Eyes On You

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photograph of a Security Camera placed at Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

My subject here is the CCTV Camera, I used two leading lines to point to it.

The shadow of a railing coming from the top of the Security/CCTV Camera, adds to the frame.

I haven't shot purely Black and White/Monochrome Minimalist Photos from this place yet. I mean shooting in the Monochrome Mode on the spot (in-camera directly).

I plan to do so very soon. I have a shot in my mind.

I want to capture a beautiful cloud along with some geometry here.

So, wish me luck for that.

Now, lets take a look at the technical details of the Photograph. If you have any questions, send me a message on my Instagram.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 600D
  
  
• Lens: Canon 50 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/11
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-100
  
  
• Focal Length: 50 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Eyes On You Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

Two Window Panes

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimal Art Photograph of Light Coming through Two Window Panes at a Staircase of a Shopping Mall.

This shot took a long time to get here. I mean I tried to edit this shot at 5 other occasions, but I only got the Black and White editing right, this time.

I had to make the staircase darker and some other parts dark as well, so that I could bring down the excess detail in the shot.

Sometimes, I do this during editing at other times I try to be careful on field. What happens is that, while you are on field, you tend to take a lot of shots and sometimes you get carried away in the flow. Here, I did end up capturing more details than required.

To Compose this, my starting point was the Two Window Panes. I placed them on the extreme right and top hand side of the frame and let rest of the subjects fit in.

I shot this in color and therefore that made it even more difficult to imagine this as a Minimal shot for starters. I have written about it before, but I will explain it again:-

"Sometimes you need to take the color off the photograph, to do away with the clutter caused as a result of it."

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 50 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/8
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-400
  
  
• Focal Length: 50 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Two Window Panes  Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

Related Posts:

• The Missing Window Pane
• Broken Window Pane

Six Steps

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Minimalist Photograph of Six Steps of one of the two Entrance Staircases at Hawa Mahal Jaipur.

This Minimal Art photograph is an improvement over the earlier Minimalist picture that I took at the same place of the same staircase "A Call from the Unknown". 

In the earlier photograph, there was a lot of Negative Space and was a very low angle shot. But in this Photograph, you see that I am shooting somewhat top-down and the amount of Negative Space is less. 

Also, by adding the 2 Steps turning towards the left and making them disappear after that, I have tried to create some sort of Mystery in the frame to engage the viewer. 

Because, I am showing Pure/Simple Geometry as a base in this Minimalist Photograph, therefore, I classified it under the Minimalism as Simple Geometry  category of Minimalist Photography.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 24-105 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/16
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/320 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-500
  
  
• Focal Length: 35 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Six Steps  Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day. !

Metal Gate And Staircase Lines

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Colorful Minimal Art Picture of Metal Gate and Staircase Lines, taken near Amber Fort, Jaipur with Canon 6D Mark II full frame Camera.

This was also shot on World Photography Day, 19th August 2018.

I liked the Colorful Stripe paint on the side of the steps of the Staircase. That was my starting point for the composition.

I ended up including the Metal Gate on the other side, that opened up the shot a bit.

The EXIF Data for the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 100 mm Prime Macro L Series Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/7.1
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-400
  
  
• Exposure bias: 0 step
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Flash mode: No flash
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  
• White Balance: Auto

Hope you enjoyed the Metal Gate and Staircase Lines Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day. !

Darkness To Light

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai

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What we have above is a Black and White Minimalist Photograph of the Side Rail of a large Staircase located at Jawahar Kala Kendra Jaipur. 

I have posted many a shots from this place earlier but this time what I spotted different was the staircase side rail being illuminated by Sunlight.

I am talking about the Two Light Spots at the Top Left corner of the frame.

Those Two Light Spots were the starting point of my Photo Composition. 

Initially, I was shooting straight from the front. The image was coming out to be decent but was not popping. 

So, I thought of getting a little creative.

I dialed in an Aperture value of  F/14 and moved right in front of the side rail of the staircase to my right. 

I wanted to keep the zig zag formation made by it in the foreground and Two Light Spots on the top left of the frame.

The exact settings I used to take this shot are as follows:

Aperture: F/14

Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec

ISO-speed: 1000

Shooting Mode: Full Manual

Focal Length: 100mm

Lens used:  Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro L Series

Later, during editing I achieved the Darkness to Light effect using Adobe Photoshop CC 2017

• You can also try the New Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan (affiliate link) http://bit.ly/CreativeCloudPhotography

As far as the categorization goes, this photo falls under Minimalism as Simple Geometry category under Minimalist Photography Types. 

Hope you enjoyed the shot. Have a Great Day ! 

Side Rail Zig Zag Pattern

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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I am back with Minimalism as Simple Geometry and what we have above is a Black and White Minimalist Photograph of the Side Rail Zig Zag Pattern of a Staircase located at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India

I have clicked this structure earlier as well but from a different angle and different lens. 

You can check out the earlier shot here: --> Synchronized Geometry

The earlier shot was click in the Landscape Mode and this one as you can see is shot in the Portrait Mode.

Also note that my editing style has changed over time. 

The earlier picture was posted in October 2014 and you can see the difference in editing now in May 2018... In fact I am now OK to even post lightly edited JPEGs. 

If you have any questions about the photograph or my style then send me a message on Facebook / Instagram or Twitter Profile

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prakashghai
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prakashghai/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/prakashghai

Thank you 

Have a Good Day.

Monochrome Staircase

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018. This is my First Blogpost of 2018 and I am happy that I have been actively blogging since July 2014.

 

I begin my year with this Monochrome Staircase Minimalist Photograph. This photo falls under Minimalism as Simple Geometry category under Minimalist Photography. 

Location: Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur

Lens used: Canon 100mm Prime Macro / Focal Length 100mm

Aperture: f 5.6

ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec

A Word on the Composition

I included only a little part of the staircase on the right of the frame.

I left some space on the top to include the multiple lines formed by the light and shadow differential.

Photo was shot in color but converted to Black and White later in an editing software. 

Initially during editing, I increased the contrast and the brightness a lot, but later I realized that I overdid that part.

So, I cut down on the brightness and contrast a bit and increased the highlights.

Some bit of cropping was also done, say about 3-5%

Thank you for taking out time to go through my blog post. 

Wish you a Good Day !

Side Rail and Arc

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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I love shooting Staircases and Time and again I think of creating new frames out of it. 

This Side Rail And Arc Minimalist Photograph is a result of one such Experiment. 

Also, I have a thing for Staircase Side-rails but I haven't shot many of them yet.

So I thought, It would be a good idea to try and shoot them. 

What I initially saw was just the Side-Rail to be a Line or a Simple Geometric element.

The frame would have been just too vanilla if I had just shot just that.

So, I decided to include the ARC right next to where the Staircase ended.

This also helped me show the Juxtaposition between the geometric shapes, of one being just a straight line and the other one being a curved one.

This staircase is one amongst the many at Amer Fort, Jaipur.

If you happen to visit Jaipur anytime soon, make sure you visit this place. 

Its Huge and very good especially for Photography :)

Have a Great Weekend*.

*Oh Wait ! Today is only Thursday. 

Well, I Minimalized the Week - lol

Old Staircase at Amber Fort, Jaipur

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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What we have here is a Staircase, a Side Rail and a Small Rusty Metal Door on the Bottom Right.

But, I titled Old Staircase at Amber Fort, Jaipur it to keep it simple :)

Although the Photograph falls under the Minimalism as Simple Geometry Category, there is also the Parts of the Whole Minimalism visible here in a way. 

I say so because, whats visible is a part of each element, namely the Side Rail, Staircase and The Rusty Metal Door.

The Wall Texture and Decay lifts the Artistic Appeal of the shot. 

I found this setting at the very famous Amber Fort, Jaipur. I took many shots that day and this one comes from one of my old folders. This image is about 2 years old. 

Its interesting, that at that point of time i.e 2 years back, the level of my enthusiasm was pretty high and I used to go to far-off places to shoot. 

Revisiting old photos also help you to see as to how you have evolved as a photographer. 

I guess my editing style has improved now and also the range of the shots that I take. 

With those thoughts, let me close this post.

I have my Hot Tea at my side table that I need to finish and pop a multi-vitamin tablet and head straight to work.

See you all

Have a great day !

White Staircase

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Staircases are one of my Favorite Subjects when it comes to Minimalist Photography. 

 

This White Staircase I found at the "Jharkhand Mahadev Temple" located at Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, India. 

Apart from the above shot, I have clicked many other Minimalist Photographs from this place. The architecture of the Temple is very simple  and geometric.

I guess in old times, people understood the value of Simplicity and Utility. And of course, since this is temple area, it need not be very modern. 

I like going to this place often, for the vibes are amazing. You must visit this small Temple for sure when you land up in Jaipur sometime for a vacation.

Coming back to the composition, the Minimalist Photograph of the White Staircase above, falls nicely under the Minimalism as Simple Geometry Category of Minimalist Photography / Minimalism. 

The Simple Geometry being Lines and its combinations. The subtle texture and dirt on the staircase and the White wall, creates  a nice artsy feel.

I took this shot a little from the side, to create a sense of depth. I have kept everything basic and simple this time.

Hope you enjoyed the shot. 

Stay tuned for more.

Light Shadow Lines Architecture

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai
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Light Shadow Lines Architecture, is not a Minimalist Title, I agree :)

But, the photo definitely is. I chose such a title, so that it becomes easier for the blog followers to immediately comprehend the elements within the Minimalist Photograph.

The Photograph falls under the Minimalism as Simple Geometry category. The subject being, primarily just the Lines of a Staircase at Jawahar Kala Kendra. That's the Simple Geometry here: Lines.

Lines are one of the most reliable subjects in minimalist photography and even better in minimalist architecture photography. They are already simple. You don't need to simplify them further.

This photograph was taken at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. I shot this looking straight up with my 100mm Canon Prime Macro L lens.

Jawahar Kala Kendra has been one of my most visited locations for minimalist photography over the years. The building was designed by Charles Correa and the geometry is intentional throughout. A paradise for minimalist photographers.

Note: this photograph is available as a fine art wall print. Buy it here

Thank you !

Also Check: 

• Exhibitions

Must Read:

• Types of Minimalism

• What is Minimalist Photography?

Exploring Suppressed Inner Creativity via Minimalist Photography

Minimalist Photography by © Prakash Ghai

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 begin then there is no looking back.

Last Updated: March 2026

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 in some portion or form (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

Minimalist Photography 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

Minimalist Photography 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.

Read More Articles on Minimalist Photography:-

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

• Train Your Eyes for Minimalist Photography

• What is Minimalist Photography

• Types of Minimalism

The Half-way mark

Minimalism as Less Elements

Minimalist Photography by © Prakash Ghai
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One may have any kind of goal or objective in his/her life but it all begins with the first few steps. Generally goals, (I am not talking about dreams here as they are usually vague) are set high and one starts working on them on the premise of hope, optimism and hard-work combined. But what happens with most people is that they work way too hard right at the start and get tired or exhausted by the time they are supposed to reach the "Half Way Mark". 

They end up concluding that the path they chose was wrong and they should try something else. My point here is that one should be patient enough and work at a steady pace until one reaches the Half Way Mark. Because after reaching this point, the goal (depicted by the red square) becomes clearly visible and what needs to be done or how many more stairs to climb to get there becomes clearly visible too (depicted by the number of stairs left to be taken). 

So what we learn here is that we should never take a call on something before we reach the half way mark. 

Getting back to the Mini-tutorial part of the photo. This is Minimalism as Less Elements. Some of you may argue that the geometry is spread out evenly and the shot is a little too detailed. But here I have inferred the Staircase in totality as one elements and the red square as a supporting side element. This might also fall under the category  Minimalism as Simple Geometry as there are a lot of lines and basic geometric shapes in the shot. Shooting this fully sharp from front to back required a high aperture and I shot it around F 8.0. Remember to keep your focus point roughly at 1/3rd of the total distance/depth of the frame to get everything mostly in focus. I kept the focus point on the left, between the 2nd and 3rd zigzag. Hope you enjoyed the shot and I send you all seasons greetings all the way from Jaipur- India. 

PS: Don;t forget to check out my new venture on Instagram the "Learn Minimalism" and the hashtag that I started there  #LearnMinimalism

By using the hashtag you too can take part in the Minimalist Photography Contest. The page has more than 43,000 followers and about 2,30,000 photos in the hashtag and growing. A lot of effort has been put in to promote and spread Minimalism in Photography on a global level. This lesser known genre deserves to be spread and "I am doing my bit for it."