11 September, 2015

An Artists Dilemma

Minimalism as Simple Geometry


A Black and White Minimalist Photo created using the Shadow of and open door and a water outlet at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.
Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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It is not easy being an artist. Usually what happens is that your immediate peers i.e your close friends and your family won't understand the work you do, nor will they be very optimistic and hopeful for you. They just do not know the scope and potential of your genre and art overall and therefore they will try and make you believe that you have chosen the wrong path. An artist requires about 3-4 years of base building before he could properly monetize his work. So here comes the dilemma. What should an Artist do? stick to his non-money generating art in his early years of creation or listen to his immediate peers and choose a different path.  I, myself face this dilemma as I do Minimalist Photography. The non-mainstream photo art. No I don't do wedding, product or portrait photography and people keep asking me where is the money and I usually have no response to give them. Though I believe if I stick to what I do, I shall be able to sail through. But life is really not easy. If you are an artist too and facing the same dilemma, share your story too.

Coming back to the photo, The door on the bottom right is used to show the artist's the immediate peers (or a different path). The water outlet on the left represents the artist. The long shadow of the outlet shows that he/she has been able to take forward his/her genre to quite an extent. The partition between the water outlet and the door shows the disconnect or the difference of opinion between the artist and immediate peers. The composition's highlight here is the depth created on the right by purposely placing the door on bottom right by keeping it on the rule of thirds. The split between the walls due was caused by the shadow differential although the color for both walls was the same. I took the shot around 4 pm in the afternoon which resulted in the shadow play.

7 comments:

  1. Looks fantastic. I think you are the artist.

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  2. Hello there. My name is Lucas Paul from Mount Pleasant, Iowa (US). An artist dilemma I can relate to as well. I am currently at this stage right now. I've been doing photography for around 8-9 years now. I did a lot of portrait work, some weddings here and there, but it never really was for me. I enjoyed doing that type of work, but I enjoyed my own creative personal projects more so. In the beginning I started doing photography because of a divorce. Using a camera became my creative escape and instead of sitting around at home feeling sorry for myself, doing photography lifted me up and got me back on my feet. Last year, 2015, marked a big change for me in my photo work as I pulled away from a great deal of portrait work and took a full dive into abstract and minimalism. However, with this new change in direction, came some negatives from those who have enjoyed my other work through the years. Sometimes abstract and minimalism photography just doesn't work for some viewers because they lack a simple understanding of it. Abstract and minimalism provoke strong emotions to me in photographs that some might not seem to understand, see or feel for themselves. There are a great deal of people who have enjoyed my work for years, that I now find do not enjoy my current abstract work very pleasing to look at. I am ok with that. I am doing what I love to do and that is what matters the most, not what others think I should be doing. I even put a photo book of my abstract work on Blurb.com and I've only sold a couple copies. http://www.blurb.com/books/6646153-after-the-blaze It makes me sad sometimes, but I still have to keep moving forward. I came to this blog post from your youtube video (minimalist photography p1 and p2) You can find me on Flickr at... https://www.flickr.com/photos/lpaulphotography/

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    1. Also, I really enjoyed looking at your work! Great work! Keep it up! :)

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    2. Hello Lucas. Thanks for writing. An interesting story you have. I agree is difficult at times to make people understand your art. For me, I started photography with Minimalism itself. I am just about 3 years into it. Also I went through your flickr photos and I particularly liked a) fall forever in concrete and b) this old highway. I also agree to the fact that its difficult selling minimalist or abstract photos, but once someone picks a liking for it, the sales keeps pouring in. Thank you for taking out time to read my blog and viewing my YouTube videos. I send you greetings from Jaipur, the pink city of India.

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  3. Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.

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