[dogdots]

I've been thinking about abstract and the monthly competition. Can anyone tell me excatly what abstract is in the photography world. To me it seems abstract is in the eye of the beholder.

[orangepeel]

My take:

"does the picture make u think 'what **** is that?'"

If the answer is "yes" then it's an abstract

[dogdots]

Makes sense to me---thanks.

[Summerleft]

When it comes to art and photography is a form of art , well sometimes

something like a picture showing an illusion of the original subject or an actual form shown in a reduced or very simplified way?

[LadyStardust]

I'm glad you asked the question though dogdots, because I was wondering that myself! Sounds like a bit of a challenge. Excellent!

[Summerleft]

I thought about making a house out of carrots but my horse kept eating them

[dogdots]

Summerleft. I made a snowman and my dog ate the carrot nose. Even got a picture of it only it was with a crappy camera Ladystardust I agree it is a challenge. Makes the ol' mind of mine work overtime.

[Dave Canon]

This question always come up in the Photography Clubs set subject competitions. The usual thing to do is to fall back on the Oxford Dictionary definition and hope that it helps. We also tell the judges the same.

In this case, I actually found that the Collins Dictionary is more helpful:-

"having no reference to material objects or specific examples - not applied or practical - theoretical - hard to understand - denoting art characterised by geometric, formalised or otherwise nonrepresentational qualities"

Now doesn't that get the artistic juices flowing?

[dogdots]

Oh yeah, that gets the mind running in circles