Creative use of the camera

 I originally acquired a serious camera in 1971. Purchased at a camera shop, a Yashica TL Electro-X. A heavy body 35mm SLR. For reference, these were the days when film speed (ISO) was still called ASA. I still have this camera.

My purpose was solely to photograph artwork, My work and that of others. The requirement at that time for all art photography was slides. I love slides. I shot slide film exclusively for many years. Behind the camera, it was not long before I was noting interesting things and experimenting with this medium.  After purchasing a super-8 movie camera, I was immersed in learning about film. 

Today, I use a camera mostly to collect ideas for paintings. However, there are still interesting things to be seen through the viewfinder. 

The photos here are identified by date. In the mid-90's I went through a process of converting slides to Kodak Photo CD. A couple hundred slides. I went digital in the late 90's. My working camera today is a Sony RX100 II. 

I just recently became aware that abstract photography is a thing. The concept has a nice cognitive dissonance. Photography is usually associated with an image of things as they are. A clear depiction of reality. At least, offers something real as a starting point. Abstraction tries to throw off the constraints of reality. By definition, an abstract is not an of anything at all. Non-referential, not pointing to anything beyond itself. Very much more of a design problem.  The camera can be used to find things that may not be immediately identifiable. A camera can be thought of as a device for manipulating light.  Many creative possibilities.