Thanks for resurrecting this thread Mike--it was a fun discussion.
I've been meaning to share the work of another photographer whose photographs I've been enjoying lately and who has inspired me to get back out there and keep making my blurry pictures.
William Neill's Impressions of Light portfolio is all images produced with camera motion to create a blurred effect. His artist statement for the portfolio really resonated with my own motivations for creating this type of photograph. He wrote,
"My Goal is to remove the context, distill down to the essence,
in order to convey the energy of a subject or scene in a fresh way,
much as snow simplifies the landscape.
For me, these images deflect the mind's tendency to dwell
on the concrete issues of place and name when viewing a subject.
The spirit of a place or an object can be more strongly conveyed"
I would definitely recommend having a look through his site, he also has many terrific "traditional" landscape photographs. I purchased the ebook portfolio of the "Impressions" work, and it's just stunning (disclosure: no, I don't know him personally, or work for him, or get a commission...).
I've been continuing to play with, and develop my "blurry" work--I've recently updated
my website with several new galleries (and a new design, which unfortunately broke a bunch of the links earlier in this thread). I've also decided, partially thanks to everyone here, (and despite what I suggested my initial post), that there are a near-infinite number of ways to produce abstract photography. Now, someone more clever than I may still be able to break things down into a couple categories (anyone up for a try??), but I've been enjoying exploring the whole range of techniques. Here are some examples:
some new "defocused" ones:
some of my own camera motion ones:
two blurred by subject movement:
some "
Orton imagery":
and finally, some photographs made using a lens seemingly custom-built for photographers experimenting with blur--the
Lensbaby:
I'd love to hear your reactions to these, or any of the newer work in
my galleries. Also, can anyone suggest other photographer (professional, or otherwise) that are doing this type of work? Along with William Neill, I've mentioned
Freeman Patterson and
Courtney Milne earlier in this thread (although my favourite work of Milne's is no longer on his website). Any others that I should know about?
'all the best
Jonathan