The Abstract: Does Location Matter ?

While a good deal of my photography is nature related, I have recently started to venture into the city in search of interesting abstract and landscape images. I have not been doing ‘street photography’ per se, nor have I been seeking ‘the decisive moment’. At this point in my urban outings I am still too uncomfortable to try to slip in a hidden candid shot or ask people if I can photograph them. What I have been doing is more along the lines of just looking for that nice coalescence of lines and shapes that seem to call for an image to be made.

Oregon Dunes
Copyright Howard Grill

United Steelworkers Building
Downtown Pittsburgh
Copyright Howard Grill

What really intrigues me is how absolutely similar looking for the abstract seems to be in both settings. It doesn’t really seem to matter whether I am in Downtown Pittsburgh or the middle of nowhere. In either location I find that I am using the same mindset and looking for the same components with which to construct an image. I am not sure if others feel this way, but urban and nature abstracts, as well as landscapes, seem like two sides of the same coin to me, being far more similar than they are different.