Park Bench Corner

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photograph of the Corner of a Park Bench at Central Park, Jaipur.

My intention here was to emphasize on the Curve of the Bench Armrest and the Spiral shape it was forming at the top. 

To achieve this, I used the widest aperture possible on my Canon 100 mm prime Macro lens, aka f/2..8 

Shooting with such an aperture resulted in effective segregation of the subject in the foreground with the background, for this setting created Background Blur or Bokeh. The Bokeh effect results in sharp attention and focus on the key subject. Note: there must be some depth behind the subject for the bokeh/background blue effect to come out nicely.

I also wanted to show the Shadow of the Park Bench Corner on the wall, and to achieve that I moved a little to the left of the Armrest.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 100 mm Prime Macro Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/2.8
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-100
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Park Bench Corner Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

Metal Spiral

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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This Metal Spiral or Fibonacci Spiral Photograph that falls under "Minimalism as Simple Geometry" category, was clicked at Hotel Diggi Palace, Jaipur, during the Annual Literature Festival. 

Among-st all the Festivities, Celebrations, Celebrities, Authors and the Literature enthusiast that attend the festival, I chose to click this stuff.

Of course, because I am a Minimalist Photographer. 

Although I tried clicking a few pictures of some celebrities / authors and eminent personalities but I did not get any high after capturing them. So I always give that part a skip every year. 

Now, this Metal Spiral was a part of a Chair kept near the Front Lawn and right near the inquiry counter/ kiosk. 

I bent down on my knees to shoot this only to find everyone around staring at me, wondering as to what unique thing had I found in the Metal Chair that I could not find in the eminent personalities present there. 

I was on my 50mm prime lens and as always I was shooting Raw + Jpeg mode

If the Jpeg turns out to be good, which mostly does, I save a lot of time in editing. 

But if I screw the Jpeg then I have the Raw file as a backup and that requires a lot of editing.

I always end up spending more time editing the Raw file over Jpegs. 

I took about 5 shots from different angles and this photo had been lying around in my PC since January 2018. 

The thing is that I tried editing this series many a times, but I could not get the kind of result that I wanted. 

I started with colored photos and they were fully edited and were ready to publish. 

Somehow, something stopped me from publishing the colored photo. 

Last week, I opened the series of  5 shots of the same subject ie the Metal Spiral and converted one of them to Black and White. 

I got a feeling that this Spiral Shape would look better in Black and White rather than color. 

I edited two shots from the series and finalized this one. I kept the contrast a little low here and kept the photo a little dull. 

Let me know of your feedback about the photo in the comments. 

Hope to see you soon.

Bye ! Take Care

Ripples in Water

Minimalism as in Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Today, I would like to keep it really Simple :) 

EXIF Data.

• ISO Speed: 100
• Exposure Time: 1/1250 sec
• F-Stop: 5.6

A Word on the Composition

The Photo falls under Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography. The only element here being the Ripples in Water though, the Photography is a bit Maximal in Nature.

We would not call it Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes because the Shapes, although look similar from a distance, but in fact each Water Ripple has its own unique shape. 

I Hope you enjoyed the Shot. 

Have a Nice Day !

Related Shots:

A) Water Ripple Waves

B) Spiral Water Ripples

Spiral Stairs

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai

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Hello All !!

I am back with another Minimalist Photograph. I keep it easy these days and post Photographs only when I have some spare time. 

Back in 2014-15, I used to pressurize myself to do X number of blog posts / photographs a month. But, I realize that I am an artist and I should focus more on the purity of my expression and on the composition of the Photos that I click, rather than on "How to run a Blog". 

Focusing too much on the marketing aspect of the blog had started to affect my Photo Compositions. Therefore, I scaled back,  both on the number of posts and on Social Media marketing. 

PS: I do not publish all my photos here. I post Mobile Minimalism on my Instagram and some Canon DSLR(affiliate link) Photographs on my Facebook.  

A lot happened in the last few days. Donald Trump won the US elections, the Stock markets fell, Gold prices tumbled, there was a ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes in India etc etc.

Basically, a Minimalist like me ended up watching the Television for hours and got overloaded with News. 

Today,  to take a break from this, I decided to open my Photographs Folder, Edited a photo and started writing this blog post. A nice escape from all the noise.

Prior to writing this post, my Television was on. It is still on but No channel is displayed. I have pressed the TV/Av button to turn the screen Blank, Black and Silent. All that I can hear, is just the noise of the ceiling fan running. It is that peaceful, that calm. I am disconnected with the chaos of the world right now. Even my Mobile phone is a good two feet away from me for the last half an hour.

I am here, with you all and trust me it is blissful. 

"Less is more", "Silence is beautiful". are not just words. When you encounter such a state or feeling, you get immersed into it. You become a part of it.

By now it must be clear to you, that This post is my Escape from the "Noise of the world" today. And that is one of the major reasons I chose this "Spiral Stairs" photograph. It too, offers an escape.

Just look at how the stairs disappear to the top. Inviting you to climb up and Run away from the noise into open blue skies. To a place of "Peace and Calm", to a place of "Stillness".  

OK now, let back to the MINIMALIST Composition

The above photo falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography.

As you can see above, the Spiral Stairs are positioned Diagonally and at the same time are also in the Center of the Frame. This is a way out from the regular rule of thirds. 

If the Spiral Stairs were not tilted and were vertically placed right in the center of the frame at 90 degrees, the composition would have looked odd. Centered compositions are less appealing to the human brain. 

Therefore, to avoid Center positioning, I tilted my Canon EOS 600D DSLR Camera(affiliate link) in my hand. 

The Tilt, made the top of the staircase bend towards the right, and the bottom of the Stairs fill the space on the left. This, kind of compensated for the rule of thirds and the subject is both, placed in the center and NOT.

Well, I hope some of you would accompany me to the staircase. 

Let's "Escape Together".

In rust we trust

Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photo of the Snippet of a blue metal sheet in an old car garage with a rusted spring on top.

I visited a vintage car garage for a photography competition. The theme was of course, shooting vintage cars, and we were supposed to get insights on how to go about it before our participation in the competition. It was organized by "Jaipur Photography Club" and many budding photographers of Jaipur attended. 

I personally do not like much of cars. I am a very simple man and I generally tend to stay away from the materialistic aspects of life, cars are a symbol of that. Everyone started clicking the cars from different angles but I was never interested in the contest. 

They are probably not meant for the Minimalists. A Minimalist does not look for a reward, he basically shoot for expression and for the love of art in general. Anyways, I decided to hunt for my shots. I came across an old metal sheet of a car. Rust and the faded blue spray paint made for an interesting combination. I shot vertically and cropped the metal sheet. The crop helped me to keep the mystery in the frame. the mystery being, what that rusted spring leads to?

This form of cropping and shooting only a part of the entire structure falls under the Minimalism category, "Minimalism as parts of the whole".

Hope you enjoyed the insights, have a great day.