Category Archives: Abstract

Last (?) shot of winter

Posted on by
1

We got hit by an odd late-winter storm the other day, and here’s what we woke up to:

Last (?) shot of winter

This was the result of a storm that was supposed to dump a foot or more of snow on us, but wound up leaving us maybe an inch. And since the storm hit town quickly (temperature dropped by 40 degrees F in a matter of a few hours), it landed on warm pavement.

Shot of winter -- big

So for at least a few hours the next morning, I could play with my camera (in super cold temps) with this unusual snow pattern — only surviving over the joints between our patio pavers.

Gridded reflections

Posted on by
1

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is a fun place to skulk around in, should you ever be in town. Aside from all the great natural history material on display, the building itself has been added on to more times than I can count — leading to some interesting interior architecture.

Gridded reflections

I made this image in one of the building’s atriums (atria?), that once was a courtyard but since has been closed in and covered with a glass roof. Polished metallic wall tiles lead to interesting reflections and intersecting geometries.

Radiating

Posted on by
1

I’ve really taken a liking lately to architectural abstracts — little interesting bits of texture and pattern that you’ll find while wandering through the built environment. Along those lines, I spotted this on a radiator at the Grant-Humphreys Mansion in Denver:

Repetitive

I made this image during this year’s Doors Open Denver event — a fantastic excuse for a little architectural exploration if you’re in Denver in April!

Crystaline

Posted on by
1

As the saying goes, if you’re looking for a photographic subject, and don’t see anything in your surroundings — look up / look down!

Crystaline

This is a shot of a chandelier in a ballroom at Filoli Gardens south of San Francisco. I didn’t *quite* get things centered (I was in a crowd, so couldn’t do my usual stunt of laying on the floor for this shot), but I still like the symmetry…

Night snow

Posted on by
1

So a few months back, we got a late afternoon dusting of very sticky wet snow — the immediate result was an odd vertical ridge of snow on top of all our trees’ branches. So lit only by our porch light, I had to grab a shot of this unusual scene:

Night snow

It took a little help from Topaz Adjust to bring out the contrast in what’s admittedly a very abstract image…

Bubbles in the grass

Posted on by
1

Another quick reminder to be open to images even when / where you weren’t expecting them:

Bubbles in the grass

I caught this image when my daughter and I were walking around looking at the balloons at this year’s Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. One of the trinkets on sale at the fiesta’s concession booths was a battery-powered bubble blower. Here, a kid had just run past blowing bubbles — thanks to an overnight rain, the grass was still wet, so the bubbles didn’t pop on contact with the ground.

The technicolor reflections make for a fun (semi-abstract) shadow self-portrait…

The start of a new tradition

Posted on by
3

Once upon a time, I thought an “easy” way to sell some of my photography would be by way of iPad and iPhone wallpaper. But it turns out I really don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning how to program for the iPad, and besides there are a lot of free wallpapers out there.

And it’s hard to compete with free.

So my current plan is to find some other way to help pay for my photographic equipment, and just give away iPad and iPhone wallpaper. I’m going to give away one piece of wallpaper each week — and it’s free both as in beer (no cost) and as in speech (do what you want with it, within Creative Commons limits).

Glass block back-lit

Here’s the first free wallpaper (click on it to get to the Flickr page where you can download the full-size image). It’s a backlit shot of a glass block (part of an art installation) at a local light rail station.