Just a few days back, I was treated to a delicious apple-pie, baked by my better half. However, as the trend is nowadays, I had to first photograph it, and only after that could I take a bite out of it. So, here is how the photograph came about. This was captured for sharing on Instagram to promote our homestay (Maini’s Hill Cottages).
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter. Not too famous, painted very few works and never traveled the world. With such a few paintings, he was an almost obscure painter until some famous names gave him his due regards. For photographers, his paintings can also be an inspiration and a source of learning.
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 the compositions simple is one of the easiest ways to make them powerful. A strong composition which is easy to understand and conveys the point across in a straight forward manner, is the best gift that you can give to your viewer. This is minimalism in photography.
A motivational speaker and a friend of mine once told me, “feedback is the breakfast of champions”. This is especially true when it comes to learning photography. It sounds obvious but very few of the photographers actually make use of it. If you are a photographer trying to improve your skills, do try to get some artists and photographers to critique your work.
Do you recall the sketches from your childhood? Recently, my parents shared with me some of the sketches that I had drawn as a kid. The most common sketch was a landscape done with crayons. It seems I was quite fond of it. There was a row of mountains, a river flowing down from the mountains dividing the foreground into two parts. One of these had a simple house and the other part had a tree growing. Behind the hills, on one side was the sun and on the other side were birds flying. I am sure many of you created similar sketches. Now even my daughter creates similar sketches.
Following up on those days, this is how I have started to balance out my compositions. Now I am learning to let the creative side of my mind, loose. The results seem more pleasing to me now.
Maini's Mind 