I am Not a Photographer But I am an Endlessly Curious Old Dog!

No I'm not a photographer (in fact, so far, all of my photos that have been used on Steemit have been taken using an iPhone 5) but I am fascinated by all of the arts and the moods that they can create. In all of the artistic disciplines I like to linger as I watch, listen or observe and try and appreciate what my senses are telling me.  

  

When I was a young man studying design, one of our minor subjects was photography. The “less is more” philosophy was being promoted at the time and as an assignment we were asked to take pictures with a “focus” on minimalism. I quickly came to appreciate it as an art form!  

A picture that I took of the bark on a tree from the pine family. To me it is a thing of beauty!

Examples Of Minimalist Photography Here on Steemit

  

There are many sights, which explain what minimalist photography is, and you can search for some examples of it by our own array of wonderful Steemit photographer/bloggers. For instance @pfunk offers up an example HERE. 

Please use the built-in Steemit search tool to find other fine photographers that make up part of this community!

Minimalist Photography Defined

  To help me define this art form let me offer you this quote from an article by Simon Bray’s. 

  “Minimalism is a style employed by many 20th Century artists, using a minimum amount of components such as colour, shape, line and texture. Within the art world it is considered an extremely subjective concept, leaving interpretation and meaning up to the viewers perception of the work.”  

Here is a photo that I took of a chestnut tree. There is so much here to see if one takes the time.

A Fascinating Web Site

 A fascinating site that I found is MinimalistPhotos.com where they break down this art into 8 distinct categories, which I have listed below.  

1) Minimalism as Less Elements 

2) Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors 

3) Minimalism as in Small Objects  

4) Minimalism as Simple Geometry 

5) Minimalism as Parts of the Whole 

6) Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes 

7) Minimalism as Low Detail 

8) Zeroism    

  If you go to the sight you’ll see a definition of each type together with a sample.  

The bark of a plane tree.

  

How I Have Interpreted The Concept of Minimalist Photography   

In one of my previous articles I spoke about a tree in the gorgeous surroundings of Parco Ciani on the fabulous Lake of Lugano. If I examine a photo of that location, which takes in the trees, flowers, water and sky, I can appreciate the spectacular beauty of the entire setting. If however I focus only on the bark of one of the trees or just some of the stones in a masons wall I find it equally beautiful and fascinating. I can enjoy lingering as I take in the details and I can imagine the photos adorning a greeting card or even hanging on the wall.     

This is a small section of a wall made up of large stones of various colors of granite.

Beauty is all Around us But we Need to Take The Time To Look!

Stop And Smell The Roses!

What do you think about this type of photography? Do you find it beautiful or boring? Can you linger as you look at it and appreciate the patterns and detail in the bark and stone?   

If you are a fan of this type of photography why not give it a try and post your results.     

Until next time,     

@kus-knee (The Old Dog)