“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Abstract Wonder” is a photo story that explores the feelings of summer, particularly that of nostalgia. Using low vantage points, morning light, and soft focus, the images attempt to convey the intangible. I hadn’t considered this approach to the landscape genre until I learned of the expressive approach. Artists such as Joel Meyerowitz and JoAnn Verberg inspired me through their series "Cape Light" and "Olive Trees on Three Contintents". Seeing artists work with form, color, and abstraction encouraged me to explore the emotion in the landscape.
Completing this series during the summer months, I found myself looking through the eyes of my childhood summers; lying close to the ground, spraying water through a sprinkler, and tossing towels on the railings all evoked a warmth that had nothing to do with the heat of the day. Water became a primary tool of abstraction, and I see how its distortion of the real became a vessel to tell this season’s memories. Though I am most fond of the winter months, summer is a time of never-ending days, long evenings, and sunrises of possibilities. It was the breath of fresh air that my artistic expression was looking for.
In seeing this story unfold one image at a time, I see how summer days come to an end but I agree with F. Scott Fitzgerald that life can begin again in the next one.