Depends on how you define abstract in art or photography.
An abstract image should not have any connection to any object in the real world.
Given lhphoto titled the image "Lighthouse" I doubt he intended it to be abstract, especially since the lighthouse and cranes are clearly identifiable objects.
Thanks Dan, Roel, Chris and minniev.
When I took the shot I was very aware of manga. The district is full of shops with all the gear. I didn’t see the critter as benign or caught in a web. It looked like one of the techno monsters created accidentally, or by the inevitable mad scientist. Naturally, it has been unleashed to destroy the world. Again. You know the story. Probably it feeds off our power lines. I noted the stinger at the back.
I was trying to get something of the above into the image and so I tried to get ”the city” and “tech” in the image. I wanted all the power lines and electrical supply thingies in the shot.
Was what I wanted coming across? I didn’t know so I cheated somewhat with prompts in the text and by leaving it for anyone to try edits to see what they made of it.
Dan’s edits prodded me in a direction I should have seen first up. Rather than correct the perspectives, I should have gone further down the graphic novel track.IMNHO, this latest version is better than the original post.
A line of inverted Vs from side to side (including the on end boat) hold the image together. The glowing orange of the peeling paint wall gives a focal point but it isn't the subject. The scene radiates out from here. Just enough cloud in the sky to break up the blue and complement the snowy peaks.
Peaks, grasses, weathered timber and a lake. There's a spot almost exactly opposite on the other side of the globe with a much photographed old boat shed. The places feel similar. Cradle Mountain in Tasmania.
Agreed Chris. And I like the parallel white lines from foreground to background and the echo of them in the white lines of the flags.
Looking at it again I further picked up on the white refeletion on the top of the closest ballard. It's almost not noticed but very important. It lifts the bollard from being a featureless black shape but more importantly picks up the white lines to the left and the flags at the rear. It unifies the elements of the photo into a harmonious whole.
I prefer the original version as well. It makes more of the parallel white lines and these fit well with the portrait mode. Number one also includes the chalk markings on the pavement which gives extra character to the location.
Surely it is the juxtaposition of the cranes and the lighthouse that's the point of the image? The lighthouse is a stone structure from a different era. It shares an elongated cylindrical shape with the modern structures. The crown like splaying out of the cranes frames the lighthouse in an unexpected way. The rich dark red of the lighthouse easily helps it emerge from the gantries.
Further, I like the balance provided by the dark band across the sky at the top to the base structure.
Agree.
Like a photo of two supermodels taking a nap on a bench between lots of housewives chattering and going about their daily business.
(With all due respect to housewives, of course. Just making an analogy.)
It depends on the nature of the veil and whether it is physically on the woman or separate from the woman and some distance in front of her.
Lhphoto titled his image "Lighthouse", making it the subject, according to my interpretation of his post hence my question asking why is the lighthouse in the background.
Well, from the title one can suppose that Lou wanted the viewer to look at the lighthouse (permanent) through the "veil" of nautical ship cranes (temporary).
I don't know his intention and the cranes are a distraction and detract from the image for me, as I posted.
Maybe if the "veil" had been something more interesting then it might have had a different impact on me.
I am visualising the scene at night with light from the lighthouse passing through the cranes to some extent. I suspect that could be a more interesting veil.