Thoughtfactory: abstractions

developing the tradition of photographic abstraction

Posts for Tag: Sony a7R111

Granite abstraction #17

During the Covid-19 lockdown I have been photographing in my local area: mostly exploring and photographing  within a few kilometres from our home in Encounter Bay.   The photography has included  both digital and film. 

The emphasis has been on  the film work--initially  medium  format,  then large format--- so that I am able to  participate in an online exhibition of film photography  hosted by the Friends of Photography Group in Melbourne.This  is  an exhibition of  film photos made during the lockdown.

Abstraction is usually seen as a removal, or a paring away.It is an abstraction from something, or stripping away the context. This is  usually seen as a moving away from figuration and representation, and with Formalist modernism  (Greenberg)  also a moving away from other media (literature and narrative). The modernist desire/drive  is for a purity of  art forms expressed in terms of specificity of pure visuality and painterly form. 

This  repression of literature to achieve purity in the specific medium of painting through erecting a wall or grid (Ie., Rosalind Krauss) between the arts of vision and the arts  of language  collapses with the shift to post-mediums and the intermingling of media.

granite abstraction #14

This abstraction was made on an early morning poodlewalk  with Kayla during the late summer of 2019

I have never been able to find the site since. I do know the rough area in which this granite is located--its just west of Petrel Cove-- but I cannot find the detailed site amongst the different granite formations in the area.   

salt abstract #2

Another in the salt abstract series:

These salt ponds are very ephemeral. They only appear during the hot weather when the heat of the  summer sun dries out the various rocks pools after a  high tide. 

granite abstraction #13

This abstraction of a granite  formation was made just west of  Petrel Cove when I was on a poodlewalk with Kayla in the early morning:

 I was working   nearby on a series of salt abstractions at the time--mid February 2019--and I  saw this rock formation.   

yellow abstract

This was made on an early morning poodlewalk with Kayla whilst we were slowly making  our way to  the Petrel Cove car park: 

The touch of sunlight playing  across the front of the granite caught my eye.  

granite abstraction #10

 This picture was made on an early morning  poodlewalk with Kayla: 

It is an abstraction of granite rocks near Petrel Cove on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula. 

canvas abstraction

This abstraction was made whilst on an early morning   poodlewalk with Kayla around the  township of Victor Harbor: 

It was near  one of the hotels the edge of Warland Reserve. It was a rubbish bag for a big beer barn that sells junk hotel food.  

cacti abstraction

Along Jetty Road in Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor:

Dead leaves of a wild cacti plant growing on the side of the road. The picture was made whilst I was on a poodlewalk in May 2018 with Ari. It was on one of his last walks. 

iron abstract

A building site along Franklin Parade, Encounter Bay:

The picture was made whilst on a poodlewalk with Kayla. 

Granite abstraction #9

Made on a poodlewalk with Kayla inbetween the stormy winter conditions-namely, rain, gusty cold  winds and high tides  

This is an image that could look okay  re-photographed with  5x4  b+w film sheet film. I will have to wait  for  a low tide though.