Abstract Forms
Abstract photography shows the relationship between photography and abstraction. Unlike other visual art forms which begin with a black space or surface that has to be filled by the artist, photography begins with a world full of information. The conventional job of the photographer is to select and capture a small portion of reality in a relatively faithful manner. However, it could be argued that all art, including photography, is essentially abstract. Photographs are versions of reality. They are flat. They have edges. Photographs are artful selections. They are silent. In the early years of photography, certain artists understood this aspect of the medium and emphasised the abstract qualities of photographs and the disinterested eye of the camera. This tradition of abstraction in photography continues to the present day.
Abstract Constructions
Abstract Forms can be created with objects as simple as a piece of paper, there are a variety of artists who demonstrate as such beginning with;
Francis Bruguière
Francis Bruguière was an American photographer who moved to London in 1928 where he started to experiment with non representational photography, this meant that he took image of natural objects that are not represented realistically. These, are a few examples of the cut paper abstractions he photographed. The photographer uses different patterns within the paper and light to create a variety of different shapes and textures.
Jaroslav Rössler
Rössler was a Czech avant-garde photographer who became known for combining different styles of modern photography such as cubism, futurism, new objectivity, and abstraction. His photographs are often reduced to simple shapes and lines to help bring out the contrast between light and shade. He also experimented with a wide range of techniques and processes including photograms and double exposures.
Tamara Lorenz
German artist Tamara Lorenz creates various combinations with coloured paper which she then photographs to show their abstract properties. She used strong colours which contrasts in itself in addition to the lines, shapes, tones and textures in her images. The paper is folded and crafted in such a way that the viewer doesn't focus on the lines
My Response;
Evaluation
I think that these images worked out okay because you can't clearly tell that they are paper. The effect I was going for was to bring out the various lines in the images without showing the background. I decided to use coloured paper that contrasted with each other as this meant that the shadows and the black sharp lines within the images would stand out. This meant that you would focus on the black lines and the shapes and not anything else, for some of the images I have used black paper to remove the light as I felt that this would help the dark coloured paper have an effect.