Falling Into Winter 2022
Here are a selection of my favorite photos taken in late-September, October and November 2022, in Edmonton:
And some abstracted photos from mid-October:
Into November, with a rather sharp transition to winter:
Bending Space and Light to See the Unimaginable
I was doing some experimentation with transforming an image. In this case, I found a simple photo of light shining through some blinds onto my kitchen floor to be interesting – but not that interesting. However I thought that there might be something there, so I played around with the image on my phone, primarily manipulating it in various ways using the Tiny Planet app. I came up with a variety of compositions that I think are quite intriguing.
And visual variations after different digital manipulations:
I like the way these camera apps can let me see differently, to envision compositions that I couldn’t have imagined and which could be quite successful as references or inspiration for paintings.
The Best of My Summer 2022 Photos
Here are some of my favorite photos (in a variety of styles) taken in July, August and early-September of 2022, in the Edmonton’s: river valley:
Flowers of summer:
Here are some favorite black and white or monochrome photos:
In early August I captured some interesting geometric abstracts mostly from at MacEwan University:
and in an abstract vein, using Intentional Camera Movement:
And a few more nature-y images from late summer:
Finally a monochrome photo of Dawson Bridge, with a late-summer evening haze:
Landscape/Nature Photo Art – Spring/Early-Summer 2022
Here are a collection of photos captured from late April into the middle June, 2022, mostly from the river valley at Edmonton, Canada.
The following set of photos are of flowers in bloom at the St. Albert Botanic Park (2022 June 20)
Back in the Paint
I’ve been in a bit of a painting slump for many months (dare I say years?), but recently I’ve been inspired to finish off a few abstracts that I had begun quite a while back, These are all non-representational works using acrylic paints and media, on 30 by 30 cm (12×12″) canvas.
I am expecting/hoping to exhibit these works as part of a group show in September 2022.
Winter’s Arrival (A Photo Gallery)
Here is my latest collection of photos, featuring the more abstract qualities of subtle textures and forms, of snow and ice in the landscape.
These images come from Edmonton’s river valley in the third week of November (2021), just after our first snowfall of the season.
Fall Photo Abstraction (Part 4)
Here is another set of interesting photos abstractions from my stroll along the colorful paths in Edmonton’s river valley.
Fall Photo Abstractions (Part 2)
In Part 1 I shared a collection of images in which the photos were still recognizable as landscapes, paths, trees, etc. In this collection, the abstractions are pushed so that the interest is just in the color, forms and composition.
Fall Photo Abstractions (Part 1)
With the colors of autumn becoming brighter and more abundant I have undertaken a project to create some new photo abstractions from the landscape. All of these images start with long exposure photos with deliberate camera motions of different types during the exposure. I then digitally post-process the images to enhance exposure, contrast and color saturation.
This first collection features abstracted images of landscapes. A follow-up post will feature photo abstractions, that while derived from the same landscapes, will not have readily discernible landscape elements.
(All images: Copyright Randall Talbot 2021)
Abstracting November 2011
I’m going back in my archives to 2011 (November 25) for these never-before-presented camera-motion abstract photos:
Spring Revisited (Part 2)
In Part 1, I shared 5 abstract photo images, taken in the Edmonton river valley on a beautiful spring day in May of 2013. Here area few more images conveying the color and lines of spring:
Maximum Green
Scratchy Lines
Horizontal Bands of Spring
Wet Golden
White Trunks Against Spring Green
Spring Revisited (Part 1)
In the depths of a dull November day I reached back in my photos archives for some memories of spring to brighten my mood.
I found some photos from May 20th of 2013 that captured the light, mood and color of spring. After tweaking these camera-motion abstract photos a bit, these are the images that I came up with:
Spring Colors (May 2013)
River Frolic
Into the Woods
Pack Play
Spring Greens
Watch for more abstract photo images from this day in Spring Revisited (Part 2).
Abstract Autumn
Here are some of my recent (September 2018) abstract photographs:
These photos were created by using a shutter speed of around 1.5 seconds and moving the camera during the exposure. I then tweaked the digital images (contrast, color saturation, cropping etc.) using Lightroom.
I hope to use some of these images as inspiration for paintings.
Forms on a Frozen River
It is the end of January and the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton is frozen over and covered with 15 centimeters of fresh snow. I venture to the river’s edge and am captivated by the abstract forms that I see:
Six Years Later
This morning, I was looking through my old photos, curious as to what I might have been looking at, taking photos of, on this day in past years. As it turns out I hadn’t been very active on January Thirteenths, but I did find some from 2012. In fact, I quite liked what IÂ was doing that year – it was a bit of a treasure chest of abstract images!
I took a number of those photos, tweaked and cropped them to come up with these final images (which I like and hope you will too):
Impressions of Autumn
It’s the end of September here in Edmonton and our autumn colors must be near their peak. It has been a while since I’ve dabbled in creating abstract photos but that’s what I did today and here are some of the results:
These photographs were all created using a longish (1.5 to 5 seconds) exposure with deliberate movement of the camera.
Lines (an Abstract Painting Series)
This small series from the autumn of 2012 was an exploration of mark making into the wet surface of an oil-painted canvas:
“Marks”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 30 cm, 2012
“Fall”, Oil on canvas, 46 by 46 cm, 2012
“Lines in a Field”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 30 cm, 2012
“Spirals”, Oil on canvas, 46 by 46 cm, 2012
“Maxwell”, Oil on hardboard, 61 by 61 cm, 2012
Earth Light Tapestries Series (part 2)
In this blog post, I present the middle third (pieces 9 – 16) of my 2006/7 Earth Light Tapestries series of abstract paintings. (The first 8 pieces are shown in Part 1 of this blog post)
“Earth Light Tapestry IX”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry X”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XIV (The Sun King)”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XV”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XVI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The final group of paintings from this series can be seen in part 3 of this blog post.
The Earth Light Tapestries Series (Part 1)
The non-representational (abstract) painting series which I called “Earth Light Tapestries was my largest and most deliberate series. I began the series in late 2006 and finished in early 2007. A dozen pieces from this series were exhibited in a solo show at the Milner Library in Edmonton in November of 2009.
From the start, I set out with the goal to paint 24 pieces, each which would be 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm) in size. I used acrylic paints with the intent to be experimental with textures and additives. The “earth” in the series title refers to the “earth” pigments (ochres, umbers, sienna, etc.) that dominated the colors through this series.
The pieces were just given numerical titles (in roman numerals) corresponding to the order in which they were created.
“Earth Light Tapestry I”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry II”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry III”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry IV (Windy City Sand Storm)”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The “sand” reference in “IV” comes from the texture which was created by the mixing a fine sand into the paint and gel media.
“Earth Light Tapestry V”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The rest of the pieces in this painting series are presented in Parts 2 and 3 of this blog post series.
Whales Atrium (a Painting Series)
One of my weirdest (and by weird I mean quirky and fun) painting series was the abstract group of paintings that I did in 2010 and which I called “Whales Atrium”*. In this series I played around with various acrylic media and additive in a very exploratory and undirected way. Other than the lack of any direction other than to experiment, the common element to the 12 paintings in this series is the size – all works are on 30 by 30 cm (12 inch) hardboard panels.
“Eggman”
“English Garden”
“Ga Joob”
“I am He”
“If the Sun Don’t Shine”
“I’m Crying”
“Penguin Singing”
“See How They Fly”
“See How They Run”
“Sitting on a Cornflake”
“Smile Like Pigs”
“The Joker Laughs”
Don’t try to read too much into the titles of these works, they were largely an afterthought.
* I am still waiting for someone to “get” the significance of this series title. Let me know if you think you do.
Return From Whenever
It seems like a longtime since I’ve added a post to this blog and since I did any camera-motion abstract photography. Well today (Sunday, September 11, 2016) I did take my camera out, put on a neutral density filter and cranked the shutter speed down to 2 seconds. The day was cool, wet and gloomy but I imagined to find some color and these interesting images:
Chicken Scratch
Broken Spiral
Rosy Glow
Darkness in Light
Cherry Blossom
Spring Reflections
Technically it is late-winter, not quite spring yet, but the melting has begun, puddles formed and reflections are making for some interesting images:
Chains
Puddle and Path
Storyland Sky
Splash of January Color
Color can be hard to find for months during the long Edmonton winter.
However, with a bit of light and a long exposure photograph …
Snow and Shadows
A New Year’s Eve afternoon walk in Edmonton’s river valley revealed interesting patterns made by snow and ice, trees and the sun.
Blue Diagonals
Alien Icescape
Foot Paths
Tangled
Crystalline Edge
Trampled
Like Flakes
Randall Talbot - Artist 