DRAWING LIFE by fred hatt

2012/10/02

Urb Ab

Filed under: Photography: Structure — Tags: , , , — fred @ 23:43

Angular Composition, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

In drawing and painting I’m a realist, but in photography I lean towards abstraction.  I’m always looking for patterns that, put in a frame, become abstract paintings or sculptures.  It’s about striking patterns in shape, light, texture, or color, unusual simplicity or complexity, striking juxtapositions, or pictorial elements such as linearity or dynamic asymmetry occurring in the real world.  I have no need to go anywhere exotic to find such pictures.  They are everywhere around me in the busy city, and I only need the eye to spot them and a camera to collect them.  Here I’ll share a selection of finds, all photographed in the calendar year 2012 in New York City.

Collision of Architectures, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

The details of old buildings are, of course, deliberate sculpture, but they can look different framed in context or removed from context and scale.

Architectural Ornament, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Spring at the Museum, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

The structures of classical architecture stand in harmonious relation to biological nature.  Modern architecture is more concerned with physics: light and space.

Passageway, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Tile Counter, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Light is the magic ingredient of architecture, the special sauce that turns the most solid material and form into protean imagery.

Aluminum Panels, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Urban E, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Things that are more or less fixed exist in constant relation to things that are always changing.

Curtain, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Fence Holes, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

It is the negative space, the holes in things and the gaps between things, that give form and meaning to matter.

Flagpole, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Glancing Light, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

People design things, but the ideas of the mind have a certain rigidity.  Chaos adds its wildness, and brings them to life.

Lines Against the Sky, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

BS, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Even light that is built rarely remains under tight control.

Water Wall, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Architectural Office, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Look behind any surface and see further layers.

Diagonal Grid, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Bright and Dark, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Mercury cycles quickly, and Saturn cycles slowly.  The world is cycles upon cycles upon cycles, all possible wavelengths combined.

Fountain, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Rusted Chair, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Time makes a simple metal chair into a fractal forest.

The row of pinstriped buildings below seems at first glance a procession of uniform monoliths, but closer inspection shows that no  lines align perfectly.  This row is crooked like “yaeba” teeth.

Avenue of the Americas, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Orange and Green, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Gratings in Headlights, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Light and color make the dullest things dynamic, when you look at the light and color rather than at the things.

Service Station, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Six Eighty One, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Contrasting qualities, rectilinear and organic, luminous and shadowy, exist in mutual distinction.

Sharp and Soft, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

“21”, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Complexity emerges.  Simplicity distills.

Iron Bench, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Luminous Gap, 2012, photo by Fred Hatt

Powered by WordPress

Theme Tweaker by Unreal