"Refining" the image moved it further and further into the realm of abstraction. Is the final result appropriate for the healthcare environment?
Forested hillside and mountain lake in harsh light. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Recently, I drove to the mountains to relax and photograph. The day was sunny and warm and there were a lot of people out enjoying the splendid weather. Conditions were not ideal for photography though—the light was very harsh, with deep shadows and bright highlights. I stopped at a lake and made a photograph to record the scene. It is useful to document where I was, but in my opinion it is too contrasty and boring to be of much interest to others.
The lake itself was fairly dynamic and held promise for a good photograph. A slight breeze stirred the lake surface at intervals. For several minutes, the water was a mirror, reflecting the conifers on the other side. Then the breeze would sweep across the lake's surface—erasing the reflection with the ripples it caused. At other times, half the lake was calm while the other half was disturbed.
On the near side of the lake were delicate, long grasses floating on the surface.
Long grasses on the lake surface with blurred reflections of conifers on the far hillside. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
I put my camera on a tripod and photographed the grasses. The day was comfortably warm and I wasn't going anywhere, so I studied the composition. I liked the grasses, but the image seemed neither representational nor abstract.
I knew where these grasses were in relation to the lake, but no one else would, and that was a problem. It was missing too much context to be representational photo of a lake. And if it was patterns or abstraction I was going for, I hadn't gone far enough. There was a bit too much of the realistic grass and not enough of the reflected tree patterns.
I re-composed, including more of the lake's surroundings to give the grasses some context—but not so much that the photo would become a "I was here" representational image. In other words, it was becoming more a study of beauty in form and color and pattern than a simple photo of a place. The image retains clues about its context, but it is a departure from the reality we normally see—which gives the image some mystery.
After re-composing: better context and balance while retaining some mystery. Too much mystery and ambiguity for the healthcare setting? Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
As I was photographing, I was very conscious of the compositional choices I was making. I was also fully aware of the moment—the warmth of the sun, the natural quiet, the intermittent breeze—and I could see the lake in relationship to its surroundings. It seemed natural to continue to "refine" the image, to concentrate on what I felt was most important at the moment.
In the calm periods, when the breeze paused, the conifer reflections would be nearly perfect. But the gentle breeze would return and ruffle the lake surface. The unsettled water disrupted the reflections, but only slightly—enough to abstract the reflection but not enough to make it unrecognizable. That added further mystery the image while still offering enough clues to the engaged viewer to know they were looking at something real.
A slight breeze ripples the lake's surface, disturbing the reflections of conifers. The photograph is a straight shot of an abstraction caused by nature. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
I love the fact that the final image looks like an abstract but is a simple and straightforward photograph of a natural scene. The ripples on the water's surface are evidence of the reality, but trees don't normally look like that. And with most of the surroundings missing, the context—our anchor to reality—is gone.
What we are left with is mystery. The image has beautiful pattern and color, but Is this a real scene? Is it an abstract, or a painting?
The fact that the photograph can be appreciated for its harmonious pattern and color—as a kind of created abstract—as well as selected view of a natural scene, gets to what art is about. Here is an image, purposefully composed by the photographer, that selects intriguing patterns and colors from a natural scene, creating beauty from ambiguity and infused with tension and mystery.
Forms, patterns, color, abstraction and allegory, tension and mystery—these are the elements of art. But do those qualities of art work for stressed patients in the healthcare setting?
The evidence would suggest they don't.
When I was photographing, I was healthy and relaxed and comfortable. I was up in the mountains, breathing fresh air, enjoying a warm, gentle breeze. I had already spent a lot of time in quiet, natural surroundings. Most of life's distractions had been stripped away, there was very little competing for my attention, and I was content. In my open, relaxed state of mind, I was able to follow my artistic inclinations, refine the idea further, and photograph something not only for what it was but for what else it was (to paraphrase Minor White).
Maybe I'll title the photograph "Mountain Lake" as a clue to the reality of the scene. Maybe that will encourage people to look harder, go deeper into the photograph, recognize the lake's water, discern the weather conditions, understand the setting and perhaps feel what I was feeling.
But that's a lot to ask of someone who is ill, or stressed, or distracted, or all three. Unravelling mysteries, appreciating allegory, resolving ambiguity, is just too much to ask of someone in that state. In fact, it may actually make things worse.
That's why you will not see this sort of image as art for healthcare in the galleries of Iris Arts.
But that's doesn't mean I don't love this sort of image. I do, but it doesn't serve the primary mission of Iris Arts. But maybe one of you knows someone who could find a home for it in a different venue—say a corporate conference room or yoga studio :-)
Addendum, March 2021
This blog was written in September 2020. Since then. Iris Arts has received.a number of requests to create a section on the website for images nature that are not so strictly vetted for the patient in healthcare—images that might work for the corporate, hospitality, or residential environments, or even for public spaces in healthcare. We thought that was a great suggestion, so we created a Corporate Art section. Here's a link to the blog announcing the change. https://manage.wix.com/dashboard/84086133-28af-4f87-8b64-3291ae54f10a/blog/6005fca2b965ee00170795b1/edit
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