Calistoga Road

I gave up on abstraction this morning because I realized that I'm not really sure what it means. Also it is a brilliantly beautiful day with the fall colors coming into their own after their bath, so today it seemed a shame to waste it on mono. I'm posting a picture of  the ridiculously tall (and very popular) Columbian wax palms and the telephone poles across the street. I grew up in Southern California where a line of these trees along the top of a ridge was a very common sight, but I've also seen them in Illinois and even in Scotland, so they must be quite hardy and adaptable. I'm willing to bet that the telephone poles across the street will fall down in a storm before the palms do.

John and I discussed the meaning of 'abstract' this morning, since I said I  really don't think I know what it is when it comes to photography (other than a vague notion of the subject not being immediately recognizable. John said he thought it was something that 'doesn't have frills and curlicues'. The man always did have a way with words. 

I had just taken a picture of a power plant* which we always pass on the way to Kathy's and which I always think of as vaguely abstract looking, but in light of our conversation decided it is really very realistic. It certainly has a lot of frilly bits and curlicues....

Referring to my 'brain' , aka google on my cell phone, the Oxford Dictionary gives four different definitions:
1. theoretical or conceptual
2. extract or remove something
3. a summary or synopsis
4. reducing something to a set of essential characteristics

Perhaps abstraction is in the mind of the beholder as it can pretty much mean whatever one wants it to. When it comes to photography, I think John came as close as anybody....

What do you think it means?

*extra