My epiphany about piers: Piers are Subtle Shrines to The Gift. — Shrine to the Gift Which Piers? Here we're thinking about public piers intended primarily for pedestrians. Shrines? Not overtly intentional shrines, like religious shrines.  Maybe like "historic recurrence" where human collective behavior repeats itself due to human nature repeating similar behaviors, worldwide.  Something about human nature just naturally wants these piers. So, like shrines that are built everywhere, humans build piers pretty much everywhere too.  And every day scores of people are drawn to them — drawn to shrines and drawn to piers. But piers as shrines to what? Oceanside Sunset Pier 151207 070 Lightfoot_PierIntoSunset   My living near a municipal pier, and studying photographically its relationship to human behavior [i.e. looking for the 'visual narrative'], led to a kind of "awakening" about piers being so universally appealing. About them being something more than the obvious.  But what is the more? That question led to a generalization about how humans were behaving in their interaction with piers. But it's so subtle, instinctive. The process has a hint of pilgrimage to it, but a pilgrimage to what? The Gift? I doubt that many people are thinking about piers this way.  I sense that people who seek out piers have motivations that are simple and instinctive, not needing any thought at all.   I wonder about the emotive elements, the gifts, that cause people to be drawn to piers; e.g. how piers sit at transitions — shore, horizon, sky, atmosphere, cosmos, creation. Piers are a vehicle carrying people to and through a transition.   So, I'm proposing that the pleasing sensations from transitions are the gift. Oceanside Sunset Pier 151207 154   But it's subtle, and I don't think people are thinking about it above a bit of instinct and an easy sense of pleasure as reward.  But it's there. Piers subtly reward us with their gift. People are drawn to them because they're rewarded with this subtle, instinctive gift that transitions our spirit in an uplifting way.   Pilgrimage? The pilgrimage from shore to the end of the pier is short as pilgrimages go.  But it actually starts farther away; from home, or from work, or elsewhere in life.  It starts from the need for the experience of the gift that the pier delivers.  Maybe it starts from the need to reconnect, to transition from less connected to more connected, from less immersed to more immersed.    Whatever the start, it arrives at the pier. Piers take people out to "the presentation", to be present with the present, in the moment. That's their gift to us, rewarding the pilgrimage's effort.   Oceanside Sunset Pier 151207 099 Oceanside 150819 040_1_2_1a   Is Pier Photography Photojournalism? It's impossible to photograph piers without people — even if they're not there they're implied, part of the narrative, the life in the narrative.  Leaving The Pier And no, this photograph's characters are not zombies. They're consciousnesses returning from being out playing on a pier at night. There's been mischief, making-out, merrymaking, chasing each other, grab-assing, strolling, hanging-out, gazing down into the black water and/or out to sea, and so on. Alive little minds, running around in a gift. I am visually drawn to all the elements coming together with the people at the 'apex'. I think of all these kinds of scenes as having a sense of transcendence, a sense encouraged by the fog. Day and night.   Pier Into The Fog [Day] Pier Through The Light Hence my epiphany about piers: Piers are Subtle Shrines to The Gift. For without the gift there's no need for these piers.

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_DSC0218-6This location, with its "Pier Into Nothingness" always blows my mind. "Fishing Into Nothingness", comes to mind. There's an element of faith, or hope, that there's something in all that dark nothingness. "And hope does not disappoint" Romans 5:5

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Introduction
This blog is about the primacy of narrative in contemporary photography.

Part of photography's freedom to express itself today comes from century-old innovations in other visual arts including expressionism and so on. So this blog post starts with that art history, links to this digital era, and is organized as follows:

• Photography set painters free
• Photography has always been an abstraction
• Beyond photography's historic snapshot genre
• Digital image processing [DIP]
• The strength of its narrative
• More posts about narrative
• Painters set photographers free
• Which path chose me?

Photography set painters free
In an art history sense, one can argue that photography's innate photorealism helped free painters from realism and let loose impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, and so on. [If you don't believe me, Google "photography freed painters" and take it up with them ;-) ]

Out-Of/In-To

• B&W is obviously an abstraction
• But so is Kodachrome [ref. Paul Simon "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away"]
• Scale; we shove huge scenes onto little pieces of paper
• 2-dimensional medium of a 3-dimensional world
• Still, not moving
• ....and so on

Disciple And Sage

 

_MG_9532 851

 

Beyond photography's historic snapshot genre
Today things are truly radical regarding photography's freedom. Combine all the above with the ubiquity of digital snapshots, auto-editing apps, and free internet publication, and you get a world of photography that has become a super-mash-up of stuff, including some artful accidents. This has gone way beyond photography's historic snapshot genre. 

 

Digital image processing [DIP]
With digital image processing [DIP], the degrees of abstraction have expanded exponentially. Today we could say that DIP has set photography totally free from the obligations of photorealism.  By "totally free" I mean free to be any place on a scale from idealized photorealism to full abstraction. And, of course, any mix; ref. Interpretive: mixing photorealism and abstraction.

 

Reaching Up To The Light— The Universe In A Tree —

Trees — I'm in awe at how the bio-info encoded in their little seeds is so smart and powerful that it builds strong, elaborate, beautiful, alive structures from the dust of the Earth. And I like how the dust of the Earth was created in stars — what Carl Sagan called "Star Stuff". And then this tree made of Star Stuff lifts its leaves to a star, our Sun.

Stephen Hawking wrote The Universe In A Nutshell, but it's easier for me to imagine the universe in a tree.

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"Reaching Up To The Light" was juried into its first show at the Front Porch Gallery.
• Click here for the E-Invite.

And it was juried into the Oceanside Museum Of Art 2015 Art Auction.
• Click here for the E-Invite.

And it was invited into the Panache Invitational 2017.
• Click here for the E-Invite.

And it was juried into Bonanica at San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, 2018.
• Click here for the Invite.

Before & After editing of this image can be seen in the Blog post here

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Leave A Light On

 

The strength of its narrative
So, one has to invent his/her own way in this DIP era. One has to have a message other than the medium [yes, that's a shameless nod to Marshall McLuhan ;-) ]. Essentially it comes down to this: Any one of our photographs is no stronger than the strength of its narrative, or if you prefer, its story, tale, meaning, etc. From that point-of-view I encourage an approach to photography based on Shoot for Story — Edit for Perception.

 

Since you can't Photoshop your way out of having nothing to say [not as obvious to everyone as it sounds ;--)], it's best to start with a scene that has compelling meaning to your viewer.  Once you have that, then use your editing freedoms to make that meaning visually accessible by the viewer.

 

More posts about narrative

• Narratives With Isolation
• Urban Coastal

 

Painters set photographers free
Things have come full circle.  While at first photography set painters free to innovate impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, and so on, those freedoms are now available for DIP photographers to employ. But to what end?  Those freedoms are not an end in themselves.  The DIP photographer has to have something to say that's worth the viewer's attention. Thankfully, all of creation is full of metaphoric and symbolic meaning.  To support that assertion I'll borrow from Minor White and Vincent Van Gogh:

"One should not only photograph things
for what they are
but for what else they are."
Minor White

"...all reality is also at the same time symbolic."
Vincent Van Gogh

 

Lone BenchLone Bench is a scene from Point Lobos near Carmel, CA. It is very symbolism/metaphor rich with its lone bench, deep forest, diverging paths, hollow trunk, and subdued lighting. As edited, it could be an illustration of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken; “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” Easy to imagine one sitting on its lone bench and having such thoughts. Example: You the viewer are standing on one path, looking at two paths diverging ahead. The one you select becomes one with the one you’re on, and the alternative gets left in the unknown of the one life we have to live.
“Life is choice” — Kurt Lightfoot

 

Which path chose me?
I'm influenced the most by the visual communications thread in my professional career.  The aesthetics and practical objectives of all graphics from drafting/mechanical design, to visualizing data, to technical visuals such as Scanning Electron Microscopy, to technical product marketing-communications and business-communications in all mediums; i.e. professional visual communications, visual literacy, with an objective/purpose. That emphasis on narrative stuck with me.

 

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So, for my genre of photography, my branding is narrative digital image processing based. Narrative And Interpretive Digital Images   Pier Through The Light

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— Artist Statement —

When urban landscapes and coastal seascapes meet then a unique lifestyle ethos is the emergent result. Urban Coastal shares subtle, emotive, visual narratives about that ethos. Urban Coastal is a modest body-of-work with nine black & white images organized as three triptychs; Unbanscape, Fog, Pier. CLICK on any image to open its triptych and view images Urbanscape Fog Pier To The Coast Fog Family Leaving The Pier Leave A Light On Pier Into The Fog [Night] Disciple And Sage His Under Pass Pier Into The Fog [Day] End Of His Pier

— Artist Statement cont. —

To The Coast	— Urbanscape — The Urbanscape triptych is about the human-made world from inland to the coastal edge. The coastline draws people to it, but it also draws a sharp line between urbanscape and seascape. In Urbanscape the human drama dominates, and that drama incorporates some of the mystery and transcendence promised at seascape’s edge.
Fog Family	— Fog — Fog is both its own triptych and a shared visual metaphor in all three triptychs.  Fog lies over and through them all. Fog ties seascape and urbanscape together in a universal, subtle, emotive way.  Fog is both subtle and dominant. On one level it is hardly there at all, yet its feeling defines the scene before us. Sometimes we feel more clearly in the fog.
Leaving The Pier	— Pier — In the Pier triptych, pier as physical architecture and metaphorical pathway transports its occupants out from the urbanscape  into and over the seascape. A pier connects and transcends, out and above.  A pier is a thing, a place, and a metaphor.  As metaphor it is inspiration to transcend the juxtaposed worlds of urbanscape and seascape, making the experience of transcendence the common thread. We are invited and encouraged to transcend the physical for something deeper.  On a pier we stroll, play, fish, and meditate.

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Chief Pontiac 3a 6945 after

Literal & Metaphorical
Borrowing from Minor White, the scene can convey what it is and what else it is: what it is literally, and what it is metaphorically.  It can be what it is and its metaphor all in the same time and space.

Half-century old & the modern eye
In Pontiac Hood Ornament I'm using abstraction to convey the sense of modernness, motion, speed, action, and attractiveness.  I think that those characteristics are what a hood ornament was intended to convey by its designer (circa 1950).  I have to abstract-in a look that communicates those half-century old hood ornament design goals to a modern eye.  But I'm keeping enough photorealism so that the viewer knows its a real hood ornament.

Start the before & after slide show to see the changes:

Pontiac Hood Ornament is part of the gallery The Drama of Car Culture.
Click here to jump there.

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LINKS TO OTHER EXAMPLES

Glow In The Park 1	Glow In The Park triptych
	Grass Hopper book project

Narratives With Isolation uses visual metaphors and symbols to create in the viewer's perception and emotions an experience that includes isolation.  But isolation is not the whole story — hence narratives with isolation, not narratives about isolation.

Isolation per se is not good or bad.  We need more visual information to know how to feel about what the isolation means, and we need to know about our personal reactions to the isolation metaphors.  Examples:

• Isolated benches or picnic tables can seem lonely, desolate and depressing unless you're there for privacy, meditation, or spending time with those you came with.
• Vultures on a naked, dead tree provide fewer narrative choices for the viewer.
• Paths can recall choices, transitions, and even transcendence.
• Spiritual experiences and awakenings are associated with isolation.

Lone BenchLone Bench is a scene from Point Lobos near Carmel, CA. It is very symbolism/metaphor rich with its lone bench, deep forest, diverging paths, hollow trunk, and subdued lighting. As edited, it could be an illustration of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken; “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” Easy to imagine one sitting on its lone bench and having such thoughts. Example: You the viewer are standing on one path, looking at two paths diverging ahead. The one you select becomes one with the one you’re on, and the alternative gets left in the unknown of the one life we have to live. “Life is choice” — Kurt Lightfoot	Lone Picnic Table 2
Roost #3	Roost 1
End Of His Pier	Pathway To Bluff
Pathway Out 2	Abandoned Ranch

The color pallet – basically black and tones of browns – creates an isolation from our vibrant, colorful existence.  In some narratives it comes across as warm, friendly sepia tones with positive associations and emotions, maybe like a restored old photo.  In other narratives it comes across as desolate and apocalyptic, maybe like an eerie smoke filled sky from a massive wildfire threatening homes and lives.

Synonyms for isolation; solitude, seclusiveness, desolation, detachment, privacy.

This blog post discusses images from a gallery located here.

My motivation to interpret the dahlias expressively came from wanting to answer this question: How powerful does the dahlia look to an insect in a dahlia-insect ecology? Then translating the answer into human perception.  My conclusion was that the dahlias would express very compelling, demanding, controlling, highly-motivating messages to insects — far more compelling than our mere human experience of their beauty. 

To express that "far more compelling" sense I selected editing choices that I felt took the look and feel of the flower in the appropriate expressive direction. To translate from flower-insect messaging to human understanding, I felt the need to convey a surrealistic abstraction that took the dahlia from sweet-and-friendly to attention-commanding.

For me, Dahlia 2 ~ What The Bee Sees best expresses my goals for this project. It expresses the power at the center of the flower and includes enough surrounding imagery to remind us that it's in an ecological system.  Plus it has an actual bee — reminding us that it's their world and we're just visiting.  So it has the most complete narrative.

Dahlia 1 has the strongest sense of the power of the center of the flower. When the dahlias triptych has been juried into a show, Dahlia 1 is the most popular of the three.

Dahlia 3 shares more information about the surrounding environment.  It has the strongest sense of space, and the emergence of the power of the flower from the surrounding space.

Use the control bar below to stop/start the slideshow

The dahlias were originally photographed at the request of the Director at Mission San Luis Rey. The project started as straight documentary photographs to be used by collateral designers to communicate activities and resources at the Mission.

This blog post discusses images from a gallery located here.

Sky Deity 6

Sky Deity is based on the concept of nature creating and providing humans with metaphoric images of a deity – in this case a transcendent deity that shows itself in the sky.  I'm imagining how a pagan, polytheistic human mind, meditating on this scene, could experience it as spiritually significant and transcendent.

Sky Deity 1

Sky Deity 3

To appreciate the scene as transcendent, I try to assume the mindset of an ancient pagan tuned into the mysticism of the natural creation.  I image the cloud's structure as a deity and the trees as worshiping the deity.

The symbolic clues that led me to using this scene as a pagan mysticism image include the serendipitous structure of the clouds in the center and the trees leaning in towards that structure. 

It's as if the trees are recognizing the cloud formation as theistically significant.  It's as if all of creation is aware of itself in a self-celebrating, self-worshiping way.

This blog post discusses images from the gallery located here.

Detail 8th Flag

Workshop Description

The power of your photography begins with the visual symbolism of the story you are telling.  Editing in Photoshop conveys your story to the viewer.

This interactive workshop traces the "story-perception" process using examples of classical and contemporary photos, events, portraits, pets, landscapes and car culture. 

Dahlia 1

Shoot For Story

In the "Shoot For Story" half of the workshop we interpret a wide variety of photographs.  Image sources include classic, commercial, editorial, and contemporary art photographers.  We dig into each image and determine what works – or does not work – in each photograph.  We expand on the concept of visual literacy to understand how the subjective elements in the image are conveying a story, and how compelling and interesting the story is to the viewer.

Attendees participate in the interpretation process — this creates a dynamic, fun workshop.  Attendees can just attend and passively experience the interpretations, or jump in at any time.  This process greatly expands our appreciation for how symbolic elements in an image ignite the imagination of the viewer.

Cruisin' Grand 6819

Edit For Perception

In the "Edit For Perception" half of the workshop we discover how to use the nature of human perception to guide our editing choices in Lightroom and Photoshop.  We cover some of the skills-based "how" of photo editing, but we focus more on the "why."  We look at the as-photographed image and ask how the image can be re-visualized through editing to convey a more compelling and clear visual message.

Collaborative project by Kurt Lightfoot, Will Gibson,
and shop owner Jordan Quintal.

"Dahlia 1" is part of a triptych discussed in a blog post.
Click here to jump there

The concept for "Sky Diety" is discussed in a blog post.
Click here to jump there
 

Cost

The workshop is available only as a donation to non-profit groups: photo clubs, art guilds, social clubs, schools, religious organizations.

Please contact me for details.

Kurt Bonanza Front 2 cropped 170 sq

Facilitator, Kurt Lightfoot

Click HERE for more information about my background and approach to narrative and interpretive digital images.