To me, it's all abstract.

 When I saw the monthly Newsvine Photographers group challenge I was sort of giddy with excitement, the abstract is back, hehehehe.

But here is how I see it, it has always been about the abstract. The very nature of man and making art is about seeing and then transposing what one sees into the abstract with the natural tools and man made devices so that other humans get a visual experience and quick information from that abstract model.

The very nature of the Newsvine Photographers Group is to share our manipulated abstract models so that we can see how others view reality in the abstract and learn from each other.

We are using devices, cameras, computers and monitors to capture light waves into a digital format that can then be further manipulated with all kinds of software image enhancing effects.

Here is the thing, 50,000 years ago, or more, our ancestors were doing the exact same thing with the technology and skills of material they had at that moment in time. They learned and developed how to create abstract concepts like line, value, color, shape, symbol and pattern that we still are using today with these new devices we have.

So even though our photos may all look real they are really just our current way to record visual abstract data.

Another way to look at the word abstract is to see it as a subjective difference with the everyday and our personal take on it.

The nature of being an individual is that our views are abstract to other's views. I don't think or see as you do so you must show me this difference. This is how we do it with words and images, this is our communicating to one another with sounds and pictures.

We are all bombarded with visual information the whole time our eyes are open and we take in a lot that is really just a sum total of abstractions all tied up and immediate to our understanding of what we are seeing at any given moment. Most people don't even think conciously about a lot of the visual information they are receiving. That's a lot of stuff to think about!

visual thinkers like artists, photographers, map makers, fashion designers, architects, scientists and engineers see the world differently, they think the abstract all the time and make it a reality for others to see.

Since the discovery of the photo imaging process anyone could now reproduce abstract images that others could understand with ease. They did not need to understand the process or the tools, point and shoot became the way of creating visual images without understanding how the tools work or the process of creating visual information or creative design concepts work together.

So for many people this is a discovery process of the abstract.

I hear folks say all they time that they are not creative and I must scoff at this idea my peeps, by being here and participating you are being creative with the abstract.

We are all just digital cave painters.

It is your subjective eye that makes you an individual artist in and of the abstract.

Does this all sound too abstract to you? hehehehehe

Good.

All five photos are all abstracts to me.

See?