This photo was taken on the last day of a trip to Dubai last February. Little did I know at the time that it would be my last excursion for a while. In fact, I haven’t been further than 50 miles from home, and not spent a night away since then. I have been able to get out and about locally, but have decided to treat myself to a photography holiday next weekend, and although it is UK not Dubai, it is a coastal location which I really miss. All will be revealed in an upcoming post.
Positioning to get the right image is one of the more challenging parts of urban photography. Stand too close and lens distortion may be a problem. Stand too far away and irritating distractions such as lamp posts or trees get in the way. Continue reading
I am fascinated by how slightest irregularities gives wonderful juxtaposition to the otherwise clean lines found in modern architecture. Even the flatest looking window pane is likely to have some warping, which is excellent for creating abstract photography out of geomentric structures.
Ferris wheels as tourist attractions are becoming a common site in many cities around the world . This is a reflection of the one in downtown Atlanta, the distortions in the reflective glass making it look quite surrreal. Fortunately I caught the light at the right time!
I very rarely intend to take black and white images deliberately, but sometimes there is so little colour that it just makes sense to convert them to monochrome. In my sales gallery here you will find many examples of my work in this style.
One of my favourite photographic subjects is lines in minimalist photography. Lines can be vertical, horizontal, or even diagonal, and work equally well in colour and black and white compositions. More of my lines series can be found in my sales gallery here
I haven’t been much further than my home city of Bradford here in England in 2019 yet, but that hasn’t stopped me taking photos. The light here this time of year isn’t conducive to minimalism, so I’ve been using the time to build up my New Topographics collection. More of my Yorkshire Topographics collection can be found in my sales gallery here
Shape, form, and colour is often key to my minimalist images. Here is one I took recently while on holiday in Verona, Italy. More can be found, and even bought as prints etc. here
This photograph, taken in Leeds, England, is one of a series of over 50 images from all over the world which, for obvious reasons, I call City Grids. The full series of images can be viewed here
During a recent business trip to Miami. Florida, I was lucky enough to get some free time. However, rather than head to the beach or the everglades, in typical style I chose the local industrial estates for my rest and relaxation. For more of my photographic musings in Miami, please click here
I have just returned from a holiday in Marrakech, Morocco and whilst the holiday was mainly about chilling out with my wife, I did find time to practice my new found love of New Topographics photography. Our hotel was next to a village called Douar Erha, just south of Marrakech. Being in an area frequented by tourists, the village has its fair share of holiday villas and hotels. However, surrounding these are the rather more humble homes and shops of locals. Better known for my minimalist photographic style I was naturally inspired by the shape, form and line of the buildings, as well as their eerily isolated feel. However, despite the unfinished look of the buildings and little signs of life, it is quite evident that they are habited. In fact, I was invited into one of the homes to share mint tea and Arabic bread!
The complete series can be found here
Stormy conditions aren’t always the best for a photography outing, but on this occasion I used them to my advantage. The great thing is that I managed to get home just before the downpour!
All the elements came together here, I hope!
I am coming to the end of a 5 day visit to Joao Pessoa in Brazil. Although it is a working visit, I have been able to find some time to get out and about with my camera. During my stay, my inspiration for photography has come from the long stretches of golden sandy beaches, and true to my minimalist self, I found just the shot I was looking for!
I normally try to avoid reflections in shots such as this, but on this occasion I thought the wisp of distorted clouds seems to give a slightly ethereal feel.
Recently while travelling for work I had the weekend free, and on saturday night was undecided where to go the next day. So what better to do than have a pint or two of beer and do some online research. While doing a reconnaisance using street view mapping, I noticed this building, and decided to drive 90 minutes the next day to find it!
I saw this building whilst driving north towards Boston on the interstate and decided it would make a good photograph to compliment my ‘City Facades’ series. However, trying to find this building once parked was another issue as, once in the downtown area, the high rise building make it very difficult much other than straight up!
This is an image from a series I entitled ‘Texas Colours’. The full series for purchase can be found here. It was also one of the nine included in the feature about me in Aesthetica Magazine.
Although I have done some editing to eliminate reflections from the glass in the window, most of the work was done when taking the shot. I often have to move around to adjust the reflection to my liking, sometimes to include it, sometimes not. More of my minimal style windows can be found in my sales gallery
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and followers!
I had just spent a few hours wandering the city streets for inspiration and I was on my way back to my hotel when I spotted this image. The first problem was I was driving along a highway so had to take the next exit, and then back to the location. The second problem was, trying to find a suitable place to stop as the location was right next to a highway exit. Having driven around a few times, I did find somewhere to stop, but then there was the third problem, finding somewhere to stand to compose my photo!
Well, certainly in minimal photography it is anyway. This wall was otherwise a random mix of shapes, colours and textures, but some close cropping brings the composition, for me, to life.
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I am normally trying to avoid streetlights. Sometimes, however they do contribute very well to the composition, and no more so than in this image.
I tried various crops of this photo, including with and without the ‘circle’ in the bottom left corner. Normally I would have cropped it out, but somehow the remaining image didn’t seem as balanced as when I left it in.
I am a real sucker for ‘I can see a face’ images. This one I ‘found’ on a fairly uneventful stroll around a dull and grey city. Thankfully the bricks on the wall were white, which nicely contrasted with the blue of the door and vents.
A lone tree tries to fight its way out of the urban jungle.
It is difficult to know how far to go with minimalism. Taking out too much detail can lead to blandness, whilst leaving in the detail can be distracting. In this image the intent was to see just how much detail I could remove to keep visual interest. For me this works, the essential part of the image being slight imperfections in the wall to compliment the simple composition.
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that architects will go to in making a drab walls look interesting. This was the side of an industrial building, away from public gaze and, to the best of my knowledge, the pattern did not serve any practical purpose other than to please the eye.
This image is part of a series of images featuring that ever popular subject of ventilation grilles, which is a subset of my Industrial Minimalism series. I think I spend an unhealthy amount of time at the weekends wandering around deserted industrial estates!
I understand why architects and designers add features such as this to facades for aesthetic reasons, branding and so on. What I don’t understand is why, as in this case, they do it to rear walls!
I don’t normally use my blog to shout about my own photographic achievements, but I thought this one deserved a mention. Two weeks ago this photo took the top spot on 500px; no mean feat considering the intense competition from all the landscapes and fashion images which generally have more mass appeal. Agreed it was only for a couple of hours at most, but it made it!
My very first post on this blog was ‘Minimalism is like Marmite’ and I felt this image summed up this title so well I thought I would revisit. Many will see this as just too simple to appreciate. Where is the subject? Where is the detail? However, if you are like me, you will see beauty in the arrangement and balance of the shapes, being the essence of minimalism in photography.
Here in the UK we’re defintely a bit short on shadows, particularly over the last couple of months, so I thought I would post a rare sighting from last year. Needless to say, about an hour after this was taken the skies clouded over and we got the usual rain! Thankfully I travel overseas for work!
Being the photographer I know how all the elements fit in this image, but as a first time viewer it may be difficult to understand the arrangement. The brain may try to apply reason, but in the end cannot complete the picture. This is one of the fascinating things about Minimal photography – it is often about what you can’t see rather than what you can.
Isn’t it funny how we remember things from our youth, and yet forget why we just went into the kitchen. As soon as I saw this image it reminded me of Gnasher, the pet dog of Dennis the Menace in the British comic strip from the Beano, Continue reading
Here is a comment I saw relating to a competition I entered recently:- “There are quite a few boring photos in the mix in this competition that dont (for me) capture any emotion or movement showcasing architecture. Taking a flat photo of a building 100 yards away is not exactly creative.”
Most of my photos are as a result of urban exploration, walking around cities looking for suitable images. On this occasion, however, I was driving by, on my way to a meeting, and this builidng just pooped out and me and said ‘take my photo’! Continue reading
Anthropomorphism – the attribution of human form or other characteristics to beings other than humans. This is another one of my ‘One Magical Day’ series as mentioned in my previous post.
Earlier this year, I was staying at an airport hotel over the weekend. With not much else to do, I had decided that if the weather was good, I would spend the day out and about taking photographs. As it happens, the weather was just superb, Continue reading
Whilst I am very lucky to be able to travel the world for work, and visit some very exciting and photogenic cities, sometimes I find great subject matter right on my doorstep. This interesting wall was found outside a very busy supermarket, Continue reading
Stuart Allen 