Abstract! I love looking for abstracts in nature! Thank you, Patti, for making abstract our Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week. Patti Moed invites us to break the rules and go beyond the traditional realistic image of an object, scene, or element.
Look close enough and you can find abstract elements in all aspects of the natural world – be it animal
Is it a psychedelic palm tree? Or just… peacock feathers?
mineral
Is this just a rock formation – or is it really the Earth Mother giving birth?
or vegetable
Whoa! This one makes me dizzy!
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s animal, mineral, or vegetable. When I looked through some of my files, I was struck by the similarities in these 2 images, taken 1,000 miles apart of 2 completely different substances. Can you tell which one is wood and which one is stone?
Stone or wood?Wood or stone?
I especially like looking for the abstract in land forms. Sometimes it’s all about the angular with severe sharp lines –
Desolation Canyon
And sometimes it’s all soft, sensuous curves –
Ibex Sand Dunes
Water is a great medium for abstract photography, too.
Is it just a rainbow in a waterfall? Or is it one of those Hubble spacecraft images of a strange nebula in some far distant galaxy?
The next time you go out to play, try some abstract photography. You never know what worlds you may see if you look past the surface of an object’s everyday appearance!
I’ve always been more of a mountain girl than an ocean girl. I did spend a couple of winters in the Florida Keys in my early 20s. It was too flat for me. I got homesick for vertical topography.
Wild Waves at Point Pinos, CA
Since then, other than one winter in Hawaii, I’ve made the mountains and the deserts my home. Although I’d occasionally visit the coast on my way somewhere else, I never really spent much time there.
That changed a couple of winters ago when I took up petsitting. I’ve finally had a few opportunities to live near, and get to know, the shore and its many moods, spending quality time on the Pacific Coast beaches in Washington,Oregon, and California.
I’ve learned to love the sea in its many moods –
calm
Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington
or wild,
Crashing surf at Point Lobos, Central California coast
sunny,
Seal Rocks, Oregon
foggy,
Beach 4, Olympic Coast, WA
or stormy.
God rays at sunset, Long Beach Peninsula, WA
I like the big waves of winter a lot. I could watch them for hours.
I love watching big waves.
But what I like the best are the sunsets. Sometimes I shoot generic sunsets – just sky, waves, and sand.
Sunset on the Oregon Coast
But often I try to find a silhouette the foreground to set off the sunset. Sometimes I use nature-
Long Beach Peninsula sunset, WA
sometimes not.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse, CA
When was the last time you caught a sunset at the sea?
Thanks, Patti, for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Nature – now that’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart! What a broad category! Where do I begin?
Patti may be a city girl, but I’m a wilderness woman, and my whole life revolves around nature. From the mountains
Denali
to the grasslands,
Steamboat Rock State Park, WA
to the ocean,
Watching the waves in Monterey Bay
from the forests
Mendocino National Forest
to the desert.
Tucson Mountain Park
Immersing yourself in nature means taking the time to observe the little details
Leaf. Lichen and Wood
as well as the big picture.
Death Valley National Park
Water is such an integral part of nature.
Water is life.
Nature is life – from the tallest trees
Redwoods
to the tiniest flower.
Very tall belly flower! Bigelow Mimulus
Nature is animals, from the very big
Bull Elephant Seal
to the very small
The bug is more beautful than the flower!
and all shapes and sizes in between,
Pronghorn Antelope
from the multitudes
Willits feeding on the tidal flats.
to each unique individual.
Snowy Egret at San Simeon
Nature- It will save your soul and make you whole.
It rained every day since I hit the coast – not all day every day, but at some time during most days and certainly every night. I went from the high 90’s for 2 weeks in the desert to this. Be careful what you ask for. It was especially rainy throughout my travels up the Oregon Coast.
Cape Perpetua
I know it’s Oregon – but, jeez Louise this is ridiculous! I know that my timing is off. I was called back to my ranger job in Alaska a month earlier than planned, and it has knocked all my plans off schedule.
My timing was off another way, too. On the few instances when the sun was shining, it was nearly always high tide, which makes it a bit difficult to take l-o-n-g walks on the beach and explore tidal pools. I did catch part of one tidal pool, though. All anemones, no starfish.
Land’s End near Newport
I stayed overnight near Cannon Beach, since in my opinion, it is the most picturesque part of the Oregon Coast. It was foggy and misty and cold, too much so for good photography. I was hoping for better weather in the morning. Yeah, right. Add torrential downpours and wind to the mix. The weather was so ugly you couldn’t even SEE the sea stacks, much less photograph them.
I traveled up the Olympic Coast in Washington. I saw a beautiful beach, Ruby Beach, and the rain had subsided to a fine drizzle. However, it was after 7PM and I was chasing daylight, 20 miles from the next town. I told myself I would have to come back someday.
I got about 5 miles down the road, and out of nowhere, there appeared a sign – Hostel! Wow, a cheap, dry place to spend the night – and MAYBE I can try for Ruby Beach again in the morning!
The Rain Forest Hostel is a rather unusual place. The owner, Jimmy, is a Bernie Sanders supporter and espouses Bernie’s philosophy. One of Bernie’s ideas was to develop a national sense of community. Jimmy’s way of supporting this idea is to sponsor this hostel. Basically he is offering folks a bed in his home. Not quite up to IYH standards, but you can’t beat the price. There is no set price, but the suggested donation is $10. If you can afford more, great, the extra will help cover for those who cannot afford $10! The other thing is you should help with a chore before you leave (I vacuumed). Pretty kind of Jimmy to share his home in the rain forest. I certainly appreciated this refuge from the rain!
Ruby Beach
Back to Ruby Beach the next morning. It was high tide. Ah well, no tide pools or walking the beach, but I can still go down and do photography. It’s actually not raining for a moment. I walk all the way down from the bluff to the beach – and the minute I get there – the heavens break open! I can hardly see the sea stack a hundred yards away! Seems I can’t catch a break on the coast this trip.
The Pacific Northwest Coast is incredibly beautiful. I will certainly be back. But this trip has convinced me, more than ever, that I am a lizard, not a frog, more comfortable with too dry than too wet. How about you?
I got about 5 miles down the road, and out of nowhere, there appeared a sign – Hostel! Wow, a cheap, dry place to spend the night – and MAYBE I can try for Ruby Beach again in the morning!
