Alleged abstract photos are tiresome......wrong medium, too easy.

[faberryman]

not me

I haven't done any peppers (or other vegetables) either. I've done some flower portraits. A lot of photographers have. Doesn't mean I can't bring my own vision of them forward. Most everything has been done before. That fact isn't disqualifying. I enjoyed doing them and like what I did. Other's may not think much of them. That's okay.

 

[removed account4]

I haven't done any peppers (or other vegetables) either. I've done some flower portraits. A lot of photographers have. Doesn't mean I can't bring my own vision of them forward. Most everything has been done before. That fact isn't disqualifying. I enjoyed doing them and like what I did. Other's may not think much of them. That's okay.

but i think there is a difference between what you just said and what the OP said ( i think ? )
he said taking photographs of peppers a thinking of weston, when you were photographing the flowers were
you consciously thinking of someone else who had photographed them before and purposefully photographed them the exact same way ?
i guess that is what i am getting at when i said i don't see the point in copying .. its like searching for someone else's tripod holes ..
maybe to say you did it ? otherwise i don't really see the point ( unless it is a self teaching exercise type thing )

 

[Vaughn]

pigeon holes ! ... kittens and sunsets !
but vaughn isn't 99% of photography, or things that pass as "art photography" beauty shots if not of the landscape, people or things ?
that is the intent of the photographer to take these photographs and i am exchanging pretty for beauty cause its like a cute puppy or kitten

I used 'pretty' on purpose -- to differentuate it from the exploration of beauty. It is one of the things that seperate the artists from those who do not consider themselves to be artists.

 

[removed account4]

the exploration of beauty

i think you just said the 64thousand dollar answer !
its is the difference between just saying you like something and saying why you like something
the whole exploration-thing. i keep forgetting about how we are all spelunking one way or another
and its as much of an inward cave as it is an outward cave.. thanks for reminding me !

 

[jtk]

Not sure I'd agree that beauty defines art...unless we accept space cadet "nothing really matters" notions of art.

 

[jtk]

I haven't done any peppers (or other vegetables) either. I've done some flower portraits. A lot of photographers have. Doesn't mean I can't bring my own vision of them forward. Most everything has been done before. That fact isn't disqualifying. I enjoyed doing them and like what I did. Other's may not think much of them. That's okay.

That's entirely great ...and "qualifying" is entirely personal. If I had claimed my 1970s pseudo-Weston's were my art, just because they were beautiful it would have been good and proper for friends to have ridiculed me

 

[Vaughn]

Not sure I'd agree that beauty defines art...unless we accept space cadet "nothing really matters" notions of art.

It is the exploration of beauty that is art -- not beauty itself.

 

[Bill Burk]

Your "mimic" vs "create" point is interesting and seems fundamental. How many of us have, like me, photographed bell peppers with Weston in mind?

I’ve photographed my daughter, taking the idea like Steichen photographed Therese and Isadora Duncan...

I’ll have to print to see if the idea worked.

But I make no pretense. I know it was his (their) idea and I don’t intend mine to be fine art. Just good fun.

Paul Caponigro’ Apple which looks like a galaxy is another great abstract.

I think good abstracts rise above decor when the thing you think about is amazing when you see it. As opposed to when you see something and say “that’s nice.”

 

[removed account4]

Not sure I'd agree that beauty defines art...unless we accept space cadet "nothing really matters" notions of art.

LOL
but nothing does matter until it does
you obviously haven't seen Emery Blagdon's healing room
...

 

[Bill Burk]

I used 'pretty' on purpose -- to differentuate it from the exploration of beauty. It is one of the things that seperate the artists from those who do not consider themselves to be artists.

Well ‘pretty’ might be what one person sees in a redwood grove but I am reminded that our lives are short, and I feel all the urgency to enjoy it while we have it.

 

[wyofilm]

"Abstract" has come to mean "accidental results, limited intentions" too commonly.

What do you think?

Do you have an example or two to provide?

 

[Bill Burk]

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/108191

http://www.photographydealers.com/artists/paul-caponigro/

Here are a couple I had in mind.

 

[removed account4]

Do you have an example or two to provide?

+1

Here are a couple I had in mind.

bill, you are finding these tiresome ?
i don't even find them to be abstract ...

 

[jtk]

Thank you to the many adults who have avoided shallow argument, attacks, and "opinions", making interesting cases for their individual differing perspectives.

 

[jtk]

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/108191

http://www.photographydealers.com/artists/paul-caponigro/

Here are a couple I had in mind.

Bill's two examples are direct, literal renditions of reality that we can recognize without photography. I don't think they're "abstracts", but that becomes a matter of semantics.

They're fully photographic, not mere light sensitive materials and lenses. And they're not merely pretty.

 

[removed account4]

Thank you to the many adults who have avoided shallow argument, attacks, and "opinions", making interesting cases for their individual differing perspectives.

its kind of funny since your whole thread has been a veiled attack on what some people do LOL
together with shallow arguments ( that make absolutely no sense most of the time ) and personal opinions &c ...

I think your thesis is tiresome and easy, in the same camp as the worn out "my kid could have painted that" insults.

couldn't agree more with both statements .. its typical of people who can't do things to make insulting comments
directed towards people who can do things .. nothing new from the OP SSDD

exactly !

They're fully photographic, not mere light sensitive materials and lenses.

light senstive material and lenses are as photographic as photography can get.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I'm not sure the entire category of "abstract photos" can be described up with one statement.

exactly!

 

[faberryman]

Bill's two examples are direct, literal renditions of reality that we can recognize without photography. I don't think they're "abstracts", but that becomes a matter of semantics.

Well, I guess I was right after all. And with respect to Minor White, he usually talked in terms of equivalents rather than abstracts anyway, focusing on what an image conveyed rather than trying to simply describe it. I am pretty sure that he felt that if the only thing you could say about an image was that is was an [insert genre here], the image was either unsuccessful, or you hadn't given it much thought or were inarticulate. Of course, you got extra points if you could somehow relate it to Zen Buddhism.

 

[jtk]

Glad you feel "right".

Also, it may be helpful to know that Minor White was a Roman Catholic who practiced Zen and explored Gurdjieff (which are not necessarily conflicts) to whatever degree.

 

[Vaughn]

Well ‘pretty’ might be what one person sees in a redwood grove but I am reminded that our lives are short, and I feel all the urgency to enjoy it while we have it.

Exactly -- and if one can put that sense of age (both the long and the short) into the image of the redwoods, then IMO, one has created beauty rather than something that is just pretty...and nice.

jtk -- I agree with John, you set the tone for the thread.

 

[Arthurwg]

JTK, I'm with you on this one.. Someone once said that "every photograph should have a referent" , and I agree. Abstract? Try water colors, oils or acrylic. At any rate, William de Kooning and hundreds of others have done it already, and better.

 

[Vaughn]

JTK, I'm with you on this one.. Someone once said that "every photograph should have a referent" , and I agree. Abstract? Try water colors, oils or acrylic. At any rate, William de Kooning and hundreds of others have done it already, and better.

Perhaps abstract is also the natural realm of photography-based digital art.

For myself (and I believe, many artists), being an artist is not a competition to be first in creating something, nor to be better than everyone else.

 

[warden]

Thank you to the many adults who have avoided shallow argument, attacks, and "opinions", making interesting cases for their individual differing perspectives.

You're welcome.

I think you just want to argue with people, and posting your "tiresome.....wrong medium, too easy" thesis on a sub forum called "Abstract" where people share their abstract photography is a good place to start the arguing and divide people.

Some of us think it's rude, and your abrasive behavior in this thread including the super sized and bold text thank-you to the adults on the forum does nothing to diminish that opinion. Tuning out now.

 

[faberryman]

JTK, I'm with you on this one.. Someone once said that "every photograph should have a referent" , and I agree. Abstract? Try water colors, oils or acrylic. At any rate, William de Kooning and hundreds of others have done it already, and better.

With an abstract, it is not that the image does not have a referent, it is that the viewer brings the referent to the image. See, equivalent.

 

[BrianShaw]

When I want an abstract photo I generally just kick a tripod leg when releasing the shutter.

 

[removed account4]

JTK, I'm with you on this one.. Someone once said that "every photograph should have a referent" , and I agree. Abstract? Try water colors, oils or acrylic. At any rate, William de Kooning and hundreds of others have done it already, and better.

this idea sort of reminds me of someone who was insisted
that color photography wasn't "photography"
and nothing but " black and white portraits" were "real photographs".

if you and whomever it is you are quoting ..
want your photographs to have a referent that is fantastic...
there are no rules in photography and there are no rules in making things
not sure what de kooning has to do with someone's personal expression
who .. isn't de kooning but .. whatever ..

You're welcome.

I think you just want to argue with people, and posting your "tiresome.....wrong medium, too easy" thesis on a sub forum called "Abstract" where people share their abstract photography is a good place to start the arguing and divide people.

Some of us think it's rude, and your abrasive behavior in this thread including the super sized and bold text thank-you to the adults on the forum does nothing to diminish that opinion. Tuning out now.

+1