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Abstraction- The art of seeing.
Abstraction- The art of seeing.
10/02/2019
With the club’s March Digital Image Competition “Abstract” fast approaching, members were delighted to attend an evening at which Geoff Wood (Bath Camera Club)gave an insightful talk on “Abstractions” subtitled “The Art of Seeing”
We were eager to make a note of his definition as well as his likes and dislikes, as Geoff will actually judge the competition, so his stated love of photos depicting “bits of detail others might miss” gave us a few clues, as did his encouragement to “home in on the details and capture the point of interest”, when defining the art of abstraction as “a departure from reality”.
Geoff’s love of photography appears to have been shared by his father and uncle from whom he has inherited a number of artefacts, prints and images from the archives of the history of photography. We were led to a better understanding of abstraction from grainy black and white portraiture and record shots of the Victorian era, via a fascinating narrative of the development of modern day photography alongside the artistic and increasingly creative works of Monet, Cezanne and Picasso. Their experiments with colour form and pigment encouraged early photographers to push their equipment to the limits, and to move beyond simple recording to an art form in which elements were arranged to attract the eye, where pattern and shape and form were seen as if for the first time, from an alternative viewpoint, and in which improving technology provided an ever changing canvas upon which to focus, blur and project.
Geoff’s mantra of “the more you look, the more you see” and his skilfully arranged slideshow of his own and others’ work in the field certainly got us all thinking about photos already in our collection, and those that might be possible to create in the month to come. There were plenty of ideas to ponder; everyday objects arranged around rules of thirds and Fibonacci ratios, shells and peppers from unusual viewpoints or presented against unfamiliar backgrounds are well within our capabilities, and we all have access to the wonders of raindrops on bathroom and other windows. The evening was an inspiration and we look forward to Geoff’s return in March to judge our own efforts.
The snow prevented our Annual dinner last week and that, together with the 2018 awards will now take place at the end of March. February Open prints were handed in last night for judging in two weeks time. We travel to Exeter for the SW DIPIC competition on Sunday 10th, and compete against Warminster on Saturday 16th. It's a busy time at NRPS!
Next Thursday we spend an evening with Ivy Goatcher. It’s always good to see what she has been up to!
Jenny Short 26.01.19
We were eager to make a note of his definition as well as his likes and dislikes, as Geoff will actually judge the competition, so his stated love of photos depicting “bits of detail others might miss” gave us a few clues, as did his encouragement to “home in on the details and capture the point of interest”, when defining the art of abstraction as “a departure from reality”.
Geoff’s love of photography appears to have been shared by his father and uncle from whom he has inherited a number of artefacts, prints and images from the archives of the history of photography. We were led to a better understanding of abstraction from grainy black and white portraiture and record shots of the Victorian era, via a fascinating narrative of the development of modern day photography alongside the artistic and increasingly creative works of Monet, Cezanne and Picasso. Their experiments with colour form and pigment encouraged early photographers to push their equipment to the limits, and to move beyond simple recording to an art form in which elements were arranged to attract the eye, where pattern and shape and form were seen as if for the first time, from an alternative viewpoint, and in which improving technology provided an ever changing canvas upon which to focus, blur and project.
Geoff’s mantra of “the more you look, the more you see” and his skilfully arranged slideshow of his own and others’ work in the field certainly got us all thinking about photos already in our collection, and those that might be possible to create in the month to come. There were plenty of ideas to ponder; everyday objects arranged around rules of thirds and Fibonacci ratios, shells and peppers from unusual viewpoints or presented against unfamiliar backgrounds are well within our capabilities, and we all have access to the wonders of raindrops on bathroom and other windows. The evening was an inspiration and we look forward to Geoff’s return in March to judge our own efforts.
The snow prevented our Annual dinner last week and that, together with the 2018 awards will now take place at the end of March. February Open prints were handed in last night for judging in two weeks time. We travel to Exeter for the SW DIPIC competition on Sunday 10th, and compete against Warminster on Saturday 16th. It's a busy time at NRPS!
Next Thursday we spend an evening with Ivy Goatcher. It’s always good to see what she has been up to!
Jenny Short 26.01.19