This image has always been a personal favorite - I like the colors, and the abstract design. Very few people can figure out what it is, without being told. It is not my usual style, but I enjoy it nonetheless.
A few years ago I decided to spend a quiet Sunday morning in an older, industrial part of town. I was looking for colorful abstract bits to photograph, and I found a number of visually engaging things. This included a small spot at the bottom of a storage container, where some white paint had flaked off to reveal reds and browns underneath. I photographed it to make this image.
I am by no means the first person to find interest in the mundane deterioration of man-made objects. A couple of the earliest are Aaron Siskind and Brett Weston, who worked in black and white. For a fun selection of colorful abstracts of a similar nature, visit the “Classic Color Abstracts” by Ernst Haas, a pioneer of artful color photography.
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