Abstract Forest

Today I was out in the snow looking for some interesting trees or images from the snowy forest. I shot the following with the idea to isolate single interesting trees out of the plethora of trees.
But I ended with another idea: to give the trees in the wood a ghostlike appearance.
So beware: this image was heavily processed and is not at all like "reality" - which defines it as "abstract"!?



Should be viewed in larger size. Of click through the image you have access to the original 7360 pixel wide shot.

Back to orange

The thing with rusty metal is that it creates beautiful orange colors. So I revisited one of my favorite installations at the old King Ludwig Canal near Nuremberg. The autumn sun was shining bright and brought out all the lovely shades of orange on this sculpture. My goal was to render it as "flat" as possible to take the three-dimensionality away. So I went for 200mm focal length at f11 - and if I had a tripod with me I would have even gone to f16 or f22 to eliminate any hint of dof.
I just wanted color and some simple geometry combined with an interesting texture.

Rhythm in black and white

These are some of the ugliest places in a wood that I know of: a coniferous forest where spruces were planted much too tight and have grown over the years to form a dull and uniform looking thicket.
But nonetheless there are photographic opportunities to be had and one of those image I shot today shows the rhythmic aspect of such a wood.



Just click through the image to get "the bigger picture" ;-)

Abstract trees - again!

Well, you already know that trees are one of my favorite subjects for photography - simply choose "Use keyword search!" on the right and click on "trees"!*
But today is not about the tree in photography but in paintings. Visiting the new Pinakothek this weekend I came across two fascinating examples of trees: One by Max Ernst:



Of which I only show a small crop here to give you an impression of how the artist "did it". Fascinating, isn't it?
The other is by Vincent van Gogh, also only a small crop that shows the brush strokes and makes the trees look more abstract than from a normal viewing distance:

 

Click through the images to access the large original crops.

I don't know yet, what I will take away for my photography of trees and landscapes, but I find it always interesting to see how abstractification works in different media.
---
*You could also simply click on the tag "Tress" below this post :)

Abstract Staircase?

Well, staircases are easily identifiable, so to do an "abstract staircase" in photography people normally choose special vantage points: with spiral staircases e.g. centered from below/bottom or from above to emphasize the geometry. Or show a section of the stairs from a perspective that dissolves the steps into a pattern of lines that belie their origin. When shooting the staircase in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich today I was simply fascinated by the view of the stairs overhead and chose a vantage point where you could see the handrails and a platform but no stairs at the bottom. That produced the impression of a disjointed staircase further emphasized by the contrast between the white stairs above and the dark colors of the handrail and the platform below - and the absence of people which normally give you orientation and a feeling for the size of things. You can easily increase the "strangeness" of this image by turning it 90 degrees counterclockwise which makes the whole thing look like a tunnel with a white floor and overhead lighting. Only that the railing at the floor and the ceiling look strange... Anyway: I have to admit that this staircase is not really very abstract. But a good architect and a strong geometry always makes for interesting perspectives and subjects to shoot!

Abstract Nature

Today was one of those typical misty autumn days. I went out with the agenda of capturing "fading colors". Went home not satisfied with the "catch of the day" - but I needed to look closer and change my angle of view a bit. Found this in one of my shots and did some subtle post-processing to enhance the features of the shot. I also decided to frame it square, not only because on G+ today is #squaresunday (curated by +Tom Golson and +Ken McMahon) but because I love the neutrality of the format: it's neither "landscape" nor "portrait" so is gives little indication as to what subject you're looking at. This came in handy when I created today's abstract in yellow. You cannot immediately judge whether you're looking at a tall object or a wide one - which adds to the abstracness of the image. So here it is. And I hope you like it, the colors, the textures...

Abstract paintings and geometry

When visiting the day of the open studio "auf AEG" in Nuremberg I came across Gerhard Kij's studio with lots of very interesting abstracts like the following one:



It's rich with many details that make you want to wander through the image taking it all in, but it is not too wild regarding colors and it has an inherent geometric structure that makes you think of something derived from real-world architecture. The interesting thing was that next to this image hung a painting that was clearly "based" on some realistic tunnel or similar building. So somehow this image spoke to me as a photographer as it had some likeness to scenes I'd love to shoot.

Could or would I make a photo like Gerhad Kij's image? Certainly not! But it is interesting to see abstract paintings borrowing from real-world geometry. Which in turn means that us photographers should not let us keep from achieving abstraction only because our forms mostly come from well-known real-world subjects.

Visit the artist's website at www.gerhard-kij.de