"...differences in how organisms perceive the world are not arbitrary but rather finely tuned by interactions with their surroundings, biology, and evolutionary history. Every species has access to a different slice of reality - what is real to one may be invisible to another. There's vast world around us that other species can perceive but we humans can't. Our Umwelt is just one among millions."

 

 Christine Webb

  

 

 

 

 

A reflection on abstract photography

I’ve been wondering since a long time why people often call some of their photographs “an abstract image”, while I personally don’t see any abstraction in them? It seems that such images often don’t fit the definition of abstract commonly used in the art world in general. When researching for the latter, one finds that the main attributes associated with abstract art are that it is “not an accurate depiction of visual reality”, that it has “little to do with reality and the “visible world”, that it does not intend to represent things “realistically”. The main expressive tools of abstract art are shapes, forms, lines, colours and gestures, but not the realistic nature of objects. Of course, there is a continuum of variation in the amount of “departure from reality” used in abstract art, going from only slight to complete, but there is always that departure component in it.

When I read about abstraction in photography and its definition, it becomes quickly clear that it is different than the one used in art in general. Abstraction is much less well-defined and has a broader definition in photography. It seems all too often to encompass what, to me, are completely realistic images. The latter most often represent objects or details of an object extracted from their broader context, but still very much anchored in reality. This is not abstraction and such images would certainly not be recognized as “abstract” in the general art world. They very often trigger the “what is it?” question in the viewer, which for me is a clear sign that it must be related to reality. One of the main objectives of abstract art is to stimulate feelings and emotions, and the question that naturally arises with any abstract work of art is not “what is it?” but “how does it feel?” or “what emotions does it trigger?” Why should it be different for abstract photography? There is nothing wrong with realistic photographs. Beyond documentation, they can be expressive and trigger emotions in the viewer as well as abstract photographs, when the tools of visual language are used effectively by the photographer. Maybe it is just that those who call their photographs abstract, when they are not, think that makes them more “artsy”, but those who appreciate art know to use the right vocabulary and call things by their name.

 

 

  

 

 

"Flow is the word that adults give to play to make it sound less frivolous and more legitimate."

David DuChemin

   

 

 

 

 

"We are called upon to do something new, to confront a no man's land, to push into a forest where there are no well-worn paths and from which no one has returned to guide us."

Rollo May

 

Jumping out of the row

 

 "The basic question is, why can't we relax when we have nothing to do

and enjoy a little bit of space in our lives?

The problem is that we are afraid of our own hearts.

We can't afford to open up, because who knows what we might feel."

 

Andy Karr and Michael Wood

  

 

 

"We sometimes mistake a rude life for a rude mind

...

 Lack of conversation for lack of imagination."

Barry Lopez

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

"By September, the day breaks with little help from birds. A song sparrow may give a single half-hearted song, a woodcock may twitter overhead en route to his daytime thicket, a barred owl may terminate the night's argument with one last wavering call, but few other birds have anything to say or sing."

 

 

"There is a peculiar virtue in the music of elusive birds. Songsters that sing from top-most boughs are easily seen and as easily forgotten; they have the mediocrity of the obvious. What one remembers is the invisible hermit thrush pouring silver chords from impenetrable shadows; the soaring crane trumpeting from behind a cloud; the prairie chicken booming from the mist of nowhere; the quail's Ave Maria in the hush down."

 

Aldo Leopold

 

 

 

 

 

What if beauty was juts our name for experiences that push us out of our mental ruts

and burst open our reducing valves of consciousness?

 

Bianca Bosker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is impossible to pay proper attention to your life if you are hurtling along at lightning speed.

 

When yourjob is to see things other people don't,

you have to slow down enough that you can actually look.

 

In an age obsessed with speed, slowing down requires special training.

 

Austin Kleon 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

"Go ahead and tell your filters of expectation to take a hike."

 

"The uncertainty of not knowing what you'll find is part of the thrill."

 

Bianca Bosker

 

 

 

"Subjects" we are, that look at "objects". Quickly we stick labels on all that is, labels that stick once and for all. By these labels we recognize everything but no longer SEE anything. We know the labels on all the bottles, but never taste the wine.

 Frederick Franck