Practice Play — My Sight

My wife’s birthday is coming up and we both needed a break from the pandemic. So this past week we packed up the car and headed to Big Sur for a couple of days. This was all about R&R. Photography was a secondary pursuit, for the spaces in between. I was not going to be getting up early to chase the light.

There were no pre-visualized images to capture; no pre-planned shooting locations to visit. I was open to seeing what I saw, and a bit curious about what I might capture. I think trips like this can be a great way to recharge your vision, or take you back to something you’ve been neglecting. Just out shooting, no expectations, see what comes. On this particular journey, I found myself happily engaged in creating abstract, impressionistic images. You might say the trip went by in a blur.

I did not set out to practice abstract photography this week. In fact, I haven’t done much of it lately as I’ve been challenging myself to explore other genres. But impressionism is something I always come back to. I love how abstract images reveal alternate realities that are hidden in plain sight. When we see the world in front of us it is sharp, clear, real. But if you let your eyes go soft, the forms and shapes and colors of the landscape blend into one another. You catch a glimpse of something else lurking beneath the surface. It was this alternate reality that I once again found myself attracted to down in Big Sur.

Making impressionistic images is, for me, all about the flow. You are either in it or you are out of it. It is not just about waving the camera around to see what happens (although that can be part of it). It starts with the right frame of mind. Open, attentive, patient. Joyful. Mindful of patterns, forms, colors and light. It’s about losing focus and learning to see.

As Freeman Patterson writes in his most recent newsletter (which serendipitously dropped as I was in the midst of writing this post): “Art begins somewhere in your unconscious – in your imagination and your dreams.” Photographic tools and techniques, he notes, are the craft we use to convey our imaginings and our dreams. Hone your craft, he advises, but focus on what you see. “Explore what moves you. Be who you are. Tell your own story.”

In retrospect, that is what the images I made in Big Sur were about: practicing my craft, exploring my vision. Practicing at play. I let the camera become my paint brush; the scene my palette. The image at the top of this post was made at sunset as we sat 1,200 feet above the Pacific on our patio perch at the Post Ranch Inn. By panning the camera horizontally during the exposure I was able to elongate the horizontal lines and blur the gradations of color in a way that I hoped would bring out the calm and ethereal feeling of that evening.

Another image I made from the same spot offers a different, moodier take on the scene. By underexposing to silhouette the hillside and vegetation, and gently shaking the camera during the exposure, I was able to give the image an edgier, mysterious feeling.

Subtle changes in camera movement and small variations in shutter speed can lead to dramatically different results. Slower shutter speeds and gentle camera movements lend soft, dreamy feelings to a scene. Faster speeds and more abrupt camera movements create defined lines and give a more chaotic feeling to the image.

When we came upon a fire-scarred tree on a mountain hike, I used an aggressive movement, shaking the camera back and forth at a relatively fast shutter speed, to give the image an impressionistic, painterly feel.

Contrast that with another image I made on the same hike, where gentle camera movement and a slower shutter speed combined to render the sun-dappled trees as mere texture devoid of any connection to reality. The image is all about color and form and light.

Water is also a lovely way to play with these techniques. The way water moves and the manner in which light bounces off of it can add yet another dimension to the image.

On our way down the coast, we stopped for a bit at San Grigorio Beach, where the rippled light in the lagoon captured my attention. Shaking the camera while rotating it around the ripples transformed the lagoon into a surreal collection of patterns and lines and light.

In another image I made of the lagoon I used just a tiny bit of intentional camera shake – you can see the movement in the light trails of the highlights — to create a different feeling. The subtle movement of the camera left the overall form of the image undisturbed, while accentuating the lines and softening the harsh highlights.

The more you practice these techniques the more you see. One image often opens your eyes to another. The morning after our stop at the beach, I was wandering around the hotel grounds when ripples in the Inn’s meditation pool caught my eye. The morning light and rippled water combined to create multicolor reflections off the pool’s metallic surface.

As I played with the scene, I rotated the camera more quickly than I had at the beach, sometimes completing an entire revolution during a relatively short exposure. The resulting images preserved and elongated the ripples, creating a pleasing melange of abstract color, line and form. You may find it interesting to note that the final two images in this post — of the monochrome beach ripples and the colorful abstract of the infinity pool — were both made with the exact same exposure, even though the resulting images are quite different.

The images I made in Big Sur reinforced, again, the power of play. Of the joy of being in the moment, free from plans and expectations. Of the importance of refusing to give in to frustration when the day or the location or the light is not what you were seeking.

The next time you are out and about take a look around and see what calls to you. Move in, not through, the world. Pay attention to what you notice. Then move the camera around and see what happens. Point the lens at what first caught your eye, then look outward from there. Slow the shutter speed (a neutral density filter helps) and move the camera in a way that accentuates a form, or blends one feature into another Experiment. Play. But be thoughtful and deliberate as well. Have fun. Be curious. Be patient and persistent. Keep at it.

You may be surprised by what your mind’s eye sees.

“Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia, “Scarlet Begonias”

Whether or not you enjoy creating abstract, impressionistic images I cannot recommend Freeman Patterson’s periodic letters highly enough. Check out his website and subscribe to his newsletter. You will not be disappointed.

Keep an eye on my Fresh gallery if you want to see more of the images I made in Big Sur, which I will be posting on the Play and Out and About pages over the next few weeks. If you want to see more of my abstract work, check out the book I published on Blurb last year describing my journey of learning to see. (Just click the preview button to see the whole book; this is not a sales pitch.) And if you’ve liked watching me play with my food recently, head over to my Food gallery to see what I’ve been eating this week.