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Organic Mondrian Bozeman, Montana 2013

I have, as you may have noticed, an occasional interest or fascination with the paintings of Piet Mondrian. Or rather his later paintings in what Rick Steves calls his “T-square” style. He actually started out painting realistic landscapes but his interest changed over time to abstract work. So what are these T-square paintings supposed to symbolize if anything, I wondered (because it might provide a basis for understanding my own interest in them). According to the (very little) critical assessment of Mondrian’s work that I’ve read, it seems he viewed the up and down and left and right lines as representations of opposite ends of nature’s dualities such as man and woman, humans and nature, good and evil, etc. while their asymmetrical arrangement into grids symbolize the balancing of these various dualities. What do the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue mean? I haven’t read anything specifically about them but think perhaps, since his paintings are supposed to represent nature at it’s most basic, their use is sufficient to represent all the colors of nature since any hue or shade can be formed by combination of the three primary colors. Anyway, given that background, perhaps what I’m trying to do with these Mondrianesque photos is to attempt to represent this same kind of simplification of nature photographically. Or maybe I’m just drawn to natural arrangements of simple geometric shapes such as occurs in buildings, my grain elevator photos being a prime example. In the spirit of Mondrian I suppose today’s sidewalk and curb POTD photo takes this attraction of mine towards the extreme end of simplification.]]>

Chaos at 32 Degrees Bozeman, Montana 2013

Lots of turmoil and struggle apparent in the freeze-thaw cycles this puddle has been going through.

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Rorschach Test Bozeman, Montana 2012

What do you see when you look at the wet pavement in this photo? This photo from the movie Nosferatu that I have previously posted came immediately to my mind:

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Life in the Fast Lane Bozeman, Montana 2013

A busy day on the squirrel highway.

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Photo by Marcin Rychzek

This image by Polish photographer Marcin Rychzek is so compositionally striking I am envious, very envious. I first saw in posted on Mike Johnston’s blog The Online Photographer here. The blog post itself is an interesting read. I fully agree with the comment by Adam Lanigan: “Gorgeous. I’m always tormented when seeing photos like that. I feel the need to rise to a higher level blended perfectly with the desire to just hang it all up.”]]>

Everything is Broken Bozeman, Montana 2013

Reminds me of a song (very good although sometimes disturbing visuals with this video):

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On the Move Bozeman, Montana 2013

I don’t know what it is about this photo, and it isn’t why I took it in the first place, but for some reasons these trees come across to me as being on the move as a group. I must be thinking too much of Ents lately or something.

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Closing Time Bozeman, Montana 2013

I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning And go to work each day And when the evening rolls around I’ll go on home and lay my body down And when the morning light comes streaming in I’ll get up and do it again Amen

–Jackson Browne

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Stalwarts Bozeman, Montana 2013

Four of the largest trees in this particular woods standing fast against the storm.

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Sticks and Canes Bozeman, Montana 2013

I think one reason I like winter is because I have always had a jones for high contrast photographs; it’s hard to beat snow for providing one end of the tonal scale needed to satisfy that addiction.

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