Abstract
Photographs are generally considered to represent what we see, as though capturing some fundamental truth about how the world actually looks - or at least, how it looked at the time the picture was taken. They differ from paintings, or other creative artforms, in the sense that they appear to reflect reality.
Yet this needn’t be the case. Appearances, after all, can be deceptive. Indeed, in purely artistic terms, such a literal worldview can be stifling. It’s strange how often art and artifice seem to go together.
A more creative approach is to frame an image which poses questions, or reflects not what the photographer sees, but how the scene makes them feel. Perhaps to bottle the spirit of a place, or to capture the essence of our chosen subject (whatever these elusive concepts may actually mean).
And however this is done - by finding an unusual angle, say, or by employing crafty techniques such as Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) - unexpected quirks can often result. Maybe these quirks will open up whole new realms of understanding… or maybe they’ll simply remind us to replace the pattern on our 1970s psychedelic wallpaper.
Such is the power of the abstract! :-)
Swimming Trunks (Culm Valley, Devon)
Bridge Over Muddled Water (Culm Valley, Devon)
Sunflower Pies (Culm Valley, Devon)
The Sunflower (Cornish Sunset)
The Face of the Waters
(Troll Beneath the ‘Bridge Over Muddled Water’, Culm Valley)
Psychedelic Spring
(An Easter Abstract, Culm Valley)
Easter Zoom
(A Sunday Morning Trip, Culm Valley)
End of the Tunnel
(Back o’ the Beach - Killantringan Bay, Rhins of Galloway)
Extra Texture
(River Exe Rapids, Devon/Somerset)
Watercolour Sky
(An Exe Valley Abstract)
The Tractor Beam
(Split Tree, Darkest Devon)
Texture Like Sun
(Smiddy Brae Burn - Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran)
(A Secret Garden, Somewhere in Devon)
(Kingscross Point, Arran)
(Old Shiel Bridge, Moidart)
(Old Shiel Bridge, Moidart)
(Three Apostles, Devon)
(St. Anthony Head, Cornwall)
(Tintagel, Cornwall)
(Gothic Cornwall)
The Power of Post-Processing
Fluttering By
(Drumadoon Butterfly, Arran)
In considering the creation of abstracts, I’m generally talking about quirky compositions and/or in-camera experiments such as ICM (in which the camera is deliberately moved while the shutter is open).
Psychedelic Shags
(Drumadoon Point, Arran)
However, it’s also possible to simply go a little crazy with the post-processing, aiming for a kind of Pop Art psychedelic effect. If we’re lucky, we can perhaps be transported into a hallucinatory dream-state! :-0
“Out of Me Tree…”
(Trippy Arran Hillside, Lamlash)
I won’t dwell too much on the magic of psychedelia, as I’m clearly no Andy Warhol (and definitely have no mind-altering substances to hand!). But as an appetiser, the brief selection below (following on from Merlin’s Cave and the Arran trio above) gives just a flavour of what can be done.
(For these I’ve used a tool called Picasa, which was my editing software of choice before switching to the more readily-supported Lightroom…)
(Sgurr nan Gillean, Black Cuillin)
(North Berwick, East Lothian)
(Exe Valley, Devon)
(St. Ives, Cornwall)
(Bass Rock, East Lothian)
(St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall)
Abstract ‘Thoughts and Shorts’
While the above mini-gallery frequently features experiments with either in-camera shenanigans or psychedelic post-processing, I’ll wrap up with a pocket-sized assortment of ‘shorts’. By which I mean, more conventional images whose themes nonetheless convey a degree of abstraction.
Or do they?
I don’t know - I suppose it depends how you define abstract. And given its nebulous reputation, it’s only fitting that this concept (like the occasional snatched picture) becomes a little blurry around the edges! ;-)
Sea of Holes
(Corrie Sandstone, Arran)
“The Scream”
(Arran Driftwood)
(Kildonan Low Tide, Arran)
(Kildonan Low Tide, Arran)
(Eas Mòr Wood, Arran)
(Loch Shiel, Western Highlands)
(Loch Sunart from Ben Hiant, Ardnamurchan)
(Bass Rock, East Lothian)
Postscript: Accidental Art and Inadvertent Abstracts
If photography is an artform, it’s surely about more than the laborious choreography of planning, composing, shooting, post-processing…? Maybe randomness should also play a part? What you might call a healthy dose of serendipity?
This idea led to a curious (non-)project, prompted by my tenuous grasp of modern technology (if not modern art). During 2024 I inherited a second-hand smartphone, in a battered old purple cover, and definitely didn’t know how to use it. Upon picking it up, I’d often find myself facing a strange setting, as if I’d handled the phone awkwardly and inadvertently activated something. And then one day, I realised that I had activated something. I’d accidentally taken a photo.
For the modern-day photographer in a hurry, what could be better? Here was fate doing it for me. All I had to do was wait for my mobile to misfire, download the inadvertent abstracts, and package it up as accidental art.
Well… it’s certainly accidental, but I’ll let the viewer decide whether it’s art. Are these images a serendipitous reflection of modern life? Or just a load of old Jackson Pollocks? :-0
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AA-IMAG-1057
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