Lake Superior beach rocks, Vermillion Point, Michigan
The winter thus far has me spending much more time indoors than out. My one time in the field photographing this winter resulted in images that I didn’t quite connect with. So when I am not outside, I find myself wandering somewhat aimlessly through my archives. This is a bit where some of my ADD kicks in. I have so many images I have simply abandoned only to be stumbled upon much later after I have forgotten about them. I find I can only work on a certain group of images for so long before I just have to walk away and do something else. Yet, when I am away too long, I find them pulling me back to explore once again. Ideas for posts here drift in and out before ever gelling into something coherent. It can be a real hinderance to actually getting things done.
This push-pull process creates a bit of creative restlessness for lack of any better words for it. A lot of half finished projects, ideas, and processing hoping to be picked up at a later point in time. But sometimes a photograph catches my eye and captures my attention long enough to work it to completion. Acknowledging it, I suppose, is one step in the direction of attempting to control it and deal with it, if that is even possible.
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From the Drip Period or the Jurassic Period? Abstract rock photo by Mark Graf
I am quite backlogged on my Inspired by Stone project. I have been collecting various pieces of stone over the years such that my office is beginning to resemble a small rock quarry. The problem is, I have been collecting them faster than I have been able to photograph them all.
This is a rather large piece of Cherry Creek jasper. When I say large, I mean about 4 inches by 3 inches or so. The characteristics that attracted me to this piece were that it resembled some abstract expressionism work by painter Jackson Pollock. Pollock became more well known when his abstract paintings were published in Life magazine in 1949. His paintings were created not by brushes, but by dripping paint onto a canvas on the floor. It was declared quite an original approach at the time. The cracks, splotches, and lines in this piece of stone reminded me of those very drips.
I am sure people would contemplate what he saw in his mind, why he created this line vs. that splotch in that spot. I wonder similar things. What was going on in the Earth when this line was formed, or that black spot? What made this red flow next to this yellow?
These drips and splotches were formed well before anyone ever heard of Jackson Pollock, or perhaps even human beings or art. I highly doubt Pollock was inspired by slices of stone, but I find it quite interesting how there can be such a close resemblance. (more…)
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Heart of the Stone
Things have been busy around the “corporate offices” (ahem!) of Graf Photography, with the unfortunate casualty of keeping the blog going. I had to lay off my writing staff to replace them with printing and imaging technicians to keep up with the recent order rush. My accounting department has been busily processing print orders that have been just constant over the past 2 months.
Art sales over the internet is still alive and well. In parallel, my IT department has been scouring the web to find a fitting new blog template as I am growing tired of this one. They submitted some proposals for my review, but the search remains ongoing.
I am thinking of adding some field helpers to the staff. I haven’t been out much since the weather turned cold – freezing in fact. I have to keep an eye on all the activity around here. Some of staff can be quite high maintenance, requiring too much management oversight. But I was thinking about how much more motivated I may be with some helpers lugging gear for me, catering hot beverages and the occasional hot sandwich. I’ll have to hold a few staff meetings on this.
So when the employees have gone home for the night, and things settle down – I get to work on a few images. :-) The recent one in this post I titled “Heart of the stone”.
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Fantasy Tree, inspired by Royal Sahara Jasper
Probably the one thing that has drawn me into making abstract photographs of rocks is pure mesmerization at the details and patterns created by ancient geological activity. I wouldn’t think this is the first thing that comes to mind when people think of the subject of geology.
Who would have thought seemingly benign activities (or to the contrary, grand scale planet forming activities!) could end up in such a way? But as with anything else, it is looking under the surface appearances that reveals incredibly intricate patterns and details. The outside of this stone looks like any brown rock you might kick on the side of the road.
When I think about if I could ever paint (if I could paint!), or anyone for that matter, such a thing from a blank canvas, I gain even more appreciation. There should never be any question why so many artists are inspired by nature.
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Wet beach rocks
I processed this image recently, although I actually made the exposure back in August 2008. I worked with it quite a bit to give it some depth and dimension. I wanted it to look like you could pick one of the rocks up off the page and put it in your pocket. It represents nature’s continuously changing patterns, continuously changing harmony, and continuously changing chaos.
We naturally want to find harmony in any visual stimuli. Harmony leads to less tension, and less visual stress so to speak. If it is something we find comfort in, we gravitate naturally towards it. So what is it about a pile of rocks that so many people can find something of interest in?
Shorelines with beach rocks are nature’s continuous random pattern generator. Two people can stare at the same pile of rocks, and the characteristics that stand out to one are likely to be completely different from the other. There is something there that appeals to both. That visual absorption and preference is an accumulation of all of our personal likes, dislikes and experiences. Come back minutes later, and there are new discoveries to be found. It is no wonder people can spend hours walking up and down rocky beaches just staring at the ground.
Nature has a way of creating something for everyone. Photography for me is one way to not let those gifts go unnoticed.
This photograph was created using a Nikon D2X and Nikon 24-85 f2.8-4.0 lens, on a Lake Superior shoreline in the Little Traverse Conservancy property in Michigan. Post processing using Adobe Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS3 using Topaz Adjust, Layer blend modes, and luminosity masking on a Mac Pro. More beach rock pictures in my gallery.
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