Popocatepetl erupts

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Well if you’re looking for true natural fireworks, nothing is going to beat this year’s  eruption of Popocatepetl in Mexico.  Ever since I studied Spanish in high school I thought that Popocatepetl was such a cool word.  This picture by photographer Pablo Spencer for AP/Getty Images taken on the Fourth of July is truly spectacular.  It looks like a color plate from some nineteenth century geology book, or perhaps  a cover illustration for the latest edition of Susan Sontag’s “The Volcano Lover.”

I’ve got to wonder how exactly this image was taken.  Having a dynamic range that goes from stars to lava fire is quite an accomplishment.  And note also, that there’s not a hint of star trails, well maybe just a hint.  I am thinking that perhaps this was done with high dynamic range (HDR) photography.  In any event, the effect is stunning and primordial!

A Saturday afternoon in Concord, MA

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Eighteenth century graves of the Hartwell Family, Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

Eighteenth century graves of the Hartwell Family, Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

It is a sobering thought, but I just realized that I first visited historic Concord, MA almost fifty years ago.  At that time, inspired by Disney’s version of “Johnny Tremain,” I fell in love with the town.  Here and Lexington are where the American Revolution began, and as a result they both remain very special places.

Broken church bell, First Parrish Church, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

Broken church bell, First Parrish Church, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

This Saturday afternoon I decided that I would explore the path over the Mill Brook and then climb up to the top of the “Old Hill Burying Ground.”  This is Concord’s oldest cemetery.  Like much of the area, Concord and its surrounds are dominated by glacial features.  The “Old Hill Burying Ground” is built on a glacial drumlin.  A drumlin is a hill built up by the pebbly debris left behind by a glacier.  Because of its composition and exposure the “Old Hill Burying Ground” was the first place to thaw in spring.  As a result bodies stored over the winter could be buried as soon as possible.

I think that this particular photography excursion, while not a failure, was not one of my best.  But what I’ve discovered is that every session is a learning experience.  Provided that you focus on the photographic process, on exposure, lighting, and composition; and then subsequently on the process of working the images up on your computer, you’re going to learn something.  And not the least of these is how to use your equipment and how not to make mistakes, or which mistakes can be the most fortuitous.

Lamp Shade Manikin, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

Lamp Shade Manikin, Concord, MA, (c) DE Wolf, 2013.

I took several pictures from the top of the hill, which commands a really lovely and interesting view of the town.  I rejected photographing the powder storage building atop the hill.  Most of the pictures that I took, I wound up unhappy with – not that unusual.  An image of the Hartwell family graves turned out reasonably well both in terms of composition and dynamic range.  It certainly captures what the cemetery is like and the nature of the late eighteenth century New England gravestones.

Wandering down the hill and across Lexington Road I discovered the remains of an old and broken church bell in front of the First Parish church.  Despite numerous trips to Concord, I have never noticed this before. Its textures, coloration, and failed repairs seemed interesting, and I took a few pictures.  I cannot say that I reach what I would consider a perfect composition.  The mid afternoon light was probably way too direct and intense to create what I was really looking for; so I am going to have to revisit this sight and try again.

Finally, I went to meet my wife on Walden Street, and my eye caught sight of a slinky manikin in front of “Concord Lamp and Shade” store.  She was a brilliant red and wore a lamp shade on her head.  It seemed a fitting contrast between the old Concord and the new Concord.

 

Images of the Battle of Gettysburg one hundred and fiftieth years later

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Figure 1 - Iconic image of the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg taken by Timothy O'Sullivan the day after the battle July 4, 1863. From the LOC and in the public domain.

Figure 1 – Iconic image of the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg taken by Timothy O’Sullivan the day after the battle July 4, 1863. From the LOC and in the public domain.

While we have discussed the importance of photographs of the American Civil War and the work of Timothy O’Sullivan for Mathew Brady, it remains significant that July 1 to 3, 2013 marked the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Many have viewed this battle as the “turning point” of the war as it marked the end of General Lee’s strategy to relieve pressure on Northern Virginia, the capital city of Richmond in particular, by invading the North and attacking the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore apply a pincer grip on the Union capital of Washington, DC.

Figure 2 - The Little Round Top, July 1863, image from the LOC and in the public domain.

Figure 2 – The Little Round Top, July 1863, image from the LOC and in the public domain.

The losses at Gettysburg were staggering.  The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties over the three days of fighting.  Figure 1 is the iconic image by Timothy O’Sullivan of the carnage and was taken the day after the battle.  There has been a lot said about the brutality of the American Civil War.  One theory has it that it was the first war fought with twentieth century weapons but eighteenth century tactics.  Regardless I believe that it became too great a sacrifice merely for preservation of Union.  The end of slavery became the goal of the war.  And in a real sense the Civil War really was the second act of the American Revolution.

Figure 3 - Contemporary image of oshua Chamberlain, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of the Little Round Top, from the LOC and in the public domain.

Figure 3 – Contemporary image of Joshua Chamberlain, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of the Little Round Top, from the LOC and in the public domain.

The images of Gettysburg are iconic and legendary.  Looking at the ones taken just after the battle enables us to transport ourselves back to that time and they enable us to attempt to understand.  I don’t believe that true understanding is really possible but trying is a sacred duty.

Figure 2 is an image, possibly also by O’Sullivan, of the Little Round Top.  Late on the afternoon of July 2, 1863,  Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain led the 20th Maine Regiment in a desperate bayonet charge down the hill. Chamberlain is credited with saving Major General George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac and ultimately of winning, winning the Battle of Gettysburg.  Chamberlain won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism on that day.  A contemporary portrait is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 4 - Lincoln at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863, from the LOC and in the public domain.

Figure 4 – Lincoln at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863, from the LOC and in the public domain.

Finally there are two other images that may give us some sense of the meaning of Gettysburg – some further, at least, to help us ponder these events.  The first, Figure 4, shows Lincoln at Gettysburg on the Day of his great address, November 19, 1863.  And the second is of the last great Gettysburg reunion seventy-five years after the battle. 2500 blue and grey returned to that place one final time to remember.  Figure 5 shows the blue and grey shaking hands across a stone wall.

Figure 5 - The blue and the grey meet for the last time at Gettysburg, July 1938, from the National Arcives and in the public domain.

Figure 5 – The blue and the grey meet for the last time at Gettysburg, July 1938, from the National Archives and in the public domain.

The Vivian Maier Portfolios

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Let me begin by saying that in my view the nineteen fifties were not the best of times for a first decade.  But probably everyone feels that way about the awkwardness of childhood. Still I remember very itchy wool pants and a jar of hair lacquer named “Back to School” that remained in the family medicine cabinet far into the nineties – the thing was your hair could withstand a hurricane.  I’m telling you this because I didn’t think that I could be made to be nostalgic about the fifties.  But then yesterday a reader, Donna G., sent me this link, and I suddenly found myself amazingly transported!

The story is a peculiar one.  Recently John Maloof found a treasure trove of negatives and prints in a auction.  These pictures were taken over four decades from the fifties to the nineties, by a woman named Vivian Maier, who had worked as a nanny for several families, living mostly in New York City and Chicago.  She led a secret life as a photographer, jealously guarding her secret, but at the same time amassing over 100,000 negatives and prints mostly taken with a twin lens reflex 2 1/4 ” x 2 1/4 ” camera.

The sensitivity of these sometime quirky images is marvelous.  My father took pictures with such a camera and as a result, to me, they have a wonderful intimacy and take me back to a time when dirt was my friend and best friendships were born.  I am so taken back that I am even wondering if the little blonde girl in one particular 1953 picture is my sister.

There are some truly wonderful portraits, many of children.  One particularly striking 1956 image is of a beautiful young woman framed by a car window.  This is a strange setting perhaps, although one she reverts to often, until you realize that it indeed is fitting and symbolic for the time of big cars.  There are also some very clever self-portraits employing mirrors – distorted images in convex mirrors and infinities created by parallel mirrors.  I am particularly fond of one obviously taken in a mirror store with fancy gilded baroque frames.

Maloof’s project to bring this fascinating woman and her work back to life is truly worthwhile, and it is quite an experience to step back in time and explore the website he has created.  I think that for starters I have barely scratched the wonderful surface of Vivian Maier’s portfolios and am anxious to visit that world again. And, of course, I’m very grateful to Donna G. for introducing me to this fascinating body of work.

 

Fourth of July – Minutemen and Dinosaurs?

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Figure 1 - Color Guard, (c) DE Wolf 2013

Color Guard, (c) DE Wolf 2013

Fourth of July this year in Massachusetts was hot – well maybe not as hot as in the Southwest, but pretty hot for those of us that weather New England winters so as not to have to put up with scorching heat in summer.  The fun part of the Fourth is small town celebrations, and we are fortunate to live right on the parade route of our local Fourth of July parade.  So we bake ourselves, sip on code drinks, talk to politicians, and make our bathroom available to desperate children, who discover one giant slurry too late that there are no public bathrooms on the parade route.  You would think that these patriotic towns would at some point come to the realization that it is “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” not “the pursuit of restrooms!”

For some reason, I never seem to be satisfied by the pictures that I get.  Maybe I’m just not cut out for snapping well composed snaps of parades.  Or maybe, my photo-preferences lie elsewhere.  Still I try each year to photograph our local minuteman militia, including my own PCP, who by the time that he reaches our end of the hike looks like he may himself soon be in need resuscitation.  And then there are the myriad of bands, and local scout troops, politicos, fife and drummers, people on antique bicycles, and dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs? Yes, our local garden center this year featured a float with a shovel-bearing, gardening T-Rex.  I am including just a few of these images to give the flavor of the day.

Fifers, (c) DE Wolf 2013

Fifers, (c) DE Wolf 2013

Of course, the best part of the day was talking with friends and barbequing after the parade.  Then there was the true Boston ending, watching the Boston Pops and the fireworks from the esplanade.  The national media has deserted us.  So the broadcast this year featured local talent, which was really fine with all of us, as the city pulled off the first major public event since the marred Boston Marathon.

T-Rex, (c) DE Wolf 2013

T-Rex, (c) DE Wolf 2013

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.*”

*Excerpt from a letter by John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 1, 1776.

Barbie and body image, yet again

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Well, I am happy to report that my favorite rant subject is back in the news.  Artist Nickolay Lamm  used average, American teenage girl measurements from the Center for Disease Control to put together a realistically proportioned Barbie doll. 

It’s an easy topic and I was all set to get up on my high horse again, until I started reading the thoughtful comments from young women in response to this article in Teenspot.  One young woman commented that all this talk about averages made skinny girls like herself uncomfortable with their own bodies in that they were no longer considered normal.  Another said that you really can’t a doll for making girls not feel pretty enough.  It’s people being mean that’s the problem.

What I got from this is that there are some pretty thoughtful young people out there, and they’re not buying the easy target blame game.  And this means that there are a lot of good parents out there teaching proper good real life lessons.  It strikes me that there is an important truism about the power of image here, that their effect is visceral and knee jerk.  It’s a lot harder to think. So yes, we have a lot of work to do educating our children in human diversity, self image, and self respect.  It’s so easy to point fingers and much harder to effect real solutions.

Exactly how democratic is the internet?

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Figure 1 - Percent population connected to the internet by major geographic region, data from Internet World Stats.

Figure 1 – Percent population connected to the internet by major geographic region, data from Internet World Stats.

I’m afraid that I have boxed myself into a bit of a corner.  In my last two blogs I discussed the democratizing effects of the internet, focusing on book and photography publishing.  I have a couple of readers that are bound to challenge me with the question: “Exactly how democratic?”  So, while this blog is meant to be primarily about photography, I feel that I have to defend myself with some statistics about the internet.

An institution isn’t democratic unless there is substantial enfranchisement.  So if the internet is excluding vast numbers of people by either political or economic suppression it fails to be democratic.  So what about the internet?

Figure 2 - Internet usage growth between 2000 and 2012 by major geographical region. Data from Internet World Stats

Figure 2 – Internet usage growth between 2000 and 2012 by major geographical region. Data from Internet World Stats.

According to Internet World Stats there are currently (2012) 7,017,846,922 people in the world, of which 2,405,518,376 people or 34.3% are connected to the internet.  This has grown by 566.4% in the last twelve years.  This number, of course, does not tell the whole story.  So, in Figure 1, I show internet penetration of the population for the world’s major geographic regions and in Figure 2 the rate of growth for these regions  over the past twelve years.

I think that the story told by these statistics already indicates high penetration of the population and tremendous growth especially in regions that are lagging the major internet centers.  At a certain level access, indeed, represents enfranchisement and a democratizing effect – access to publish and access to download.  From the fundamental viewpoint of “knowledge is power,” this is a positive story.  The subtler and, perhaps profounder, questions of the quality of the information that people have access to, whether there is government or other censorship of free expression, and whether information is otherwise controlled or manipulated is a wholly different issue.  We have to at least have faith that access is an important first step.

Physical media and the need to touch

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Figure 1 - The world's first digital computer. Image from the Wikimediacommons and in the public domain. Uploaded by Anasalialmalla (own work) and put in the public domain by creative commons license.

Figure 1 – The world’s first digital computer. Image from the Wikimediacommons and in the public domain. Uploaded by Anasalialmalla (own work) and put in the public domain by creative commons license.

In my blog yesterday, I intentionally illustrated it with a historic picture from the Kelmscott Press.  Productions by William Morris at Kelmscott are some of the most beautiful and prized books ever created.  There is something wonderfully tactile about a beautiful book or a beautiful photographic print that defies the fact that we can do better in purely electronic medium: better linearity, greater dynamic range, and even comparable resolution.

There seems to be a true human need to touch and feel an object, and an even greater one to own it.  Owning a CD or other recording defies merely downloading it.  And I suspect that this somehow relates to the need of some people to collect, to amass great collections.  Rarity is desired.  Tactility is sensual.  These are the intrinsic human needs that any electron medium must ultimately overcome if it is to effectively compete with more substantive media.

I know this from my own personal experience.  I take a photograph and process it to my liking.  However, it is always aimed at an ultimate physical print, and I am not truly satisfied until I hold that print in my hand.

And there is another curious aspect of this to consider.  We seem to believe that the purely physical is somehow more enduring than the electronic image.  If you keep a diary or journal, for instance, you tend to believe that the physical journal will have a greater longevity than one keep electronically.  Computer memory can be erased in a flash.  The nature of storage media has historically changed at lightning speed.  Try to find a way to read an 8“ floppy (1980’s technology) or even a zip drive (1990’s technology) and you will understand the persistent problem that the conservators at the Smithsonian Institution continuously face.  Of course, understanding visual media like photography printed out is pretty straight forward.  On the other hand, can you guarantee that your journal gloriously scripted can still be read a hundred years from now? Will people still know how to read cursive?  It’s a lot like trying (for most of us) to read old German printing.

On the other hand printed words and photographs are getting costly to produce.  They are costly to distribute.  They are costly to store.  And they are costly to conserve against the elements.

We come then to the purpose of libraries and galleries.  No doubt there is something really special about seeing or reading an original.  But the other purpose of these institutions is to store and disseminate information.  Therein, lies the other way in which the internet specifically and the digital age in general become democratizing.  Great works of art were originally prepared for kings and emperors.  With the exception of public art and church art, nobody got to see these originals. Now anyone can see them electronically.

Control of information and its flow is power.  Making information publically available electronically is empowering.  So the internet and electronic digital media democratize at both ends.  Firstly, the artist has essential control over his or her own dissemination.  And secondly, the viewer has essential control over what he or she chooses to view.

Where is all of this going?  Where is it taking us?  In some regards the answer is unclear.  Broadly however, we are moving more and more into a digital and electronic world.  We are not given a choice really, the world and its media are evolving before our eyes.

The economics of scarcity and the democratization of media

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Figure 1 - Arguably the ultimate limited edition publisher, a work room in William Morris' Kelmscot House, where such great works as the "Kelmscott Chaucer" were produced.. From the Wikimediacommons and in the public domain.

Figure 1 – Arguably the ultimate limited edition publisher, a workroom in William Morris’ Kelmscot House, where such great works as the “Kelmscott Chaucer” were produced.. From the Wikimediacommons and in the public domain.

A couple of days ago, I went off on a bit of a tangent and discussed the pending demise of the mega bookstore.  In my opinion, this is an inevitable event for which we await only the march of time.  There are, in fact, a number of very interesting considerations that relate to the nature of the book and indeed of photography.

Historically, publishing is a scarcity-based industry.  Publishers decided how many copies of a book to publish, and once that run was sold out the future availability of the book became dependent on the publisher choosing to publish further editions and runs.  This fundamental economic fact limits who gets published, controls the choices that the reading public has, and controls the price of books.  Similarly for fine art photography, editions were limited first by the artist, but then by the galleries, and yet again by the publishers – pretty much the same publishers.  Scarcity was the controlling factor, with art and book critics serving as gatekeepers and accomplices.

Electronic publishing, for books, and electronic media, for images, changes the equation dramatically.  Books and images can be published and disseminated by demand.  Anyone can establish a website and sell their writings or artwork.  So the whole process becomes democratized.  Your ability to get your message out is limited only by the intrinsic value of your work and by your creativity in selling yourself.  Indeed, you need not even feel the need for wide dissemination.  You can either choose to worship web statistics (the cyber scorecard) or not.  You can publish for the love of sharing or for profit.

We are in this transitional “Brave New World.”  The traditional bounds of these industries are crumbling.  The means and way to success are becoming rapidly redefined and created anew.  You can either succumb kicking and screaming or you can embrace these changes, but they are coming nevertheless!