Abstract Photography (Part 3)

If you have not been a frequent vistior to this blog, you might want to scroll down and start with third entry.

To continue with my current theme of abstract photography, I have been creating a number of images on my computer through various means. This activity has led me to consider, in a wider perspective, what actually constitutes abstract photograph. Photography could be defined as the process of producing an image upon a surface through the actions of light. In artistic terms, abstract could be defined as nonrepresentational, without reference to any object or thing. Abstract Photography then would be the process of producing a nonrepresentational image, without reference to any object or thing, upon a surface. Well, we have to start somewhere.

Abstract photography could be created in a number of ways. Not all abstract photography need be created with a camera, but much of it could be. I will name a few that come to mind. The first method that comes to my mind is what I have most often done and that is to photograph objects in unfamiliar ways—from an odd perspective, up close, or at strange angles. The abstract photograph could be of unusual occurrences such as oil or gas floating on water, a strange cloud formation, or reflections on a shiny surface. Another way would be to distort the object through camera manipulations such as moving the camera while taking the picture, throwing the image out of focus, or multiple exposures. Of course, another way would be to manipulate the images in the darkroom, or on the computer.

The abstract images I have displayed on this blog in my last two entries are images I created with the camera. This entry will be my first with images manipulated with the computer.

OK, that's where I am so far. I will continue my study of abstract photography.