These images are from a couple months ago from a visit to a pond in the woods behind my home. The water was particularly calm this day, a light cool temperature. I became not only enamored with the wider scene in front of me, but the smaller details as well. So I spent a little time exploring what this pond had to offer. It just felt “comfortable.”
It isn’t hard to imagine where some of the impressionist painters got their inspirations from. Although I doubt any of them sat in these woods, the peace and tranquility of such a scene is rather global in nature. I thought this group of images told the story of this view more than a single frame.
The scene is much different now. Much fuller with leaves as summer approaches. It isn’t so peaceful either. One would have to combat raging hordes of mosquitoes and poison ivy that are rampant here this time of year. :-) But I can at least recall one morning of peace through the photographs.
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Fern spore abstract
There is something to be said for abstract photography… you are not confined by your own preconceptions about reality and known subjects. But to the contrary, you leave yourself open to the possibility that someone just may not “get it” as is often stated about abstract art. Heck, I have been known to stare at pieces in museums and say those very same words, and I consider myself fairly open to the idea of abstract and conceptual art. It wouldn’t be there if it didn’t mean something to someone.
I say that’s ok. It may not lead to someone wanting such an image on their wall, but not everyone wants waterfalls, mountains, or animals on their walls either. I have my own images of known subjects on my walls that I am simply tired of looking at. Yet in many abstracts, I see something new each time I study them.
Connection to an image may not be a connection with the literal subject – it may be with the color palette, the shapes, or just the overall design and feel. Your audience may be reduced from general mass appeal, but the connections that do form may be stronger than you could have ever imagined.
When an image you create is something developed from within, and also makes a strong impression on another , even if just only one other person – I say that is a photograph worthy of existence.
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I have finally got back into my growing rock collection and actually revisited an older piece of Arizona Petrified Wood I have. This small slice has some of the most incredible micro landscapes within it as you can see above. . These two images are of the front and back of the slice, and I think they are quite complimentary of each other.
The concept of “Stone Windows” came to mind to me – looking into this small piece of stone and seeing not only something of your imagination, but it is also a window into the past. . Imagine what was going on in the world when this piece of wood was being solidifed!!. . It is actually quite hard to believe this was once wood actually!
I did something with these images I don’t normally do – I used the Auto-Tone Develop preset in Lightroom. . . Of course, normally I like to adjust myself, but once in awhile I will hover over this preset just to see if it is close to what I want. . Raw files are typically a bit flat. . Auto-Tone really did well with these particular images and just made them sing. . I didn’t adjust anything else, except for to decrease the luminance of the red a small bit, it was just too red.
Just to give you an idea of what this small piece of petrified wood looks like..
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While photographing this particular piece of pietersite, I couldn’t help notice a section of it that resembled a waterfall. . It seems to happen that way when we view abstracts. Our minds try to make sense of it by trying to associate what we are seeing with something familiar. . Normally just some interesting patterns are enough to make me want to photograph them. . But in this case, I couldn’t see anything BUT a waterfall. . It actually affected some of the compositions I was making, because I felt the need for the areas that look like water to be flowing downward. . . I even tried to break that perception by slipping the stone around in various ways, but nothing else seemed to ‘look right.’. . . So I succumbed to what my brain was telling me and made the arrangements look like segments of a waterfall.
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