Man, my timing is off. Last week we had the end of the month abstract fall on Friday and so coincide with the Ancient Lore post, but we’d only gotten up to the Reptiles/Amphibians folder. What follows (i.e. today) is the Scenic/Abstract folder. I should have thought about this at the beginning of the year…
Anyway, the removal of all color helps make this one a bit more abstract, perhaps enough to be kinda confusing. Maybe? I can’t tell, because I know what the circumstances were. The recognizable part is the skull of a sea turtle that I found one day washed up on the rocks; I also found several rib/shell pieces and some of the keratin outer layers of the shell, the part that provides all of the color, and I still have all of these, fourteen years later. But I can’t tell you what species of sea turtle this is, because as yet I have found no source that can provide distinguishing characteristics. I suspect loggerhead (Caretta caretta,) but there were also green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the region. Whatever, pick one – it doesn’t matter.
But what’s the backdrop? This is from my attempts to actually do some abstract images with the skull, none of which were particularly captivating to me, and I’m curious to find out if I ever sell any of them and, if so, for what purpose. If you’re still wondering, take a moment to try and puzzle it out while I continue.
Still unsure? Maybe if I tell you it was taken the same day and location as this, it might help. Or perhaps I should simply provide the color version, to generate a little more context from the right colors.
Does this help? If not, I’m afraid we can go no further…
Oh, all right. It was a windy day and the waves were pretty violent in the Indian River Lagoon, so I picked one particular boulder that was just the right height for the waves to barely wash over the top, and perched the skull thereon. Timing the shot carefully, I fired off a frame as the top of the rock was awash, partially concealing the seaweed, muscles, and barnacles that coated the surface, making a nice juxtaposition with the sharp distinct skull.
By the way, a little note about position. The shape of the eye sockets, as well as the lines of the skull itself, provide a little glare that I was happy to enhance with converting to monochrome. However, shooting directly from the side eliminated this aspect, changing the mood a bit – now the suggested menace didn’t exist. Those frames have a different air, but they also lacked feeling to me; nothing else in the frame provided anything else either, no connection. I’m not saying this one was great, but at least it had a hint of emotion…