Abstract Thinking...

Or is it thinking in abstract???

A number of years ago now, 2021 to be exact, I took a workshop "Creative Exploration: Pushing your Photographic Boundaries and Lightroom" led by Julia Cumes at Miami University (Ohio). It was part of Miami U's "CraftSummer Program", which I believe has been discontinued ("on pause" they say - unfortunate). Outside of the Tremont Institute Photography Workshops, any other workshop I attend, I pay particular attention to the leader(s)/instructor(s) as I prefer to have photographers with styles and/or interests different than my own. I learn more from them. In this particular case, Julia brings a totally different eye to travel photography than I do. The condensed college class approach with daily assignments (vice weekly) was also unique to prior workshops I'd taken.

Anyway, every workshop I attend has something that sticks and alters or has an impact on my photography in one way or another. In Julia's case, the assignment on "Abstract" really stuck with me. I always shot "details", many to the point that they were a bit abstract. But the assignment and presentation she gave really stuck with me. I was thinking of her workshop when I revisted the first photo below for a rework and then again when I took the four following photos with my iPhone on a walk this weekend.

Into the Void

Abstract #1

Abrstact #2

Abstract #3 - Rivers and Canyons

Abstract #4 - The Tree

"Thinking" in Black and White

One thing that's changed for me in the digital age is...I'm not stuck with the film that's loaded in the camera. That means it's more difficult to "think" in black and white. But, not only do I not have black and white film loaded, I haven't chosen a filter (Red, Yellow. whatever) nor do I need to decide the film development/processing when I get in the lab.

All that (and more) can be done these days in the software processing. I still occassionally "think" in black and white, but more often, I bring a photo up on my computer and I say to myself "Hey, that will look good as black and white." Of course then I have to chose the filter, the development, the equivalent of the paper...and so on. It quickly becomes a paradox of choice.

Lately I've been going through some old photos and I've immediately thought..."that's black and white." I still had to chose the software equivalent of filters, processing, paper etc, but I was at least starting out with a vision. Here are some of these photos.

The Tree

City on the Sea

Flashing His Colors

The "Best" Camera - "Sad" & "Old and Tired Sad"

During my wanderings in October, a couple times I found myself just walking around the town while my friend got some work done. I didn't carry my "real" camera w/backpack and lenses on those walks, but I did see things I'd like to photograph. In those situations, I pulled out my "best" camera, the one I had with me, my old iPhone, Here is one such photo as color and then black & white.


"Sad"- Frostburg, MD

"Old and Tired, Sad"- Frostburg, MD

Decisions...

How do you decide? Usually I know. I take the photo knowing. Other times I'm not so sure. And then, sometimes I "know" just to see the shot on the computer screen in Lightromm find out I was wrong.

Is the decision black and white? (figuratively or literally?)


Roses - Color

Rosese - Black & White

Reflections and Shadows

A reflection off of a neighbor's window of the rising morning sun casts a shadow on our wall


Reflections and Shadows

Out & About With the Camera

A half-dozen photos from today.
I was working on the New Year resolutions with regards to photography.
- Got out, away from the house for a bit to the (Cincinnati Nature Center)
- Took, and more importantly USED! a tripod, and only forgot to turn off the IS for one set of shots
- Used a different lens for at least some of the shots, my Lensbaby "Composer" I originally received for Christmas 2010


Winter Reflections on Fall

Fall Fades to Winter

Lensbaby Reflections

Lensbaby Reflections

Tunnel of Time

Sycamore Tree

Stucture in Black and White

And more and more as I revisit older photos, I find myself wandering back to black and white.



Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha NE

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha NE

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha NE

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha NE

Fog in Black and White

I've been thinking of photographs in groups lately; paths, photos out plane windows, etc. Being able to go back and find photos I know I've taken over the past 15+ yrs is making me realize how important it is to consistently keyword everything. I'm wishing I did it better in the past, but it's a note I'll make for myself and add to my photography New Year resolutions.



The Golden Gate

Foothills Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Riverside Park, Milford Ohio

In Black and White

Took this one at Valley View just this morning.

Water - Valley View, Milford, Ohio

Out and About - Valley View

Walked a bit around Valley View a couple days ago. Checked out their garden plots and a little bit of the trails.

Thistle in Black and White - Valley View, Milford, Ohio

Thistle in Color - Valley View, Milford, Ohio Because I can't decide

More Thistle - Valley View, Milford, Ohio Really I guess, brown and white ???

River Reflection - Valley View, Milford, Ohio

London Eye

It was a bit of a rainy, cloudy day, but we went into London anyway. We're running out of time to be to picky about weather and we wanted to visit Westminster Abby before the spring crowds arrive. This meant we also missed crowds for the London Eye and Churchill's War Room. Here are some photos of "the eye".

Looking Up - London, England

In the Capsule Looking Up - London, England

Rain on the Eye - London, England

Near the Top - London, England

A Couple

Here are a couple photos from walking along the Oxford Canal near Somerton. I walked there a short bit after work one afternoon last week. I did not see another person.

Somerton Cottage, Bridge 194 - Oxford Canal, Somerton, England

Reed Bunting - Oxford Canal, Somerton, England

Playing With Light

A couple of plays in light I saw on my walk

Color On Ice - Oxford Canal

Bridge, A Vortex in Shadows - Oxford Canal

In Black and White

A couple of shots from my roaming around the canal and Port Meadow the other day. The contrast led me to think of black and white.

Duck Takes a Splash - Trap Grounds Pond, Oxford Canal, England

Tree Bark - Port Meadow, Oxford, England

Canal Birds

Birds in England chirp a lot...but I generally don't see them, I hear them. Here are a few I saw yesterday, they weren't chirping.

The Swan Family - Oxford Canal, England

Kingfisher - Oxford Canal, England

Swan Yoga, "The Duck" - Oxford Canal, England

But Ohio May Have Been Just As Cold

as Greenland. I liked watching the icicles form....as long as I was warm inside. I messed around trying to catch drops falling off, sunset in the background etc. Here are the two I ended up liking the best.

Out the Window - Icicles At My Parents' House

Abstract Sunset

New Stuff to Learn

A new camera (a Canon EOS 6D), Lightroom (cheapest alternative to getting processing capability for raw files) and then the actual GPS (integrated into the 6D) usage, will all keep me busy for a while.

So far the camera part seems pretty easy. The 6D is similar enough to my 5D (first generation). The on/off switch is in a different place and due to the auto sensor cleaning, the camera starts up from totally being "off" a bit slower. The menus are laid out slightly differently but are still easy to navigate, especially compared to the average compact point and shoot. The 6D focuses noticeably faster on the center point though and the quiet mode of the shutter is appreciated and is already my default setting. The GPS is not as good at obtaining/retaining lock as I would have hoped, but I'm sure it will work fine for most of what I'm interested in. I also think the GPS contributes to the very limited battery life (compared to my 5D). I've yet to mess with the video (or live-view option) and I haven't (and I doubt I ever will) use the WIFI. As a data point, I don't believe I ever once have used the Eye Control Focus on my EOS 3.

Lightroom is very different from Photoshop CS version whatever. It is a totally different thought process and it really serves a different function. I just wanted a reasonably priced raw converter. Photoshop is just far too expensive. CS6, the current version, doesn't do anything that I care enough about that my CS4 doesn't do, and it's not available for Linux, which is where I'm eventually headed. So far I've figured out how to do adjustments such as curves etc. and spit the result out as a jpg. I'm either going to need a book or have to take a class to get beyond that and to get the benefits of the program. I'm pretty sure that I don't think or see the world the way Lightroom does so the organization advantages that it probably shines at for photography are lost on me. I generally don't like organization, putting things in boxes feels like it limits the possibilities and certainly tends to keep me thinking in boxes. As I told someone at work once, "If I don't put things in boxes, it is much easier to think outside the box".

The GPS. I'm sure (at least I sure hope so) that there are all kinds of cool things that can be done with the GPS function. I've not even scratched the surface due to lack of time. I do know how to turn it on/off, set up logging. Just tonight, I put the photos below in the Canon supplied Map Utility. Eventually I'd like to do a little map or Google Earth type thing of walks or hikes I do with my camera so that you can click on points along the way and see the photo from that point. It probably isn't hard, I just need to learn how to put it all together.

In the meantime, below is a screen capture of the Map Utility with the photos locations marked, and then three of the photos themselves from my walk around Patuxent Research Refuge a couple days ago.


Map Utility Screen Capture

Buds of Spring

Dry Grass in Black and White

Cyclops