Follow Your Own Path - David Brooks / NYT (Wed 27 Jun 2012)

"Black Abstraction" Abstraction - Georgia O'Keefe - The Met / New York (Mon 15 Aug 2012)
David Brooks makes some interesting observations (*) about growing up, locality and following your own path:

Don't try to be everyman. Don't pretend you're a member of every community you visit. Don't try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come.

On Black Abstraction (*) - I had known of Georgia O'Keefe through her relationship with Alfred_Stieglitz (*) (I have a book on his life, but can't remember it's title or where it is now). When I walked into the Gallery Hall with her paintings, I knew I would spend some time there. There were many colourful paintings of abstract views of flowers, desert scenes and buffalo skulls. Black Abstraction caught my gaze and I just stood in front of it and thought of many things. Maybe I thought the dark painting reflected how I felt after recent experiences.

Becoming a little abstract and self absorbed (as i do this time of the year). The path through the painting represented my journey since Jenny left us and I had become stuck (*) in this place (I had known this for some time). The little bright white dot gave me hope that there was something still inside me and all it would take was a small sign to get me on my way again. Funnily enough, it would come two days later on a Subway Train. It was such a tiny gesture (*) by a complete stranger.

Maybe the importance to me of such a tiny and simple gesture, indicated how low I had sunk in my journey in life without Jenny there beside me. I don't know really, like most things. Anyway I did like the painting and I am glad this post gave me the opportunity to put the photo here and to research it's background a little more.

To finish, I love this quote by Georgia O'Keefe on Abstraction:

Abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint.

Maybe I could say the same thing except apply it to photography, as my words seem totally inadequate to describe where I have been, what I have felt and where I think I am heading.

On Abstraction - Vivek Haldar (Tue 20 May 2014)

Untitled - Hampstead Heath / London (Sun 18 Aug 2013)
Vivek Haldar (*) writes On Absrtaction (*):

It is telling that one of the central activities in programming is abstraction. Abstraction is nothing but taking a jumble of intricate detail, putting it in a tightly sealed box, and then poking very small, well-defined holes in the box to interact with that jumble. So clean! So much better!

But every abstraction is leaky. Ints carry the baggage of their bit-width. In a perfect world, every int would be a BigInt with unlimited range. But we live in a world where it matters whether ints fit in a hardware register or not. Networks carry the baggage of not being perfect links. In a perfect world, a link between two machines would be an immutable, always-available channel for sending messages between them. But we live in a world where wires break.

via Why technologists want to secede (*) by Vivek Haldar (*).

I like to abstract (*), but it is hard because of the imperfect world Vivek (*) describes and abstracts so well above.

On Street Photography - Chris Farling (Tue 17 Sep 2013)

Chris Farling (*) writes On Street Photography (*):

in general I think Street Photography (*) work should primarily convey the artistic sensibility and personality of its author.

from which Chris expands:

There’s something confessional and diaristic at the heart of Street Photography (*), hidden as it may be through a layer of visual abstraction. Also, I think that the process of navigating the ethical terrain that every street photographer must deal with is one that helps you mature as a person.

via Observe Collective Interview #2: Chris Farling (*) by Eric Kim (*).

On Black and White - Daido Moriyama

Hazelhurst Passageway - Monochrome - Gymea (Sat 08 Dec 2012)
Daido Moriyama (*) on Black and White:

Monochrome has stronger elements of abstraction or symbolism.

There is perhaps an element of taking you to another place.

Thats just the way I respond to things.

Black and white has that physical effect on me.

On Colour, he explains:

Colour is something more vulgar because the colour is making the decisions, it feels vulgar, and that seems to me to be the difference.

via Is Colour Vulgar? (Wed 05 Dec 2012) (*).

Hazelhurst Passageway - Colour - Gymea (Sat 08 Dec 2012)
Not exactly sure what he means by vulgar, but I think the above photos might help understand what he is trying to say, particularly about Black and White / Monochrome. I think colour creates different relationships in the photos where it is used effectively.

Trying - every little counts - Kurt Wallander / Sam Wollaston (Mon 23 May 2016)

Abstraction - Glebe (Fri 29 Jul 2016)

Kurt Wallander on Trying:

"Do we make a difference? Maybe. Sometimes. Not much. What I do know is that we should never stop trying. We need to remember that every little counts …”

via Wallander review: he’s back – and he’s still got it by Sam Wollaston.