More Imagination Please...

Out of the Blue

If you haven't been to my Facebook page recently, you might wonder why I'm posting satellite images from space...

Where Two Worlds Meet

Cool images right? The roiling frozen ocean in the first one. A distant deserted valley colliding with a body of water in the image directly above. Dry and hilly terrain flanking two distinct roads in the photo below.

Paths Divided

Wow, Christine... when did you have time to fly to the space station? 

Those of you who have been on my Facebook page in the last 24 hours know exactly what you're looking at... the rest of you aren't sure but you're pretty certain that in between my last blog post and today's that I did NOT take up space travel. You can click on each image to see it enhanced. What you see is an abstract study of frost on a window and this photographer got excited about it. When was the last time my imagination soared? How about yours?

Whatever you see in those images right now is why this is so fun and so rewarding by the way. Three minutes ago you were contemplating how to start your day, or how spend your next break at work, or if you really want to fold another basket of laundry, and within the first minute of perusing the blog you suddenly had your imagination engaged... and as imagination is usually apt to do, you were transported with very little coaxing.

I've been asked before about the point of abstract art by folks who "just don't get it". To which I always answer with another question: Well, what's the point of imagination?" The answer I get ranges from 'it let's you explore life unhindered, free of stress, open to magical possibilities' to 'it's what lets the giant box the refrigerator came in turn into the invisible plane you fly as a superhero!'... 

Both answers are correct. And that's Abstract art too. For the viewer, it can be whatever you want it to be. Or you can use your imagination to gage what the artist's intent was... and you might get it right, or you might not care if you do at all... what matters is if it stopped you even for a moment and made you mull the possibilities over, got your imagination going, musing, or transported you elsewhere. And do you walk away slightly altered... ?

And for the creatives, for the artists, abstract is the chance to take what you love about compositions, and the power of shapes, lines, and colours, or the lack thereof, not to mention the medium itself, and infuse it with whatever strikes your fancy. It can romp, it can be expressive, it can be purely aesthetic, a puzzle to be solved,  or it can have important concepts needing to be conveyed. 

Or it can just be some everyday winter frost on a window pane photographed out of context. Personally I say let the 5 year old superhero out, and wreak havoc. Your art will thank you every time.

And all our 5 year old selves chant, "MORE IMAGINATION PLEASE!!!"

Invitation to Imagine ~ Exploration Thursday!

"The Dreamer's Forrest"

I have been waiting to post this image for about a week now, and will be delighted to know what your reaction is. It's been quite sometime since I've been able to stretch my abstract skills while out on a countryside photo jaunt, and I was anxious to process this image most out of my last outing's results.

I know most people find it difficult to interpret how they feel about abstract art or photography. Most see a bunch of shapes or colors or concepts that require some mysterious code to unlock their importance. But really, an abstract piece is simply a photographer's invitation to unleash your imagination for a bit, and allow yourself to step away from the practical. And it's inspired (at least for me) by something very real that caught my eye and seemed magical somehow. And then I simply strive to share my interpretation of that object or scene with all of you. Take a moment and decide what you might be looking at in the image above, before we continue.

What I love about abstract images is that the underlying significance of the whole piece can simply be how light was reflecting off a tree, or how a close-up of a leaf out of context can look like a miniature landscape, or how a piece of rust can look prehistoric in a macro lens. It just begs you to put aside how you label what you see, and look for new possibilities. I find that exciting. For it seems like the imagination is rarely called upon during the daily grind, and  even the imagination can get rusty from lack of use.

The image above (which you know you can click on to enlarge) was the result of noticing the calm water along the shore before the St.Jacobs dam rushed along the river bed... and I began to look for interesting subjects in the shade since the sun was mighty strong that afternoon. I zoomed in on the reflection of a Poplar tree several feet away, rising up through a tangle of brambles and over the water. With my circular polarizer on the zoom, I was able to cut the reflection enough to see the form and color of the tree. I thought it looked like what a scene in a dream would look like if someone could step into it for a moment. You can see the odd ripple, and some blur, and it requires the viewer to determine if it was in the lens or if I processed it to look specifically like a reflection to begin with.

It's just a reflection. I did some minor brightening to allow the dark details to be a bit more visible. That was it.

It's a call to use your imagination folks. Don't make abstracts so complicated you can't enjoy them. It takes creativity to first capture it, and then the viewers ingenuity to really see and absorb.

Thanks for the interpretive ramble! Have a super day gang!