Abstraction in Nature – Revisited!

March 12, 2024  |  Topics: Spotlight, Stories

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By Eddee Daniel

“To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them.” – Ben Shahn

Back by popular demand! Well, my previous installment of abstract images derived from my observations of nature at least received enough positive comments to warrant a second installment.

While the above quote by Ben Shahn, a social realist painter from the early 20^th Century, doesn’t mention photography, I think it is especially apt in this context. After all, painting generally involves constructing an image out of a blank canvas while photography is all about separating a portion of the seen world from its surroundings. The world seen in these images remains identifiable—leaves, fungi, tree bark, etc.—but because of the separation from their surroundings the subjects of the compositions are, arguably, the abstract qualities of line, shape, color and texture rather than the objects themselves.

The simple act of framing results in an abstraction. One way of describing the art of photography is to call out the act of framing. One doesn’t take a photograph, as is commonly said, but rather one frames what is seen. A photograph is not simply a record of observed reality, but a composition contained within the frame of the image.

All compositions, no matter how “realistic” can be described in abstract terms. We tend to refer to them as “abstract” only when the qualities mentioned above assume a greater part of our attention than the realistic content. The most abstract photographs are those in which the original content of seen reality is either hard to identify or no longer captures the viewer’s interest.

The discerning eye will notice that all of the images in this installment (unlike my previous one) are square. This arbitrary framing choice is a deliberate attempt to emphasize the compositions as abstract. To quote myself from one of my books (which is full of square images), the square is “a highly refined geometric shape rarely found in nature.” That book, entitled Synecdoche, is hardly unique. Over the years I have been quite fond of square compositions and have created a number of books incorporating them. I believe that this simple framing choice creates a subtle tension between the realistic content of an image and its fundamental abstract character as an art object—especially in otherwise less abstract images.

Every photograph is a dance between form and content. The best ones create a synthesis of the two in which neither is distinguishable from the other.

“Abstraction is itself an abstract word and has no single meaning … Every word in our language is abstract, because it represents something else.” – Eric Maisel

Because they are so abstract and removed from their original context, it might be tempting to ignore the fact that these images do derive from specific places. This being A Wealth of Nature, however, with its mission of inspiring the reader to explore area parks and preserves, the captions reveal the locations and provide links to their Find-a-Park pages.

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Speaking of observing nature and being inspired by it, I was introduced recently to singer-songwriter and poet Carrie Newcomer (leaping from one kind of abstraction to another). Contrary to her name, she is not a newcomer and now that I’ve listened to a bit of her work I’m surprised I’ve never done so before. Here are the lyrics to a song that speaks to my own process as I make my way through the natural world:

Path Through the Evening Woods by Carrie Newcomer

There are last year’s leaves scattered on the ground,
Like countless letters of tan and brown,
I remember when they were drifting down,
As I walk this path through the evening woods.

There are muddy tracks of doe and fawn,
A flash of fox that was here and gone.
I can sense the souls of those who’ve passed on,
As I walk this path through the evening woods.

May I sing tonight like a whippoorwill,
As the sun sinks low behind the hill.
May I find some peace when the world goes still,
As I walk this path through the evening woods.

The trees draw a circle in the canopy
Like a cloud of ancestors gathering.
Nodding and smiling and whispering
On this path through the evening woods.

We were both like new roses on the stem,
And the world was still one big shining gem.
But oh we were so much younger then,
As we walked this path through the evening woods.

I was born to be a restless soul,
May I lean where love leads me to go,
May I be ever mindful of what I’ll never know,
As I walk this path through the evening woods.

Related post:

Finding Joy in Abstract Nature Photography

More of Eddee’s photography can be found on his personal website at eddeedaniel.com which includes a list of his books, most of which are available online.

Eddee Daniel is a board member of Preserve Our Parks. The quotes by Ben Shahn and Eric Maisel are from the website of John Paul Caponigro

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