burnt embers

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I have been really enjoying other people’s abstract photographs, which have inspired this, my first venture, into abstraction. In some ways I can’t bear to go the whole way, thus many images are anchored to something recognizable. I don’t know enough (or really anything) about composition, which is inhibiting. Thus, these pictures should be considered. in some senses, ‘juvenilia’. Fortunately I am long past the normal juvenile hypersensitivity to criticism. So, your comments will be much appreciated. My son’s advice, expressed in general terms, is that I need some classes in composition and I would agree. These images are mostly what feels right when I was cropping macro shots of monkey puzzle leaves. One or two of them I am not completely sure do feel right. And the top one might look better rotated 90 degrees, but that went against the grain so I did not publish it like that.

I really like monkey puzzle trees and Victoria is littered with them. This is a young one in Beacon Hill Park. Previously I have posted about one in Ross Bay Cemetery. There is even a small one in my garden.

In these photos all the strips of green or white or yellow are monkey puzzle branches lit in different ways – usually looking into the sun. For instance, in the top photo the black line is the stem of a branch, the green is the upper leaves and the white is intense reflections from the leaves on the lower side of the branch.  Once again I was using my 100mm/f4 SMC Takumar macro on a Canon EOS 5Dii.

There is something marine about this photo.

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This image hurts my eyes a bit, probably because there is nowhere for them to settle. I like it, but am not sure it makes for a good photo.

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