There are times when I'm taking photos that all I see are patterns and design elements. Everything is abstract - squares, circles, patterns, shapes, textures. This use to drive me crazy, partially because I didn't understand or know how to utilize it. This past weekend Kate and I were walking on the Mall in DC. We decided to cut through the Hirshhorn Museum. A building I have always loved, not only for the art inside, but for the design of the building itself. But I've never really looked at it the way I did yesterday. One thing I think photographers fail to do is to look everywhere, and not just straight ahead. Looking up, down and even behind can result is some amazing sights. Being able to comparing shapes (the back of a chair compared to the roof design) or how angles and lines find similarities in different objects (lines of a table compared to the lines of a building) really make for some fantastic images.
What's really amazing is when I start seeing other peoples art in a scene. I feel like I am seeing what they saw - design, light, patterns, shapes. Edward Hopper came to mind when I saw the scene in the photo below. It's not exactly like his work, but it does remind me of his sense of design and how he composed his paintings. I just couldn't resist taking it. It helped me in learning to see all over again.
