Abstraction
 Part 2- Creating Abstract Photographs

There is no abstract art.  You must always start with something.
Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality. 
Pablo Picasso
1 - Introduction
Creating an abstract photograph means removing the context in which the subject is found.  Doing so leaves us with an image filled with visual information that does not give an indication as to what the original subject was.  What the image is about, or of, is up to us to decide.  This opens the door to multiple interpretations of the image.  Each viewer brings his or her idea regarding what the image is about.
2 - How abstract images are created
In the quote above what Picasso means is that immediate abstraction is not possible because no matter what we photograph, paint, draw, sculpt or otherwise create, we always start with something real.  It is only by removing parts of this reality that we can achieve an abstraction.  Our role as artists is therefore, to remove reality progressively until we are left with the art alone, distanced from r...