Colorful Squares

Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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This photo was taken on Sunday 23.04.2017. I quoted the date because I had been going out in the hunt for Minimalist Photos from the past 5 Sundays and I found a few Minimalist Shots only Last Sunday i.e the 23rd of April 2017. This never happened with me before, in the 4 years of Photography career. For 4 Sundays in a row, I dint find anything worthwhile. I spent 1 hour roaming around on my bike every single time, only to return empty handed. 

If I do some Number Crunching or some Numerology sort of Calculation, the only logic that comes to my mind is this. If I add up all the numbers in the date 23.04.2017  the total comes to Number 19 or 2+3+4+2+1+7 = 19 And guess what, 19 is my birth number, I was born on 19th June. Aha. Well I can only wonder what just happened. 

Anyways lets get back to the Photo :)

I went to a new Place this Sunday. Its a place where there are a few Shopping Malls very close to each other. Its called Gaurav Towers or GT in short. I found nothing around to main complex, but right behind it I found this beautiful textured wall with Colorful Squares in Repetition. 

This is a Lookup Minimal Shot, as I was looking up and pointing my camera at the Subject. The Lens I used was the 100mm prime Macro Lens by Canon. I had to crop this photo from the top and the bottom as well to balance the aesthetics. In the photo above, you can see 8 Squares. 4 Red ones and 4 Yellow ones. Actually, there were many more of them but to de-clutter the shot, I chose this Set of 8 and moved closer to the subject, till they fitted nicely till the side edges of the frame. 

Also note the Small little flying bird on the Bottom right Corner. I posted this Photo under the Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes category of Minimalist Photography because the Squares are in repetition.

You can also Post this under Minimalism as in Small Objects, claiming that the Flying bird on the bottom right as your main subject, if that you did intentionally. 

But wait, don't wonder and say that it is impossible to time the bird. It is possible, as usually you would find a lot of birds sitting on high rise buildings with these box or square kind of openings in them. To get a bird in your frame, you can simply compose your frame, press half shutter button and take your eyes off the camera and look directly at the movement of the birds. The moment you see one of the birds fly across, press the shutter down completely. And there you have it.

Today, I dint expect to write such a long post, but I hope you liked the long explanation. :)

Thank you for your time here.  

Related Post: 

• Colorful Rectangles

Pink Bougainvillea Flower

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Minimalism Type: Less Elements

Rules Followed: 

a) Rule of Thirds

b) Negative Space

c) Less Elements

Photo Highlights: 

a) Shallow Depth of Field

b) Two Color Palette - Pink and Gray

c) Low Angle Shot

Blooming Plant

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Minimalism and Nature is a beautiful Minimalist Photography theme. The more you click such photographs, the better you feel.

Nature Heals !

Hope this year, I will cover more Nature Photographs. I do plan to buy a Canon Macro Lens, and that I am sure would help me in achieving this :)

So What made me click This Blooming Plant Minimalist Photo this particular way?

The slight curved lean of the green plant on the white wall crossed my eye and I stopped right near it. 

Now, the question was, whether to take a vertical shot with just the plant and the white wall, highlighting the curve keeping the photo strictly Minimalist? OR to experiment a little?

I decided to experiment a little. 

Right next to the plant you see this rough brick pattered wall. I initially thought of taking that as a separate Minimalist Shot, but then, I improvised and merged the two Shots that had crossed my mind. 

The result is the above Minimalist Photograph of the Blooming Plant.

The plant was kept to the left of the frame in the corner, following the "Rule of Thirds". The bricks were kept to the right. 

Note, how the empty plain white wall acts as an opposite, to the fully covered rough brick wall. 

That, also added to the Art Element and Aesthetics of the Photograph.

As for the Minimalism classification, The photograph falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements Category of Minimalist Photography. The only elements being a) The Blooming Plant and b) The Brick Patterned Wall

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Stay tuned for more. :)

Grainy Minimalism Arcs within Arcs

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photo of Arcs within Arcs shot at Amber Fort, Jaipur

With this Grainy Minimalist Photo I want to make a point. But first, let me Ask you a Question.

Tell me, Why any Artist who paints or draws anything is acceptable art?

Whereas, If a Photographer experiments too much and crosses certain technical boundaries, then his work becomes unacceptable and it is quickly disregarded by people? 

Why the bias?  Isn't Photography Art too? Isn't the Man/Woman behind the camera, an artist as well?

An artist can doodle, make a collage, scribble, produce abstract artworks or do what ever he or she likes, But a Photographer has to follow certain rules or else people start saying things like "This is not Photography."

Most leading magazines, Photography competitions, stock photography websites, mostly do not accept photos that have grain, blur and other technical errors in them, whether on purpose or not on purpose. 

My question is, why not? 

Sometimes with grains and blur the photos look brilliant but since they do not fall under the technical bracket of "right photography", either such photos get mostly rejected by the Top Photographers/Editors etc. or the photographer himself deletes them, and later never produce newer ones.

What most Top Magazine Editors/Stock Photography site/Photography Jury/Mentors always select and promote is the same old Landscape pictures that include waterfalls, sunsets etc. 

HOW BORING is that? where is the variety? There isn't any.

(Note: In the art fraternity grainy and blurry photos are appreciated to some extent but it still needs a wider audience. On the other hand, in commercial photography, it is almost a complete NO.)

So, The Million Dollar Question is:

"Why is Photography mostly judged on the technical aspects rather than the artistic aspects?"

For example, In photography it is generally recommended that one should almost never take a shot above the ISO setting range of 400-800 in a Crop Sensor camera. If there is low light and if you don't have an expensive camera that gives less grain on high ISO setting, then you lose the shot. Photographers miss many great compositions because of this. They know even if they take the shot at a high ISO setting to capture the composition, everyone's first reaction would be "No, the ISO is too high. so many grains in the photo, forget about the composition, the shot is over."

Then to follow up, they end up recommending you a high priced full-frame camera which might eat up an entire year of your savings.

My problem is with their reaction. Their ideal reaction should be "Wow, what a lovely composition. Forget about the grains. Composition rules, you have a great vision. Well done."

But, this never happens. So what I have personally noticed is that the photographers who can afford the expensive cameras, always tend to suppress the creative photographers who can compose good shots but do not have the resources to upgrade to better cameras. The de-motivation eventually pushes the creative photographer out and that is the reason we keep seeing sunset, sunrises, mountains, waterfall photos over and over and over again.

Anyways, this could go on and on but by now, I am sure you understood the point I wanted to make. 

Back to the Minimalist Photograph 

The shot falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography. The only subject here is the White Arcs in Repetition. 

The grains add the artistic touch to the photo and that is the highlight of the shot. Without the grains, the photo loses most of its appeal. I had this shot in my PC for over 1 and a half years, but I never posted it on my website/blog because it had grains, I too was not sure of it initially. I kept the shot saved because I believed the composition was decent. Now, when I looked at it today, I felt like posting this and making a point.  

To concluded I would say "Art is art, the medium can be anything and people should value the photographers expression and vision."

Grains are Good - Happy Clicking !

Note: If you have captured some Grainy Minimalist Photographs or any grainy Photographs, post them in the comments section. IF you can't post them maybe share a link or two. I would be happy to take a look at your creativity. 

Exploring Suppressed Inner Creativity via Minimalist Photography

This article will help you explore and express your Suppressed Inner Creativity via Minimalist Photography

If you feel that everything around you is boring and monotonous, and that feeling makes you want to change or leave your job/work, or maybe go on a vacation, do yoga, meditate etc. Then, you are probably one of those Creative Individuals, trapped in a monotonous job, who has not yet answered the call of creativity coming from within. Whoosh ! that was long.

Creative individuals need expression to survive and NOT Suppression. If you have been constantly suppressing your creativity then you might be committing a big mistake.

Creative Individuals must give their suppressed creativity an outlet via some medium, like Photography, Art, Music etc. or they might end up panicking one day and take wrong and drastic decisions to fix things.

I am sure most of you are aware of such facts but certain Thought Barriers must have prevented you from taking the first step. The first step is everything. Once you being then there is no looking back.

Some Examples of Thought Barriers:

 

• I have a 6 day a week job, I don't have time for it.
• I do not have enough money for that painting class course.
• That photography course is really lengthy and the cameras are very pricey.
• I am a man, creativity is more of a female thing? (...some men)
• Someday I will definitely take out time for it.(... and you are never able to)
• Creativity is difficult to learn (.. not realizing we are all creative by birth, we all made tons of different houses with Lego blocks, remember?)
• I don't work for an Ad agency, why should I explore creativity at all.
• I will explore creativity only when it is required in my work/job. 
• Creativity... people might laugh at my work/ideas...as it would be non-standard.
• Creativity... there is no fixed definition of it, what is the point chasing it.
• Why waste time in a developing a hobby, I could make even more money in the extra time I take out each day.

The result of continuously suppressing your creativity could lead to:

• A complete mental breakdown, due to lack of variety in life/newer thoughts/ideas that refresh and re-energize the mind on a regular basis.
• Or You may suddenly give up your work/job entirely and decide only to follow your creative passion, be it music, painting, art or photography. Not the right move.

So, a better thing to do would be, that one keeps expressing his/her creativity / suppressed creativity in some portion(a little, from time to time) along with their work. Be it once a week or maybe once a fortnight. This keeps everything going. You, then do not need to take drastic steps to fix things.

**Self Expression is key to Mental and Emotional well-being.

For Expression = Meditation

If you are able to express your thoughts or unspoken words via some medium on a frequent basis, then there is no need for any yoga, meditation, vacations to refresh yourself. Your mind will automatically be cleared of unwanted thoughts and will remain fresh/charged for other routine works.

If you are guilty of not giving yourself the time to explore your Suppressed Inner Creativity then don't worry, for I will tell you an easy way to express and connect with your creative self.

And that way is, Minimalist Photography !!!

So now, you may ask why am I claiming Minimalist Photography to be a better and an easier medium to express inner creativity than most other mediums?

Because :-

1. You don't need to take out loads of time from your busy schedule to click a few pictures.
2. Even if you decide to shoot on Sundays(like how I do) or once every 15 days, it is sufficient.
3. Simply read this article What is Minimalist Photography? to begin your journey.
4. Note: You don't need to travel to specific places to take Minimalist Photographs, because subjects are available everywhere. See post Radiate Love where something as plain and vanilla as a white wall with just a simple geometric shape can be a great subject.
5. You can create subjects of your own combining different lines and patters/angles. See Example: Subconscious Expression.
6. Minimalist Photography, quickly gives you the knowledge of color scheme/palettes. i.e which colors look good in combination within a frame. See Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors, under Types of Minimalism
7.  All that you need to do is See Shapes, and shoot them. For, in Minimalist Photography the elements represent their core shape/essence. Just make them speak for themselves.
8. You can create hundreds of different Minimalist frames, just by moving your body from one side to another, or by bending or taking shots from top.
9. You don't need to buy expensive cameras for it. You can manage shooting from a point and shoot camera or even a good camera phone like Apple iPhone6 or Samsung S6. I personally shoot from SamsungS6/S10 and I both love and hate it. Don't ask me why.
10. You can also shoot during lunch breaks. Yes, just floors, doors, windows, walls. All these make for nice Minimalist Photography subjects.
11. This kind of photography is meant for all age groups and for professional and non-professionals both. Basically, Minimalist Photography is for everyone.
12. Painting, Music and other mediums of creative expression might take months to learn. But Minimalist Photography is something you can begin tomorrow morning. We all are used to taking photos at occasions like birthdays, vacation trips etc. We are already familiar with the camera, aren't we?
13. Minimalist photography is more of visual art and compositions using basic elements. It has very little to do with advanced technical camera knowledge and equipments. Here, you just need to do the basics right.
14. I just did not want to finish at point no. 13 (unlucky number for some...)
15. Since 14 also doesn't feel right to end at, I thought it would be a good idea to ask the readers to sign up via email for the post updates, via point 15. Well, there is small box (with Email Address...as text pre-filled in it) on the Top Right of the website. Enter your Email address there and press the Submit button next to it, to get regular updates from our website.

OK, now that I have claimed that Minimalist Photography is easy and the subjects are available everywhere, lets take a couple of examples.

I) Four Colors - Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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Explanation: 

As you can see above, there was practically no subject available. I just created one for myself, out of the very boring floor carpet overlap. This is the fun part in Minimalist Photography.

I found this random overlap with shadows giving it company, at an art exhibition. I tilted the camera in my hand to place the intersection point of the four colors on the top left of the frame. I made the lines flow downward to the right, to create a sense of dynamism in the photo. And there you have it, Minimalism as Few distinctive colors. Lets take another example of a common subject below:

II) The Blue Line - Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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Explanation:

Staircases are another one of those very common subjects, that one can probably find almost anywhere. So next time, be on the lookout of staircases. Maybe, you need to avoid taking the lift (and that would also help you shed some extra pounds), for a change.
OK, lets get back to the photo. The key subject here is the Blue Line i.e the side rail of the staircase. This blue line is in complete contrast to the monochromatic white structure, and that is precisely what  prompted me to take the photo. To compose, I placed the blue side rail, on the right of the frame and the horizontal lines of the staircase, were left to fall in place on their own. One can not be perfect with all the shots. Accept that. Likewise, note that I could not manage to keep all the horizontal lines of the staircase steps, straight. But it is OK. Minimalist Photography is not about perfection. It is more about the arrangement of few elements within the frame using varied angles and combinations. The challenge is to keep everything simple yet interesting. Incredible visual clarity and letting the shapes speak for themselves is key to this art form.

Lets Conclude: Aren't the two photos examples shown above, really easy to click? Was it very difficult to find the subjects? Well,this proves that Minimalist Photography can give your Suppressed Inner Creativity, the WINGS it needs to fly. Just go out there and shoot. The subjects are unlimited and the number of frames you can produce, are simply infinite.

True Story: This story relates a lot to me. I own and run two retail stores in my city and work 6 days a week. I dislike the monotonous nature of my work. Well, "A Lot". But, Minimalist Photography has really has helped me discover my Suppressed Inner Creativity. I shoot mostly on Sundays. My hobby helps me achieve a weekly de-stress and prepares me for the next week of monotony. Without this creative expression, I would have completely fallen apart or I would have forced myself to completely leave business and get into creativity. Right now, I have maintained a fine balance between my hobby and work. Photography has helped me make friends with a lot of like-minded creative people and it feels way better than at work, when I am out with them.

Note: This is my first post, after switching over to a custom domain name i.e. www.PrakashGhai.com I purchased this domain name very recently via GoDaddy.com

Earlier I was using a .blogspot.in domain extension, which was probably not the right move. I had an year long discussion with a friend of mine on this. Now, I realize I should have switched to a custom domain name much earlier. Well, better late than never. Maybe someday, I would do a long post listing the benefits of using a custom domain name for a blog. But for now, Bye. I wish you all a great day.

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Read More Articles on Minimalist Photography:-

• Phases of Life and Photography: & where "Minimalism" fits in

• Train Your Eyes for Minimalist Photography

Piano Keys

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photograph of the area under a circular staircase, very symbolic of piano keys.

This is a photograph of the Geometric structure under a circular staircase, which I spotted at Ganpati Plaza Jaipur.

I went to the Canon Camera shop to purchase an external flash. I thought that would be a good add-on for my Camera Kit, so I bought a Flash for myself.

I also had this at the back of my mind that maybe someday, I would get into Commercial Photography and I might need this thing then. So why not buy it now and experiment.

Soon after I purchased that expensive add-on, I roamed around to hunt for some Minimalist Photographs. I kept on wandering looking here and there, and I was struggling to stop Geometry.

But then, there was this Circular Staircase near me, that lead to the first floor. I thought it would be a good idea to step a bit away from the staircase and try and capture its circular/spiral nature.

I did so, but the shot had a lot of distracting elements in the background. I tried many shots but I wasn't able to crop those elements out or make the frame look Minimalist. So I gave up on those shots.

But, right under the Circular Staircase there was this Geometric Pattern, so I went under the staircase and zoomed in, looking up to capture this Minimalist Photography.

I found this rhythmic upward curve being formed, and that quickly reminded me of Piano Keys. And Bingo, I had my shot.

I hope you enjoyed this discovery of mine.

For more Minimalist Shots stay tuned or just bookmark this blog :)

Bird Vs Lines

Minimalism as in Small Objects

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimalist Photo of a Bird sitting on the wall, with lines complimenting it.

This Minimalist Shot was taken at Jawahar Kala Kendra - Jaipur, using Two Colored walls of different colors to show Contrast between them. Later during editing, I turned the Photograph into Black and White and that further enhanced the contrast between the two walls. 

This Photograph has been intentionally captured from a distance, so that the size of the Bird appeared very small, making it a perfect fit for the "Minimalism as in Small Objects" category of Minimalist Photography.

A Word on the Composition.

The Little Bird sitting between two Diagonal Lines caught my eye to begin with. I had to be fast enough, which I was, so that the Little Bird did not fly away during the composition of the Photograph. Thankfully, the Little Bird stayed long enough and I had a decent Black and White Minimalist Photograph.

This is a Multi-layer shot. There is some distance between the two walls. The light gray one is nearer to the frame and the dark gray one is quite far. I joined these two sections visually and placed the Little Bird nearly at the intersection of the lines of the Two walls.

Also, I had to move a lot to my left and right, and I tried various combinations and angles to get this right.

Below is a Similar shot from the Same Location that you might be interested in:

• Lone Dove

Thank you. Have a Good Day !

Minimalist Reflection of Street Light

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photograph of the Reflection of street light in stagnant water on the road.

There is only one element in the frame i.e the Minimalist Reflection of Street Light, in the puddle of stagnant water. 

The subject is placed on the bottom right corner so as to follow the Rule of Thirds. A lot of Negative Space has been left on the top, to make the eye wander in the frame and find the subject eventually.

Such compositions are very tricky, and you only get them right with loads of practice. Shooting water reflections could take hundreds of wrong photos. I spotted this arrangement after looking over at about 10-12 water puddles.

You have to bend down every-time, move 360 degrees around it to check what can be spotted in it. Once you find the right subject in the puddle, try various angles and combinations, by varying the degrees at which that you bend. 

Hope you enjoyed the post. 

Stay tuned for more Minimalist Photographs!

The Window

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimalist Photograph of a Window with 6 Panes illuminating Light.

This Photograph was kept a little under exposed on purpose and was taken at City Palace - Jaipur.

I had to do a lot of editing here. I adjusted the highlights, exposure, levels and had to crop it many a times to get the final image the way I wanted. Black and white editing is not easy. You need to also understand the 0-255 range. I wish I had a larger size uploaded for this image but to balance out the composition I had to do what I did.

As a regular practice, I always add a small Buy Now link under each Minimalist Photograph I post here. This one too has that button. I have tied-up with Pixels.com (earlier Fine Art America) for making my Minimalist Photographs available for Sale worldwide. I love their service and have sold 150+ photos and some merchandise as well. The sales are good.

Click on "Buy Minimalist Photos" to browse the complete collection of Minimalist Photographs I have captured till date.

Thank you, I wish you a nice day and I send you greetings all the way from Jaipur, India.

Note: I am editing/updating this post after about 6 years. Original post date is 20.08.2014 and today it is 06.05.2020. Blogging is not that easy and maintaining and updating the blog on a regular basis is even tougher. I look forward for your feedback. In case you do end up reading this, please take time out and leave some feed back on my Minimalist Photographs in the comments section.