Lady In Blue Saree Crossing The Street With An Umbrella

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Greetings once again. Today, I have a Street Shot to share with you all. I guess it was about time that I posted something different. So I flexed my creative muscle. 

This shot was taken today at about 4.45 pm. I stopped over a bridge/flyover with nothing in mind actually. There are two railway tracks under it, so trains keep passing by from there. I just stopped to have a look. I knew I would not be shooting the trains of course. Then, while I was observing the railways tracks below, I saw a few people passing by the street. I had a good look at the shadows being casted by them while crossing the street. 

I became pretty interested to find a subject and tried shooting different subjects that passed by the street from various angles. I missed a long shadow shot of an old man, another one of a bicycle's shadow (but that would not have been minimalist).

I also missed quite a few other people who passed by. By missed I mean, I missed the shots and I  deleted them on the spot, for I was not happy with the compositions. I could neither get the Street Photography shots right (that I shoot and keep for myself and not post them here) nor the Minimalism Shots right.

I told myself, never mind this happens. Then I spotted this Lady in Blue Saree with an Umbrella in her hand walking towards my frame. She was a little far, so I had to wait about 30 seconds. 30 Seconds is too long a wait for me, ha ha, I have less of patience and even lesser in summers when it is 45 degrees. Yes, today was hot as well. 

In the initial few shots that I took, The Lady in the Blue Saree, was just walking downwards towards me, from North to South and that was giving me a lot of clutter in the frame. I had the lady, the bus next to her in the parking, a car passing by and what not in the frame.

But, I kept following her movement and kept on clicking her. Then, surprise surprise, she just chose to change sides and cross the street. :)

Yes, this was my moment to de-clutter and I knew it.

Finally, I could now remove the unwanted elements from the frame. She moved from left to the right of the frame, while crossing the street, while her earlier movement was from north to south.

I wasted 3 more clicks, but in the 4th one, I was finally able to avoid the street traffic completely in the frame. I had to be fast but at the same time, I had to leave negative space on the left following The Rule of Thirds.

The Rule of Motion is also followed here. That rule says that one should leave space in front of the moving subject from where he/she/it is traveling to, to create a sense of motion in the minds of the viewer. Like here, when you see The Lady, you know she is going to travel from right of the frame to the left and there is physical empty space in front of her to do so. 

Also note that here. The Rule of thirds and The Rule of Motion, actually Overlaps.   

Minimalism Categorization.

The Photo falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements Category of Minimalist Photography. The primary element here being, the Lady In Blue Saree with carrying an Umbrella. The Street and Shadows acts a tiny supporting elements.

Hope that you enjoyed this street shot and my little explanation. 

And Wait, did you notice that the Lady has a cool sense of Fashion. She is wearing Blue and that is very soothing and ideal to wear in Peak Summer. :)