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(15 reviews)
Author: Visit Amazon's Steve Johnson Page
ISBN : 1937538095
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Format: PDF
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Review
"Who is this book for? This is yet another excellent read for aspiring photographers. Breaking down the many overwhelming aspects and complications of photography, this book manages to focus on what is most relevant in true photographic creation. The Minimalist Photographer touches on all of the key components of authentic photography in an easy to digest and extremely helpful manner." -- Photo.net
About the Author
Steve Johnson was originally a painter who took photographs. Over the last decade he has become a photographer who paints occasionally. His distinctive minimal style stems from the belief that subject matter is not as important as aesthetic considerations like composition, tone, and line.
Steve has taught visual art and undertaken commercial art projects on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Middle East. He and his wife also owned a gallery that specialized in both painting and photography.
Steve's work has been exhibited in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He is a UK citizen who lives and works in the American Midwest.
Direct download links available for Free Download The Minimalist Photographer
- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Rocky Nook (April 10, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1937538095
- ISBN-13: 978-1937538095
- Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 8 x 10 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Free Download The Minimalist Photographer
The title of the book is The Minimalist Photographer, and it's all about what you bring to your photography, and why. Good photographs might happen as a result of just knowing how to use a camera, but consistently great images of any kind result from merging that technical know-how with some idea of what you want to convey about what you see.
Johnson clearly sets the premise for this book in the Introduction, beginning with the all-too-familiar crisis that a lot of us face after the excitement of a new camera wears off and we ask ourselves, "What now?" He came to realize that without bringing some kind of aesthetic philosophy to his photography, it would remain little more than an exercise in technical competence. He chose a minimalist, reductionist philosophical approach, and found that it works on all levels, whether as a style of art or as a conscious choice in equipment. Once that approach, that philosophy, was in place, the possibilities opened up, and interesting images could be made from nearly anything.
Developing an aesthetic philosophy begins with self-exploration, and the first chapter is appropriately titled "You." It starts with an explanation of why it is easier now to develop your own approach to photography than it was in the past, thanks to digital cameras and being able to share photos on the Internet, without worrying about meeting a pre-ordained standard set by publishers and gallery owners.
The chapter really kicks in for me, though, when Johnson poses the question, "Why do you want to take photographs?" It is a harder question to answer than it might first appear, but it is the first step toward developing your own philosophy, and you need to be honest. From there he asks, "What type of photographer are you now?
When I saw the title "The Minimalist Photographer" I didn't know whether the author referred to some form of minimalism in the images captured or minimalism in the amount of equipment used to capture images. After completing the book I still don't know.
The author begins the book by asking the reader to explore himself or herself, and then proceeds to a discussion of the basics, like exposure and metering. Next there is a chapter discussing cameras and then a chapter on light. There is a mention of composition and aesthetics and a few pages about photography philosophy, followed by a brief history of photography and the author's outlook for the future of photography. Intrspersed throughout are many of the author's images.
I found these images thought provoking, if not interesting. One approach to understanding art is through the concepts of form and content. One historical approach has been to suggest that the form, say, lines, masses, color, and composition, must help to understand the content. Another school of art suggested that the form itself might be the content of a work. In painting, the abstract expressionists were determined to deal with concepts like mass, color and so forth without figurative reference. Johnson's photographs also seem to deal with form, by emphasizing lighting, line, and mass, but without caring what the content is. For example, a dramatically lit image of a screw showed the lighting, but told nothing about the screw. Based on the author's photographs I would have expected some explanation of a genre of photography which is concerned about form alone, but there was absolutely nothing significant explaining this approach.
In fact there was little of substance that would help a photographer to develop his skills anywhere in the book.
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