WEEK 33: Abstract Photography

Wine glasses by Ulrike Lukasczyk
Wine glasses, June 2020 by Ulrike Lukasczyk

What makes the charm of abstract photography is that while it looks easy and simple, it is actually really hard to break down our complex environment into simple lines and shapes to create an appealing photo.

Good practice

Working on photos and aiming for a certain degree of abstraction is good training for the photographer’s eye and mind. Thus in the end you can find abstract subjects or scenes in the most unexpected place.

Definition of abstract photography

The week’s challenge is simply to shoot an abstract photo. Therefore I recommend looking up the definition of “abstract” as it can be found on Wikipedia is: “The use of shape, form, colour and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world”. You can aim for SOOC (straight our of camera), however any degree of editing is allowed, too.

More reading material

If you want to do a little more research on the subject of abstraction in photography there are several interesting articles on ‘digital photography school’.

The explanations and examples in this article reminded me a lot of the works of Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero.
A totally different approach is describes in this article about abstract street photography with the most stunning, colourful examples.

More inspiration on the Pinterest Mood Board

Challenge Summary

  • Take a new photo that fits into the definition of abstract in the widest sense
  • Apply the basic elements, composition and focus on shape, structure, lines and colour.
  • SOOC (straight out of camera) or post edit your photo during the week of Sunday, August 15 and Saturday, August 21.
  • Please remember to comment on at least FIVE photo submissions this week by answering the question “why?” in your comments. In other words, “why do I like (or not like) this photo?” or “why did this photo catch my eye?” Thank you!

The friendly community guidelines are pretty simple

  • Take a new photo for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
  • Post your photo each week to our active communities on Facebook or Flickr(or both). Tag the photo:  #2021photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
  • Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2021 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge is fun and easy.

About Ulrike Lukasczyk

While photography always fascinated me I seriously started learning techniques and composition only back in 2016. One of my first sources of learning material and feedback was this group: The Trevor Carpenter PhotoChallenge. Being insatiably curious I dived into all kinds of subjects and techniques until I finally dared to photograph people. That really is what excites me most about photography: capturing real people at the right moment, their personalities, their stories and even their dreams. This is contrasting quite nicely with my day-to-day business. I’ve got an engineering degree in biotechnology and work full time as a scientist in research. At least my husband and two kids also like my photography hobby and encourage me to pursue it, modeling for me or discussing my ideas. We live in a village near Darmstadt in Germany. We like traveling with our Unimog camper (www.derullimog.de) and I also enjoy horseback riding and Yoga. Now I’m very happy and excited to join the admin team of this group and give something back to the community: challenge ideas, encouragement and photography tips. My photos can be found via the search function in the Trevor Carpenter PhotoChallenge group on Facebook, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mindseyes_ul/ or my portfolio site: https://ulliluke.myportfolio.com.