[matthew]

Sometimes the simplest picture are the hardest to get.
- Neil Leifer

Simple pictures are hard to get. Sometimes the world intrudes, and won't give us an uncluttered composition. Sometimes we are looking only at the subject, and don't see all of the other elements that the camera sees. Sometimes we don't understand the theme and subject well enough to clarify when we are taking a photo. And sometimes we just want to include everything.

Use this thread to post your favourite examples of simple pictures, and/or the ones that you learned from.

The next two weeks will see many people here spending time with friends and family, in busy environments and doing interesting things. Some of us may even have cameras handy. This is a great time to remember to focus on what's important, see the little things, and keep the big picture in mind -- in life and in photography. I wish you all a happy and productive holiday.

[Polly]

I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing suitable for the assignment but -- here's one I took about a couple of weeks ago. A very bright, windy, contrasty Winter's day.

Sun, sea, sand and a bottomless, washed up ship's bucket with its shadow. I was fascinated by those curved 'scratch' lines in the sand (bottom right corner). They were caused by the rim of the bucket as it was blown by the wind and was rolling back and forth on the sand.





Pol

[Polly]

Another one from my collection of "human remains" ie remains of those humans who kinda leave their 'footprint' wherever they go on the planet'

Old rope, half buried, well 'sand-blasted'. I was fascinated by the apprarent 'crater' in the centre.




Pol

[Polly]

..... or how about simple smoke columns, rising, swirling and and curling.




Pol

[matthew]

Polly, those are just gorgeous. The first is my favourite; all three are excellent. Very nice, and thanks for sharing them.

I keep going back to that first photo... it's just perfect.

[Polly]

Polly, those are just gorgeous. The first is my favourite; all three are excellent. Very nice, and thanks for sharing them.

I keep going back to that first photo... it's just perfect.

Thanks Matthew.

I was rather frustrated with that bucket actually. I'd wanted to get closer but it wouldn't blow and roll in my direction and I didn't want my footprints spoiling the sand. I did eventually manage to get close, lie flat and face down on the wet sand, hoping to capture the horizon through the hole, but it just wasn't possible. Too wet, too dodgy with sand sticking onto everything and my feet sinking into the very wet sand. It can be surprising to see what washes up with the tide (English Channel).


Pol

[Wannabe]

I like all of them,but like Matthew said the first one is awesome.
I like seeing things from your eyes. I would have never thought about
taking those photos.

In a beginner's eye, I guess you don't see how simple things make great photo's.

[Pat]

I like all three, but #1 is outstanding, simple and tells a story at the same time.

[Petographer]

Great examples Pol. Well done. I really like #1.

[Pat]

Caught this father & son (assumed) on a cold morning fishing on the waters edge. Looks as if they were settled until they caught something

[matthew]

There were five different assignments that I wanted to post this in -- #47, #36, #35, #14 -- but "Simple" won out because of the introductory quotation. It's a simple composition of water and colour that draws on my inspiration of colour field art that I'd like to showcase. Really, what's an assignmentator to do?

Suspense

[Irma]

Beautiful picture Matt, full of color and creativity.

[wulinka]

oooh matthew, that last one is a keeper. love the colors

[shuttertalk]

Matthew, that's a wonderful composition - simple, vibrant and classy.

[matthew]

Thanks very much, everyone. I took a few different angles and subjects, but this one stood out as the best.

Can I also say how impressed I am that nobody asked what it is? (Not that you lose any Photographer Merit Points for being curious...) This is a rail (yellow) and post (blue) from a local playground set, taken in the rain. Rain has the best light for colour. There's very little post-processing done, so the photo isn't 'artificial' - colour saturation was adjusted for the sRGB web image, I used a selective motion blur to get rid of some posterization, and selectively sharpened the dividing line and water drop.

I think I may try printing this one -- I haven't had to replace the Yellow and Blue tanks on my R1800 yet.

[tiiviitii]

by the sea

[Wedding Shooter]

I really like that first post by Polly and of course the photo from Matt is fantastic.

[matthew]

tiiviitii, that's a gorgeous photo, and very evocative. The composition with the five horizontal bands is subtle but really well seen.


Thanks, WS.

[Irma]

[Irma]

[Maxpower]

Well this is my first submition hope you like my alcohol fueled photo