Syndicated with Permission of Kah Kit Yoong, Copyright © 2010, All Rights Reserved
The concept of abstract photography is not easy to define. What one person considers an abstract may not fit another person’s idea of the genre. Therefore to some extent, it is a subjective term. In nature photography, these images often possess similar characteristics to those I described in a previous blog article about intimate landscapes. In fact, I would consider abstracts to be a subset of intimate landscapes. They usually employ similar focal lengths, mostly ranging from mid to telephoto focal lengths and the subject may be on a minute or vast scale.
So what makes a photo an abstract? I would regard it as an image which presents a subject in a non-literal way. Rather than focus on the subject as a whole, it concentrates on the shapes, lines, colours, patterns and other features that makes up its physical characteristics. Often this process of deconstruction reduces the subject to the point that it becomes unrecognizable. Just as defining an abstract is elusive, being able to interpret landscapes and other locations in this way is difficult. They remain, at least for me, one of the less accessible types of composition around.
The Painted Wave
“The Painted Wave” depicts a receding wave reflecting the dawn sky. A slow shutter speed has transformed the water into streaks, much like brush strokes. The viewer cannot be entirely clear what he or she is looking at, even though the effect was achieved purely in-camera and in a single exposure.
West Coast, New Zealand
Canon 5DMkII, 24-105mm 4L, ISO 100, f16, 1.6s, warming polarizer, tripod.
Dune Abstract
“Dune Abstract” is an aerial view over the largest sand dunes in the world – those located in the Namib desert. The photo is based around the ridge of a single dune which forms the backbone of the composition. If you look closely you can make out a few bushes which give the clue to the scale of the landscape.
Namib-Naukluft NP, Namibia
Canon 5DMkII, 70-200mm 2.8L
Stair Abstract
“Stair Abstract” is a section of a staircase I came across in a museum in Havana. By only revealing a small part of the entire structure, I emphasized the geometric elegance of the architecture. The simple but complementary colour scheme kept the scene minimalist in style.
Havana, Cuba
Canon 5DMkII, 24-105mm 4L
Venetian Jigsaw
“Venetian Jigsaw” is a more complicated travel abstract photo. This is one where that might be some debate as to whether it is an abstract or not. The photo represents a small part of a much larger scene where dozens of gondolas are ‘parked’ in a canal. Notice that none of the objects in the photo show the whole subject but there is a theme of repeated triangles which is the basis of the abstract nature of this composition.
Venice, Italy
Canon 1DsMkIII, 24-105mm 4L, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/250
