Ten Lines

Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

My friends were sitting at Indian Coffee house at Jawahar Kala Kendra and I was supposed to join them for a cup of coffee and some afternoon snacks. It was about 4 pm. While I was on my way I found this fantastic play of light and shadows on my right. I took about 15-20 shots and by the time I joined my friends my cup of coffee had gone cold. I would never sacrifice my coffee or the green teas that I like for anything but for Minimalist Photography.

Now lets go back to the Minimalist Composition. 

To frame this, I moved very close to the subject i.e the wall and took this photo from the side so that I had two diagonal lines running from left to right cutting right across the lines in repetition. The lines created by the shadows are eight in number total and I added to two diagonal lines to it i.e 8+2=10 and therefore I titled the post "Ten Lines".

Just like us friends, had at nice discussion over coffee that afternoon, these Ten lines too had something to argue about.

White Square

Minimalism as Simple Geometry 

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

A Minimalist Photograph of a White square on a grainy Black Wall.

View: Colored Version

The walls were in fact red in color as this was shot at Jawahar Kala Kendra, but capturing red as the actual red you saw with naked eyes via your DSLR's aint that easy, unless you work with high quality prime lenses to shoot from.

Or maybe the case is that I am jinxed to shoot Red. (maybe not)

I mostly capture Minimalist Photographs with a multipurpose zoom lens as of now i.e. the Canon 55-250 mm. Sometimes it gives me great sharpness and color while I am not zoomed-in much and at other times, the results are not so great. But, I never delete those not so great shots as I kind of recycle them.

Well, here is the trick. The shots in which you cannot fix the color even in editing, simply convert them to Black and White. I follow this rule religiously, but keep in mind that you can only rescue a Photograph if it is well composed to begin with.

Some people also crop out Minimalist Frames out of the Whole image instead of capturing the exact same Photograph on the spot. I generally don't do this. At least that's not the intent I stand with the Camera in my hand in front of Photography subjects.

More on the Minimalistic Composition

I placed the White Square in the bottom of the frame, in order to follow the Rule of Thirds. The lines on the sides and above the White Square, balances the overall frame.

Other Minimalist Photos that also contain a Square:

- Circle Square Waves

- Lines Vs Square

- Right Angled Triangle Vs The Square

- 10 Squares

Rank Opposites

Minimalism as Less Elements 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

A Black and White Minimalist Photo of two Earthen Clay Utensils, hanging on a wall with threads at an Art Exhibition at JKK Jaipur.

I was on a visit to an Earthen Clay Art Exhibition at Jawahar Kala Kendra (Art Center) - Jaipur.  I thought it would be really interesting to see the talent of clay artists and to interact with them to find out how they go about composing or creating their pieces. Also, what goes into the preparations and understanding the entire creation process.

I did interact with a very artists and I was amazed to find out about their wonderful creative minds. While I was going around artwork to artwork inside the Exhibition Hall, I stopped over at this fairly simple clay structures that looked very Minimalist in terms of design. The artist that made the structure was not available at that time. 

What I found interesting here was the opposite placement of the Clay Artwork. One was front faced and the other one was facing the wall. I new right that very moment that I had an opportunity to capture a nice Black and White Minimalist Photograph of this subject. After 2 shots I got what I wanted.

The Photograph falls under Minimalism as Less Elements Category of Minimalist Photography, to learn more about other Types of Minimalism click here: 8 Types of Minimalism

Thank You

Have a Nice Day!

Guarded by the Lines.

Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

A Colorful Minimalist Photo of the back side of a Tuk-tuk or auto-rickshaw, comprising of lines and shapes, parked on the streets of Jaipur.

I spotted this Tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw) parked right in front of a slum. I was right outside the Tuk-Tuk driver's house. I was there for a photo-walk based on the theme Life in a Slum, with co-photographers. 

But guess what, I do not consider shooting poor people art at all. In fact, for me it is more like making fun of them. You may ask, so why did I attend the photo-walk? Well, I did so, to hangout with co-photographers, have "Chai" or Indian Tea with them, and discuss photography in general.

All the Photographers were clicking pictures as per the Photography theme, whereas I was as usual busy observing details and was trying to spot geometry and colors. As I mentioned above, this was right in front of the Tuk-Tuk drivers house, my eyes lit up wide once I saw such bright colors and my initial reaction was "oh wow, finally." 

Since the Tuk_tuk was stationery, I had the privilege of going really really close to it. I bent down on my knees and I made sure that those "Circles" on left "fitted appropriately within the Minimalist photo frame that I was trying to create. The circles had this armor guarding them, hence I kept the title "Guarded by the Lines". These circles fall in the left rule of thirds 3x3 grid quadrant. Another rule of thirds is applied on top, via the yellow portion.

It took me a while though to declutter and create this simple Minimalist Photograph with basic shapes and a minimal color palette. 

Hope you enjoyed the Photograph. 

Clay Pot

Minimalism as Less Elements

Minimalist Photography by © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

A Minimalist Photograph of a Brown clay pot against a pink wall.

This Minimalist Shot was taken at Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Jaipur. Opposite to Jawahar Kala Kendra, there is a lane that goes towards Jhalana Doongri.

Right at that corner, there are a few kiosks for food, tea and cigarettes. It was a holiday that day. This cigarette shop or "Pan Ki Thadi" (as we call it in Hindi) was located near those food shops. The shop was closed being a holiday and I liked the Pink Shutter of it a lot.

Just next to this Pan Shop, there was a handmade clay pottery shop. One of the Clay Pots was set aside, maybe because it was broken from the bottom or something. The Clay Pot was found sitting idle right in front of the closed Pan Shop, that had this beautiful pink colored metal shutter.

The isolated Clay Pot contrasted so well against the pink shutter of the closed Pan Shop that I had to stop and take a shot of it. The set up was perfect as I had loads of Negative Space on the left to compose a classic Minimalist Photograph. I literally, went down on my knees for this one.

Also note, that there is an Abstract Shadow Triangle on the left and the Three Simple Vertical Lines on the closed shop shutter, adds brilliantly to the Minimalist Frame.

I did try a Black and White version of this shot and I had also posted it on my Facebook timeline, because Minimalist Photos looks extremely good in Black and White, But later, I reverted to the Original Irresistible Pink Color. Pink won hands down.

The Photo falls under Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography.

Click here to learn all the Types of Minimalism in Minimalist Photography: Types of Minimalism in Photography

More Minimalist Photos containing Pink:

Tapering In

Brass Water Tap on Pink Indian Wall with Subtle Texture

Interplay of Colors and Geometry

Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

The Interplay of Colors and Geometry captured by clipping out the corner of a door adding mystery to the frame. This was shot at the famous, well not so famous "Badal Mahal" or the Cloud Palace, as entry here is restricted to invitees only and I was very lucky to have got an invite to visit the place. I loved the colors and the contrasts among the doors and walls. This is Minimalism as parts of the whole, where only a part of the door and wall is shown, leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewer. 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now