Nature Photography

Showing posts with label Nature Photography. Show all posts

25 Jan 2017

Pink Bougainvillea Flower

Minimalism as Less Elements

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

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

30 Jun 2015

Different Therefore Cornered

Minimalism as Less Elements

Single red leaf resting on top of a weathered brick wall in Jaipur, minimalist nature photography by Prakash Ghai

Minimalist Photography by © Prakash Ghai
Buy Now

Minimalist Photography of a Red Leaf on a Brick Wall in Jaipur

Take a different stand or opinion and you shall be cornered quickly. Now-a-days there are very few people who respect "difference of opinion" or the uniqueness of people. Suppose you choose a career that is not very popular like, enrolling for a fine art course or sculpting rather than business management or finance or science, people start viewing you differently. Some may even stop hanging out with you.

Behind your back they will tell to others that something is seriously wrong with you, and that you are not a normal person. Well, I fail to understand how does if matter that you choose what. Even for me, whether I choose to do Minimalist photography knowing the fact of it being non-mainstream and I wont be able to make premium dollars for it, or I do wedding or product photography its completely my choice.

Why do people get bothered?. People are diseased with "crowd-behavior" and they want others to do the same. Why do they forget that at some point even the most popular genres of work were not so popular and it took a group of few individuals who believed in these genres and made them popular.

Few words on the composition of Nature Minimalist Photography

Coming back to the shot, I found this beautiful red leaf at Smriti Van Jaipur. The photo-walk was organized by the local Instagramers Jaipur team and me being a power user decided to attend it. Quite a few of my work is listed on Instagram and you can follow me there via my Id: @prakashghai

I have taken many leaf photos earlier but this one was special as the leaf was red in color. How could I not make a minimal composition with that, is what I told myself. I wanted the focus purely on the leaf and therefore I placed the leaf on extreme top right, making the shot fall under the Minimalism Category: Minimalism as Less Elements.

I chopped off most part of the distracting blue fence. It was spoiling the color palette and was making my shot look more maximally minimal in nature rather than minimally minimal. I used leading lines in reverse this time, beginning from the left of the frame and broadening as they approached the leaf and hence pointing at the subject.

Must Read:

26 Mar 2015

The Introvert

Minimalism as Less Elements

Shadow of a plant with branching stems cast on a textured Indian wall minimalist photography by Prakash Ghai Jaipur

There are two kinds of people according to Carl Jung's personality theory.

a) Introverts

b) Extroverts.

Introverts are more concerned about their inner world of ideas and thoughts. They generally tend to avoid social gatherings and are at ease even when alone or in silence. On the other hand, Extroverts take gratification from what is outside the "self". They are at their most energized state when they have others around them. The "shadow" of the plant above can be interpreted as an Introvert as it does not wants to expose itself to the outside world and therefore prefers being in the shadow state. An introvert actually enjoys his time alone, deep in his thoughts while his family members are away at the club for a party.

But, there is a huge misconception about them. People treat all introverts with a negative bias and call them pessimists, losers, or simply think that they are depressed. Well, that is not the case and that is the message I want to convey with this photo. Although the plant is hidden from the outside world being a shadow but it is as beautiful as any other real plant or an extrovert. It is only a matter of time when the plant chooses to be out in the open and that day the Extroverts will come to know how balanced, calm and composed introverts really are.

I shot this at the Worldwide Instameet or #wwim11 which was organized by Instagramers Jaipur at Smriti Van on 22nd March 2015, headed by Amit Ginani and Taruna Chanchlani.
Their efforts are noteworthy. The theme was "Nature Hunt" and although I did not shoot subjects from the checklist they had provided but I got lucky enough to capture this beautiful shadow created by nature. I simply followed Sunlight and that lead me to this textured Indian wall.

To make the composition interesting I added a shadow line on the left which could have otherwise avoided. I moved in closer to the subject and used the shaded black portion at the bottom of the frame to balance the overall Minimalist Composition.

Must Read:

8 Feb 2015

One Last Push

Minimalism as Less Elements

A minimalist photo of small plant behind a green hedge manages to grow taller than it despite not being able to receive enough sunlight.

I went out for a photo walk after a very long time today. I was just not in the right mood to click photos and I had a disconnect with my sub-conscious mind lately. My conscious-mind on the other hand remains preoccupied by constant confusion and questions about reality such as, Whether reality exists? or is Life merely an illusion?. When you wake up in the morning, do you actually wake up? or you wake up within a dream and go back to sleep each day within that one very long dream?. Maybe, you have never woken up and What happens when you actually wake-up? Amidst all this confusion, today I finally decided to go out for a photo walk to refresh myself. I went in the vicinity of the famous Jantar Mantar. I have the knack of spotting Minimalist Subjects especially where the continuity is broken by a subtle change. In the above image, what I initially spotted was two colored lines (i.e the red wall and the green hedge) going from right to left. Then a sudden and subtle change in form and the plant appeared right above the green line. Spotting such subjects is not easy and doesn't happen in your initial shots. It generally takes about 10-15 shots for you to get into the flow and in a better state of connectivity with your sub-conscious mind. Mind you, always go alone to shoot or else you will keep shooting from your conscious mind.

Composition

I sat low on the ground and placed the plant on the top left corner of the frame, leaving some empty space on the right. Note, there are actually three lines here, the third being created by the overexposed sunlit wall. The message here is, that when even a small plant can grow and prosper in a crowded and challenging environment, despite not receiving sufficient sunlight, even you can make it big in whatever domain you passionately work despite all the hardships. All that you have to do is to stick with what you are doing for an "Extended period of time" without getting disheartened. Nature eventually rewards but only those people who do not give up and loose the spirit. Maybe you think you are tired and exhausted and cannot work hard anymore but who knows, all that you need is that "One Last Push" and you will be on the right side of things, with you head held high just like that plant.