ABSTRACTS Inspiration — WildArt Photographer of the Year

When Victoria Hillman and I sat down and talked about her proposed competition category topic ABSTRACTS, I knew that it would be one of the more challenging rounds of the competition. As a wildlife photographer, most of my own images have their very core at the literal end of the spectrum; although in recent years I have become a lot more experimental in my photography, having been influenced by the work of so many talented photographers, including Victoria.

But how many images would I have that would make suitable competition entries, and what exactly would I consider an abstract image to be? Those that have followed the competition for a while and have seen some of the Facebook live discussions will know that the competition topics are deliberately broad to allow plenty of scope for interpretation. ABSTRACTS is no different, so I set about trawling through my image archives to see what I had lurking in their depths and was surprised by what I found. I thought I would share a handful of these with you as inspiration for your own entries.

Above: Close up details of feather, fur, scales, etc make great subjects for ABSTRACTS. ©Rob Read

I spend a reasonable amount of time photographing the birds in my garden that come regularly to the feeders. Most of the time, I’ll be in a small pop-up hide or under a bit of camouflage netting so as not to scare some of the shyer species. Occasionally, I’ll get birds coming right underneath my feet, oblivious to the fact that I’m there. Earlier this year, I had a male Pheasant do just this and it allowed me to take some images of its beautiful plumage. Close up details like this make great abstract images.

Large bird flocks always make great photographic subjects; Starling murmurations and flocks of coastal waders are good examples of large flocks that one can experiment with and I see plenty of images of the shapes these flocks can make in the sky. When I visited a well-known winter Starling roost a couple of years ago, I decided on a few differing approaches including this tighter shot of the main body of birds. This is quite an abstract shot, and I also experimented with longer exposures to introduce motion blur, and there are endless possibilities for doing something a little different.

I spend quite a lot of my time in woodlands as there are so many photographic subjects and so much change throughout the course of a year. I’ve always found photographing trees quite tricky, literally trying to see the wood for the trees! But a least they don’t fly or run away, and they can be great subjects for creating abstract images. Victoria has some great images of autumn leaves, an example of which is shown here. But I like to experiment with blur, and with a static subject, that means moving the camera during a long exposure, or zooming the lens in and out. These methods can create some really interesting patterns and textures as these two examples show.

Above: Rotating the lens during a long exposure produced the effect. Below: Another long exposure, this time zooming the lens creates a different image. Both images ©Rob Read.

Victoria’s leaf abstracts employ a very shallow depth of field created using a long focal length macro lens and a wide open aperture. But it is not only trees and plants that work with this approach. A few weeks ago I spent a morning photographing damselflies as they warmed themselves up for the day on bankside vegetation. In the example shown, only the eyes and face are in focus, the rest melting away to give only a hint of colour and body form.

Above: A shallow depth of field approach was made with this damselfly to create soft textures. ©Rob Read

I’ve visited the Island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel a few times and it is a wonderful place full of amazing wildlife from seabirds to rare plants. But the weather at times is not kind, and it is often lashed by heavy rain and howling winds, or engulfed in sea fog for days on end. These conditions aren’t exactly ideal for photography, but I get restless stuck inside all day. On one particular rain-soaked morning, I searched for photographic inspiration on the beach by the landing jetty and became fascinated by the bright green of the seaweed-covered rocks. I experimented with long exposures and camera movement to create interesting patterns. I had forgotten about these images entirely until I looked through my archive.

Above: Rainy days can be great to experiment with different approaches on subjects usually ignored. ©Rob Read

Nature is full of amazing patterns, textures and forms allowing endless scope for the creation of imaginative natural abstract images. If you slow down, take your time and look closely you will see that these intimate details can make amazing photographic subjects. Abstracts is the perfect category to really let your artistic side take over and portray the natural world in a unique way. Don’t be shy; be bold, take some risks and experiment with different subjects and techniques to show nature in a different light.

When I looked carefully through my archive, I realised I had taken way more abstract images than I had imagined. I hope that by sharing these few examples I have inspired you to look through your own archives, or go out and take some fresh material and experiment. June is the perfect month (in the northern hemisphere at least) as the daylight hours are long and the potential subjects plentiful. ABSTRACTS – go on, have a go and you may surprise yourself.

Rob Read. June 2021.