s it.

6 – Tell us about your trip to Florida last summer and what you did.

I went with my family and friends on a treasure hunt. I won’t reveal where. We had a picnic on the beach with three full coolers of food. We walked it all off with our metal detectors. I’m such a beach bum. I woke up early on the last day just so I could get a few extra hours of sun on the beach. The beach was very private and I’m used to the New Jersey beaches which are always packed. We’re going again this year and I’m really looking forward to it. 

One night we had dinner and played Sequence Dice and everyone was really competitive.  The teams were really funny – Mike & Neil were the best.

7 – What’s your oldest memory?

My friends and I would play with Barbie dolls and we would give them really high-pitched voices. When I went to preschool I was nervous because I thought girls should have really high-pitched voices and I thought my voice was too low. My mom stayed with me on the playground while the other kids started class.

8 – What’s your favorite meal?

Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, cornbread, any kind of pickles, black cherry soda and pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. And an omelet with mushrooms, bacon, spinach and salsa. I love to eat! (Laughs).

9 – Are you single?

I’m not married.

10 – The James Lipton rundown:

• Favorite word? Petunia.
• Least favorite word? A tie between “folks” and “y’all.”
• What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? The outdoors.
• What turns you off? Loud people in small places.
• Favorite curse word? Sh**.
• What sound or noise do you love? The swoosh of a basketball net.
• What sound or noise do you hate? Scraping metal of any kind. Like a colander in the sink.
• What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? A baker.
• What profession would you not like to do? Inspector at a conveyer belt.
• If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Finally!”

You can see more of Jenn at my photoblog, www.durhamtownship.com.  

10 Reasons to Buy Local Produce

Spring is nearly here and I’m encouraging you to think about where you’ll buy fresh fruits and vegetables this year.  With help from the Santa Fe Farmers Market, here are ten reasons to consider your local farmers market or food co-op:

♦ 1 – Local food tastes better.
Most likely it was picked in the last couple of days, which makes it crisp and flavorful. Produce that travels long distances (California, Florida, Chile or Holland) is days older.  Sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and produce loses its vitality and flavor.

♦ 2 – Local food is more nutritious.
Once harvested, produce quickly loses nutrients.  Produce that’s flash-frozen just after harvest is often more nutritious than “fresh” produce that’s on the supermarket shelf for a week.  Since local produce is sold right after it’s picked, it retains more nutrients.

♦ 3 – Local food preserves genetic diversity.
Large commercial farms grow a relatively small number of hybrid fruits and vegetables that are able to withstand the rigors of harvesting, packing, shipping and storage. This leaves little genetic diversity in the food supply.  By contrast, family farms grow a huge number of varieties to extend their growing season, provide eye-catching colors and great flavor. Many varieties are “heirlooms” passed down through the generations because of their excellent flavor.  Older varieties contain the genetic structure of hundreds or thousands of years of human selection and may provide the diversity needed to thrive in a changing climate.

♦ 4 – Local food promotes energy conservation.
The average distance our food travels is 1500 miles, mostly by air and truck, increasing our dependence on petroleum. By buying locally, you conserve the energy that’s used for transport.

♦ 5 – Local food supports local farmers.
The American family farmer is a vanishing breed – there are less than 1,000,000 people who claim farming as a primary occupation.  Why?  Maybe because it’s hard to make a living:  family farmers get less than 10 cents of every retail food dollar. By buying locally, the middleman disappears and the farmer gets full retail price, helping farmers continue to farm.

♦ 6 – Local food builds community.
By getting to know the farmers who grow your food, you build understanding, trust and a connection to your neighbors & your environment. The weather, the seasons and the science of growing food offer great lessons in nature and agriculture.  Visiting local farms with children and grandchildren brings that education and appreciation to the next generation.

♦ 7 – Local food preserves open space.
As you enjoy visits to the country to see lush fields of crops, meadows of wildflowers, picturesque barns and rolling pastures, remember that our treasured agricultural landscape survives only when farms are financially viable. By spending your money on locally grown food, you’re increasing the value of the land to the farmer and making development less likely.

♦ 8 – Local food keeps taxes in check.
For every $1 in revenue raised by residential development, governments spend $1.17 on services, which increases taxes. For every $1 in revenue raised by a farm, a forest or open space, governments spend $0.34 cents on services.

♦ 9 – Local food supports the environment and benefits wildlife.
Family farmers are good stewards of the land — they respect and value fertile soil and clean water.  And their farms provide the fields, meadows, forests, ponds and buildings that are the habitat for many beloved and important species of wildlife.

♦ 10 – Local food is about the future.
Supporting local farms today helps keep those farms in your community, ensuring your children and grandchildren have access to nourishing, flavorful and abundant food.  When you choose to buy locally, and make your choices known, you raise the consciousness of your family, friends and neighbors.

Six Ways to Combat the Evils of Plastic Packaging

Did you ever cut your fingers or hands opening the hard plastic shell that surrounds newly purchased kids’ toys or electronic devices or… mixed salad greens?

I cut myself twice last week – once on a party tray and once on a package of cookies!  Cookies!  And I’m not the only one – a quick Google search on “dangerous plastic packaging” (!) turned up innumerable blog entries from others who’ve experienced the same indignation, plus a selection of “tools” for $10 – $15 that safely cut through the stuff (some ironically packaged in rigid plastic).

“Clamshell” or “blister” packaging is used by manufacturers as a theft deterrant,  a protective device and a means of making products look attractive to consumers.   On the flip side it’s a growing environmental disaster:  first, it’s made from petroleum and we all know the problems with that; second, the manufacturing process requires great quantities of water (it takes four bottles of water to create one bottle of water); and third, you may see the “chasing arrow” symbol on the packaging but much of it is unrecyclable, or is recycled into forms of plastic that aren’t recyclable and end up in landfills.

How do we deal with all of this frustration?  Here are a six ideas I found at lighterfootsteps.com:

♦  After you’ve stopped cursing and found a Band-Aid, look for customer contact info on the packaging and write or call the manufacturer.  Be polite and specific.  Explain why you won’t buy their product again, and if possible, the name of a competing product you will buy.  

♦ When you have a choice, buy the product with the least (or most environmentally-friendly) packaging.  Manufacturers pay close attention to packaging changes and resulting sales. 

♦ Recycle or creatively repurpose the plastics you buy.  (I reuse plastic trays to organize small tools in the garage.)

♦ Buy in bulk.  Warehouse stores manage costs by shrink-wrapping things together instead of selling separately packaged items.

♦ Buy unpackaged goods from food co-ops or local farmer’s markets.

♦ Blog about your experiences. If you don’t have a blog, send your story to OverPackaging.com.  

Tongue-Twisters

For the last 20+ years, my favorite tongue-twister has been:

Fresh fish, crisp chips.

(Go on,  say it five times fast.)

Today it was replaced by:

Any noise annoys an oyster but a noisy noise annoys an oyster most.

(Funny how they’re both about sea creatures.  Hmmm.)

The Happiness Recipe

Science says happiness leads to a long life, good health, resilience and good performance. On average, people who consider themselves happy live nine years longer than people who consider themselves unhappy. 
 
Psychologist and Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois says there are three vital ingredients to happiness:
 
♦  Family and friends – the wider and deeper, the better.  Friendship has a protective effect on our health. 
♦  Finding meaning –a belief in something bigger, a sense of spirituality or a philosophy of life.
♦  Working toward and making progress on goals we find interesting, and which use our strengths and abilities.
 
Why doesn’t money make us happy? Because we adapt to pleasure. When we’re attracted to things that give us short bursts of pleasure – from a candy bar to a Corvette – the effect quickly wears off.  We adapt less quickly to more meaningful things such as friendship and goals.

(I bet you have 10 unanswered emails from friends and family sitting in your inbox.   Answer one everyday – even “I’m thinking of you!” will suffice – for ten days and see what happens.  Let me know.)
 

14 More Years of Life … the Easy Way!

I’m not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV) but here’s a prescription that might add 14 quality years to your life:

Three to five times per week, take a 20-minute walk to your favorite non-smoking restaurant, order a big glass of red wine and a large garden salad with extra veggies.

How hard is that?!

A recent study of 20,000 people in the UK determined that if you don’t smoke, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and drink alcohol in moderation, you’ll gain an additional 14 years of life. The study appears in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal – a site well worth checking out for other reasons, too.

Kay-Tee Khaw, one of the people who conducted the study at the University of Cambridge said, “We measured normal behaviors that were entirely feasible within people’s normal, everyday lives.” She thinks the findings might help people understand that improving their health doesn’t necessarily require an extreme change in lifestyle.

Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization said, “This research is an important piece of work which emphasizes how modifying just a few risk factors can add years to your life.”

I’ll follow up on these findings in 2077!

Oh, the Weather Outside is … Rightful!

I found this interesting chart about snowfall totals in the Philadelphia area. It seems the earlier we have our first snowfall, the higher the season snowfall total. 

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be working out this year.  Our first snowfall was in early December but we’ve barely seen an inch of snow since then. Today will help – we’re expecting five inches of snow in Upper Bucks County.  Schools are closed, roads are a mess – but it’s a sight for the sore eyes of this photographer!

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Palisades Gallery for my show opening last night – what a great time!  I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone because it was so well-attended, so if I missed you, please forgive me.   Send me a note and let’s catch up!

Special thanks to those who came from quite a distance – especially the Hofmann boys! – and to my good friend, Moe Telsichs, for the flowers.  

Hope you caught the full lunar eclipse on the way home – it was gorgeous.

Here’s the statement that accompanies the 24 images in my show:

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Between 1982 and 1997, America converted over 25 million acres of rural land — primarily farmland, pastures and ranches — into subdivisions, malls, workplaces, roads, parking lots, et al. That’s about equal to the combined land mass of Maine and New Hampshire.

We’ve been developing 2 million acres of rural land per year for the last 20 years.

If the trend continues, America will develop an additional 85 million acres of countryside by 2050. That’s about equal to the combined land mass of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

WHAT DO WE GAIN AND WHAT DO WE LOSE?

We gain infrastructure, homes, roads, shops, schools, parking spaces, hotels, resorts and jobs.

We lose wetlands, woodlands, hundreds of species of plants and wildlife, clean water, the ability to grow our own food, and as recent studies have shown, our mental & physical health, and our sense of well-being.

I want my photographs to help Americans question the worth of our land above & beyond its monetary value.

How much is an open horizon worth to us?

Back in the Saddle

Two weeks!  Yikes!  I can’t believe I’ve been away that long.

I took a break from writing to prepare for a show of my prints that opens Wednesday, February 20th (tomorrow!) from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Palisades High School Gallery.   I’m very honored to participate in the ongoing “Community Art Series” organized by Cathy Beck and Kim DeNato, the school’s art teachers.

The show features 24 images all taken within the last 18 months. Most appear on my photoblog at www.durhamtownship.com.  Even if you’ve seen the images on the web, it’s quite a different experience to view them in print — the level of detail really brings them to life!

Hope you’ll stop by and say hello!  

Palisades High School Gallery

Route 412 & Church Hill Road

Kintnersville, Pennsylvania 18930

February 20 – April 2, 2008

Opening reception:  Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. 

(Gathering afterwards at the Ferndale Inn, Route 611 & Church Hill Road, Ferndale, PA)

Closing party: Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns is one of my favorite artists – quintessentially American, absolutely provocative and yet unusually quiet about his work.  He has a reputation for saying very little about what he does, which leaves interpretation to the viewer.  As much as I love his work, I love his persona.

Jasper Johns has a new show at the Met (called “Gray”, through May 4th) and a new exhibition of drawings at Matthew Marks Gallery (“Drawings 1997-2007” through April 12th) in Chelsea. There’s a lovely piece about him by Carol Vogel in yesterday’s New York Times. Some highlights (that tickled my tummy!) from Carol Vogel’s article:

♦  “Mr. Johns seems to have perfected the art of talking about his work without ever revealing too much. Always courtly, he answers questions in a measured, seemingly straightforward manner that leaves a listener wanting to know far more. It’s as if he is aware that a myth surrounds him that he must be careful not to dispel.”

♦   “For decades now his interpretation of flags and targets, numbers and letters — things, as he has often said, ‘the mind already knows,’ ‘things that were seen and not looked at, not examined’ — have become as embedded in the contemporary American art psyche.”

♦  “Predecessor Mark Rothko impatiently dismissed Mr. Johns’s targets and flags, saying, ‘We worked for years to get rid of all that.'”

♦  “He often executes drawings after he finishes a canvas, rather than before. ‘To do a drawing for a painting most often means doing something very sketchy and schematic and then later making it polished,’ he said. ‘It’s done out of a different kind of energy. I love drawings, so I’ve always enjoyed making drawings that exist on their own.'”

♦ “Born in 1930 in Augusta, Ga., and raised in Allendale, S.C., he received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse in rural South Carolina.”

♦ “About 60 years after he first arrived in New York, Mr. Johns is still very much the Southern gentleman. He retains his accent and his soft-spokenness. Yet his quiet demeanor and his six-foot frame make him intimidating at first; he chooses his words with such care that a questioner is tempted to do likewise.”

♦ “Each year, as soon as the temperature begins to plummet in Connecticut, he decamps to his house [in Saint Martin], joining his two resident dogs, Pepper and Pumpkin — both were found abandoned on the island — to work, garden, read, cook and do crossword puzzles.”

♦ “Asked what influence he feels he may have had on young artists, Mr. Johns paused. ‘To me,’ he said, ‘self-description is a calamity.'”

The Power of One Photograph

Decades-Old Photograph Helps Solve Mystery of New York Man’s Drowning 15 Years Later

Saturday , February 02, 2008

by STEPHANIE REITZ, Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —

A treasured old photograph, a police investigator’s long-shot appeal to the public and a retiree’s sharp memory have combined to solve a 15-year-old drowning mystery.

State police in Somers, N.Y., tried for years to identify a body found in the Titicus Reservoir on June 13, 1993, carrying 38 pounds of rocks in a backpack. The man left no clues to his name and matched no local missing-persons reports.

The only lead was a black-and-white snapshot found on the body that showed a grandfatherly man holding a small boy in the crook of his arm, both wearing attire from the 1950s or early 1960s.

Police assumed the toddler was the drowning victim, but years of investigation produced only dead ends. Then, with a few remarkable coincidences last month, Andrew Bookless got back his name.

Bookless was eventually identified through dental records — though only after police seeking to identify the little boy wrongly guessed a vintage light fixture in the picture may have been in western Massachusetts.

When they circulated the photo in the Berkshires, retired teacher Terry Yacubich, who had moved to Pittsfield from Bellport, N.Y., recognized a building behind the man and little boy as one she had known from her days on Long Island.

Bookless’ family, it turned out, once lived in the very spot the picture was taken.

“I’m not psychic or anything like that, but I think maybe Andrew worked through me to finally get some closure,” Yacubich said.

Bookless disappeared from his family’s lives years before that June day when police found him dead at 31. The snapshot was intact in a glass frame and close to his heart under layers of winter clothing.

Troopers searched for years to find someone who recognized the older man or features in the photo’s background.

Investigator Joe Fiebich sent the picture to The Berkshire Eagle newspaper in January after learning the vintage street light in the background was similar to those installed throughout western Massachusetts decades ago.

It turned out they were common on Long Island’s south shore, too.

But it wasn’t the light fixture that grabbed Yacubich’s attention when she saw the newspaper last weekend. She spotted the church auditorium in the village where she’d lived for 47 years.

“The moment I saw that picture, I knew exactly where it was,” said Yacubich, 59, who had attended decades’ worth of first Communion parties, church socials and funerals there.

Yacubich contacted friend Donald Mullins, a retired Suffolk County, N.Y., police detective and code enforcement officer in Bellport, a village in the town of Brookhaven. He trekked to the church’s neighborhood and quickly found the spot: the front corner of a now-empty residential lot.

“I stood on that very spot and said, `This is it. This is exactly it,”‘ Mullins said.

He tracked the land’s ownership history in town deeds until he found that the Bookless family had a house there before it was destroyed in a fire.

The Westchester County, N.Y., medical examiner’s office confirmed Bookless’ identity Jan. 25, and it was released this week after his four older siblings were notified.

They told police the man in the picture was Bookless’ grandfather and that his parents, John and Marianna Bookless, had died in 1994 and 2004. Police said Bookless’ family had him declared dead after his mother’s death.

Fiebich traveled Thursday to Long Island to speak to Bookless’ family in hopes of determining whether the death was accidental or suicide. Investigators believe Bookless fell through the ice in the winter of 1992-93, months before his body was found with the rock-laden pack strapped on his back.

New York State Police Senior Investigator Patrick Bosley, one of several troopers who reviewed the case over the years, tried unsuccessfully in the mid-1990s to have it featured on television’s “Unsolved Mysteries.”

“It was obvious to us all along that the picture was the best piece of information we had,” Bosley said. “It was clear that evidently the older gentleman was someone very close to him — his father or grandfather, a favorite uncle, someone he cared a lot about.”

Bookless’ family said he often would disappear for months, part of the reason his mother did not report him missing until 1999 even though she had not heard from him in several years, police said.

They said Bookless’ body was buried in New York as an unidentified person, but that his siblings would be able to move it if they wish.

“For me, the best end of the story would be to see that Andrew rests in peace,” Yacubich said.

Note to the Associated Press

I heard an AP newswire report yesterday that stated, “A winter storm is setting its sights on the northeast, where ice and rain have caused numerous accidents in parts of New Jersey.”

Note to AP newswire writers:  winter storms do not cause traffic accidents.  People who drive on icy roads cause traffic accidents.  Please stop blaming the weather for human ignorance — you’re giving Mother Nature a bad name.

(This bit of weather logic in no way relates to that tired old discussion of whether guns kill people or people with guns kill people.)

Six Ways to Stay Warm Shooting Outdoors in February

Scandanavians say, “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”

If you’re not out taking photos in the rain, snow, ice, wind and cold air, why?  More than likely it’s because of your clothing (or lack thereof).   Here are a few items I’ve put to the test for the last five years — and that have helped convince me winter is the most beautiful and fascinating season to take pictures.   

♦ A Great Down Parka – Preferably with a hood and plenty of pockets, and in bright red or orange so the hunters don’t get ya.

♦ High-Quality Layers – Staying warm is all about retaining body heat, and layers of silk or synthetic silk make all the difference, especially for your legs, because your parka isn’t that long.

♦ Socks – I’m crazy about Smart Wool hiking socks. They’re cozy as can be, not the least bit itchy and they last for years.

♦ Boots – I love my UGG Adirondacks so much I wish I could wear them in summer! I’ve walked through ankle-deep water in my UGGS and my feet stayed totally dry.  They’re pricey but worth every penny for their comfort, warmth and superb quality.

♦ Hat – 15% of your blood volume is in your head. 30% of your body heat is lost through your head when it’s bare.  Keep it warm! I’m partial to brims and ear flaps.

♦ Gloves – A photographer needs dexterity and it’s challenging to find gloves that are warm, waterproof and thin enough to work with. I’ve found that archery gloves are excellent for this purpose.

Now imagine all the winter gear that’s available for your camera!

The Mason-Dixon Trail System

I’m now a card-carrying member of the Mason-Dixon Trail system.

The Mason-Dixon trail is 193 miles long and connects the Appalachian Trail to the Brandywine Trail.  It starts at Whiskey Springs, Cumberland County, PA, and follows the west bank of the Susquehanna to Havre de Grace, MD. Across the Susquehanna it continues through Elk Neck State Forest to the Christina River in Delaware, then White Clay Creek in Chester County, PA. It terminates at the Brandywine River in Chadds Ford, PA.

It’s not well-known — I grew up in Chadds Ford and never heard of it until two weeks ago!

For $15 you can become a member, too, and receive a very detailed set of 10 maps with specific instructions by the mile — plus a cool patch for your hat or jacket. Visit www.masondixontrail.org for more details.

The trail seems to follow a lot of back roads but there are sections along old logging roads, through fields and woods, too. I’m looking forward to hiking Map 3: “Wago Junction at the Susquehanna River to Trinity Church Road south of Wrightsville.”  Looks like unparalleled views of the Susquehanna River and the surrounding landscape. 

I’m imagining a foggy morning in June… 

Radio Radio

I’m a radio junkie.  I learned the habit from my parents, who always had a radio on in the house or car, and my older brothers who had transistors stuck to their heads as they listened to the big hits of the 60s.  By the time I had my own radio, Top 40 was on FM, but I graduated to prog-rock at the ripe age of 11.  

I love listening to AM, FM, even shortwave.  I have a huge Grundig Satellit 800 on my desk!  One of the reasons I enjoy roadtrips so much is because I get to find new stuff on the “dial” as I travel through different towns.

While driving through New York state last weekend, I heard an AM radio ad for an anti-aging facial cream which was clearly being promoted to women.  An actor posing as a husband said, “It’s like looking at a photo of my wife from twenty years ago!”

If a company uses actors in “testimonials” for their products, aren’t they lying about the product?  (Yes.) Why would anyone believe a paid actor? (I don’t think consumers stop to think they’re listening to actors, especially if they’re inclined to buy the product anyway.)  Why can’t the company use real testimonials? (The product isn’t that good and/or it costs too much to find “real” people.)

How You Use It

 

If you haven’t tired of the film vs. digital debate, I’m in awe of your forbearance.

As long as we have artists, new mediums will replace old mediums because of technological advances, safety reasons, costs, material availability and whims.   The old mediums don’t die; they simply fall out of mainstream favor.  But they remain revered by some, occasionally to the detriment of the spirit of art itself.

If you learn anything from art history, it’s that great artists transcend their mediums and make any debate about their materials or processes completely senseless.

Waterfalls

I’m on a waterfall kick.  Since doing some research on the health benefits of negative ions, and visiting the falls at nearby Ringing Rocks Park last week, I’m off to find more.

This weekend I’m heading to Taughannock Falls State Park in Ulysses, New York.  It boasts a waterfall with a 215 foot drop, slightly higher than Niagara on the American side but with much smaller volume. It’s the highest drop east of the Rockies. The park’s Gorge Trail, open all year, puts you next to the spray of the falls. According to the Park Ranger I spoke with today, the falls are only partially frozen and water’s still coming over the top.

The falls and gorge create a natural amphitheater and the dense spray rising from the bottom of the falls creates a heavy mist — full of negative ions!

Negative ions are air molecules that have lost an electrical charge because they’ve been broken apart by things such as sunlight, moving air or moving water. They’re in abundance in places like waterfalls, the mountains and the beach. When we breath in large quantities of negative ions, it increases the flow of oxygen to the brain and reduces the amount of the mood chemical serotonin in the bloodstream, creating a feeling of mild euphoria.

At the base of Yosemite Falls in California, there are about 100,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter. (A cubic centimeter is the size of a sugar cube.)  In fresh country air, there are about 4,000 and on an L.A. freeway at rush hour, there are 100 negative ions per cubic centimeter.

Favorite Shooting Locations

One of my favorite places to take photos is Turkey Point at Elk Neck State Park in Maryland.  Check out its location you’ll begin to see why. 

The tip of the park has a photogenic series of trails that run along a 100-200 foot bluff above the Chesapeake Bay and the Elk River.  There are no guard rails or fences to keep people away from the edge so you can get pretty daring if you have a mind for it.  On Saturday, 60mph winds and temperatures below 20F kept me from a long hike, but I managed a few shots before my face froze solid.  

The negative ions made the trip worthwhile!

Wild Animal Peeve

For Pete’s sake, they’re called Canada Geese, not Canadian Geese.  Branta canadensis.  Birds don’t have a nationality!

Rural Classified, Part II

 

I feel a mixture of amusement, horror and curiosity everytime I read the local Penny Power classified ads newspaper that serves Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley.  A sampling from this week’s edition: 

♦ PETS R KIDS TOO!  Has quality puppies, kittens, fish, small animals.  Feeders.  All animals guaranteed.  New!  Clearance bin.  New inventory arriving weekly.  Stop in and see our specials.

♦ NOW THAT WE ARE on our way into this New Year, what better way to get the year off to a good start than by having some new flooring installed!

♦ FREE REMOVAL of sawed logs, vintage stereo equipment or let’s barter for any power equipment items for firewood. 

♦ PET HOLSTEIN COW, $400.

♦ THUMBS DOWN to the person who stole two baby cars seats out of my son’s and daughter-in-law’s yard on December 30th.  You should be ashamed of yourself, to steal something that a child depends on for safety is a disgrace.  To go into someone’s yard and just walk off with things that don’t belong to you is just so wrong.  You left my grandshildren without car seats and they were unable to go visiting for the holidays.  If you don’t have a clear conscience and want to return them, please do.  If you choose not to, you are the one that has to live with yourself.  Every time you use them, just think of the children who have no car seats.  Upset Grandmother

♦ MOVIE NIGHT Sunday, January 27, 6pm.  “The Last Sin Eater.”  Cornerstone Community Church.

If you want phone numbers for the ads let me know. 🙂

International Center of Photography

There’s a review by Holland Cotter in today’s New York Times about a new show at the International Center of Photography called “Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art.”

Holland’s fascinating and glowing review has prompted me to see the show which runs from January 18 – May 4, 2008.  (I’m fortunate to live in such a beautiful, rural area with a 90-minute trip into Manhattan.) 

Holland writes: “Photography, with its extensions in film, video and the digital realm, is the main vehicle for these images. The time was, we thought of photographs as recorders of reality. Now we know they largely invent reality. At one stage or another, whether in shooting, developing, editing or placement, the pictures are manipulated, which means that we are manipulated. We are so used to this that we don’t see it; it’s just a fact of life.”

Of particular interest to me is this exhibit in the show:

“The thousands of images in a looping 36-hour slide projection by Jef Geys would seem to be linked by a firmer thread. They are a visual archive of Mr. Geys’s photographic output of 40 years. Whether they provide evidence of aesthetic development, though, or insight into the artist’s maturing mind and soul, will be known only to the most devoted of viewers.”

(Let’s see… the longest the museum is open on any single day is ten hours, and the longest anyone could realistically sit through a slide show might be three hours. So it’ll take at least 12 well-coordinated visits to see the whole thing!  With $12 admission, that’s $144, but an individual membership at $75 allows unlimited free visits.  Yay!)

Another exhibit in the show by Hans-Peter Feldmann sounds like a thoroughly intriguing study:  a room full of framed front pages of 100 international newspapers printed on Sept. 12, 2001.  To Feldman’s credit as an artist, and to Holland’s credit as a reviewer, both get past the fact that this event is still fresh to us and are able to raise all sorts of questions about image placement, text placement and the manipulation of content from country to country. 

Fast and Cheap: 50mm Lenses

I recently recommended an inexpensive but excellent lens to Becky over at Moontree Arts:  the Canon 50mm f/1.4.  Becky’s just getting into the art of photography and it’s a superb starter lens.  But after talking with her, I realized I haven’t used my own 50mm lens since I bought the Canon 85mm f/1.2L (mmm, mmm good) in July 2006! So I put the 50mm back to work to rediscover its charms.

If you’ve sold your soul (and waistline) to zooms and wide angles over the years, or if you’re on a budget, a 50mm lens is worth thinking about. If you need a nudge, consider that Henri Cartier-Bresson used only his 50mm lens for everything from portraits to landscapes.  I think I understand why: the 50mm offers a highly personal view of what’s being photographed.

The great color photographer Ernst Haas said, “The best zoom lens is your legs.”  Why?  Because a fixed focal length lens like the 50mm gets you immediately involved:  you must be entirely conscious of your place and your angle because you can only zoom with your legs.  You must think about your composition with your mind and your body.  The result has a delicious and natural subjectivity, further enhanced at 50mm because that’s the focal length most similar to what we observe with our own eyes.  

A 50mm shot is a personal, physical view — the very voice of a photographer.  That seems like reason enough to use a 50mm lens, but its natural look gives the observer a direct experience as well, as if he or she was there when the image was taken.

Most 50mm lenses are pretty fast (f/1.4 – f/1.8) and relatively cheap.  The ability to shoot in low light with a gorgeous, addictive bokeh and a price tag under $300 make most 50mm lenses a great value for the money.

I should mention that if you’re shooting with a typical DSLR (the Canon Digital Rebel XT, for example) you’ll need a 35mm lens to get the effect of a 50mm lens because of the digital sensor’s 1.5x crop.  Using a 50mm on the Rebel will get you a 75mm view, which is the ideal focal length for portraits.

By the way, here’s a landscape and a dog portrait I shot with the 50mm on my Canon 5D last Sunday.  And the shot of Jakey’s gloves that accompanies this article was shot yesterday with the 50mm on the 5D.

Thank you, dogs!

I love this story in Monday’s Morning Call newspaper.  Thanks to whomever notified the paper and thanks to the editor for running it. How often to you read news stories that offer hope for humanity?

Thanks to Donna Balascak for saving the neighbor’s animals, and thanks to Donna’s dogs for noticing there was a fire in the first place.

Last night I watched a PBS documentary called Dogs That Changed the World. It’s a fascinating look at how dogs evolved from wolves and how humans live better and more productive lives because of dogs.  With a sense of hearing four times greater and a sense of smell 50 – 100 times more powerful than our own, it’s easy to imagine how companion and working dogs extend our own survival abilities.  

Numerous studies show that companion dogs lower our stress levels and help alleviate loneliness.  Simply petting a dog for a few minutes prompts a release of  serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin – the hormones that cause us to “feel good.” 

I think we owe our dogs a lot of love and appreciation — and cookies!

Making Movies on Location

I’m going to write a screenplay using Scrivener software.  It’s going to take a few years to write, but that’s ok — it would take a decade with MS Word!

Let me know if you use Scrivener, or have an opinion on how it works.

Saving the Candy Bar Ranch

 

M & M Mars was born in a Tacoma, Washington kitchen in 1911 when candy salesman Frank Mars set his sights on making the best candy bar on the market.  He and wife Ethel made and sold chocolate buttercreams out of their house for nine years.  Locally very successful, they moved their business to a Minneapolis candy factory and by 1930, Mars, Inc. was grossing $800,000 a year selling Milky Way Bars and Snickers Bars.

(Snickers Bars were named after one of the family’s beloved horses and remain the best-selling candy bar of all time.)

Fast-forward: Mars is now ranked America’s sixth-largest privately held company with 40,000 employees and $21 billion in annual sales. (Green M & M, anyone?) Frank and Ethel’s grandson, Forrest E. Mars, Jr. , is a 75-year old retired CEO with a personal fortune of $14 billion (#19 on Forbes’ 2007 Richest Americans list). 

Despite the Mars family’s long-standing reputation for super-secrecy, Forrest made headlines this week as an opponent of an energy company’s plans to tap into a great American wilderness: southeastern Montana’s Tongue River area, which has extensive coal and natural gas reserves.  

Forrest resides in Virginia but owns an 82,000-acre ranch called Diamond Cross near the town of Birney, Montana.  The ranch falls under “split-estate” laws from the (perhaps outdated?) Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 when the government gave 60 million acres of western land to ranchers, but reserved the mineral rights for itself.  It then leased the rights to energy companies.  

The government has rights to 10,000 acres at Diamond Cross — and a company called Pinnacle Gas Resources has the lease to drill for natural gas.

“Coal-bed methane development” is the process of extracting natural gas from the ground, and it starts in aquifers.  Huge volumes of water are pumped out and disposed of to get to the natural gas.  Forrest Mars opposes the development because Diamond Cross  is in an arid area and requires its water reserves for crops and livestock. 

Coal-bed methane development has put some ranchers out of business. It has also affected populations of wildlife like mule deer and antelope (where the deer and the antelope play!) and may put the sage grouse on the Endangered Species list.

Last Thursday, despite putting his fortune to work in several lawsuits, Forrest Mars lost his bid to keep Pinnacle at bay.  Pinnacle began drilling 90 minutes after a state judge issued a ruling that Pinnacle had a right to drill there.

Tom Richmond,  an administrator from the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, offered a solution to the situation: he said Pinnacle’s stock is worth about one percent of Mars’ fortune, so Mars should simply buy the publicly traded company.

What do you think about that?

Rural Classified

Can you determine a newspaper’s demographics by looking through the classified ads under “Articles for Sale”?  Here are some random things I found in today’s Morning Call, a newspaper that’s delivered to my house everyday:

♦ Console Radio / 8-Track Player, $95

♦ Couch (1970 Style), $20

♦ Exercise Machine, Push/Pull Type, $50

♦ Gossip Bench, $45

♦ Kids Pool Table, $50

♦ Shotgun, Like New, $250

♦ 16′ Swimming Pool, 5′ Deep, $50

♦ Man’s Woolen Irish Sweater, Size Large, $25

♦ New Moosehead Barlight, Wall Mountable, $55

♦ Old 4 String Tenor Banjo, No Case, $100

♦ Beer Can Collection, Over 175 Cans, $300

Nicole Atkins

I was so taken with Nicole Atkins‘ performance on the David Letterman show last November that I unabashedly revealed my age by immediately purchasing a physical copy of her latest CD, Neptune City.

You can watch the video here.  Nicole’s band, The Sea, provided impressive backup with cello, violins, grand piano and jingle bells, et al, but Nicole’s voice was like the Southern Pacific Daylight during the Golden Age of Trains. 

Nicole has a gorgeous, strong, emotional and compelling voice that’s been compared with Cass Elliott, Loretta Lynn and Chrissie Hynde – even with Jeff Buckley, Roy Orbison and Rufus Wainright!  Some of Nicole’s songs have an other-worldly, carnival-esque, Brill Building-meets-Wilco sound to them.  I think of Lesley Gore, Connie Francis, Miss Lily Banquette – even Elvis Costello.  In a Rolling Stone interview, Nicole said, “My songs are dark, but you can still do the mashed potato to them.”

Nicole is a muralist by trade and studied painting and illustration at university. Her songs sound like richly colored murals, too. Listen for the stellar line, “In my ears my blood is just roaring.”

Frank Deford

Frank Deford is an author, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and a commentator on NPR.   Even though I don’t care about pro or college sports, I regularly listen to his sports-centered pieces on NPR’s Morning Edtion. Deford’s distinguished tones are invigorating and he gives an ethereal message about humanity even when he’s talking about doped-up football players.  He’s an admirable thinker and writer.

In 2005, Deford participated in a documentary film about higher education called Declining by Degrees. One of his quotes is worth repeating:

“How can anyone rationally argue that a baseball player should get a college scholarship, but a piano player shouldn’t? What does it say about a college’s regard for art, literature, drama and music if the finest young painters, writers, actors and musicians are not eligible for the same rewards as are athletes?”

What does that say about our colleges and universities?

Inspirational Photography

I find it inspirational to study paintings and films.   I’m informed by the use of style, symbolism, craft, skill, history and light.  Ironically, I’m not often inspired by still photography.  It’s sometimes challenging to find enlightening work outside of the masters of photography, old and new. 

But as I found out this morning, a trip through The New York Times Photo Store is a real feast. You can see (and purchase!) an amazing array of images going back to the 1800s. Of particular interest is the “American Experience” category with riveting photos of American life over the last 150 years. If you’re looking for inspirational still photography, you’ve hit the jackpot.

Some Days

I woke up refreshed and full of purpose.  I had memorized my to-do list, and knew the most efficient order.  My desk was organized and I was ready for business.

I got my son off to school and went for a four mile walk.   I was nearly home when one of the neighbors, a farmer, stopped to talk with me.  I met his new bull (Franz, 780 pounds when he was weaned) and the new puppy (Fritz, the Australian Cattle Dog, four months old).  I heard how 50 head of cattle is too much right now because the hay is running low.   I found out there are now 20 cats at the farm, but not a mouse or rat in sight even though the cats eat two bags of cat chow per week.  I learned that the farmer’s very bright son was accepted to agricultural college and starts next fall with a $7500 scholarship.  That’ll cover a small part of the $24,000 tuition.  

I know a lot about that farm and I love hearing all the news.  I got home an hour and a half later.

As I sat down to my desk, a call came in from another farmer.  I’ve been photographically documenting the process of building their new milking parlour for several months and learned that a new wall was being constructed today, and that I should get over there before the wall was finished.  I did, and it turned out the person building the wall was Mennonite, and as a rule they don’t like to be photographed.  I respect that, having grown up near Lancaster County where there’s a large Amish community. So the Mennonite man and I talked for about 45 minutes.  He was fascinated by my camera and asked many questions about it, and I was equally fascinated by his brick-laying abilities and asked him many questions.  Before he finished building the wall, he said I could take his photo as long as he was working rather than posing.

I got home an hour and a half later.

It’s 3:05 p.m. and I’ve just finished this post that should’ve been done by 10:00 a.m.  And I’ve remembered I need to buy a money order at the post office, from my good friend the Postmaster, Eileen.  I’ll make it home in time to meet the school bus at 4:00 and then start making dinner.

There’s always tomorrow.