Some photographers focus on small details in search of significance, but others are preoccupied less with meaning than with abstract and aesthetically pleasing form, pattern and composition.
Take those who enter the annual Minimalist Photography Awards. The Guardian have published a gallery of some of this year's best entries. Allen Koppe took the top prize in the Conceptual and Fine Art category for his series On Route, but for me Timo Lemmetti's image 'Repel' was deserving of better than its third place.
Adhering to Jon Pountney's principle that patience and timing are key, Lemmetti spotted the potential picture and then waited until the circumstances - the position of the moon, the fading light of a setting sun on russet-coloured railings - were absolutely perfect before pressing the button. The result is a remarkable image that is neither wholly spontaneous nor entirely staged.
Noell Ozvald's black and white pictures are, by contrast, as artificially staged as they come. It's telling that the Hungarian prefers to be referred to as a "visual artist" who just happens to use a camera as the tool of her trade. She's a portrait photographer of the most unusual kind - one who has no interest whatsoever in her subjects' individuality or personality but who instead, in her own words, aims to "set up concepts using the human body as a base". The precise and minimalist geometric beauty of her work is stunning, even if it does come at the cost of any kind of human connection.
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