Monhegan Island Patterns...

   After spending time with color monday morning, I went in search of patterns in the afternoon.  I think I was still feeling the influence of Kim Manley Ort's workshop back in April, fine tuning my perceptual skills by limiting the focus of my photography.

    I loved the reflection of the pickets in the house window and the simple red and white color combination.  I think it will look good in black and white as well.  Despite the glorious colors here, I am still attracted to the monochrome image and I'm putting a folio of images together called Monhegan Monochrome.  I'll post some of those later.

   The photograph on the right is a shadow study of some lobster traps.  Lobstering stops the first of June so the traps are "resting" for the summer.  Everyone photographs them but I chose, instead, to photograph their shadows for the patterns they created on the old wood plank...one of my more abstract images for sure.

   The fire hose curled up by the fire house offered an unexpected spiral pattern.  The design principles - pattern, contrast, unity, etc. - also offer the photographer some interesting possibilities for focusing attention.   As I said yesterday, contemplating the intrinsic design of the man-made or natural landscape is always an interesting activity for the photographer...it's all about perception.  What you chose to see and what you over look can make all the difference in the world.  Both are fuel for the contemplative photographer to consider.

    

Art is pattern informed by sensibility.

-Herbert Read