MINIMALISM

Minimalism appeals to me because it asks how little a photograph really needs. Rather than filling the frame, I often find myself looking for ways to simplify it: a single post in open water, a distant line of trees, a jetty disappearing into mist or just the faint division between sea and sky.

Black and white is particularly suited to this way of working. Removing colour allows shape, tone and negative space to become more important, while mist and long exposure can simplify water and sky until only a few essential elements remain.

Many of these photographs were made around the Venetian Lagoon and other quiet waters, where space and stillness are already part of the landscape. What interests me is not emptiness for its own sake, but how a very small element can sometimes carry the entire photograph.