February 2021 Blog Circle | Minimalism

Well, minimalism has never been my strong suit, and although I have used it to great effect in the past when I see a shot naturally lend itself to that sort of composition, actively LOOKING for minimalism in my day to day was much more difficult. So while I was shooting this month, I tried to find ways to approach it without just having a white backdrop with a small figure at the bottom of the frame. I started off at home, and remembered that negative space doesn’t have to be EMPTY space. I also did a lot of landscapes with big skies—something also completely out of my comfort zone! I decided to stretch the idea a little and go for minimalism in other ways than composition—for example, minimalism in color. Since I was at a frozen lake on a pretty greyish day, I was able to fill the frame with blue and white tones, and even had my daughter wear a blue shirt so we could do some sort of minimal portraits.

I LOVED the Ektar 120 I shot at the frozen lake, I didn’t love the grey tones of the Color Plus in the same environment, and after all that epic blue, even the Portra 400 I shot at home felt pretty lifeless. Takeaway here: Ektar is not just for the beach. Take it to your nearest frozen tundra immediately.

So, did I get most of the ideas I had on my list of minimal shots I wanted to try? No. But I did stretch out of my comfort zone, go to a place I’ve never been (at least while frozen) and get some of my favorite shots ever in the process.