What to do on a Rainy Day - Rock Abstractions from Akaroa Bay

[David]

Hi All - The title's rhyming couplet is the limit of my poetic prowess, so no more. Recently, there has been a discussion re abstract images, prompted by a humming bird: Hummingbird Abstract. I thought I might follow up on a point in that discussion with the following images.

One wet and windy day on our recent trip to South Island, New Zealand, I was induced to set sail in a tiny catamaran sort of thing into Akaroa Bay on Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch, ostensibly to see Hector's dolphins. However, most of the time was spent trying to keep dry. At one point we did sail close to the rocky walls of the caldera (a blown-up long dead volcano) that form the rim of Akaroa Bay. I took some shots of these cliffs and, as expected given the dismal lighting, they are boring, virtually monochromatic, and might be of interest only to the most avid geologist. However, at the time of shooting, I knew the likely outcome, but said to myself, these may well give some interesting abstractions upon post-processing. The point here is that I had the intent to produce abstracted images, before I even took the shots.



I'm not giving all the details of how these images were made, except to say Photomatix Pro and the Gimp with its various blend modes played a part. However, my intention was to make three images that all had, more or less, the same tonality (dark as it turns out), that exploited small differences in contrast, colour and saturation in the originals, and that might provoke, in me at least, some measure of visual pleasure and intellectual stimulation ("all-the-world-in-a-grain-of-sand" sort of thing). If others find anything to enjoy, so much the better.



As the images are based on natural formations, they cannot be truly abstract, but they are abstracted from the original forms, with intent. Whether or not they have artistic merit is not for me to say, although I suspect that had my name been Annie L.........itz or David B....ly, they would be greeted with acclaim.




Comments and crits are always welcome.

Cheers

David

[Donald]

I find them very visually pleasing. There's such a variation of shape and texture that we can spend a long time either exploring it all avidly or just letting the 'sense' of the images wash over us, or both (at different times). I like them.

[Shadowman]

Very nice images, could be simply expressed as patterns or color contrasts, or formation of a changing world. As abstract art each viewer would interpret the image as something familiar to them. No one person would be wrong in their interpretation, yet a consensus of shared imagery and sensations would rule towards one or the other's viewpoint.

[rick55]

Beautiful images, David. Even if your name isn't Annie.

Cheers,
Rick

[David]

Hi Guys - Thank you for the kind comments. I think Shadowman provides a good concise summary of what abstraction and the abstract in art including photography are all about. How an artist or photographer generates images that can achieve a wide range of interpretation and appreciation, without being representational, is the difficult bit. Artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko managed it, both, however, at substantial personal cost.

Anyway, enough of such reckoning - museli awaits as breakfast is beckoning.

Cheers

David