Reality Check
The Ties That Bind 4
Photograph copyright by Lynn Bridge
I have been making photos lately. Lots of photos. Hundreds, even a thousand photos.
Capturing images of the world nearby is so satisfying with my little off-the-shelf pocket digital camera. I can be as dumb as I want, or as smart as I want in using the camera, but my joy comes in limiting my options of camera settings in order to stretch my imagination to the limit WITHIN the limits.
I look for captivating light situations, or contrasts of color in the environment and, using my experience to judge speed, distance, and angle, I flick the camera body while I press the ‘capture’ button. After wading through hundreds of pictures, I choose the ones which are most interesting to me and save them in my ‘art photographs’ file.
Wild Surface
Photograph copyright by Lynn Bridge
Some effects, such as color, are heightened by making the images completely abstract. Abstraction of the object or scene concentrates the mind on color or mood in a way that looking at a snapshot rarely does. Which one of us sees, REALLY sees all the greens in our neighborhood? The variety becomes startling when the green is no longer a tree, a shrub, a pond, but a smear or streak.
All the Greens
Photograph copyright by Lynn Bridge
In some ways, abstraction is more real than what our brain perceives when our eyes are open, but we are not really seeing! I am amazed when, after ‘snapping’ five or six hundred photos, I return to my computer to view them, and I see things in the images I never knew were there.
What surprises have you found in your photos?
These photographs are very interesting, Lynn. It seems like you are having a wonderful time!
I am rarely pleasantly surprised by my own photos, but I occasionally capture a cool image of my dogs.
“All the Greens” looks a lot like a Monet waterlilies painting and “Wild Surface” has a stitched quality about it. So much texture for photos!!
Keep them coming!
Hi, Hannah! I use photography to supplement my mosaic-making and painting, but I am also using my mosaics to create abstract photographs, and I paint to create mosaics. It keeps my imagination fresh; I recommend this sort of circle-of-creative-life to forestall creative block.
These are wonderful, Lynn. The first one especially is very O’Keeffe-ish! Love it!!
Thanks, Helen. It is so rewarding to come home with my camera and see what in the world I’ve got in there!
I love these Lynn! Did you know they even have workshops on how to do this? I hope you decide to exhibit some of these soon!
Hi, Greta. Thanks! No, I did not know about the workshops, but now I do. I put three photos in the “All Creatures Great and Small Exhibit” and have three more each ready to go for the “Red, White, and Blue” exhibit and the exhibit at the Amplify Credit Union.