I just can't help myself on this one... I had to post it. Knowing this child's dad, that finger is most likely genetically programmed to do that.

I have a love-hate relationship with writing about photography. Bad photos are easy. I can talk all day, pointing out things wrong left and right. Editorial photography is easy too - the photos are intended to speak to you, just translate and give your opinion of how well it articulates. But what about architectural photos? Buildings have become one of my favorite subjects, but often I feel like any attempt to add to a photo through explanation just has just the opposite effect. Even commenting about an architectural photo like this one, the only thing I'm inspired to say is "yes."

I had a very similar experience trying to write about good classical works in a music theory class years ago. That which didn't work invited criticism, but when a piece is truly good, there's not much I could find myself inspired to do other than sit back, close my eyes, and be taken in by it.

Crap, I've seen something I would like point out about this photo. There goes the above two paragraphs. This photo remains dynamic and balanced for two reasons: The first is the manner in which the negative space cuts into the building at the very top, providing a bit of transition, bringing them into each other. The other is the little rectangular piece of the building that juts out into the negative space at the bottom. Those little features combine to create a very subtle push and pull of the otherwise void space, like return and exchange of a forced air heating system. Without it, the house might feel okay, but the temperature wouldn't be uniform, it wouldn't be as comfortable. Upon first glance, it's hard to notice these, but without them the photo wouldn't work nearly as well. It'd be stuffy and wouldn't feel cohesive. It'd feel like I cut and pasted a big white square over the rest of the building or whatever else was there originally.

The only other photographer I've found that does work similar to this is William W. Fuller. I spotted him in Lenswork a while back and have worn the magazine's spine out pondering his work.

Hello again blog. Don't be mad. No, I'm not greenleafing you with my new iphone - I was busy. And Time Warner internet crashed for a week, then my trial of CS3 expired and I had to buy and install CS4... it was a serious job just getting you a quality image this time. And you started all this by not being open to a movable type upgrade. You're still hiding my Small Format logo, aren't you... fine, I'll just draw a new one. Yes, I have some cool new material for you. That's right, we can be friends again.

I had to drive up to Saranac Lake, NY on business Saturday. I'd been to the Adirondacks dozens of times, but never in the autumn. I phoned the relative I was going to stay with and said I was looking forward to doing something with the fall color, but she said I'd missed the show. The trees and leaves had gone their separate ways already.

The drive through Westchester and Connecticut showed the fall color out in all its glory, but as soon as I hit the Adirondacks it was nothing but cold and drizzle, and arriving confirmed that the inevitable end had come to the tree-leaf relationship. The show, however, continued on after the fall. Look at them individually... stunning.

So my blog is still being fussy. My header has disappeared and comments aren't working. Everything should be up and running in the next day or so.

Does anyone else also get it right on the first shot like 75% of the time (to be clear, I don't really like this shot, it's just the best I've got)? My first inclination was to shoot exactly what you see here, but the creative troublemaker in me kept saying "no, it's the thing you're not thinking of that's going to make the best shot. Just walk around and wait for the inspiration." Problem was, I walked around the whole week and the only fur I was seeing was on dogs crapping on sidewalks. No inspiration at all.

So found myself getting down to the wire on the SAPCC "Fur" deadline yesterday. I needed to shoot something if I was going to get anything posted close to on time. Unfortunately, I had a pair of tickets to the Rangers-Sabres game at Madison Square Garden... and was hanging out with a friend the whole night... and drinking. Nonetheless I took the camera to the game convinced that I'd find a mad looking bushy-faced dude in the crowd that I could take creative candids of. Or perhaps a gaudy fur coat that would look cool with an arena in the background. Or at worst a bomb-sniffing security dog. At the end of the first period I strolled around the arena a few times and... nothing. Rangers fans are all clean shaven, fur coats are either out of style or don't make sense on 70-degree days, and apparently there were no bomb threats at MSG yesterday.

So after the game en route to the bar I shot my original idea, which you see here. I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out, but am unhappy with the fact that I didn't come up with anything other good fur-themed ideas. With this week's theme being a specific topic that is somewhat more limited in its instances (at least in New York) than say, glass, I suppose creative difficulty isn't something I should have expected to avoid. Nonetheless, I'm much more excited this week about others' posts than I am about my own.

En route to Sonoma from San Francisco about a year ago in a rented convertible, I was snapping pictures out the window left and right. California is so beautiful it's hard not to take pictures of things that don't even make very good pictures. Despite all the natural beauty, my favorite might be this one.

A more literal interpretation of "absent."

So here's the shot that I really wanted to use for SAPCC # 4, but didn't like due to underexposure. I fussed with it a bit, and though not print-worthy, it's not a bad web photo.

This man is wearing a suit that's absent of all light reflection - no shades of gray, no distinguishing features at all. Regarding form and body position, he has no determination of direction, no indication of spirit. His hands droop at his sides, enhancing his non-entity status.

So I blew up my blog a few days ago trying to upgrade to a newer version of movable type. Question: why isn't there a webpage building program that actually builds good looking webpages? Is it a conspiracy among developers so that they don't program themselves out of a job? Very frustrating dealing with movable type. Yes, I've thought of going over to wordpress, but apparently it's even tougher to customize your blog in wordpress than it is in movable type. Anyhow, here's my entry into SAPCC # 4 - Absence. Which, by the way, was a bitch to come up with visual ideas for. I'd originally planned to catch a dainty hand at the side of a lady walking down a SoHo street. Problem with that was, without a model, nobody gets that close to the photographer kneeling in the middle of the sidewalk. I think this turned out better anyway.

In painting, I tend to prefer non-representational abstract or abstractly representational work. Viewing things that are entirely new - that I have to study a bit because they don't immediately connect to what my eye sees walking around the world - for me have the same effect on mind as sleep or dreams, which could be even more profound than I realized before I read this New York Times article.

It can be difficult produce work with this effect in photography, as you are inherently taking photographs of real things.

I like most of the photos that I have posted here, but there are a few that I feel are really outstanding, that I don't hesitate to call art. They're all somewhat if not entirely abstract. Though most people just surf right on by it, this has been my favorite for a while. Not quite as detached from reality, but nonetheless as exciting for me is this shot. While I'm at it, I have to plug this shot too. Originally I thought it was just another decent building photograph, but stare at it a while just looking at the lines, the composition, highlights, the perspective.

This post here isn't in that "favorite photograph work-of-art" territory yet, but I've been staring at it for extended period of time for what I can only define as undefinably positive reasons.

Entry to SAPCC #3 - Water. Not entirely happy with it. Whatever... it's 1:30am. Maybe it'll grow on me.