I chose this photo because I liked the feeling of a collaboration between nature and the city. I wanted the tone of the building to contrast with the gray sky, with a shadow similar to the sharp peaks of the mountain.

The deep contrast between the structure and the background is unusual because the difference is significant. I also like how the shadow is positioned excitingly to create depth and make the piece more interesting.

Angie McMonigal’s architectural photography is a visual indulgence as she gives a warm and organic nature to the inanimate buildings she meets while wandering the streets.

McMonigal is challenged by every building she deems worthy of her vision because you can see diverse styles in her abstractions. Every structure differs from the others, yet her style is still tangible in each of them. Whether she goes for color or monochrome, a reduced portion of a building or the entire structure, she captures a rare and unseen beauty that will make you stop and stare.

Characteristics in McMonigal’s Work

Lines: The clear image lines in her photograph lead your eyes. The straight lines and curves that follow the shape of the building serve as the baseline for the picture and appear in her photographs. For me, it feels like the lines in her photographs emphasize the moment and situation of the thing and draw attention to the picture.

Black and white colors: The colors in her photos are all colorless to emphasize the forms of the objects. The use of black and white shows more excellent contrast, and the colors in between, like shades of gray, show less difference.

Close-up composition: The photos are pretty close-up to the point where you can see the details of the object taken.

Shape and shadow of an object: The shape and shadow of an object are the most prominent features in her photograph. Using the forms of shadows that change according to the angle of the light being revealed, McMonigal clearly divides a section between objects and objects, creating new objects and atmospheres through shadows rather than just taking a moment of one object.

Unique angles in her photographs: McMonigal’s striking gaze on objects is one of the characteristics that allows her to take contrasting pictures with other artists. Her photos look up, down, or at an object’s combination from above. Taking photographs of objects in equal parts horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to perfect proportions, called golden ratios, is one of the great features of her pictures.

Reason for Selection

I chose Angie McMonigal for photographic inspiration because her regular but unique composition photographs caught my eye. I also want to take a picture of 798 with my own striking gaze, unlike the standard 798 factory photos others took.

Below is a Photo Safari I conducted to determine which composition of photographs is the most successful and abstract. Usually, I just freely took various angles of pictures of what I wanted to take; this time, it took a lot of time to make the same composition perfectly because I had to take an image according to the set design angle.

Paul Strand, Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut’

Perhaps the photographer who took this picture was interested in the shadow on the object and took the picture. It also seems to have been taken around a disk object with a round curved line opposite to the rough surface of the object felt through the photograph. The V-shaped pattern formed as the light passes through the bent wall also seems to have been noted.

If I were the photographer, I would name the photograph ‘good and evil.’ The dark shadow side seems to mean the evil mind of humans, and the bright side of light indicates the good heart of humans. It seems to express human ambivalence by contrasting the bright and dark sides.

Formal elements are the different aspects and styles in photography, including line, shape pattern, texture, tone, and focus. 

Lines are the clear imaginary lines that lead your eyes. They can be straight or curved.

In the photos below, the straight and diagonal lines of the road and railroad tracks lead your eyes. 

Shape is the combination of geometric and organic shapes. 

In the photo below, the shape of the cat shows the organic shape. 

The pattern is the repetition of an object to create rhythm. 

In the photo below, the conical bamboo hat bells hang in the pattern. 

The texture is what the photo would feel if you could touch it; for instance, the surface could be rough, smooth, sharp, etc. 

In the photo below, the ocean waves have a smooth and natural texture as they move. 

The tone is the shades of lightness and darkness. 

The sky has a shade gradient from dark to light in the photo below.

Focus is what leads the viewer to see; this usually creates a contrast to the rest of the photo. 

In the photo below, the plum in the center is the focus because it has the most remarkable contrast. 

All the pictures above are the pictures I took myself 🙂

Pictorialism was a common photographic technique in the 19th century, and many “art photography” fashions centered on taking pictures that looked like “pictures,” such romantic or nature artworks, or editing or painting photos.

The Straight Photography Movement emphasized the camera’s capability to produce images in sharp focus and rich detail. It means that the photographs aren’t manipulated but are just taken sharply to what the camera sees. It was popular amongst photographers because it was a new way, a avant-garde way of art.

Edward Weston and Aaron Siskind have been influenced by the Straight Photography Movement through their use of sharp focus and detail in a way that wasn’t used to simply document reality, but was a new way of art.

Andreas Gursky’s photos are distinguishable but “random” while Uta Barth is close up and almost undistinguishable. Through these unique styles, it both conveys messages that are not on the surface, making it abstract.

I think the definition of “abstruse photography” is basically “reinventing a familiar world” and “looking at an object from a new perspective.”
Most common photographs reproduce the real world, but abstract photographs take our eyes in different directions. Looking at the world in a less specific way, or maybe looking the object more specific, exploring new things, applying light and shadow in different ways, looking at shapes, and focusing on repetitive forms. In other words, when viewing the photograph, it allows  viewers to one step back.

Q: What do you think is meant by “Abstract photography can be defined as capturing images in which the subject isn’t the most interesting element?”

A: I think it is meant by abstract photographies are mainly based on using devices and tools that are not directly related to actual real objects. The abstract photography uses perspective, movement, and light to transform a world familiar to us into an unexpected, sometimes completely unrecognizable image. Basically, it recreates new world with familiar things.