Putting up borders

Abstract visual art often throws a lot of people.  Many say things like “I don’t get it”.  But if given a choice between two abstract pieces of art with the direction to ‘pick the one that has more appeal for you’, many will see one as more appealing than another.  They may not be able to articulate why but they will probably find one more appealing. Our deconstruction of visuals (seeing) is something that has roots in our long evolution as humans, and something that can still be honed.  Photography itself is an act of abstraction.

Repeating geometries and lines can infuse an inanimate space with rhythm and energy.  Architects know this and leverage it in their work.  Photographers can leverage it by leaning on the existing repetition in such a way that the viewer perceives that rhythm (isolation of an aspect of the space, for example).  Another technique to examine along these lines (pun intended) is to look at reflections.  A reflection is an immediate duplication of things and the start of a rhythm.  

The repeating rectangles that become smaller and smaller as your eye is drawn to the doors imbue the building with movement and rhythm.  The parking lot lines mirroring the roof lines and those in the building’s facade, as well as the building itself reflected in the wet pavement, add to the apparent rhythm the architect designed into the work.  Shooting at night eliminates many of the distractions that would be present and allows the viewer to concentrate on those things that are part of establishing rhythm and energy.   Presenting the imagery in monochrome extends those graphic qualities or geometries on the viewer.

We may say we don’t ‘get’ or ‘like’ abstract visuals but as photographers we are constantly practicing the art of abstraction.  Of an infinite number of views, the act of putting borders around something (abstraction) says ‘look at this part’.  The fully abstract act is when the objects within the borders are no longer identifiable as objects in the real world; they become simple geometries. 

AM