As this abstract street photography body of work continues to evolve, I’ve been paying closer attention not just to what succeeds, but to why. A coherent project isn’t built by accumulating strong images alone—it’s built by understanding the conditions that allow those images to exist together.
To test those conditions, I returned to six abstract street photographs made during the summer and re-edited them using the same muted, earth-toned palette that has defined my recent winter work. The question was simple: if the colour palette holds, does the work still belong?
The answer was more nuanced than I expected.
The Images That Fit
Two of the six images integrate seamlessly into the project. Despite being made in summer, they share the same essential characteristics as the winter work: compressed light, restrained colour relationships, and a sense of inward motion. The city feels quieter in these frames, less descriptive, more suggestive.
What makes them fit is not when they were made, but how they behave. They resist spectacle. They reduce information rather than accumulate it. The motion blurs soften form instead of energizing it. In these images, colour supports mood rather than announcing itself. They align with the emotional and visual restraint that defines the core of this project.
The Images on the Edge
Two images sit uncomfortably—but usefully—on the boundary.
They share the palette and employ similar techniques, yet their energy begins to push outward. There is more openness in the frame, more directional force in the motion, and more narrative implied in the figures and spaces. These photographs don’t break the project’s rules, but they test them.
I’m keeping these images in view because they help clarify the edge of the work. They show where the balance begins to tip—where abstraction gives way to activity, and quiet gives way to momentum. They belong to the conversation, even if they may not belong in the final sequence.
The Images That Don’t Fit
The remaining two images fall outside the project, even after re-editing.
In these frames, light asserts itself rather than receding. Motion becomes expressive instead of compressive. The city expands instead of folding inward. While the colour palette is consistent, the emotional temperature is not. These images feel energized, open, and externally driven—qualities that run counter to the introspective, reduced sensibility I’m pursuing here.
They are not unsuccessful images. They simply belong to a different body of work.
What This Clarified
This exercise confirmed something important: the colour palette alone does not define this project. Winter does more than mute tones—it compresses space, flattens contrast, and quiets the city in ways that fundamentally shape how these photographs feel.
Rather than forcing this work to exist year-round, I’m choosing to respect that reality. This abstract street project will remain winter-bound. When the season changes, so will my focus. Other projects will take precedence, and this one will pause until the conditions that give it coherence return.
That constraint isn’t a limitation. It’s a form of clarity.
Knowing when an image belongs—and when it doesn’t—is part of the work.