Getting something useful from "Mumbo Jumbo"

[frotog]

And your position is that overarching and grandiose generalizations that say nothing are thought provoking?

[Bill Burk]

A thought occurred to me. While the concept in question is rather simple, I feel the way the thought unfolded gave me a new perspective on my perception of past, present and future.

While contemplating the Rim Fire and its aftermath, I got the feeling that next year there will be flies. Lots of those little pesky black flies that don't hurt anything but they get in your eyes and mouth and hover all around. Low foothill mountains in California tend to have these and they are just annoying. They don't even necessarily go for food or garbage. I think there will be flies all around the vicinity of the fire.

What gave me that idea? Summer 2009 in a canyon near Big Sur I was swarmed by these little pests. When I asked the naturalists about it they explained that the wasps' nests had all burned in the fire, leaving the flies free to multiply without their natural predators.

It makes sense to keep an eye out for them next year in the canyons around Twain Harte.

Thirty or so years ago I spent a week alone at my family cabin in Holy Jim Canyon in Southern California. I was driven to near madness by these same little flies. I had no "Mumbo Jumbo" to account for them. I just thought they came with the territory.

But then there was the Indian Canyon fire of 1980... And looking back, I believe now that the fires could have caused that explosion in their population.

The point I think can be drawn from this little story - You can legitimately figure out what was going on in your mind many years ago and explain it using knowledge you have today.

[Bill Burk]

And your position is that overarching and grandiose generalizations that say nothing are thought provoking?

They have to have a ring of truth to them. I have to deal with the fact that I possess a primarily "western" mindset, yet I enjoy thoughts that come from the cosmos.

[MDR]

I can't help it but sometimes AA comes across as a bit of an intolerant A..hole, Photography needs both mumbo jumbo and technical prowness but the first sounds better and actually helps to engage the mind the latter is simple facts no thinking required. And one shouldn't forget that Photography is more a child of alchemy than modern chemistry what would photography be without it's mysticism, probably very boring. We photographers capture light we do not reproduce an object we reproduce the light reflected by an object there's some magic in that at least for me. Also Artists need to eat and BS sells better than technical informations.

[Kirk Gittings]

I had long talks with AA a few times about articles I was writing in the mid 80s and found him everything but an intolerant Ahole. Did he have strong opinions-you bet. Few successful artists I have met though do not demonstrate at least one obvious character flaw that oftentimes gets chalked up to eccentricity. I wonder sometimes which came first the flaw or the great art whether or whether success just breeds arrogance. AA to me was the most even keeled, sharing and gracious of men in my limited experience with him but maybe my experience was unusual.

[MDR]

Extremely opinionated sounds better than intolerant and since I've never met him I can only form an opinion on some things he said about other photographers that had the bad luck not to share his opinion or to prefer another form of photography. That doesn't mean that he really was an Ahole though.

[paulr]

From everything I've heard, AA was exceptionally kind, unless your name was Mortensen.

[Merg Ross]

From everything I've heard, AA was exceptionally kind, unless your name was Mortensen.

or James G. Watt.

[DennisD]

I had long talks with AA a few times about articles I was writing in the mid 80s

Hi Kirk,
Since AA wasn't well in the months before his death in April 84, I'm guessing you spoke with AA in the "early 80's" .

However, if you were conversing with him as you said, you are an even more remarkable man and photographer than those on the forum already know you to be...

In case it really was the "mid 80's", please let me know - as there are several people I'd ask you to contact on my behalf and send along a few choice words !

Kirk, this response is really to say your comments about Ansel Adams are very true.

Ansel Adams may have had a strong personality and opinions, but he was also a very generous and kind individual. True, he did not subscribe to a lot of the "mumbo jumbo".

I had the opportunity to visit AA in Carmel on several occasions. When planning a trip to California in 1974, I wrote to ask if he would be willing to look at my portfolio of work. He did not know me from Adam. He responded by postcard while on a trip to New Mexico with a very welcoming "yes" and a suggestion of dates. When I did visit, he had plenty of comments and offered many suggestions and much encouragement. What more could a young man of 25 ask for ?

Ansel was known to welcome beginners and share his wealth of knowledge quite generously... And as I recall, without a lot of pomp or ego - or "mumbo-jumbo". That's who he was.

That being said, I also have respect for those photographers who have their own way of "thinking" or "speaking" their images. The proof is in the final work (not the words) and the level of acceptance in respected circles.

[Kirk Gittings]

You are right of course. Looking back it was just after I got out of graduate school so like the second half of 82?