My local camera club is holding a 'Practical Night' soon and we have decided on an 'Abstract' theme. In relation to this I have two questions:

1) There seem to be varying definitions of what is considered abstract in photography. What is the generally accepted definition? and/or what is your personal definition of 'abstract'?

2) We are looking for a variety of ideas to try out on the night that club members can then take further in their own time. We will be using colour print film, with simple inexpensive lighting and props that people may already have at home. Does anyone have examples and ideas that we could use/ gain inspiration from?

Thanks in advance for your responses, Janice.

-- Janice Mackay (jmackay64@hotmail.com), May 25, 2001

Answers

Well, nobody else responded, so I'll give it a go.

Two good examples of "abstract" photographers are Aaron Siskind

http://www.aaronsiskind.org/images.html

and Harry Callahan.

http://www.masters-of- photography.com/C/callahan/callahan_lake_michigan.html

Although Brett Weston is considered a "landscape" photogrpaher,

http://www.brettwestonarchive.com/gallery.html

he's really a devout formalist and is more interested in repeating patterns and BLACK then nature.

So "abstraction" is essentially taking recognizable subject matter and rendering it in a way that calls perspective, point of view, reality, etc. into question. Often it points to the nature of the medium - turning 3-dimensional reality into a two-dimensional image and often monochrome at that.

As far as the second part goes,

a basic exercise is to have everyone go home and make 12 (or 24) exposures on one role of a single subject.

Every exposure must be made of the subject, but only the last exposure can show the subject in total - i.e. if a car then extreme close-ups of tire tread, upholstery patterns, gears, air conditioner condensor, etc. etc. etc. shot in a way the the object is clearly visible, in focus etc. but not recognizable.

Then, whenever you meet, you show the slides or prints one at a time, withholding the image of the complete subject until the end.

-- Sean Yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), May 27, 2001.

Thanks for your answer Sean. I'm looking forward to checking out the URL's you posted. The exercise you suggested sounds like a good one.

I realised after I posted my question, that I was asking for info related to 'colour print film' on a B&W forum - sorry! although I'm sure the principles are much the same for B&W abstracts as colour.

-- Janice Mackay (jmackay64@hotmail.com), May 27, 2001.

You can do alot with Black Light and color film as well as shooting through different pieces of textured glass. Set up a floral tabletop shot and with the textured glass close to the camera lens, see what you will get. Old fashion pain glass from old windows (circular patterns) to using the shower door glass with its heavy texture will do some amazing things... the possibilities are almost endless!

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), June 04, 2001.