Collecting “selfies”

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Figure 1 - A rare selfie of the author, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

Figure 1 – A rare “selfie” of the author, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

I went out to lunch with my wife last Saturday, and we wound up checking out the Eileen Fisher Company Store.  This is a pretty husband friendly store.  They have a nice array of “husband chairs” and they do not clutter them up with piles of clothing.  You can also sit and watch an endless video loop on a  big screen TV about eco-friendly fabric dying and the sixteen ways to tie a scarf. So if you want to discuss either of these, I’m quite definitely your man!

But after a while the videos became old, and my wife had yet to emerge from the dressing room; so I took to reading the news on my cell phone.  There I came upon a blog by Helen A. S. Popkin for NBC News entitled “Don’t try this at home: all the selfies you’re hopefully never going to take.”  It is Popkin’s hypothesis, and I think a rather safe one, that all the hubbub about selfies in 2013 is only going to be eclipsed by the hubbub about them in 2014.  Basically this is the age of the selfie craze.

I strain to project my mind forward fifty years.  It is a humbling exercise, because we never know all the twists and turns that nature and mankind will take.  Still I am pretty sure that just as we today go to major museums, like the Metropolitan in NY, the MFA in Boston, or the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, to see retrospectives about, for instance, the Kodachrome Era or Snapshots of the Sixties, our progeny will head to these, or other, museums to see the great retrospective about The Golden Age of the Selfie.  You can pretty much count on it, and it will be fun for them to see and wonder what was going on in the minds of these self-possessed, just as we now look and wonder about those people in the Daguerreotypes.

Hmm!  It is easy enough to imagine this.  Where things get interesting is when you try to understand how monetary value will become attached to these selfies as collectors’ items.  People collect early photographs and great photographs.  Today they collect the memorabilia photographs of the mid-twentieth century.  The point is that these are on paper, glass, or metal.  They are by definition one-of-a-kind and rare.  How does this kind of collection translate going forward into this and future centuries?

Years ago you would met someone, say on a bus, and after a while you would pull out your wallet and show snapshots of your family, and yes even your pets.  Today you pull out your smart phone.  The smart phone has the same size, format, and perspective of the snapshots of old.  The are copyable and easily transferable.  Still the simple fact of their being merely stored as so many pixels and bytes makes them vulnerable in the long term.  You don’t even have to bother throwing them in the trash to send them to ignominious oblivion.

This simplicity of destruction will make them intrinsically rare.  So I am thinking that some entrepreneurial sort will find a way to make money selling them.  And that’s where it will all begin.

In her blog – you see they’re no longer columns or articles, but blogs – Pokin quotes  a user-submitted definition of “Selfie” on the crowd-sourced “Urban Dictionary:”

“The taking of a picture of yourself and posting it on Facebook because you have extremely low self-esteem and you need people to comment to tell you how hot or pretty you look.”

I predict that a some point those of these narcissistic examples of human vanity will become more than so.  They will make the transition to art – not just art, but collectable art.

London with an eastern view

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For the past four years a blogger known as “The Gentle Author” has been writing about the social history of East London.  For those of you who follow “Call the Midwife,” it is that East London.  In the process The Gentle Author has amassed a hundred years of London photographs with this easterly viewpoint and he has now published them.  Here is a wonderful video with some of these images.

Often, a drawer or box full of old photographs becomes a treasure trove and derives new meaning simply by sorting and cataloging.  It becomes a thematic collection, and history has a way of making the mundane and everyday now prized for the nostalgia it evokes.  People who collect historical photographs, antiques, or antiquarian books are always told to choose a topic and take it on with undaunted focus.  We have time and again seen collections of old pictures evolve into wonderful collections.  When I was growing up my father had a friend who went around NYC photographing things that were typical but on the way out – making that wonderful transition from commonplace to quaint.  Such collections they teach us where we have been, and by learning that we get a glimmer both of essential humanity and where we are going.

“Shopping” a new body image

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We’ve spoken quite a lot, and quite enough, about the Barbie image.  I’m not going to continuing beating that dead horse today.  However, I came across a very interesting little video that shows just how much a little image processing or “Photoshopping” can alter a models looks and appearance.  It’s really quite fascinating so I thought that I would share this time lapse video with you.

A little makeup and a few well-placed hair-extenders seem pretty harmless once you see the model’s occipital orbits widened to give her that oh so lovely Botox “deer in the headlights” look along with a quick little nose job. The digital tummy-tuck and breast enlargement are not unexpected.  But then they stretch first her thighs, then her legs, and finally her neck.  Yikes that must hurt and  OMG  it’s the Stepford Wives gone wild.

Today, at least, I’m not going to make any judgments about right and wrong, and technology gone wild, or even about unrealistic norms.  Today I’m just going to marvel at the technology.  However, I was going to remind you of what Hamlet said about reality, but then  I came upon this quote from Plato’s Phaedrus, and it is so much more to the point.  Plato was never one to trust his senses above his reason.

“Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.”

Día de Muertos

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Figure 1 - La Mort, (c) DE Wolf 2013

Figure 1 – La Mort, (c) DE Wolf 2013

We must now put Halloween behind us.  You have Halloween (October 31), or “All Hallows Eve,”  followed by “All Saints Day” (November 1), followed in turn by “All Souls Day” or as it is referred to in Mexico and the Spanish Speaking World “Día de Muertos:”  The day is meant to honor and revere all who ever were but are now no more. Scholars and archaeologists believe that Día de Muertos traces its origins to Mexico and the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl who rules the underworld, Mictlan, along with her husband god Mictlantecuhtli. 

Traditions include building home altars to the deceased using sugar skulls and marigolds, and bringing the favorite foods and drinks that the departed loved to their gravesides. I suspect that you have seen the wonderful figures made to celebrate Día de Muertos.  My favorites are the brides and grooms skeletons whose beginning of life seems to contrast so deeply with death itself.  Death itself, however, is meant to only be a transition to an eternal life.  I suppose that there is also a reference here to the parable of the ten brides in Mathew 25.

With all of this in mind, we stopped last Saturday in West Hartford, CT at J. Rene’ Coffee Roasters.  Here coffee is a wonderful art form.  You can have it brewed in a number of very entertaining ways – all worthy of the taste test.  And to add to this particular day’s flavor, my barista was none other than that most dreaded of tarot cards shown in Figure 1, La Mort himself.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory and the thin line between science and art

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Figure 1 - Photograph of an erupting solar prominence taken of September 24, 2013 by the SDO. From NASA and in the publi domain.

Figure 1 – Photograph of an erupting solar prominence taken of September 24, 2013 by the SDO. From NASA and in the publi domain.

A few days ago I happened upon some of the beautiful images coming from NASA’s “Solar Dynamics Laboratory (SDO).” Two of these are shown in Figures 1 & 2.  These particular images were taken with the satellite’s deep ultraviolet camera.  I could go on for quite a while explaining why this region of the electromagnetic spectrum was chosen, how these cameras work, and why it’s important.  But I choose to focus instead on the simple point that these images are truly spectacular.

There is this fine line between science and art.  Here the images were chosen from a great many by a human being as one’s that appeal to a human aesthetic.  Similarly the colors chosen for the rendering again appeal to human sensibilities and in no small way to our sense of the mythic.  The red-orange images evoke association with the phrase “cauldron of the gods.”  Is the Sun’s fire the forge of Hephaestus?  As we know, the Sun is not made of fire but of insanely hot plasma, a state of matter where the atoms have been strip by the intense heat of their electrons.  But in our artistic mythic enthusiasm we forget the scientific facts and dwell a few moments in the romance of the image.

In such images, I believe we stand at the crossroads between science and art.  We see that ultimately there is a piece of both in all human intellectual effort.  Photography has always, at it does in the case of the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s images, occupied this liminal zone.  In what it reveals it is art.  In the chemistry and physics of how it works, and how it is practiced, it is science.

This dichotomy defines the sense of wonder that we have when looking at scientific images like these.  They took great science to produce.  But someone practiced in art selected then and selected how they would be displayed.  Please enjoy these pictures. Visit NASA’s SDO mission website to see more of them and their accompanying videos.  At the same time remember what Hamlet said:

“Doubt thou the stars are fire,
  Doubt that the sun doth move,
  Doubt truth to be a liar,
  But never doubt I love.”
Figure 2 - Deep UV image of a sunspot group showing the magnetic field lines and taken by the SOD from Januray 9-15, 2013. From NASA and in the public domain.

Figure 2 – Deep UV image of a sunspot group showing the magnetic field lines and taken by the SOD from Januray 9-15, 2013. From NASA and in the public domain.

 

An idyll of childhood

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Figure 1 - An Idyll of Childhood, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

Figure 1 – An Idyll of Childhood, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

A highlight of the Pope collection at Hill-Stead Farm are two Claude Monet paintings of haystacks.  I mention this because after I left the main house, then free to use my camera, when I began to explore the photographic possibilities outside,  I heard the voices of two children, a boy and a girl – not little children but adolescents, pre- or just teens.  They were animated and hell bent on descending the hill into the meadow below.

I followed them, but, of course, couldn’t really keep up with their youthful legs and determination.  The meadow was well groomed by the harvest reaping and bore a very striking resemblance to the fields in Monet’s paintings.  The girl carried a plastic bag.  They were out to collect something.  The boy followed with a stick in his hands.  Their conversation continued unabated.  I couldn’t understand what they were saying.  Their enthusiasm wasn’t meant for me – but a was a private thing.  I had perhaps long ago lost the ability to understand their language.

The field was broken by two green paths.  At a fork they had made a choice – the most direct path to wherever they were going.  I followed them no further than the top of the hill.  I looked out at the barn across the field, assuming that was their destination.  But, I couldn’t be sure.  The world seemed very much defined to me and didn’t draw me on any further.  I had become an observer of the adventures of childhood.

I pulled out my camera to record the event. I framed the image the way I wanted it – neatly divided into geometric sections that paid homage to the “golden rule of thirds.” I loved the subdued pastel colors, the fall flowers in the foreground, and I loved the way the plow lines of the two sections weren’t all in the same direction.  It was like a giant doodle that I might have scribbled when I was young and bored in school.  I waited for the figures of the children to reach the point where I wanted them in the picture and I pressed the shutter.  Then they moved on out of sight, and I heard them no more.

Chasing the fall foliage

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Figure 1 - Hill-Stead Farm #1, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

Figure 1 – Hill-Stead Farm #1, (c) DE Wolf 2013.

We have been having a really wonderful fall here in New England.  The foliage has been magnificent, although lacking just a bit in reds.  These differences are the vagaries of summer rainfall and temperatures.  We are just past “peak” now and took advantage of the hospitality of good friends to chase the foliage into the Connecticut River and Farmington Valleys of Northern Connecticut this past weekend.

Our destination were visits to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT and Hill-Stead Farm in Farmington, CT.  These two magnificent homes offer up a glimpse into the great “Gilded Age.”    To me it is always interesting to see these places and to imagine the inhabitants going about their lives and living out in newborn novelty the events of the times. Theodate Pope(1867-1946), the mistress and architect of Hill-Stead, was on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed on May 7, 1917. She was pulled in from the sea with boat hooks and laid among the dead. One woman pleaded with the rescuers to give her artificial respiration. They cut off her fashionable clothing and went to work. To everyone’s amazement she regained consciousness.

Needless-to-say photography is not allowed in either of the houses.  However, I took a large number of photographs at both locations.  In both cases I had really excellent light, late afternoon at the Twain House and reasonably early at Hill-Stead Farm. It’s going to take me a while to work all of these up and will certainly share more of them with you.  However, since we’ve been on the topic of autumn colors, I’d like to share one (Figure 1) today that I think, hope, complements the wonderful impressionist art collection at Hill-Stead.  It is the view from the farm of the barn, the valley, and the hillside.  It is late fall, or at least late fall color, in the morning light. If you must know the particulars, they are: Canon T2i with EF70-200 mm f/4 USM lens at 94 mm, ISO 400, Aperture-Priority AE, Exposure compensation -1 (to catch the blue sky), 1/500th sec. at F/9.0.

The light and the season are changing.  Next weekend comes Halloween, and we set the clocks back (Boo on both accounts).  New light brings new perspectives and photographic opportunities.

2013 Wildlife Photography Award Winners

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The more I see, the more I like.  There is a contest each year entitled Wildlife Photographer of the year and jointly sponsored by the BBC Worldwide and The Natural History Museum.  This contest has received over 48,000 entries since its inception in 1965.  This years winners have just been announced and it’s one of those “Wow, amazing, %@$#*!!! Moments.

So the question is where to begin with personal favorites, and I’m going to confine myself to three.  I have to start with Paul Souders’ breathtaking photograph of a polar bear hunting just below the surface.  (Once the picture shows up, be sure to click on it to enlarge.)This photograph is winner of the “Animals in their Environment” category.  There is a subdued pastel quality to this image and, of course, that polar bear is certainly intent upon its dinner, which you feel certain could just as easily be you.  Hence there is a sense of fear create.  At the other end of the spectrum is remorse that these beautiful animals are quite likely to be extinct in the wild in another fifty years or so as their habitat melts away..

Next I’ll vote for Connor Stefanison’s photograph of an owl in British Columbia at night.  This is the winner of the “The Eric Hosking Portfolio Award.” This female barred owl had a territory near Stefanison’s home in Burnaby, British Columbia. He began the work by studying the owls flight path and behavior, doing that until he felt ready for the shot.,  He set up his camera near one of the owl’s favorite perches that was triggered and linked remotely three flashes: diffused and on low settings.  He used a dead mouse on a platform above and out of sight of the camera to induce swooping.  I just love the quality of the stop action and the sense of night, despite the vividness of the surrounding forest.

Finally, there is Joe McDonald photograph of two mating jaguars in Brazil. This image is winner of the “Behavior: Mammals” category.  There is a wonderful sense of intensity and raw visceral emotion as well as beautiful coloration caught in the picture .This is not what your online dating services would advertise. 

Be sure to check out all of the photographs.  There is a lot of wonderful work to be seen here.