What is Minimalism?

What to look for? What to avoid!

Practical – Three Exercises

Minimalist Photography

When less is more

Don Munro June 2017

From Pictorialism … to Straight photography to Minimalist

photography

From Pictorialism … to Straight photography to Minimalist

photography

• Content • Naturalistic-looking view of the subject – a reproduction of nature:

not art, atmosphere, mood or sentiment; no collage, symbolism, abstraction or manipulation; no political or social statements

• The subject in a natural-looking foreground , mid-ground and background

• Design/Composition • Clear sharp detail throughout the image • Shapes – copy nature; no distortion, sharp edges, natural • Forms – use natural looking shadows/light to create 3D-looking

forms • Naturalistic colours – imitate nature; no unnatural filters • Tones – pure black, pure white plus 10 grey shades (the “Zone”

system) • Single focal point, rule of thirds • Leading lines, diagonal lines etc. that lead the eye to the subject

Straight photography “rules”

Minimalist photography • Architecture, fashion, advertising

• “Characterised by extreme sparseness and simplicity”

– “It's all about simplifying, decluttering, stripping everything down to the bare essentials, getting rid of the superficial”

• Photographers create visual order from the chaos of the world around us:

– One way to do this is to simplify, reduce, pare down, show only the essence…

– Eliminate all non-essential forms and features

What to look for: (i) Minimalist Design

• A limited number of simple elements of design …

• Design – Line: Look for geometrical lines

– Shape and form: Look for simple shapes and form, details (not the full picture), basic patterns, repetition

– Colours: Use a limited palette

– Tones: Use only high key or low key tones; or accentuate contrast

– Depth of field: Shoot only one layer of depth, a simple background • Not foreground + mid-ground + background

– Focus: Limited focus

Lines

Shapes

Colour

Tones

Forms

What to look for: (ii) Minimalist Content

• Look for simple colour, limited tone, geometric patterns only – Abstraction: NO narrative, emotions, ideas etc..

OR

• Look for the fundamental nature or spirit of the subject – Aim to capture the “essence” of a subject

• Not the exterior surface of the subject

– Shoot one part of the subject isolated from the whole subject

– Separate the subject from its environment or context

Architecture

Landscape

Portrait

Street

Boring minimalism – What to avoid!

Summary: When to shoot minimalism?

Every time you take your usual shots of a subject … take some extra photographs using a minimalist style. • Look for:

– Sleek, clean, geometric lines, shapes or forms – Simple colour palettes – or high/low key or contrasting tones

• Frame: – Exclude all foreground, background, context – Frame one part only (detail, essence) of the subject

• The part tells more than the whole

– Use negative space • Compose your shapes, lines etc. with large areas of open space

– If using colour or other accents, place in eccentric positions • No “rule of thirds” • No “balance”

• Questions?

• Next – Putting seeing into practice: 3 exercises

Three Exercises Preparation: Get into pairs.

1. Minimalist Design – Lines • Subject: Look around for three different examples of

lines + open space • PoV: Move to where the lines have no/narrow

background + simple colours/tone • Shoot your preferred Minimalist Lines image

2. Minimalist Design – Shapes • Subject: Look around for three different examples of

simple shapes + open space • PoV: Move so you can frame the shape with no/narrow

foreground or background + simple colours/tone • Shoot your preferred Minimalist Shapes image

Exercises cont.

3. Minimalist Content – Essence

• Subject: Look for three different examples of the “essence” of the room, building or its objects

• PoV: Move around and frame the subject in a minimalist style – E.g. simple lines or shape, objects with negative space,

simple colours/limited tone, no or limited depth of field

• Shoot your preferred Minimalist Essence image

Photographers PICTORIALISM (d) Tones

Car, photographer not identified Bahman Farzad, unknown title, nd

Edward J. Steichen, The Flatiron, 1904 Peter Downsbrough, unknown title, nd

Julia Margaret Cameron, Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, 1874 (d) Forms

Max Dupain, Sunbaker, nd

STRAIGHT Jessie Eastland, Just After Sunset in Joshua Tree Ca, nd

Ansel Adams, The Tetons and the Snake River, 1942

Edward Weston, Pepper No. 30 MINIMALISM IN GENRES

Imogen Cunningham, Still Life, nd (a) Architecture

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936 Roof, photographer not identified, nd

Ben Thomas, Very Much. Florence, Chroma I, 2015

MODERNISM IN COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY (a) Landscape

Room, photographer not identified, nd Hengki Koentjoro, unknown title, nd

Woman with hat, photographer not identified, nd David Stephenson The ice no.5 1991-92

Bedroom, photographer not identified, nd (a) Portrait

Red shoe, photographer not identified, nd Bill Brandt, Jean Dubuffet, 1960

Josef Koudelka, unknown title, nd

MINIMALISM IN DESIGN (a) Street

(a) Lines Saul Leiter, Footprints c. 1950

Harry Callahan, Weed Against Sky, Detroit, 1948 Marcin Ryczek, unknown title, nd

Michael Kenna, unknown title, nd

(a) Shapes MINIMALISM – WHAT TO AVOID

Aaron Siskind, Chicago, 1949 Stairs, photographer not identified

Barbara Kasten, El Medol, 1992 Margaret Bourke-White, Steps, Washington, D.C., 1934

Man Ray, Untitled Rayograph: From the Portfolio "Les Champs Délicieux", nd Portrait, photographer not identified

(a) Colour Harry Callahan, Eleanor, 1947

Charles Pratt, unknown title, 1968 Flower, photographer not identified

Victor Skrebneski, from Fashion shoot for “Town and Country” Magazine, nd Tina Modotti, unknown title, nd

Desert, photographer not identified, nd

Ansel Adams, Untitled, nd

Don Munro, 2017 Pennant Hills Photography Club

For more information • Minimalism (2010), James

Meyer (Ed), Phaidon

• The Photographer’s Eye (2007), Michael Freeman, Focal Press

• The Minimalist, https://www.facebook.com/pg/thminima/photos/?ref=page_internal

• Urban Minimalism, https://www.flickr.com/groups/urbanminimalism/pool/