Minimalism in Photography

KISS… Keep It Simple, Stupid!
A girl-friend had once told this to me. Quite a famous line and I don’t even know where it originated initially. Little did I know that after so many years, this will become the opening line of this article.

Keeping compositions simple is one of the most effective ways to make them powerful. A strong composition that is easy to understand and conveys its message clearly is the best gift you can offer your viewer. This embodies the essence of minimalism in photography.

(Rocks and swirls. Apart from the swirling water around the black rock, the diamond like shine of the pebbles under the clear water adds further impact to this composition)

 

The world appears more beautiful when we adopt this perspective. Imagine a landscape featuring forests, a waterbody, majestic mountains, and a sky filled with stunning clouds. Cramming all these elements into a single frame dilutes their individual impact, resulting in a picture-perfect postcard that lacks depth. Instead, capturing a series of photographs that focus on each element will create a more compelling narrative than a single, all-inclusive shot.

Photographs should tell a story. Think of it in another context. Even when we are present in front of a beautiful scene, our eyes go from one thing to another and wander around, amazed by the beauty. This is the same that our photographs should achieve. The viewer’s eyes should see everything in the way we had seen them. Ansel Adams has rightly said – “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” As photographers, it’s our aim to show viewers what we want them to see.

 

(The photograph above is from a marsh when the fog was lifting up. The photograph looks good enlarged and framed but it lacks the impact here on the webpage.
What had attracted me to the scene? The fog! reflections! distant grass!… this all is lost in the composition above when showcased in a small frame. The photograph below was captured on the same site and on the same day. It conveys more of my feelings when I saw the scene.)

(Captured with a 135mm lens, so as to bring out a composition with the fog and wild grass barely visible through that. A composition that I found quite poetic to look at.)

 

 

Go Minimalist
Ansel Adams’ earlier statement also brings to mind an important principle about powerful photographs: anything that doesn’t contribute to the overall image detracts from it. Every element in the frame shapes the photograph, so minimalism is essential. Keep your ideas simple and let the photograph tell its story through straightforward elements. Remove anything that doesn’t enhance the image—get closer, blur, crop, change your angle, or even shoo away that cat in the corner. Do whatever it takes to include only the vital components that bring the image to life. While I may sound repetitive, it’s worth reiterating: keep your compositions simple and straightforward.

 

(Sunset at Kyiv – This has been photographed with a very inexpensive compact camera and edited in Affinity Photo. My purpose – to show the bright sky!)

 

Someone has rightly said, “When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.” This is true minimalism. This is the art of visualization at its best.

Sometimes when I am faced with a ‘Photographer’s Block’, I leave the camera. I go around observing photographs in the world around me. My eye becomes a camera, my mind frames the image and I feel bliss. This is minimalism! Why do I then need a camera? I need it to show to others what I saw.

 

The true purpose of photography is to create images; equipment is merely a means to that end. Recently, I’ve noticed many people becoming overly obsessed with cameras and lenses, losing sight of the joy of photography itself. My advice? Embrace minimalism. Learn to appreciate what you already have. Take your camera out and focus on creating beautiful photographs.

This article, originally published on my photography site, is now archived here; while some details may have lost their original context over time, it still offers an intriguing read.
Complete list of archived content – Photography Articles