Edward Weston Black and White Abstract

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko

01/27/2011 09:17:21 AM · #29

Me too... thank goodness I didn't whip it.

ubique

Olympus PEN-F

01/27/2011 09:38:44 AM · #30

In spite of all these dreadful, cringe-inducing one-liners, please make this a challenge theme Langdon. It's the perfect riposte to rubber ducks and milk-mouth portraits.

Sony SAL-16105 DT 16-105mm

01/27/2011 09:39:56 AM · #31

Incidentally, Google images will reveal the most varied of his body of work.

Zodiac

Sony DSC-H9

01/27/2011 09:45:45 AM · #32

Yes, I have a rather naughty looking potato here which could be a fun one to try and emulate! I need something to get me taking photos again at least.

LandzEnca

Samsung TL500

01/27/2011 09:47:53 AM · #33

yes please, although i would prefer that it starts on a wednesday, rather than a monday.

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

01/27/2011 09:48:39 AM · #34

Really needs Advanced though. In my view.

tnun

Ricoh GR III

01/27/2011 05:49:45 PM · #35

Originally posted by Zodiac:

Yes, I have a rather naughty looking potato here which could be a fun one to try and emulate! I need something to get me taking photos again at least.

Oh shoot! I had some REALLY naughty tomatoes last summer .....

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

01/27/2011 06:21:46 PM · #36

Originally posted by Louis:

Edward Weston is considered a major influence on photography, and a master of form. He is particularly known for his high-contrast abstracts using natural lines and curves, such as those found in peppers, shells, and the human body. Take an abstract black and white photograph that reflects Weston's heightened sense of form.

Hmmm ... I'm not sure I can do too much better than I did the last time ... :-(

Otherwise I like the idea ... :-)

01/27/2011 07:01:17 PM · #37

I love Weston, and I do like the challenge a lot. However, there is one word in the suggested theme which may cause a lot of grief and DNMC calls... "abstract". What constitutes abstract? Most of best known Weston images are not abstract in the ordinary sense because it is obvious what is shot. Of course they are about the shape and light much more than they are about the subject itself, but still, some (many) might argue that a photo of a pepper, a shell, or a naked body is not an abstract.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/27/2011 07:08:47 PM · #38

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Hmmm ... I'm not sure I can do too much better than I did the last time ... :-(

..me too [since I managed to snatch a ribbon the last time around :)]

...BTW, is this abstract enough? :)

Message edited by author 2011-01-27 19:16:21.

ShutterPug

Canon EOS-6D

01/27/2011 07:11:33 PM · #39

excellent choice.

CJinCA

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

01/27/2011 07:12:50 PM · #40

Originally posted by LevT:

I'm so glad you mentioned this as I thought the exact same thing. I would enter this one as long as it wasn't stated as an "abstract" challenge. After looking at the images in the posted link I thought of quite a few ideas to shoot, but none of them would be considered "abstract".

hihosilver

Nikon D200

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED

01/27/2011 07:51:49 PM · #41

Yikes! I think we all suffer from Pepper Envy...

::promptly faints::

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/27/2011 09:37:11 PM · #42

Originally posted by LevT:

It's very sad to me how the meaning of the word "abstract" has been altered, for no good reason. Abstract can be used as a verb, and adjective, and a noun. The verb "to abstract" means, very precisely, "to reduce a thing to its essentials". You can, for example, abstract a book, and then you can publish the abstract, and that's a condensed version of the book, which people can read to decide whether or not they should read the book for more detail. Lev, you're certainly aware of abstracts in that sense, because you're a physicist and live in the academic world.

So in the purest, most literal sense of the word, Weston's peppers and other vegetables are abstractions that reduce the objects to their essential forms. Weston, Adams, Wynn Bullock, Morley Baer, all those guys considered the work they did with stones and driftwood at Point Lobos to be abstractions, even though they are recognizable objects.

R.

spiritualspatula

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

01/27/2011 09:44:53 PM · #43

But of course, Robert. I think

LevT's concern is for voting, and the frustration that voters and votees generally experience in such challenges. All the "Not sure this is abstract" comments and whatnot, waffling in the forums determining what is and isn't abstract. While an individual can have no issue with the description, expecting the masses to uniformly interpret something that has historically been up for debate will only make you lose hair.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/27/2011 09:52:04 PM · #44

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

But of course, Robert. I think LevT's concern is for voting, and the frustration that voters and votees generally experience in such challenges. All the "Not sure this is abstract" comments and whatnot, waffling in the forums determining what is and isn't abstract. While an individual can have no issue with the description, expecting the masses to uniformly interpret something that has historically been up for debate will only make you lose hair.

Oh, quite. I agree completely. That's why I'm upset that the concept "abstract" has gone so far astray, that we can't use the word properly and expect across-the-board comprehension. Bummer.

By all means, change the challenge title or suffer the indignity of having actual, Weston-like images DNMC'd right out of the challenge.

R.

LandzEnca

Samsung TL500

Sony SAL-16105 DT 16-105mm

01/27/2011 09:57:42 PM · #45

I think the safest approach would then be to just title this challenge as In the Style of Edward Weston, with nothing much in the description other than a link to his works. That would avoid any restriction on both the entrants' and audience' imagination.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

01/27/2011 09:59:13 PM · #46

Robert, I certainly know what an abstract of a book or a paper is, wrote plenty of those myself :). And you are right that to abstract is to reduce the subject to its essentials. But there is a difference here. Weston's pepper IS a pepper, not an abstraction or a reduction of a pepper, IMO. If you will, it is shot in a specific way to abstract, or rather conjure a human body, sure, but it is also a pepper in full luminous detail. So I would distinguish that from more "traditional" abstract art (which sometimes also tellingly called non-figurative).

From wikipedia:

"Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world..."

spiritualspatula

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

01/27/2011 10:10:27 PM · #47

Originally posted by LevT:

The key to this is a degree. There is no extent given, no measuring stick, which is what Robert is saying. You can have off the wall abstractions that bear little to no resemblance to their "original form," and you can have something which has been abstracted to some degree, as in Robert's example of texts. An abstraction of Moby Dick could consist of this: "w" or it could consist of an explanation of characters and general themes. They are both valid, same with in photography.
The infamous pepper does not at first look simply like a pepper, so I'd say there is certainly a degree of independence. Robert's whole point is that the distinction today is so black and white, what you're calling "traditional" abstract art is an unnecessary distinction, and may perhaps miss the mark and (in a very ironic fashion) oversimplify the idea of abstracts ;)

01/27/2011 10:21:31 PM · #48

of course there is no black and white here (pardon the pun), but you would agree that Weston is much closer to a pure figurative art than say Kandinsky. There is a danger in narrowing a definition too much, but broadening it too wide is also not without pitfalls. After all, ANY work of art is an abstraction to a certain degree of the object being depicted. Would you agree with that? So, all art is abstract?