While photography is often the art form with the most realism, the photographer can make things a little more abstract forcing his or her audience to slow down and think about what is pictured.

This can be done in camera without resorting to filters in Photoshop .

One of the simplest ways is to shoot tight using reflections. Here are some examples taken during a recent holiday with my wife, Cheryl, while in Seattle, WA.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Seattle, WA Reflections of other office towers in the windows of a downtown building in Seattle.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Seattle, WA A tight crop of windows without any sense of their surroundings provides a different view.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, near Kelowna, B.C. A tight shot of the trestles on a bridge on the former Kettle Valley Railroad KVR through Myra Canyon part of the Trans Canada Trail that runs through the Okanagan in B.C.'s southern interior.

Why not take the time to donate money for famine relief. Right now the Canadian government is matching money given for relief in the Horn of Africa which means every dollar you donate goes twice as far.

Also check out this blog posting on Reuters.