Abstractions: Rural vs. Cities

From the series Traces of Being

From the series Traces of Being

Photographing in a city is naturally different from photographing in a rural setting (both images above were taken in NYC). While I apply my same way of looking and abstracting through composition and proximity, the images prove very different results. In city based images, there is a strong presence of stark contrast, harsh light and seeping textures, where in rural areas I find softness and a gradual ebb and flow of tonal gradations. I tend to prefer the less stark images, the more gentle and subtle aesthetic, but the more I continue photographing in NYC the more I feel my sensibilities expanding. I do not wish to swap one for the other or create a hierarchy between the two aesthetics, it is more of an experimentation. Like the yin and yang, their differences do not disturb the other but rather enhance each others’ qualities. Understanding this helps me to see my own life as an experimentation, to expand and evolve in ways I haven’t done before, in ways an old version of myself may not have liked or even thought of.