Abstracted Reality

Jane Trotter’s Contemporary Abstract Photography

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How to Create a Multi-panel Piece

I’m frequently asked “how do you create your triptychs?” “Where do you decide to crop and how do you assemble it all together?”

Even for an experienced eye, it can sometimes feel pretty daunting and overwhelming. But with a little practice and patience, you’ll quickly begin to conceptualise and visualise your final image.

So, as a bit of background into how I go about making a multi-panel work, I thought I’d give you some insight into how I created ‘Ascension Blue’. This is actually a nine-panel piece, but my approach, experimentation and work flow follow the same path as my triptychs.

Where to Crop?

It really depends on what you’re looking for. For this multi-panel work, I knew I had to have contrasting colours in the panels so I could play them off against each other.

Here is the original base image with my cropped sections overlaid. This particular cropping is pretty straightforward, but I’m not averse to making my selection on an angle if I think it’s needed.

I’ve written a blog post on ‘Creative Cropping for your Triptychs’, so if you want to delve deeper into how to crop your images, you’ll find plenty of ideas and examples there.

Constructing Your Work

Now the real fun begins. It’s time to start playing in your photo editing programme.

First – create a blank file with plenty of space for you to put your panels on. Make sure you’ll be able to shift them around easily and, that you can add more panels than necessary. This is especially useful if you want to try out what various combinations will look like.

Next, add your panels by dragging them up from the photo bin. You can do this multiple times if you wish. See all of the extra space I’ve allowed in anticipation of adding extra material.

As my panels aren’t square, I had to decide what their orientation should be.

I felt there was more potential with a vertical presentation as the folded paper began to look more like steps.

Rotate and Flip are Your Friend!

I should mention at this point that I use the rotate and flip functions – a lot! Abstracts are great as they lend themselves very readily to this kind of experimentation.

Remember, if you only want to rotate or flip a single panel and not the whole image, select ‘rotate layer’. There have been numerous times when I’ve inadvertently flipped my entire image and thought “hhhhmmm – that’s not what I wanted to do…” Thank goodness for the ‘undo’ button.

As an example, here’s the blue and gold panel in its various orientations.

Of course, all this flexibility can be a double-edged sword. You’ve now got many more options to make connections, shapes and patterns across your panels. On the other hand, the number of different permutations to calculate and attempt can become unnervingly large. Still, I’m a “glass half full” kinda girl, so really relish the chance to try out all the different possibilities.

The Nine Panel Conundrum

So now I had nine panels to work with. I began to play around by shuffling the panels into different locations, flipping and rotating. At this stage, it was a real hodge-podge without any structure, but I needed to get a ‘feel’ for what the image could look like.

After a while, I began to ‘see’ the potential for a blue ‘staircase’ down the middle panels. This would be the main anchor-point of the image – my ‘Ascension Blue’.

Next, I had to sort out what to do with the gold and green panels. By chance, there happened to be four of them, so positioning them in the four corners seemed like a good idea and would add an element of symmetry to the overall design.

The finishing touches were added by flipping and rotating the two remaining blue and gold panels.

How Do You Know When It’s Finished?

Of course, there was a great deal of trial and error as I negotiated my way through the bewildering array of configurations. When constructing an image like this, sometimes it’s very difficult to know when to stop and say, “yes – this is it – it’s finished”, especially as there’s always the temptation to tinker just that little bit more.

More often than not, I’ll end up going with my gut – if I feel visually satisfied and content, even though intellectually I know I could attempt other things, then I will leave it. Don’t underestimate your instincts and learn to trust them.

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

The Wonders of Escher

Maurits Escher

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated and in awe of the wonderous, mind-bending artwork of Maurits Escher. In my childhood, at Christmas time, calendar hunting was an adventure to see if I could find one featuring Escher’s drawings and designs. I could then have a new puzzle to ponder or new perspective to analyse and contemplate every month.

I admired his precision, discipline and meticulous attention to detail. His artwork was exact and exacting. A passing glance would never do. You had to do more than just look, you had to delve deep to really appreciate the myriad of intricacies, contradictions and impossibilities which he presented.

Transformation

‘Day and Night’ 1938

One of the key aspects of Escher’s work which attracted me the most, is the theme of transformation. Central to my abstract photography, I too love the challenge of taking something in a familiar state and crafting it into another, offering a completely different interpretation and point of view.

In ‘Day and Night’, for example, the way Escher morphs the fields into birds is gradual and subtle. But even more compelling is how he turns the negative space between the white birds into their black counterparts flying in the opposite direction. For me, there’s a contradictory oscillation between the apparent simplicity of the artwork and the underlying complexity of design and execution.

We see the same technique used in ‘The Encounter’.

‘The Encounter’ 1944

This piece is almost like a macabre dance where the two protagonists are destined to repeat their handshake over and over as they perpetually circle around each other in varying degrees of rendition.

Challenging Perceptions and Perspectives

Offering a different, and hopefully thought-provoking view of the world is one of my goals as an abstract photographer. I enjoy subverting viewers’ expectations and perceptions by taking the ‘known’ and recognisable, and presenting the ‘unknown’ and mysterious, where viewers must make a leap of faith and move beyond their comfort zone. This is another reason why I have such an enduring affinity for, and fascination with Escher’s work.

‘Other World’ (Another World) 1947

When I was younger, these types of pictures used to blow my mind! They still do. Who wouldn’t harbour, at least the tiniest sliver of intrigue when viewing something like this? For a kick off, what’s up and what’s down? What exactly are we looking at? How is this ‘space’ orientated and defined? Are multiple spaces existing simultaneously? How do we perceive this? Everything is thrown into question. What shouldn’t be possible, suddenly is.

I’m reminded of Scotty’s immortalised line on Star Trek – “I cannae change the laws of physics!”

He may not have been able to – but Escher could.

‘Relativity’ 1953

‘Relativity’ is another example where our perceptions are turned on their head and we’re left exclaiming “how can that be?”

Out of curiosity (and just for fun), I decided to do a little experiment and re-orientated this picture several ways to see if it would withstand observation and maintain its integrity from multiple points of view.

No matter which way you look at it, Escher’s staircase conundrum plays out equally well. So aptly titled, our point of reference in this fantastical setting is all ‘relative’.

Inviting the Impossible

Speaking of staircase conundrums…

‘Ascending and Descending’ 1960

‘Ascending and Descending’ has captured my imagination for decades. Logically I know this shouldn’t be possible, yet my eyes are apparently telling me otherwise.

Upon reflection, I think this is what’s at the heart of my enjoyment of Escher’s works.

The paradox.

The contradiction.

The challenge to the viewer to make you think.

The invitation to question what you see.

“Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?”
Maurits Escher
Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

Exposed #21: A Touch of Red

Spoiler Alert!  In my 'Exposed' series of articles I reveal some of the secrets behind how I created my images.  If you don't want to know how I made 'A Touch of Red' stop reading now!

A Touch of Red - Jane Trotter

Well, it’s no surprise what these are! This is probably my most easily discernible image (even without the helpful title). Yes, I have immortalised my fingerprints.

What may be slightly less discernible is how I made this image. No, I did not dip my fingertips in red paint.

I played with a bucket.

I really enjoyed the strong backlight and how the pads of my fingers pressed against the plastic, providing a slightly darker appearance than the rest of my fingers.

Here’s an example where my fingertips suggest three, mysterious and disturbing hooded figures, advancing in the twilight.

3 Hooded Figures - Jane Trotter

Somewhat starker and simpler (and looking more like fingers) is the ‘out of the camera’ shot for ‘A Touch of Red’.

Original image for 'A Touch of Red'

Of course, in the original, there’s absolutely no hint of red, and it’s reasonably far removed from what I ultimately ended up with.

This is where I embarked upon a bit of a journey. Back in the day when I had very little skill in Photoshop and only possessed a rudimentary grasp of the basics, my ‘playing’ was not particularly sophisticated.  For example, I would tweak levels, contrast and brightness, and hue and saturation to see what enhancements I could make.

Sometimes curiosity got the better of me and I went out on a limb, tweaking these elements to their extreme, just to see what effect they’d have on the image. I’m very glad I did, as ‘A Touch of Red’ is the result of such daredevil experimentation!

It’s certainly been a while since I made this image, so I can’t take you through exactly what my processes were. Frankly, they were probably incredibly unstructured, with a lot of toing and froing and a fair amount of luck thrown into the mix!  However, these four intermediate shots I’ve put together will hopefully give you an idea.

The progression towards 'A Touch of Red'

 

What appeals to me the most about ‘A Touch of Red’ is its simplicity. It is what it is, and nothing more. No pretence. no artifice. It’s direct and straightforward. A good philosophy for life maybe…

A Touch of Red - Jane Trotter

 

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

 

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Take your pick…

How to Create a Multi-panel Piece

I'm frequently asked "how do you create your triptychs?" "Where do you decide to crop and how do you … [Read More...]

The Wonders of Escher

For as long as I can remember, I've always been fascinated and in awe of the wonderous, mind-bending … [Read More...]

A Touch of Red - Jane Trotter

Exposed #21: A Touch of Red

Well, it's no surprise what these are! This is probably my most easily discernible image (even … [Read More...]

The French Connection – Monet and Debussy

As part of my 'In Harmony' series of blog posts, I want to explore linking an artwork (whether it be … [Read More...]

Exposed #20: Follow the Yellow Brick Road

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“Music is the ultimate teacher” Wassily Kandinsky

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Exposed #19: Encoiled

There are two household chores I really dislike - cleaning the shower and doing the vacuuming. I … [Read More...]

In the Mind of a Triptych Judge

I recently had the privilege of being one of three judges in the 2020 Nelson National Triptych … [Read More...]

Pictures at an Exhibition – the Symbiosis of Art & Music

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As the saying goes, “one thing leads to another”. I find this very true when it comes to my … [Read More...]

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