“When everything looks unusual around you, your eyes and your mind mostly need anything usual! Unfamiliar disturbs us; familiar comforts us! But for the wise man, unusual is more precious than the usual because it offers us a new way, a new vision, a new idea, a new world!”
― Mehmet Murat Ildan
Perhaps, what I enjoy most about creating these photo abstractions is that they slightly disturb. I can photograph a familiar scene and it suddenly appears different. The main elements are still familiar and recognizable, but there is a slight shift in what is being seen. The image takes on a whole new meaning and forces me to reconsider what I am looking at.
For example, this winding path is about a five minute walk from my house. I’ve walked it hundreds of times, in all seasons. Yet, when I view it rendered like this, it appears to be a different place. It still has hints of familiarity, just enough to evoke the memory of the place, but I find my eyes drifting across the scene, considering aspects of it that I had not noticed before.
As I consider most of my recent pieces, that same element exists in all of them: a hit of the familiar and the disturbance caused by a different viewpoint, created by the movement . Perhaps there is a lesson in this, as we live in our all too familiar world, passing by what we consider mundane and uninspiring. A little disturbance might just change our perception. Something to consider?
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD@78mm
1/4 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100
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