Aspen boles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Aspen boles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from my most recent venture into the park. I’ve never really tried this kind of technique with photography too much, but I kind of enjoyed the results. Some of them, anyway. It was interesting to me to edit this series of photos – abstract images emote so differently, and I’ve not a lot of practice in that field, so I felt I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be looking for.

The technical aspect of photos is so dominant in more orthodox imagery, so editing become somewhat rote; check sharpness, exposure, etc. But abstract imagery requires a different process, and I find it hard to edit my own work in that realm. I find, on the other hand, I find the abstract work of other photographers very easy to respond to. Mark Graf, for example, is someone whose work always grabs me and holds my attention.

Look at these 2 images; I could stare at both of them for a LONG time.

I think the beauty of the images becomes more vibrant, more immediate, when the imagery is a little less organized, the arrangement flows from itself, and not from a structured, cognitive process. Similarly, the art, in my opinion, often attains a greater level of longevity, because our cognition isn’t able to reduce it to a pigeon hole, or label.

Tony Kuyper is another photographer who makes abstract images simply come alive. This photo blows me away – he’s awesome. I should really link to every one of his images, he’s that awesome. A friend of mine said it best ‘That Tony’s a BAD man!’.

So I’ll try to explore abstract imagery a little more .. though it’ll be a slow process, I’m sure. My thought process is pretty abstract, so one might think it would be easy for me – but I’m the WORST when it comes to editing my photos and deciding what works best and what does not.

For now, I think I’m gunna go to bed.

Cheers
Carl

4 thoughts on “Aspen boles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

  1. Lars Andreas Dybvik

    Hi again!

    i like your picture! I am also exploring more abstract ways of nature photography. I even made my selfe a small home studio. Here I take pictures of things i find outdoors, and implement them in a timeless white environment. This project is actually resulting in an exibithion that opens now on 1. November in my home town.

    And thanks fore the links in this post to Graf and Kyuper. I have seen Graf before, but Kyuper was new 🙂

    Here are som links to my stuff on the net:

    http://www.uskarp.no is my homepage (it is unsharp in Norwegian).

    http://www.uskarp.no/turblogg is a hiking-blogg. I use this as a diary and so friends and family can follow me on trips. I update this one from my cellphone when I`m out in the feeld.

    http://www.bymarka.net is a resource page a have made about the local wilderness just outside town here.

    http://www.studinatura.blogspot.com is my newest blogg. Here I present pictures that I like, and not the ones that sell. And along with them mye quasi-philosophic thaughts.

    BR Andreas

  2. Mark

    Damn, that shot of Tony’s is pretty awesome. Totally agree on his “Badness!” Need to write that place down on the places to go someday list.

    I appreciate the comments man, and the link. I can completely relate to what you are saying about the difficulty in editing shots like you posted. (Which I like very much BTW). It can be completely dependent on the mood I am in that day versus checking more objective characteristics like sharpness, exposure, etc. What I also find interesting is that images created perhaps by the whole camera movement technique are somewhat whimsical in their creation, and much more contemplative in their viewing later on.

  3. Ron Niebrugge

    Dude – I think your hands are shaking from the cold! Tripod man. 🙂

    Good to hear you are doing well – and gotta agree with those links, they are both badass.

    Chow,

    Ron

  4. Carl D Post author

    Hey Lars

    You have some pages up there, with some cool photos. I like the ‘feet and boots’ page a lot – nice work.

    Hey Mark,

    Tony rocks! 🙂 – how’s that for a pun! I agree about the actual creation process for this kind of thing perhaps playing a role in our relationship to them later – cool concept.

    Hey Ron,

    Are you kidding? It’s not even cold here. Yet. Sposed to get down this weekend.

    Travel safe.

    Cheers

    Carl

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