One very effective way to reach into the land of abstraction is by increasing the focal length of the lens you are using, since by doing so you narrow the angle-of-view of the image and you magnify and compress the elements; all of which serves to significantly reduce the information the image contains, leading toward some essential result which is no longer recognizable as a concrete landscape. Just where the line of this differential is crossed is surely open for discussion; and one of the stops along this journey may well be in the world of intimate landscapes, although focal length alone will never be the sole determinant of intimate-landscapeland. Perhaps we are just too familiar with the rising sun and its conditions to see this Image as anything other than a sunrise, or maybe we stopped before crossing the line and have found ourselves still in the land where intimate landscapes dwell. What do you think?
A focal length of 117mm, still somewhere in the mid-range of short telephoto, eliminated the information I did not want and gave me a compressed mirror-image of the early light reflecting on Pete’s Lake in Hiawatha National Forest. An aperture of f/16 provided depth-of-field given the camera-to-subject distance, and a shutter speed of 1/5th second at ISO 100 gave me a darker-than-medium overall exposure.
Even though a month of winter remains, my mind has flown to the Northwoods and the autumn adventure in store.
Thank you Don for sharing another beautiful image. As you may remember, I have a tendency to really enjoy images that are slightly darker, but I am improving. The contrast of the orange sky to the dark forest is spectacular.
This is an interesting image. The horizon in the middle and the clear reflection does give it an abstract feel. I do immediately see it as a sunrise though because I am so conditioned to beautiful sunrises. It would be more abstract if the sunbeam was not in the image and the focus was a little softer.
Although this too identifiable to call an abstract the design of the composition becomes prominent. I love pictures at this level because it brings me two kinds of delight — the recognition of a beautiful sunset and the visceral satisfaction of a pattern of well balanced color and shape.
Howdy Don, I think the way viewers see images is particularly personal, one may see an abstract, while another may tend to still see a realistic landscape no matter how zoomed in. I think that Elliot Porter was the master of the intimate landscape. I always tend to see images for their realism, unless the composition is so cropped or the technique is pronounced like seascape swipes.
I like that you left the upper left corner of sky and lower left corner of water. It gives me balance to see the overall affect. Stunning to say the least. I could never photograph that, but I could do a bang up job painting it! Nice work, Don!
Nice one, and quite abstract IMHO. As Mike Di Stefano noted, our response is always highly personal, but, for me at least, whether an image is abstract or not is less about the subject matter and more about what I feel the message or intent is. If the context is important and carries a significant part of the message, I don’t feel it’s an abstract image. OTOH, if the context is immaterial and the elements and principles of graphic design are the important factors, then I’m happy to put the image in the abstract category. For me, this one’s all about the shapes and colors so I’m happy with calling it abstract.
I guess my litmus test is that an abstract photo is “not about what it’s of.”
I am going with abstract because that is what I felt when I first saw it. It’s true if you study it, you can see it is a landscape with reflections. Abstracts are a mystery for the viewer to puzzle over; like this one. I bet you were thinking abstract when you composed it. Thanks for the Sunday morning puzzle.
Absolutely stunning! Love the form of the reflection in the water. If the weather ever gets warmer, I will have to try this concept at a local lake. Thank you for another beautiful image.
An amazing photo. It is filled with such richness.the extreme contrast of the darkened forest makes the reflective colors more stunning than it already is. God has given us an awesome universe. The earth is just one of His amazing creations. Thank you for capturing it.
Good Morning Don,
Let me start with “What I am Grateful For”; I am grateful that we have gotten to share so many photographic adventures together, as before the verbiage accompanying this image appeared, I immediately recognized Pete’s Lake.
As for the image, while labels are not important, i would not consider this an abstract. With that said, I did some soul searching as to why? I started with the original intent of what you were out to photograph that morning: Sunrise. Challenging myself further as to what i may be missing, I turned to the dictionary. The definition of “Abstract” that appeared consistently is as follows; art that does not attempt represent external reality but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, color and texture. While shape, forms, color and textures are key elements to a strong photograph and they are surely front and center in your image, the external reality of sunrise is the subject. However, i do see many abstracts within your image.
Thanks for helping me stretch my creativity this morning.
Your photo immediately reminded me of a movement in modern art, color field painting. It’s nothing like the hard edge of Kenneth Noland but closer although not the same as a Rothko.
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/colour-field-painting.htm Of course I recognize the subject so it’s not non objective abstract art in the same manner as color field painting but it has the soft edges and gentle areas of color with dark contrasts that I associate with the movement. Abstract art can contain a recognizable subject or not. It can move to pure abstraction with a subject hiding in it.
In my viewing window, just the top half of the image appeared at first, at the bottom of the screen, and it clearly was a beautiful landscape. Then as I scrolled up to fill the screen, the image became more abstract, with the bottom half more so than the top. And finally I saw the middle of the whole image as a folded Rorschach-style ink blot, with fractals (again!) defining the edges of the tree line. A wonderful work of art, Don!
Hi Don, Beautiful colors and composition. This is an example of the “horizon” splitting the image in two equal halves – top and bottom – and it still works! Even more so.
Another love of this image for me is the atmospheric phenomenon of a “Sun Pillar” caused by the sunlight reflecting off the bases of the flat, horizontal ice crystals in the thin clouds, and the pillar is equally reflected as well.
The various contrasts in this pic are fantastic. Your timing to get these different levels of colors, brightness and shadows are perfect. Kudos to you my friend!
Good morning, Everyone. Thank you all very much for joining me for this conversation. What a treat to hear from all of you and to share all of your excellent thoughts, feelings, and observations. It would seem quite appropriate, considering the amazing diversity and beauty of the Upper Peninsula, for there to be so many rich reactions you would have to images from this area, and I am doubly delighted for all that you have expressed here.
By the time I return with our group in October, it will have been three years since our last visit, and that after having visited for 13 consecutive fall color seasons. What a joy it’s going to be.
Hello Chris. I’m grateful that my work continues to inspire your comments. I do recall your penchant for the more muted tones of things. As you are learning, tonality is a necessary, but not absolute, starting place for the exploration of color, and you are always the artist. I’m glad that this image could evoke creative thoughts.
Hi Drew; it’s great to hear from you! For me, placing the horizon in the middle doesn’t work, until it does; and here I thought it did. Your suggestions would certainly lead the result more in the direction of pure abstraction, but I didn’t necessarily want to go there, and so, like you, I tended to see the outcome more on the “Intimate” side of things, which was fine for my purposes. Hope all is well with you.
Hey Linda. It’s always good to hear from you. As with Drew’s assessment, I, too, think of this as an “Intimate,” rather than an “Abstract.” And, like you, the design of the image became a point of balance that allowed me to play with nearly endless ideas of expression. Looking forward to seeing you in June.
Howdy, Michael. I always look forward to what you have to share with us. Even though there are certainly some formulaic definitions of both abstract and intimate landscape, I agree with you that, at some point, the judgment becomes very personal. If you do not have in your library Eliot’s wonderful Intimate Landscapes, I highly recommend it. He was, indeed, the master of the genre, and studying his work is a profound lesson in “How to.” You and I were both bitten by the “realistic” bug and have to work sincerely to overcome the tendency to express it at every turn. The wonderful Rhode Island coast can be an excellent cure.
Hey Rosemary. It’s always good to hear from you. That little corner of the sky you reference is exactly what, in my mind, keeps the image from slipping into abstraction, along with the Sun Pillar that Don Collins mentioned.One of the results that flows from a well-executed mirror image is a heightened sense of balance. The reduction of tension is probably responsible for that.
Hello J. Warren, it’s great to hear from you. I really appreciate your sharing the more “book outline” of the difference between Intimate and Abstract. That also happens to be, in my mind, the most appropriate distinction to draw when identifying these two types: what are the elements present and how are they presented. Your “negative” test is an excellent characterization of a useful way of determining type. Hope all is well, my friend.
Hey Nancy T. Somehow, I knew you like puzzles. You know, I was thinking, I think, that I was going to have one heckuva time deciding how to define this image in the first place., which may be a good argument for the “either-ness” of it. In some sense, even though I knew what it was, there was a deep mystery in the visual of it that argued strongly for something other. Maybe that’s why it was so much fun being there.
Hey Kev. Hope all is well with you and Elizabeth. I’ve been watching those storms slide across Missouri and hoping y’all have been spared anything harmful. This should be an excellent time of year to play with this sort of image, especially as a light fog rolls in and the green begins to show. Walk in Beauty.
Hi Charles. Thank you for all of your kind words. As always, it’s great to hear from you. Among the Anishinaabe, the Creator is Gitchie Manito. Your description of that Universal Power is well-received, for regardless of the name by which it is called, Beauty is one of its undeniable aspects, with which we are truly blessed. Hope all is well with you.
Hey John. It is beyond doubt that you and I have shared some amazing adventures across this land, for which I am also very grateful. We have seen much Beauty together and it has allowed us to recognize “place” in many forms even in small contexts. May it always be so. When I see places in the Adirondacks that you have shared with me, the feeling I have is very much the same. Having shared with us your dictionary discoveries about “abstraction,” for which I am also grateful, I must agree that this image, for me, stands very near the doorway between reality and feeling, which is, truly, not a bad place to be in. The reality of the sunrise is undeniable, but the depth of the mystery and its feelings also go without saying, so, again, perhaps, the best label to bestow is fun with the adventure.
Howdy, Aileen; thank you very much for being with us for this conversation. As an art teacher, your excellent words carry much wight with me, and I appreciate your sharing them. I especially note your point that even “abstracts” can have – or not – recognizable subjects within them. And thank you for sharing the link to some excellent information with which we all might reflect on the ideas we have been discussing here. As a Zen Master once suggested, “Seek not to find the answer, but rather seek to understand the question.”
Donald, I hope this finds you well-enjoying the Tuscon winter. My new issue of Archaeology Southwest is an exclusive on the 4000+ years of settlement of the Tuscon Valley. What a wonderful visual adventure you have shared with us as the image unfolded before you: described as only a mathematician could. If you will please, send me a phone number to contact you in Arizona. I have some thoughts to share on the prints you have ordered.
Hey Don. It’s great to have you join us for this discussion. I have to stop and think for a moment about who would be familiar with such a wonderful meteorological feature as a “sun pillar,” and then I realized it had to be you. I hope you are doing well. Thank you for sharing with Everyone how this beautiful phenomenon comes into being. I guess that being as far north as we were that late in the season may have contributed to an increased likelihood for seeing it happen. Glad, too, that dividing the frame as I did worked for you. Be well.
Hey Willa. It’s great to hear from you and to receive your kind and thoughtful words. You know the esteem in which I hold the photographic and artistic principle of “contrast;” and I’m delighted that it spoke to you so strongly here.
Thank you all, again, for such a wonderful array of thoughts and feelings as you have offered collectively and individually. These are the kinds of expressions that help us all to grow as we travel this amazing journey of creativity.