Plastic Pipe on Textured Brown Wall and some SEO Tips

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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First things First, This photo is Minimalism as Less Elements 

I focused on the pipe and therefore you can see some blur on the left. If you want everything in focus from left to right and the pipe as well, then use a high aperture number probably like F11 and accordingly adjust the rest of your camera settings. I was very close to the subject and to get your photos to be decently sharp and clear, shooting them from a closer range is a must. 

Pro Tip: Avoid Zoom Lenses and Prefer the Prime ones.

More about the Composition: 

As you can see a lot of empty space has been added on the left. Empty space is very useful, especially if you want to use/license such photos for commercial use. Lets say, there is a XyzPipes company out there. They would love to have this as background for their print ads or PowerPoint presentation. There is ample copy space to write about the company or its product's information. Similarly, ad agencies would love to hire photographers who could shoot such photos for them. Imagine, there is a new clothing line and instead of the pipe there is a model in a red gown standing there. And you have the beautiful brown textured Indian wall on the left for a write up. Wouldn't that be interesting for an advertisement? 

Next time, you are in talks with a client for a product shoot, tell them that you could shoot something similar for them i.e a Minimalistic photo-shoot with lots of Negative Space. You never know, maybe they love the idea and you get that long awaited conversion.

Now lets get to the SEO Tips part.

After my previous post "Open Door and Water Outlet on a Red Wall", which too had some SEO information, I finalized on my new posting structure. 

i.e Photo First and Detailed Information under it.

I conducted two experiments in my last post:

a) The Title of the post was not an Art Title, like I generally keep in most of my posts. It was SEO optimized.

b) I posted the photo first and wrote the text under it. This is the exact opposite of what I do. (barring a few posts/now I am also updating the old ones to this new structure)

Both of these experiments were done to find out If I could get more traffic than usual, to the post. The results were good and Yes, I did get that extra traffic, that I was looking for.

Point a) explanation: When the title of the post is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized, your post ranks higher for those keywords. Yes, it is that simple. But also make sure that you use the same keywords in the labels section of the post and in the file name of the photo you upload. Another good practice is to get all your individual post links crawled by Google's robots. This can be achieved by submitting them in the Google Webmasters Tool, under the "Fetch as Google" head.

Point b) explanation: Keeping the photo first, really helps in the voting that happens for a photo or article on StumbleUpon. I always submit each of my posts to it. 

StumbleUpon is the best social bookmarking site in the world and it sends you tons of traffic, if you use it the right way. If you have a website/blog, do open a StumbleUpon account and submit your  content. I would also like to caution you. Don't just submit your own content all the time, or else you will be banned. Be a genuine user. Add articles that you generally like on the web and arrange them by creating topic wise lists. Like or dislike others content while you Stumble and that's it, you're done. 

Note: If you like this article and photo, please copy the link to our post and submit it to the StumbleUpon Directory under the Photography Category, so that other users can discover it. (Thank you for the favor in advance.)

Now-a-days, I deviate a lot from the central point or the photography in my posts.

I tend to talk more of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. You must be wondering why such an emphasis on it. The answer is, that you can shoot the most wonderful photo in the world or write the most brilliant of all articles but, if that post does not reach the right audience and the right quantity of audience in numbers, then that post/photo/article might just end up going un-noticed. 

5 minutes back, I was on the phone with another Photographer friend of mine and we were debating something similar. Whether to write long articles or not, or just to focus on clicking good photos. We realized that both of us are Photographers and NOT writers. My friend's latest blog post contains, merely one line of description. Well, that is his style. And I appreciate it. But Internet and SEO work very differently. You have to have long write ups with photos, for your work to get noticed by search engines.

In Short, If you have a blog/website, you must write at least one long post a week for it to get indexed properly by search engines. Do not forget to include photos. If you are not a good photographer, you can license some photos from Shutterstock.
 

Do check out their subscription plans (disclosure: I am a both a Shutterstock contributor and an affiliate)

To conclude, I would say shooting minimalist photos is fine, less is more is fine, but when it comes to getting your website/blog out there to be seen by others, you have to follow a maximalist approach.

Radiate Love

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Radiate Love, to find it back. Yes and No. Yes, because that's the rule of nature and No, because when you do such a thing solely  for the purpose of getting love back in return, then it is more like a business transaction. The moment there is want or greed in your mind, what returns to you, is  usually "nothing".  

Why I mention this, is a) it took me some time to get this thing in my head, right.  Now, that I know about it, I am happy to share this with you all. And b) A lot of people today say, that the world is bad and abundant with selfish people. Well, there is a reason for that. Most people want to do a transaction, rather than loving others purely. And because in return they usually get  "nothing" they, themselves have become selfish, and have labelled others as unloving and mean.  What I want to say is, that love purely, love completely, look for nothing in return. 

People say, I love her, she is mine or I love him, he is mine. Well, nothing is yours. Nothing was yours to begin with too, and nor shall anything be ever yours. You are living in an illusion, if you believe so. Tell me, what is it that you can actually call your own? Tell me, give me one example. I bet you can't, as there is nothing.

So, let's decide, that for whatever little time, we are in this world, lets love each other, without conditions, without expectations. Love heals. Let us heal the world together and for good.  

Note: I actually related this picture to love as "white as a color represents purity, and purity is something usually related to love." 
Also Note: Radiate pure love, make it your default setting. 

Back to the composition, this is Minimalism as Simple Geometry. What we have here is, one vertical rectangle on the left and its shadow casted on the right. The composition is fairly simple as it should be. White Minimalism, is always more appealing as well as pleasing to look at.  The tough part here is not the composition, rather, the challenge in such photos is to be able to find these kind of white walls. They have become so uncommon these days. I remember when I was a kid, usually on the Diwali Festival, my parents used to get my entire house white-washed or painted in white. But, later even that changed to "just any new paint" not necessarily white, it usually off-white now.  At least, in the city where I live in i.e Jaipur, it is extremely difficult to spot such walls. The most usual wall color is, either yellow or orange(pink-ish orange).

The Tring-Tring Era

Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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If you carefully observe the shadow of the bicycle, you would find a small circular "cycle bell" with a lever on its side. This, acts as a horn and comes very handy on a busy day on the streets. These traditional Indian bicycles, still run on Indian roads, but now you can spot only a handful of them, thanks to the tremendous growth India as a country has witnessed in the last couple of decades. The "cycle bell" makes a really pleasant "Tring-Tring" sound, when the lever is pulled. 

When I was a kid, streets of Jaipur used to be flooded with such bicycles and this was the most common mode of transportation. Very few people had the luxury of owning cars or a two-wheeler. Those were the golden days. So less traffic, very little air and noise pollution. Less of buildings, more of farms and empty pieces of land, spread out over thousands of acres. Everything was slow, calm and peaceful. Indeed "less is more" or "being happy with less" was the default mantra then. I am talking about life that existed about 25 years ago. No Television sets, no cellphones, no Air conditioners, only transistors to listen to FM radio. People used to visit their neighbors for recreation/chats, cooking food together. We trusted people so easily, also lent money to them without fear. If someone had an accident, we never used to think before we act, unlike today, for our default setting was helping others, being kind and generous. The doctors we like gods, so humble, so polite, so helpful. The teachers were Gurus. Also food, milk and sweets, were mostly unadulterated, for people in that era were mostly honest, ethical and full of virtues. The most popular evening hangout, I remember, used to be, walks in public parks. Gardening/watering the plants, was also one of the preferred passtime. 

Now, things are completely different. The world has changed so much. Sadly, it has changed for the worse. I miss those days and wonder, if we could somehow, return to that "Tring-Tring Era". 

Wouldn't that be fascinating? Returning back to an era, when even "Mondays were beautiful".

This photo is Minimalism as Parts of the whole. Here the photographer shows only a cropped part of the central subject in the photo, and makes the viewer imagine, how the subject would have looked in entirety, if it hadn't been cropped. As you can see, a semi-circle has been carefully carved out from the front tyre of the bicycle to achieve such a purpose. The crop has been placed on the extreme right, following the rules of thirds. The shadow of the bicycle on the wall acts like a hint given, in a quiz contest. Also note, that the triangle made with the crop of the floor, on bottom right, is also on purpose. Our minds sub-consciously reacts in a more favorable manner to geometry. The photo becomes more powerful, with the semi-circle and triangle in conjunction.

More Bicycle Photographs:

• Bicycle Bench Lines 

   

• Bicycle Tyre versus the Rectangle 

   

• Option A versus B 

   

• The Get-together

Together Yet Apart

Minimalism as Simple Geometry 

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Some relationships are strange, difficult, stagnant and not easy to manage. You are both in and out of love at the same time. Together, but miles apart. It is a strange feeling and you just cant do anything about it. You are helpless. You can only sit at the shore and admire the beauty of the sea and its waves from far away, but you can not walk-in for a dip like you used to do before. Of course the relationship began with a big bang, loads of love and care but now there is a "constant gap" in the relationship. You both came to know how different you are from each other and that you have very different habits, friends, and views on life. You've just stumbled upon the "compatible yet incompatible" stage of the relationship. Neither of you have created the distance in the relationship but it is there and is a constant one. You have "not fought" but you don't talk much either. You've realized that the feel and charm of the relationship is over. You neither want to end it, nor do you want to let it continue. You are still friends but "only friends on paper", you are more of an acquaintance now. Such a relationship is being depicted here by two parallel lines(that never meet) created by the traditional Indian plastic clotheslines(ropes) used to dry clothes out in the open here in India.  

Composition

The photo uses "Simple Geometry" as a base. i.e Lines and the Black Triangle. The lines would have been boring to look at, if I would have kept them at 180 degrees. Keeping them at a slight upward tilt adds some sense of motion to the shot. The viewers eyes are almost lead out of the frame to the right by the parallel lines but are brought right back into it by the masculine shadow of the triangle going just the opposite way. 

Other Minimalist Photos using Clothesline as a Subject:

 

• Knot in a Relationship

• The Lucky Shirt

• Loose Ends

• Middle Class

Be on Top

Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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We all want to be on top, be in the drivers seat and excel in whatever domain we are working in. We all have those leadership quality built-in by default. But, only some of us are able to achieve what we strive for. It is not that we don't work hard enough, we all do, but only some get lucky. That desire to be on top is well expressed here. The red wall signifies aggression and blue (generally related to oceans or water which covers a majority of the earth's surface.) here is used to portray the desire to capture or have it all. The subtle curve that goes to the right indicates the hurdles that come in the way. I strongly believe that every Minimalist Photo speaks and can be analyzed to gain insights into both a) our own sub-conscious mind and b) the messages hidden in nature. To compose, I placed the curve on the right and kept it small. Red was emphasized but not overemphasized.

Shooting Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors is not that easy. You always have to spot the intersection points or meeting points of different colors. Here there are 4 colors that meet at a point somewhere on the right hand side of the frame. The distinctive colors being, Red, Blue, Black and Brown.

Train Your Eyes for Minimalist Photography

Let's say you have decided to give Minimalist Photography a try and you are keen on clicking some Minimalist Photos. The question is where to begin?

To begin, You need to Train Your Eyes for Minimalist Photography

You need to Change your "Perspective" i.e. the way you look at things. Shapes/lines/ geometry is everywhere. They are a part of our everyday lives, but we often forget to notice them.

For example:

• What shape is a birthday cake? Isn't it mostly a square or a circle?
• Even when you cut your birthday cake with a knife, what shape do you cut out ? Don't you cut out triangles ?
• Geometry is everywhere. OK, how about a wrist watch? The most common dial shapes are circular, square, or rectangular.
• How about the plates we use to eat our food in? again circular or square. (the common ones)
• How about  doors and windows? Mostly all doors are rectangular (rather rectangles) and most common window shapes are improvised squares or rectangles. Rectangles, are used the most in everyday life, they are just about everywhere.
• Also, how about the electricity wires you see on the road attached to the poles. Well, those are not electricity wires, for a minimalist those are Lines.

This is the kind of perspective change you need to bring in, in order to compose Minimalist frames.

Let's take a few examples of Minimalist Photographs to better understand how a normal person views objects and how a Minimalist Photographer views them. 

Minimalist Photo: 1

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Two holes in a rusty metal sheet.

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: Two circles separated by a line (Minimalism as Simple Geometry)

 

Minimalist Photo: 2 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: A yellow wall with an opening.

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: A red rectangle within a square, which is again within a larger square.(Minimalism as Simple Geometry)

Minimalist Photo: 3

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Snippet of a ladder .

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: Five vertical lines cut by a diagonal one.(Minimalism as Simple Geometry)

Minimalist Photo: 4

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Six windows .

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: Rectangles, squares, lines and curves. (Minimalism as Simple Geometry or Repeating Shapes)

Minimalist Photo: 5

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a normal person views it: A bicycle parked by the wall.

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: A semi-circle, lines and a rectangle. (Minimalism as Simple Geometry or Parts of the Whole)

Minimalist Photo: 6

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a normal person views it: A staircase.

b) How a Minimalist Photographer views it: A right angled triangle on the left, A diagonal lines. other straight lines.( Minimalism as Simple Geometry/Less Elements) 

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I hope the above Examples helped you to see things in a different manner.

--- Now you can also enroll for Online Classes on Minimalist Photography via Zoom or Google Meet. Click here: Online Classes

 

Must Read:

• 55 Photography Tips Every Photographer Must Read Once
• Types of Minimalism

More Articles on Minimalist Photography

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

• Exploring Suppressed Inner Creativity via Minimalist Photography.

Feel free to share your Minimalist Photos in the comments section and leave a feedback for the article.

Thank you, have a nice day/night.