18-Jul-2019
Remembering the Constellation's famous twin tail at the TWA Hotel, JFK Airport, New York, New York, 2019
I spent a day photographing the historic TWA terminal at JFK airport, a 1962 architectural gem recently configured as a hotel. A massive 1958 Lockheed Constellation plane, now a cocktail lounge, is parked just behind the terminal. Rather than photographing the entire plane, I started by abstracting the plane down to its most distinguishing characteristic, its famous set of twin tails. But I did not stop there -- I continued to abstract it down to just one of those twin tails.
The image becomes pure geometry. Segments of the plane's fuselage and wing frame the remaining tail, even slicing the top of it off. Yet the unique shape of that tail, forming a cross, retains its identity and symbolizes the essence of the Constellation. I converted the photograph to black and white, gave it a subtle sepia tint to suggest age, and achieved what I had set out to do.
18-OCT-2013
Le Carousel at dawn, Bryant Park, New York City, New York, 2013
By spot-metering on the early morning sunlight playing on the sheets of plastic covering this diminutive carousel, I was able to abstract this image by throwing much of the scene into shadow. The eye goes to the silhouetted horse in the middle of the frame. The puff of orange light seemingly coming from its mouth, along with the light crowning its head, bring it to life. The image conveys a dream-like mood, a nostalgic look back into another time.
18-OCT-2013
Theatre lobby, New York City, New York, 2013
I made this image from outside the theatre, pressing my lens close against a glass door to avoid reflections. I limited the image to the information within the ornate tiling around a door to an inner lobby. I built the image around the dazzling window within that door, an area full of of reds, oranges, and purples appearing almost as stained glass. The deep purple mass near the center of this colorful pane might represent a person – it is so abstract that it could also be simply an exercise in color. This image asks more questions than it answers, which is one of the principal functions of abstract photography. It is all about illusion, which also happens to be the essence of theatre.
08-JAN-2013
Hotel, Palm Springs, California, 2013
The geometric shadows cast by a hotel portico offers ideal subject matter for abstraction. However, I built this image around the single non-abstract subject in the frame – a furled red and white canopy. From there, I allow the interplay of shadows cast upon the hotel wall by the late afternoon sun to create a cubistic pattern. It features diagonal, horizontal and vertical thrusts, joined by the gentle curves of what seems to be still another shadowy furled canopy. These geometric shadows are all man made, yet nature plays a role here as well – note the feathery flow of a tree shadow bordering the image at the right edge of the frame.
25-NOV-2011
Cruise ship, Valletta, Malta, 2011
As our own cruise ship slowly made an evening departure from Valletta Harbor, I photographed another cruise ship still at the dock, using a very slow shutter speed of one and one third second. While the shutter was open, I moved the camera slowly up and down and from left to right, mimicking the motion of a ship. The ship, illuminated in hundreds of tiny lights, and several very large ones, becomes an abstraction, a study in motion, even though it is standing still.
13-NOV-2011
Entering Petra, Jordan, 2011
All visitors first view Petra through a 16-foot gap in the mountain gorge that concealed this ancient Nabataean city for 1200 years. I made this image from the seat of a horse-drawn carriage as it bounced its way along an original cobblestone road. The road was filled with tour groups, and I used members of one of them to good advantage here. As one man raised his hand to his head, he seems to be awe-struck. He and his friends are seen in silhouette, becoming abstractions that allow us to put ourselves in their place. We see only half of the iconic “Treasury” building that gives Petra its identity. By also abstracting this building, I allow the viewer’s imagination to picture the rest of it. The slice of red rocks that runs down the right half of the image takes on an unearthly glow, contrasting to the abstract shadowy wall that towers more than 600 feet overhead. It was almost impossible to stabilize the camera – the motion of the carriage was throwing it in two directions at once. However, my 1/500th of a second shutter speed was able to catch the moment I wanted – the first sight of a mysterious and fabled place.
22-SEP-2011
Primary Colors, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
I cropped off the head of the pedestrian in this shot to repeat the incongruity of the truncated mannequins displayed at street level. The image now flows horizontally by means of the repeating v-shaped leg angle of the pedestrian and the arm angles of the mannequins, as well as the four hands that echo that flow. The image also features the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. The yellow line in the street repeats the three yellow lines on each of the pedestrian’s shoes, while the red and blue sweatshirts worn by the mannequins dominate the image itself.
01-JAN-2011
Stealthy yacht, St. Barts. French West Indies, 2011
This luxurious yacht, anchored off the Caribbean island of St. Bart’s on New Year’s Day was said to belong to a visiting Russian billionaire. I made its sleek design look menacing by deliberately backlighting it, abstracting it into a silhouette. I gave the anchored craft a sense of motion by waiting for another boat to pass in front of it, and then photographed its frothy wake.
18-DEC-2010
Nightfall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2010
I made this image from a moving cruise ship as it sailed out of Rio’s harbor after dark. Rio is visually “branded” by Paul Landowski’s 80 year-old, 130 foot tall art deco statue of “Christ the Redeemer,” which stands atop the 2,300 foot high Corcovado mountain overlooking the city and harbor. Using my spot-metering mode and an ISO of 8000, I exposed for the illuminated statue, allowing most of the city, and the dark mountain to vanish. By such abstraction, I was able to make the statue seem to float ethereally in the sky overhead, allowing the imagination of the viewer to fill in the details.
09-JUL-2010
Subway encounter, New York City, New York, 2010
This fellow was blocking half of the stairwell to a platform at the City Hall subway station. He carried what looked like a clipboard and stood waiting for people to enter or leave the steps to the platform. He would nod to those who passed him, and if he caught their eye, he would say something. I do not know what he wanted – everyone who passed him ignored his request. I saw this woman approach and pass him as well, and caught the pair in silhouette the moment before he seems to be making a futile pitch from behind. The image is rich in tension because of the negative space that appears between the inside of the woman’s arm and her body, between the outside of her arm and the railing, and between the railing and the man. I abstract the scene by backlighting it, metering on the bright light over the steps and throwing everything else into silhouette.
02-JUN-2010
Brass Elephant, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2010
The evening shadows abstracted the head of this work of decorative art for me. All I needed to do was to frame it tightly, and use my spot meter to expose for the brightest part of the image – the trunk. The image offers a haunting reminder that the elephant itself may be slowly headed to extinction.
07-JUN-2010
Saloon Door, Durango, Colorado, 2010
Once again, use my spot-metering mode, this time exposing on a glowing opaque antique glass panel, which illuminates the image selectively, instead of universally. The saloon was located in a carefully restored 1880’s hotel. I try to imply the faded elegance of a time long past.
12-MAY-2010
Firemen, City Hall, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2010
I use three forms of abstraction here to activate the imagination of my viewers – the two firemen, arriving at City Hall for a meeting, are obscured by both backlighting and my vantage point, while the building itself is reduced to just a doorway and a small patio. Other firemen had arrived before them, so I had ample time to compose the shot. I wanted to catch the men side by side, yet keep them from overlapping either each other. I wanted them contained by the geometry of the diagonal shadows that will soon envelope them in darkness. The white negative space that crackles between the men, as well as between them and the shadows that surround them, creates tension that defines this abstracted moment in light, time, and space.
14-NOV-2009
Monument Valley, Arizona, 2009
The silhouetted monoliths of Monument Valley, the vast Navajo park straddling the Arizona-Utah border, rise before us from a desert landscape. I abstract this image by shooting into the sun, creating the silhouette and turning the highway before us into a silvery ribbon of concrete. The stark design of this image demands black and white rendering. By removing the greenish brown color of the desert and replacing it with deep grays and blacks, the geometry of the road and the shapes of the monoliths work seamlessly together to signify the vastness of the space before us. The truck poised to enter the curve at the bottom of the frame anchors the image, adding a touch of scale incongruity in the process.
02-JUN-2009
Entrance lobby, State Capitol, Austin, Texas, 2009
By exposing for the light flowing through its 19th century etched glass windows, I turn the Capitol’s lobby into a realm of moody darkness, reducing visibility to an abstraction, more a scene from a dream than from life. Three silhouetted figures are frozen in place, two of them Texas Capitol Policemen wearing their Stetsons. One is clearly silhouetted against the glass, while another can be dimly seen standing next to the door at right. The light grazes the edge of the pillars that line the entrance lobby, drawing the eye to the third figure at left, a dimly seen visitor who has just arrived. I thought about converting this abstract scene into a black and white image, but I like how the yellow art deco lamps in the upper center of the image add a touch of reality to an otherwise abstracted image.
08-APR-2009
Fragment, USS Arizona, State Capitol Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
The battleship USS Arizona was destroyed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, with the loss of 1,177 lives. The sunken ship is now a memorial to those still entombed within its hull. A rusted fragment of the ship is part of the exhibit “Flagship of the Fleet: Life and Death of the USS Arizona” at the Arizona State Capitol Museum. Using my camera’s spot meter, I exposed on the bright spot created by an overhead light, abstracting the huge sheet of rusty metal, and allowing it to fall into shadow – suggesting loss and eternal silence. A column of golden rust emerges from those shadows, as if it were a glowing memorial torch.
22-OCT-2008
Agave, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2008
This abstract interpretation of an Agave plant features its sun-struck distinctive yellow edges, lined with razor sharp teeth. By showing less of the plant itself, I am able to stress the teeth, which nature has provided as a survival mechanism. If we look at the teeth as teeth, the plant appears dangerous to the touch, as intended. However if we alter our perception to concentrate instead on the opposing dark spaces between the teeth, we see a dark green plant with rounded ridges against a bright yellow background. The beauty of abstract imaging is that we can prod the imaginations of our viewers into seeing our images however they may wish to see and understand them.
17-MAY-2008
Spring Thaw, Lake Tahoe, California, 2008
The roads that surround 6,000-foot high Lake Tahoe are wet with melting snow in mid-May. I move in with a 28mm wideangle lens on a puddle, and shoot towards the morning sun to abstract its surface with backlight. The wet street reflects the light back towards us. The light defines the texture of the wet street, creating a surface that is vividly tactile. By converting the color image to black and white, I make the image’s abstract qualities become even more intense.
29-APR-2008
Curves, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
The interior of the copper-clad dome capping the building that served as Arizona’s territorial and state capitol from 1898 to 1974 makes a spectacular abstraction when photographed in part, rather than as a whole. The massive curves and diagonals create energy and tension within my square frame – an abstract expression of architecture, design, engineering and geometry working together in aesthetic harmony.
04-APR-2008
Walking the net, Cochin, India, 2008
A single fisherman and a lone crow share a moment on the huge fishing nets that provide food for many in Cochin. I abstract the man, the framework for the massive fishing nets, and even the crow by backlighting them. Downtown Cochin fades softly into the background. By removing most detail, I stress the scale incongruity – the small man on the large apparatus.
28-MAR-2008
Village pump, Khajuraho, India, 2008
By pressing my shutter button just as the shawl of her sari covered her face, I was able to make one woman into thousands. Although it is the 21st Century, rural Indians still must draw water from the village pump. Central plumbing not generally exist outside of the urban areas. This is a fact of life – every day starts at the pump, where water is obtained for household purposes. Abstracting this woman changes her into a symbolic figure. She becomes all who, day after day and year after year, must go to the water instead of letting the water come to them.
19-DEC-2007
Downpour, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
I made this image from the front seat of a tourist bus during a rainsquall. Our bus was parked at a curb outside of our hotel when the rain hit. My auto-focus camera focused on the window because it was covered with rain. Normally, it would have focused on the closest subject beyond the window. This caused the man standing in front of the bus with his bicycle to become a soft abstraction. Yet the image is abstracted two more times. My vantage point is behind the man, making him unidentifiable. He becomes everyman, a symbol of the stoic Hanoi residents who have over the years endured French colonial rule, American bombing raids, and eternally bad weather. Ultimately, the sharply focused rain itself becomes the subject of this picture, further obscuring the man. The rivulets and drops of water create an abstract pattern of their own, creating a matrix of symbolic sadness.
17-DEC-2007
The brooms cometh, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
This woman sells brooms from a bicycle in Hanoi. Because she spends her entire day riding the polluted streets of the city, she has masked almost her entire face and wears her conical hat low over her eyes. The combination of mask and hat abstract her face – she is unidentifiable. My vantage point incongruously blankets her in a sea of colorful feathers and straw – abstracting her once again, and making her into more of an apparition than a tradesperson.
28-DEC-2007
The Last Emperor, Dalat, Vietnam, 2007
The last Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, ruled between 1926 and 1945. Coaxed back to the throne as a French puppet, Bao Dai devoted his time to hunting tigers and women and lived with his queen and concubines in a luxurious summer palace in Dalat. This palace remains as he left it, and among its relics is an faded map of Vietnam made from golden silk, which he received as a gift from France. It is framed under glass in the palace dining room, and I photographed it as an abstract symbol of Bao Dai’s rule. I leave as much to the imagination as I show. A shadowy figure roams through the reflected background – perhaps the ghost of an emperor, a prince or a queen. Incongruously, the most prominent detail shows people at hard labor.
01-SEP-2007
Arcade, Singapore, 2007
Abstraction can often create mystery. It asks questions of the viewer, allowing their imaginations to enter an image and come up with their own answers. This is such an image. We had just finished our shoot in Singapore, but I always have a camera in hand when I travel, just in case an opportunity presented itself. I was standing in an arcade in front of our hotel waiting to leave for Malaysia when I saw a woman carrying an umbrella enter the far end of the arcade and walk towards me. A triangle of light illuminated a wall at the end of the arcade, which complemented the geometric panels and a circle of light on the floor. Tropical plants hang overhead and cast their shadows in the circle on the floor. We have both a tropical and cubistic context for the lady with the umbrella, who is abstracted in mysterious shadow. The umbrella incongruously seems to be protecting her from that that triangle of light. Using my multiple imaging button, I kept firing shots as she walked ever closer. Suddenly a man stepped into the triangle of light at the back of the arcade. Far from spoiling my concept, he enhances it by thrusting out his arm and looking at his watch. His arm and hand leads us to the free arm and hand of woman, and we note the energy crackling in the negative space between that hand and her dress. She comes towards us, while he looks away. Her elbow stops just short of the edge of the triangle, while his hand stops just short of the shadow around it. This scene is charged with such tensions. The mystery woman, swathed in darkness, is frozen forever in mid-passage, as is the gesture of a man she never sees. The rest is left to our imagination. When I lightened this image and removed much of the abstracting shadows, I could see the expression on the woman’s face, note the fabric of her dress, even see polka dots on the inside of the umbrella. Without these deep shadows, the image shows too much and says too little. When I restore the shadows, the image is bathed in mystery. Such is the power of abstraction.
30-AUG-2007
Rainy Day, Singapore, 2007
It rains a lot in Singapore. Ninety-five inches a year. So naturally, we had our share of rain during our two-day shoot there with a group of pbase photographers from three countries. Our delightful host, Ai Li, (
http://www.pbase.com/limaili ) suggested that we wait it out in the city’s library. As it turned out, the rainstorm led to one of my favorite images of the visit, made through that library’s very wet window. I used the raindrops and deeply shadowed landscape to abstract the scene, creating an incongruous contrast. The subject, the city’s new Ferris Wheel (a version of the famous London “Eye”) should symbolize fun, yet the image seems to weep. The image is essentially monochromatic, which is a form of abstraction in itself. The only color is the greenish tint to the sky and the flowing headlights of the cars.
14-SEP-2007
Dilemma, Pingyao, China, 2007
This image represents the dilemma of Pingao itself. It is one of the few cities left on earth enclosed by its original walls. It has been off the tourist track until now, but crowds are growing in this UNESCO World Heritage city. Will Pingyao gradually change itself into a historical theme park for the sake of tourism? Or will it carefully preserve its treasures in a less flashy way in order to ultimately offer a more accurate and more useful vision of its past to its visitors? I try to ask such questions with this image. I abstract one of the city’s famous towers as a silhouette. At first glance it seems to be just another pagoda-like building. Yet by abstracting it in this way, I call attention to the incongruous lights that bristle along the building’s edges. The lights, when illuminated, will create an entirely different Pingyao. A tourist’s city, rather than a cultural treasure. Yet in this image, they are not yet turned on, leaving us to wonder if perhaps there is a better way for Pingyao to offer its history to the world?
08-AUG-2007
In the mind’s eye, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2007
I was able to abstract this vista of the Grand Canyon by shooting into the misty dawn light, reducing visibility substantially, yet still retaining faint traces of the pinkish color in the textures of the huge mesas and bluffs rising from the canyon floor. I layer the image with a darker foreground that repeats the diagonal slopes that fade into the misty distance. While this image does not allow us to actually see the Grand Canyon itself, it stimulates the imagination to see it in the mind’s eye.
05-JUL-2007
New Wing, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 2007
Architect Daniel Libeskind’s new addition to Denver’s Art Museum is an abstraction itself. Essentially a pile of geometric forms, it changes its form according to how we approach it. From this angle, the building seems cubistic – particularly after sunset, when most of its beige titanium panels turn blue, while other panels are illuminated in gold.
I worked on this image for some time, changing my vantage point repeatedly until these three forms suddenly “locked” into each other. The image evokes the human values of power, balance, energy, and mystery, all at once. You can see another version of the same concept, made just ten minutes earlier, in my “Buildings” gallery at
http://www.pbase.com/image/82040647.
12-JUN-2007
In the ruins of Alcatraz, San Francisco Bay, California, 2007
Alcatraz, also known as “The Rock,” was a maximum-security federal prison from 1934 to 1963. Today it is part of the Golden Gate Park system, and draws thousands of visitors each day. The purpose of this photograph is to express the mood and meaning of Alcatraz – its sense of isolation, despair, and confinement. I found a brick wall that was laden with the shadows of steel bars, and waited as visitors walked before it. Exposing for the sun lighted bricks, I turned the visitors into abstracted silhouettes. I photographed this particular man just as he enters the frame. His placement on the edge of the image makes him face an even longer row of bars. He becomes an abstract symbol for the thousands of inmates who once passed before this very wall.
08-MAY-2007
Waiting, Phoenix, Arizona, 2007
I have used abstraction in three different ways here to express meaning. This person was sitting in an alcove in the entry hallway of a senior citizens residence. I took my vantage point from off to one side, enabling me to hide more of the person than I show here. We only see legs and feet. Using my spot meter, I exposed for the reflections on the tile floor, which causes those legs and feet to become a silhouette. And I use my frame to remove the upper half of the subject entirely, drawing attention to the body language of the abstracted legs and feet. These three levels of abstraction combine to express the essence of waiting: the passage of time.
20-FEB-2007
Ghost locomotive, Furnace Creek Museum, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
I made this old locomotive, which once hauled borax out of Death Valley, into a ghostly presence by shooting it from a close-up vantage point using a camera with a 28mm wideangle lens. I photographed from within the shadows created by the locomotive, deliberately catching lens flare from the sun, which was shining straight down. The rainbow of flare, cascading over the top of the locomotive, gives it an otherworldly look, as do the plantings that brush its sides. The key to the image is the degree of abstraction I was able to create. We see only part of the engine – never its shape or setting. We are left with a feeling, rather than a description.
21-FEB-2007
Borax wagon, Harmony Works, Furnace Creek, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
Borax ore was mined and processed in Death Valley in the 1880s. One of the legendary Twenty-Mule Team Borax Wagons is among the relics on display near the ruins of a processing plant. I photograph only part of the wagon – an old rusted tank, making sure to stress the long shadows of each of its rivets. Because of such abstraction, the image speaks of the strength and endurance of this tank, rather than just showing us what it looks like.
20-FEB-2007
Moonrise, Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
A quarter moon seems to be smiling as it rises in the purple evening sky. I wanted to put that incongruous moon into an incongruous context, so I moved my vantage point until a jagged portion of the canyon wall resembling the head of a lion appeared in my frame. I aligned the moon just adjacent to the lion’s mouth – making it seem as if the smiling moon was about to become an evening snack. By underexposing the canyon wall, it becomes an abstraction – a silhouette that can become anything a viewer’s imagination might wish for. Some may see my lion, while others will just see jagged rock. If not food for the lion, this moon should offer at least food for thought.
20-FEB-2007
Sunset in Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
I juxtaposed two layers of canyon walls here. One is illuminated by the setting sun. The other is in shadow, and becomes an abstract base for the image. This abstract black shape moves this image from description to expression. It triggers the imagination of my viewers, forcing them to do a double take and consider what they might be looking at here. Nature reveals and nature conceals, and this image does both.
25-DEC-2006
Threat, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
The streets in Marrakesh’s medina (walled city) are narrow, and there are many intersections within this labyrinth of ancient lanes. As I was crossing one of these intersections, I saw this motorbike bearing down on me. I instinctively made the shot and jumped out of the way. When I looked at the image, I was stunned to see that the driver had no face or identity. Neither did the man at left who steps to one side to let the cycle move past. My spot meter had read the bright light and darkened the rest of the image accordingly. The image is much more effective as an abstraction than it would be if we could see all of its detail. Both man and bike are far more threatening as mysterious shadows – which force our imaginations into overdrive.
27-DEC-2006
By the old city wall, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
The 900 year-old wall that completely encircles the medina (old city) of Marrakesh is broken by a series of ancient gates. I stood near one such gate at sunset and watched people entering and leaving the medina. I noticed that as people came through the gate, they momentarily left their shadow behind on the wall next to it. I adjusted my frame to create a series of four panels moving from left to right – a piece of the outer wall, the brickwork of the gate itself, the heavily shadowed inside wall of the gate, and a continuation of the outer wall. As people walked through the gate and out of the right hand edge of my frame, I photographed their lingering shadows against the outer wall. Abstraction is essentially the art of leaving out. I leave out the appearance of the wall and gate, as well as the presence of the people themselves. I only suggest these elements, leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewer.
27-SEP-2006
Black on black, Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
A huge black raven perched on a mirror on the door of a black truck makes for an abstract and incongruous wildlife adornment. The driver, who quickly rolled up his window when the big bird took this perch, makes no secret of his patriotic inclinations – his vivid American flag decal, along with the blue sky reflected in the mirror, offers the only color in this image. (This raven is looking for handouts, which are prohibited in Yellowstone.) There are some photographers that would have routinely fired flash at this bird to “bring” out its feathers. My own approach is quite different. I never use a flash. I exposed on the white clouds in the mirror with my spot meter in order to make both the truck and bird a lustrous black. The resulting abstraction leaves much more the viewer’s imagination, and makes this image more expressive than a literal description.
27-SEP-2006
Biding his time, Madison Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
We visited Yellowstone at the height of the elk mating season. A female has just rebuffed this male elk. He was quite agitated that his charms had failed him. He slipped into the high grass to watch the female graze only a few feet away. He has abstracted himself, leaving only his huge antlers and slowly flicking ears visible, making this image far more compelling than if he were in full view. In wildlife photography, less can often be more.
23-SEP-2006
Horn in horn, Antelope Island State Park, Utah, 2006
Nearly 700 bison graze on Antelope Island, just north of Salt Lake City in the Great Salt Lake. Two bulls were softly jousting only a few feet from our car window. I only show one eye, two horns, and the rest is grass and shoulders. The thin stalks of grass frame the eye, while the locked horns express the competitive spirit within a bison herd. Instead of showing the bison here, I abstract them to imply their presence and demeanor.
30-SEP-2006
Cowboy, Town Square, Jackson, Wyoming, 2006
I made two photos of this evocative statue in the heart of downtown Jackson. One reveals detail and emphasizes the beauty of the surrounding trees. You can see it in my color gallery by clicking on the small thumbnail below. This version is far more abstract. I’ve backlighted both the statue, which depicts a rodeo cowboy waving his hat from the back of a bucking horse, and the surrounding trees which envelope it. To a vivid imagination it seems almost real, a cowboy triumphantly riding through the trees.
24-SEP-2006
Detail, Assembly Hall, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2006
When we reduce a structure such as this historic 1882 Mormon edifice to a few characteristic architectural details, we are abstracting it – showing less, yet emphasizing the spare elegance of its 19th century design. I am using geometry here to guide the eye and stress the design of structure. Using my zoom lens at around 300mm, I compress four different segments of the building into one – making a dimensional structure into a striking single plane of unembellished religious architecture.
27-SEP-2006
Sunrise, Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
The Firehole River seems to live up to its name, as columns of what seems to be smoke rises from its valley. Actually, they are plumes of steam created by the heat of Yellowstone’s hot springs and geysers clashing with the chill of dawn. I stress these plumes by under exposing this image, abstracting the ground into utter blackness. The steamy riverbanks become even more incongruous when seen in such an abstract context. The rising sun may incongruously burn a white-hot hole right through this image, but it’s the smoldering Firehole itself that steals the scene here.
25-SEP-2006
Temple fence, Logan, Utah, 2006
Instead of photographing Logan’s landmark Mormon Temple, I chose instead to abstract a very small portion of its ornate metal fence as the early morning sun imposed its own pattern of light and shadow upon it. The temple, originally opened in 1884, has been remodeled several times, and this fence has a definite Art Deco look to it. This abstraction links the work of man to the work of nature, certainly a fitting motif for a religious institution.
26-SEP-2006
Touch of dawn, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2006
We often see calendar and post card images of the Grand Teton Range looming over the historic Moulton Barns at their feet. Most photographers prefer to shoot this scene in the early morning, when the rising sun behind them bathes the mountains and sage in golden light. I was but one out of many photographers whose lenses were trained on this subject on a bitterly cold late September morning. I photographed the scene for about a half hour. This is my favorite image, probably far more abstract than the one that most of the other photographers were making that morning. The rising sun just barely grazes the peaks of the mountains. Most of the mountains are still in dark shadow, as is the famous main barn of the 19th century Moulton community. I suggest the presence of the old red barn and its surroundings, but my story here is really the first light of dawn on these mountain peaks, not the battered beauty of the old structure at their feet. (You can see fully illuminated image I made of this same scene in my Vista gallery by clicking on the thumbnail below:
21-OCT-2006
Bird and belfry, Bodie State Historic Park, California, 2006
It was just after sunset when I began photographing this raven perched on top of the bell tower of the long abandoned Methodist church in the Bodie ghost town. Using the spot meter, I exposed on the sky to make the church, bird and adjacent telephone pole into a silhouette. I used a fast shutter speed of 1/400th of a second to abstract the scene, fast enough to catch the bird in flight, just as it was pushing its wings down to gain altitude. I show less of both bird and church, leaving the details to the imagination of the viewer. The silhouette expresses yesterday more than today, an appropriate metaphor for a town that has died.
10-JUN-2006
Sea lion, Newport, Oregon, 2006
I abstracted this relaxing sea lion by waiting for him to flip over on his back and glide beneath the water. I was shooting from a pier in Newport’s harbor, which gave me the high vantage point I needed to make such abstraction possible. I put my camera on its “multiple frame” option, and just kept firing as it swept below me. In this image, only the belly, chin and one flipper are exposed. Everything else is below the rippling water. I tilted the camera so that the axis of the sea lion becomes a diagonal, giving it more thrust as it glides on by. By showing less of the sea lion, I am engaging the imaginations of those who look at this image. I ask the viewer to, in effect, become this sea lion for a moment, and savor the joy of such a relaxing activity.
09-JUN-2006
Fish market, Garibaldi, Oregon, 2006
By altering perspective, color, and exposure, I have changed the appearance of these freshly caught halibut from fish to flesh. To accomplish this, I moved in very close, cropping the subject in the frame, stressing the diagonal flow of the foreground fish. I complement that main diagonal with the smaller repeating rippling ridges that move as cross diagonals through the image. By shooting into the light and using the spot meter, I put the foreground into deep shadow and deepen the pinkish color of the flanks. If I had just stood back and framed and exposed the subject “normally” I would have only described the appearance of two halibut on a market table. Instead, I’ve interpreted them, changing their form and coloration by abstracting through vantage point, frame, and exposure.
10-MAY-2006
Stymied, Phoenix, Arizona, 2006
It is a simple image of a man walking down a flight of stairs. Yet the interplay of light and shadow, and the reflections in a nearby series of windows, extend those stairs and window frames into a complex arrangement of rectangles. They create a symbolic cage that appears to cause the man to pause for an instant to get his bearings and search for a way out. He is deeply shadowed, and becomes a universal symbol of someone caught in a maze. My camera freezes him there, leaving him in frustration. By showing less of both him and his surroundings, I am able to say more about him as a symbol of confusion and bewilderment. Such is the power of photographic abstraction.
17-MAR-2006
Waiting for customers, Namdaemun Market, Seoul, Korea, 2006
I saw this man almost hidden in the shadows, waiting for customers to come to his stall in this busy marketplace. I exposed for the brightest reflections with my spot meter, which made the image get very dark. Outside of the product rack, the only things visible in this image are the highlights on his face and hand. I have used shadows here to abstract the subject, allowing room for the viewer’s imagination to enter the image and go to work.
Is he sad? Lonely? Anxious? Fearful? My image leaves the answers to such questions up to the viewer. Such is the power of abstraction.
05-APR-2006
Wedding portrait, Banyan Lake, Guilin, China, 2006
Guilin’s wedding photographers often bring their customers to the shores of this beautiful lake for bridal portraits. The lake is lined with willows, and an assortment of beautiful bridges connects it to other nearby lakes. I saw this couple patiently waiting on the approaches to one of those bridges for the photographer to stop fiddling with his assortment of cameras. I chose a vantage point that placed willows between them and my camera. I shot through this willow screen, creating an abstract and incongruous symbolic image. The bride is also abstracted by selective focusing, making her seem to be more an implied presence than a reality. The groom is in focus, and positioned within a break in the leaves. He seems to be pondering his future, while his happy bride appears to be a happy captive of her own dreams. I don’t think this couple would choose this image as a wedding picture – it probably does not conform to their expectations. However I did not make it for them. I made it for you, to demonstrate how abstraction can turn an image primarily intended as a commercial product into an expressively interpretive photograph.
11-FEB-2006
Rust, Route 66 Motel, Barstow, California, 2006
This rusting car is parked forever amidst the colorful chaos that characterizes the setting of the historic Route 66 Motel in the California Mohave Desert town of Barstow.
It is difficult to know where the paint leaves off and the rust begins on this ancient automobile. I intensify that question by showing you just enough of the car to identify its function, and little else. I abstract the image into a geometrical grid – including only part of its radiator, hood, engine vents and fender, and combining them into a gilded box rusting in the warm glow of the morning sun. I let the rest of the car drive through your imagination. You can get a glimpse of its interior by clicking on the thumbnail below:
03-NOV-2005
St. Anthony’s, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
A woman pauses at the top of the steps before entering St. Anthony’s church for morning services in one of San Miguel's outlying neighborhoods. We don’t see her face – there is just dark shadow where her face may be. In fact, we don’t see much of her form, either – the highlights graze off her shoulder and back, while her entire front is shielded in darkness. Because so much is abstracted in this image, we are left with much to imagine. We see that she carries a cane and a wears a shawl to keep off the morning chill. She moves slowly, almost at a crawl. I photographed her from the bottom of the steps, so that the ground seems to be enveloping her feet, making her appear to walk even more slowly than she actually is. The rest of the story must come from within, not from without.
27-OCT-2005
Shoeshine, El Jardin, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
By using strong backlighting to silhouette this man shining his own shoes on one corner of San Miguel’s principal plaza, I’ve placed the emphasis on shape, rather than form or detail. The richly colored wall with an embedded plaque, and the ornately silhouetted posts offer context by telling us that we are in an old and historic place. Not only is the man completely in silhouette – he is also a bit softer than the crisp background, making him seem an even more ephemeral and symbolic figure. There is an incongruous twist here as well. He earns his living shining the shoes of others. Yet here, at day’s end, he takes care to shine his own as well. We are left to imagine what he may look like, and how he may feel about what he is doing.
05-SEP-2005
Café Discussion, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005
I used my spot meter to base my exposure on the brightest part of this image, the colorful umbrella. The men at the table were in deep shadow, and because of my exposure, they become completely abstracted. The pointing finger of the man at right becomes the most important thing in this picture. If I had exposed on the man, or used the standard “averaging” meter choice, I would have shown more detail on that man’s face, and the power of his emphatic gesture would be diluted. By abstracting him, I am able to go beyond description to intensify the symbolic meaning of this picture. It becomes more universal in nature, and less specific.
16-JUL-2005
Bell Tower, St. Francis Cathedral, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2005
I distill this image of a bell tower down to the interplay of early morning light and shadow, creating a series of geometric shapes in the process. This image does not attempt to describe the appearance of the bell tower itself. Rather it gives us a sense of its age, its strength, and the glowing arrow pointing upwards symbolizes the upward thrust of the tower itself, without actually showing it. Whenever I abstract a subject to this degree, I am asked how viewers will “know” what the subject is. Since description is not my purpose here, but rather expression, it is not important to me to help viewers see the appearance of the subject. The caption that comes along with this image (and most images intended for public display do carry captions) can provide such context, while the image itself is free to enter the imagination of the viewer, where it can do its work well.
16-JUL-2005
Bronze sculpture, Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2005
An enormous bronze sculpture of a horse’s head sits astride a sidewalk in the heart of Santa Fe, promoting an exhibition of bronze sculpture that was on display in an adjacent museum. I attempted first to work with its staggering scale incongruity, but the head was so large that my frame could only embrace it from a distance. And when I moved back far enough to make it fit my frame, I was forced to include much irrelevant distracting clutter – a mailbox, a street sign, and busy backgrounds. I decided to take a different approach –forgetting about dealing with its great size, and instead expressing its beauty and power as a work of art. The key to such a task is abstraction. I had to include less in order to say more. My initial attempts at abstraction failed because the light was flat, giving the bronze a uniform, boring coloration. I returned to this subject again the next day in the very early morning, when the interplay of light and shadow and the golden color of the light combined to help me interpret the bronze head as glittering precious metal. Using a long telephoto to narrow the zone of focus, and spot metering the subject to expose for the highlights along the side of the horses face, I bring out the line of the facial muscles and arteries, as well as the detail on the bridle. The bared teeth, a huge nostril, and a glaring eye are all in deep shadow. They are there but not there, a tease for the viewers imagination. I also framed the horizontal shape of the head as a vertical, going against the grain to create energy and tension in the process. Eventually, this head will be placed on a body as part of one of the largest equine sculptures ever made. But for now it remains a simple abstraction, an attempt to define the essence of the sculptor’s art and allow it to work on the imagination of the viewer.
12-JUN-2005
At the windmill, Bruges, Belgium, 2005
By backlighting this windmill and the two people visiting it, I abstract this image, removing all detail, and leaving only silhouetted shapes, the color of the evening sky, and the glowing translucent leaves overhead. Yet I still am able to define the body language of the people – their spacing, posture, and attitudes are clearly evident. I also use my frame to abstract the windmill, showing only part of one sail peeking out from behind a tree, and only part of the lower half of the mill itself. The rest of the scene is left to the imagination of the viewer.
17-JUN-2005
Water screw pumping station, Kinderdijk, The Netherlands, 2005
One of the largest water screw pumping stations in Europe was built at Kinderdijk in the 1970s. It does with diesel power what Kinderdijk's 19 windmills once did with the wind. Spinning at full capacity, this "corkscrew" can pump 360,000 gallons of water per minute off the land and into the river. If I had tried to express its huge size, I would have had to include a reference point, which would have made the image descriptive, but not particularly expressive. Instead, I chose to abstract the giant water screw by using a telephoto lens zoomed out to 268mm. It changes what is essentially a huge machine to a precious object by stressing the beauty of its reflectivity, shape, line, and color, at the expense of its extent. Instead of pumping water, the huge abstract screw now pumps the human imagination. (It would have been wonderful if I could have photographed this pumping machine in actual operation, but it was not running while we there. It would have been a delightful challenge to create an abstraction laced with spinning water and great movement, but it was not to be.)
In Buddha’s Image, The Essence of Burma, Yangon, 2005
Eighty percent of the Burmese people are Buddhists. If there were to be a universal symbol for this country, it would be the mystical Buddha image. This one is at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. I do not photograph it to describe its appearance. Rather, I have made this abstract photograph to involve the imagination the viewer and at the same time convey a sublime feeling. It is an image of silence, thought, and reverence. And all of this comes because I choose to show less and say more by using underexposure, a very close vantage point, and selective framing.
18-JAN-2005
Waiting for their noodles, Huay Xai, Laos, 2005
This is a simple street photograph of two customers waiting for their hot noodle soup at a vendor's stand in a small Laotian town. I chose to backlight the scene to make it a partially abstract image, and thereby more symbolic of eating and less specific in terms of who is about to eat. By abstracting the three participants, I stress their shapes and body language and how they relate to each in space. One is already abstracted because she has turned her back on the camera. The other two figures are darkened just enough by the backlighting to leave something to the imagination and call more attention to the negative space moving between the figures. That negative space – the areas between subjects -- becomes very important here. This negative space is full of tension flowing in the space around and between the bodies of the noodle watchers. I also like the way the tension is increased by the objects suddenly piercing the frame at left and top left, as well. The splayed fingers of the waiting woman are unconsciously echoing the thrusts of the antenna at bottom left, small pipes of some kind at left, and the jagged flap of the roof at top left. There is enough light spilling into the scene to illuminate the colorful clothing of the woman with her back to us, as well as the faces of the other two people, and the various pots and bowls on the table. Yet we don’t see everything. My selection of a backlit vantage point has left some room for the viewer’s imagination to work.
Door Carving, Royal Palace, Mandalay, Myanmar, 2005
Mandalay's Shwe Nandaw Monastery was at one time part of the Royal Palace of Mindon, the King of Burma from 1853-1878. It is famous for its intricate woodcarvings. The entire monastery was once gold plated, inside and out. Rather than try to show the entire façade of the palace itself, which would be little more than a postcard photograph, I bring the entire palace down to this single carving – a fascinating detail on one of the palace’s teak doors. The process of symbolizing a larger entity through one small detail is, in itself, an act of abstraction. Yet, so too is this photograph. I used my spot meter to expose for the most brilliant of the highlights falling on the door from the late afternoon sun. I let everything else go black. The figure, which appears to be in a fighting mood, has raised its arm as it peers into the blackness below. He seems to still be rallying Mindon’s armies long after they have passed into history. This carving is but a small detail of a larger door, which is, in turn, is only a small part of a large building. And now we look at the smallest of detail within that carving itself, trying to take ourselves back to another time and another place. What we are doing here, of course, is abstracting the abstraction, and trying in the process to get as close as we can to the essence of the place.
15-OCT-2004
Merced Abstract, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004
I photographed four sticks protruding from the low Merced River within a shimmering reflection of El Capitan, to create this abstract view of two of Yosemite’s most familiar landmarks. This image is intended to prod the imagination of viewer. I fully intend it to say less about Yosemite National Park, and more about the sensibilities of those who interpret it. As with most abstractions, this image has its roots in reality and its substance in fantasy. I know what it says to me, but I’d like very much to know how it affects you. Let me know with your comments, questions, and suggestions.
(In the Spring of 2005 I reinterpreted this image as a lesson in the power of Photoshop to enhance and intensify meaning. My reinterpretation appears on the next page.)
15-OCT-2004
Merced Abstract Revisited, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004
The power of Photoshop as a tool of enhancement and reinterpretation in expressive photography is limited only by our imaginations. I posted my original version of this abstraction of Yosemite National Park’s Merced River embracing the shimmering reflection of El Capitan, in the fall of 2004. Since that time, the original image has triggered the imaginations of many pbase artists. You can see this image, and read the continuing commentary, along with my responses, on the previous page of this gallery.
A number of viewers have asked me to what extent I altered the original colors of this image with Photoshop. I have always answered that question by saying that I honored the original as it came out of the camera, with only minimal adjustments. Yet as time passed, I began to wonder how I might have altered the meaning of this abstraction by significantly intensifying the colors reflected in the waters of the Merced.
In the spring of 2005, I decided to put the original through Photoshop once more, only this time intensifying the colors to present a more vivid portrait of El Capitan’s reflection in the rippled waters of the Merced River. I used Curves, Saturation, and the Shadow/Highlight Control to bring to El Capitan to life within the water.
This image is the result. The colors are now warmer, richer, and the image holds more detail as well. However, I do not consider it to be either an improvement or a regression. It is still very much an abstract vision of a monumental scene. Yet it is a completely different expression than the one on the preceding page. Each of these two images will be perceived according to the imaginations of each viewer. Like the original version, this photograph has its roots in reality and its substance in fantasy. I present it to you here as a lesson in using the power of Photoshop to reinterpret our original expression in any way we wish.
15-OCT-2004
Fall Leaf, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004
I photographed this fall leaf from the inside of a Native American shelter exhibit in Yosemite Village. The leaf was resting on the side of the shelter, overlapping one of its openings. Light was passing through it, and a close inspection reveals that a spider had been passing over it – the fragile thread of its web is visible between two of the leaf’s points. By photographing only half the leaf, I make it seem as if the leaf is peeking into the shelter. As with any abstraction, much is left to the imagination of the viewer. To me it is an image that evokes a sense of season in one of America’s most treasured environments.
01-SEP-2004
Surfaces, The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, 2004
Capturing the essence of an architect’s art is a matter of personal interpretation. Just as I hope that each of you will bring your own interpretation to bear on this photograph of architect Frank Gehry’s masterpiece – the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, I tried to express my own interpretation when confronting the massive plates of titanium sheathing that gives this world famous, award winning building its identity. Even though the Spanish weather was uncooperative (the skies were flat and gray), Gehry’s building magically absorbs and reflects any kind of light because of the way he has placed titanium plates as the surface of his building. These surfaces curve and twist like giant waves, and because they often face each other, the interplay of reflected light and shadow is fascinating. To portray my own impression of Gehry’s art, I build my idea upon abstraction. I remove all traces of the building’s outer form. (I have also interpreted this startling building in terms of its overall form and setting in my Gallery 15 on Buildings, as well depicted the enormous scale of the titanium panels themselves in my Gallery Two on Incongruity.) I decided to move in and concentrate my attention solely on how light plays upon on the titanium sheathing that covers the building, just as armor once covered the medieval knights of Spain. I found a spot near the building’s main entrance where Gehry had created a courtyard. Titanium sheathing faces other titanium sheathing at odd angles, with sheets of reflective blue glass squeezed between them. The sheathing in the shadows appears to be bronze, while the sheathing facing the overcast skies sparkles in a silvery tone. The blue glass between these panels captures reflections of both. I think my tight, abstract approach to framing has captured the essence of the whimsical nature of Ghery’s amazing concept here. It makes you wonder where these amazing surfaces lead. It activates the intellect, our emotions, and most of all our imaginations. And that is what abstraction does best. What do you think of this approach? I would be thrilled to hear your own impressions of this image. Does it work for you, too? Or does it leave as you as flat as the leaden skies overhead? I welcome your comments and questions.
05-SEP-2004
Vintage Truck, Lisbon, Portugal, 2004
I was struck by the play of light, rich colors and fine details on this old truck parked on a busy shopping street in downtown Lisbon. To express the interplay of these assets, I decided to abstract the truck by moving to make a picture of only one of its lights, and part of its hood and radiator. I eliminated everything else – its spindly wheels, roof, and body. I had too – the more I tried to get into the picture, the more literal and cluttered it became. Conversely, the closer I got, the more emphatic its beauty, grace, engineering and style became. Abstraction usually comes down to giving the viewer less and saying more.
03-SEP-2004
Ducal Palace, Guimaraes, Portugal, 2004
The Palace of the Dukes of Braganca was built in 1420. It is the most impressive historical building in the town of Guimaraes, near Oporto in Northern Portugal. Its most prominent features are these towering circular brick chimneys, once used to vent the many fireplaces in this huge, fortress-like building. The best way to emphasize this array of towering chimneys is to abstract the building by shooting only a part of it, and much of that in backlit silhouette. Using a 24mm wideangle converter lens on my Canon G5, I take a low vantage point and shot up into clouds. I use my spot meter to expose for the white clouds. The sky becomes a deeper blue, and that part of the palace that is in shadow goes black. This abstraction forces the eye of the viewer to the thrusting chimneys and on up into the clouds. It does not take a great leap of imagination to see the column of clouds in the center of the picture become a column of fireplace smoke, either.
16-JUN-2004
Lion’s paw, Forbidden City, Beijing, China, 2004
A pair of lions guard the doors to China’s ancient Imperial Palace. One is female, cradling a cub in her paw. The other is male, grasping an ornate globe said to represent the world. Most tourists dutifully photograph both lions. Others may shoot just one. My own choice was to photograph only the paw of the male upon the globe. The claws are fanciful and massive and the globe is a stylization as well. I place this highly cropped subject matter off to the right of the frame, keeping just a hint of the ornate palace for context at left. My intention: to characterize China’s former Imperial power in a simple and graphic form. Isolating a segment of subject matter for symbolic purposes is a form of abstraction. I don’t do it all the time, but occasionally trying a bold concept such as this can energize your approach to travel photography. Less can often become more, particularly when the strong symbolism is intended.
21-JUN-2004
Broken terracotta figures, Emperor Qin’s Tomb, Xian, China, 2004
Over 6,000 life sized soldiers made of pottery guard the tomb of China's first emperor in Xian. Unearthed in 1974, this 2,000 year old army was accidentally discovered by farmers digging a well. The massed ranks of Xian's terracotta warriors are impressive, but even more poignant are the hundreds of broken soldiers awaiting eventual restoration. We saw many figures such as these, their heads smashed and bodies in fragments, slumbering in jumbled heaps, just as the archeologists found them. I converted this image from color to black and white. Black and white photography is a form of abstraction. It can be more symbolic as well, because it leaves more to the imagination. Black and white is often simpler in form, as well. This abstracted black and white version works more effectively as a symbol of the slumbering past. It is more stylized, and thus more haunting. The color version looks more like broken pottery, while this black and white image makes us think that we are looking at shattered human forms.
15-JUN-2004
Yesterday and Today, Shanghai, China, 2004
This simple image tells us what Shanghai once was and what it has become. The graceful little clock tower once soared over the grandstand and clubhouse of Shanghai's famous Race Course in the 1930s -- a symbol of Shanghai Society. The race-course was turned into People's Park in the 50s. Its historic clock tower became the city's library and currently houses an art museum. Behind it looms one of Shanghai's new skyscrapers, looking very much like a giant rocket ship blasting its way right out of my picture. I cropped the upper half of the skyscraper out of my frame because I wanted the building to be less literal and more symbolic. By chopping the building in half, I’ve abstracted it, and made it seem as if it has no limits. Which is very much the story of today’s Shanghai – it is one of the world’s fastest growing cities.
18-APR-2004
Locked Chairs, Mission Bay, San Diego, California, 2004
Locks are part of life. We all use them to protect our belongings. Even in a vacation paradise, we need to have locks and cables to secure the two beautiful wooden patio chairs gracing this sun-splashed Southern California bayside vacation patio. I took on the challenge of converting this situation into a photograph symbolizing the nature of our times. The most effective way to create symbols is to abstract the subject by removing detail and leaving it up to viewers to come to their own conclusions. I moved in close and shot into the sunlight to turn the lock, cable, chair legs, and the wavy shadows of the chairs into silhouetted forms juxtaposed upon the diagonal grid of brown patio tile. The result: an ironic comment on the need for locks and cables to keep people from stealing chairs used purely for relaxation.
19-APR-2004
Walkers, Tecate, Mexico, 2004
I always use my spot meter when shooting in strongly contrasting light. Here, I exposed the picture for the marble floor surrounding a bandstand in the center of Tecate's Hidalgo Plaza. This exposure retains color and detail in the marble while abstracting everything else in the picture. Using a 24mm wideangle converter lens, which offers very deep focusing, I shot from the bandstand as two people walked into my picture. The rhythmic pattern of the bandstand railing and the shadow of the bandstand’s circular roof create a curving path to propel these pedestrians through my frame. The degree of abstraction makes this picture work. Because one of these people is in silhouette and the other walks with his head down, they become abstractions symbolizing the ebb and flow of the pedestrian traffic that walks through this Plaza by and day and night.
15-APR-2004
Old Synagogue, Heritage Park, San Diego, California, 2004
I did not want to merely describe the interior of the historic structure that once housed San Diego’s first synagogue, because the room itself is now basically a barren hall filled with empty benches. It has been moved to its present site in a San Diego park for display an example of Victorian architecture. My goal was to suggest its former function as an actual house of worship, and abstraction was my tool. I used my spot meter on the light source itself – the frosted pane of a large window. Only this pane, and the warmly glowing light on the wall, wooden paneling, as well as the back of a bench, remains visible. Everything else goes black, creating room for the imagination of the viewer to enter and fill in the details.
27-DEC-2003
Humberstone Ghost Town, Iquique, Chile, 2003
I was standing in the darkness of a primitive room once occupied by a Chilean nitrate miner, a place abandoned to the dust-laden winds of the Atacama Desert for more than 40 years. Its wooden walls are covered with graffiti, and there is not much left that speaks of either the man or the miner. What photographic approach might work here? I solved the problem by using abstraction to make an image that asks questions of the viewer, instead of providing answers. Using my spot meter, I expose for the brilliantly illuminated dirt floor at the base of the old wooden door. Everything in the shadows becomes dark, the graffiti disappears, and the image is reduced to a series of geometric shapes. Light seeps through the slats of the wooden wall, and a warming sun drenches the doorway and the worn paint on the old wooden door. These elements create a relationship in light and space that asks us to wonder about those who once lived within this small space. The image leaves much to our imaginations, one of the purposes of photographic abstraction.
29-DEC-2003
Neruda, La Sebastiana, Valparaiso, Chile, 2003
Although I was not allowed to photographically search for the spirit of Chile’s Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda inside of his incredible La Sebastiana home, I was free to search for it outside the house. A curving bench made out of copper overlooks the home's lush gardens. At one end of the bench, Neruda himself still sits, only as a copper silhouette. I shot the silhouette in shadow, making his presence almost palpable. What makes this picture work is the illusion created by abstraction. At first glance, we can’t tell if we are looking at person or not. A closer look tells us it’s not -- a very thin trail of light on the back of the neck and shoulder gives the game away. It is the interplay between illusion and reality that makes this image resonate.
19-DEC-2003
Gates, Pedro Miguel Locks, Panama Canal, 2003
Massive is the best word to define the Panama Canal – everything about this incredible engineering project is big. I used abstraction and scale incongruity here to tell the story of its size. I was shooting from the front of a cruise ship about to leave the Pedro Miguel Locks, the second set of locks that made it possible for us to sail through the heart of Panama from the Caribbean Sea into the Pacific Ocean. I noticed a man standing on top of the gate, an incongruously tiny figure compared to the huge gate beneath his feet. I used my spot meter to expose for the water beyond the gate, which abstracted both the man and the gate. I then waited for the gate to open, and shot just as soon as I saw a sliver of water appear between them. This vertical band of light rhythmically repeats the vertical posture of both the man and the post at upper left. The image is almost monochromatic – the only color is a hit of brown in the water and the yellow rails of the walkway on top of the gates. How massive are the workings of the Panama Canal? This picture may provide an answer.
01-DEC-2002
Flute player, Madagascar, 2002
I used backlighting to conceal identity, allowing you to fill in the details for yourself.
Taking a break, Moscow, 2003
A street performer hides behind his bejeweled hands near Moscow's Red Square. By hiding his face, I try to make his hands speak for him.
21-FEB-2000
Woman to Market, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2001
I waited to shoot until this woman reached those long shadows flowing along the street. She seemed to be suspended in space, her emotions and identity concealed by the backlighting.
29-JUL-2003
Fog lifts on Svir, Russia, 2003
A gradually lifting fog withholds the details of this Russian farm along the Svir River.
24-NOV-2002
Karen Blixen's desk, Nairobi, Kenya, 2002
Karen Blixen, author of "Out of Africa" once worked at this desk. By abstracting detail through backlighting, I symbolize the tools of her craft, instead of describing them.
23-FEB-2000
The Forbidden City, Hue, Vietnam, 2000
By photographing one of the pagodas of Hue's Forbidden City through a slat screened window, I wanted to create the effect of a barrier, symbolizing the theme of this historical compound.
17-MAR-2003
Face on the Caboose, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2003
As part of a project for a class in digital photography at The Santa Fe Workshops, we were taken to a railroad yard littered with abandoned and obsolete trains. I thought this mysterious face stenciled on an old caboose best captured the mood of the place. I abstracted the caboose by taking out as much of its structure as I could, leaving only a suggestion of its metallic side, and the shadow of a control wheel.
18-MAR-2003
A tree in the canyon, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2003
Black and white photography is a medium of abstraction in itself. Although I took this photo in color, by deliberately underexposing it through backlighting, I created a virtually black and white picture which gives this tree a sense of confinement within the narrow walls of the canyon.
30-DEC-2002
Gaucho roundup, Estancia Santa Susana, Argentina, 2002
My favorite photo of this roundup was this shot of a gaucho leading a group of horses to pasture following a show. By shooting the scene from behind, I minimize the identity of both the gaucho and his horses, bringing a sense of closure to the event.
29-APR-2003
Mozart's piano, Villa Bertramka, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003
Mozart and his wife Constanze stayed here in 1787 while he was working on his opera "Don Giovanni". He finished the overture in Bertramka's garden pavillion just a few hours before its premiere at Prague's Estates Theatre. I abstract Mozart's piano, still standing in Bertramka's music room, by backlighting the scene, allowing the room around it to fade into darkness. The single rose, placed on the piano's lid every day, is also abstracted, as is the tiny statue of a musician standing before the window, a symbol of Mozart's music and perhaps his diminutive size.