Reflections are an easy source of abstract photographs, due to the mixture of colours and distorted lines. Water reflections are the most common, but I selected a number of other ones as well. The image above is created via Photofunia and is free from copyright issues.
Water reflections gone wild (2009)
One of my favourite and most popular abstracts of the water reflection type. This was shot in Almere, where paintings were exhibited above a small body of water. As someone commented: it looks like someone threw a bunch of paint onto the water!
VanGoghesque (2010)
I took this water reflection abstract in Amsterdam near the place where I worked at the time/ By rotating the reflection shot 90 degrees, I created a pattern that reminded me of van Gogh's paintings.
Ice on fire (2011)
Frozen water makes an interesting variation on the usual water reflections. Most likely this is the Weerwater, the artificial Almere lake near where we lived at the time.
Basel water colours (2011)
A short day trip from the South of Germany to Switzerland and back yielded this water reflection abstract. Cool how there are two strong diagonals in this composition, even if they are not that obvious.
Splash (2011)
Given the year, this water reflection shot was probably taken in Almere. I applied an Orton-like effect with the on-line Picnik programme.
Another reflected abstract (2012)
The Burgel (the canal running through the centre of Kampen) proved to be a sheer endless source of these - I think this is one of the very best.
October water reflections (2012)
One of many water reflection abstracts shot at the Kampen canal the Burgel. This is the best one (to my taste) and the most successful one with scores of faves - the striking reflections on the diagonal are caused by balconies by the way.
Traffic Jam (2013)
Most of my Kampen water reflection abstracts are taken at the Burgel, the canal that runs through the city. Here we have one in the river IJssel, with intentional camera movement. It's actually traffic lights on the opposite banks.
Shark (2017)
More water reflections, in this case in the IJssel river in our home town Kampen. I went for a diagonal composition, and the shark figure I see in the final result was a nice bonus.
Glass Reflections (2018)
My favourite of a series of shots that I took of the way the gardens of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterloo reflected in the polished glass surface of an art piece inside the museum. I like this painterly impression.
Surreal Stairs (2018)
A dazzling Escheresque image that I encountered in the Aegean shopping mall in Shanghai, a combination of reflections and refractions on a decoration piece.
Land of Confusion (2019)
This is an unusual type of "abstraction by reflection". It is part of my "Cool Art" series: images generated by the refection of my wife's colourful paintings in a slightly crumbled aluminium coolbag.
Copyright statement: all images copyright Hennie Schaper. Contact me if you like to use them.
