The Minimalist Photography Awards has announced the winners of the sixth edition of their competition. As stated on the organizers’ website: “With more than 3,400 submissions from talented photographers worldwide, this year’s awards have showcased an extraordinary level of creativity and skill in minimalist photography.”
The jury selected the best images of 2024 across 12 categories: Abstract, Landscape, Portrait, Street, Open Theme, Photomanipulation, Conceptual, Night, Aerial, Fine Art, Architecture, and Long Exposure. Eva Chupikova has been named Minimalist Photographer of the Year for her photo series titled “Anna.”
Open, Honorable Mention: Arrival By Fenqiang “Frank” Liu
Every spring, I become excited as the great egrets begin their breeding season in Florida, marking the start of my spring photography season. The joy captured in my images reflects my enthusiasm.
Aerial, 2nd Place Winner: Shadow Basketball III By Kateryna Polishchuk
While constructing basketball grounds in an urban park in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the designer team made this creative decision to show their respect for nature and save this big tree from being removed.
Landscape, Honorable Mention: That Lonely Tree By Helen Trust
We were curious about Kateryna’s approach to minimalism in photography, and she explained: “It has been my experience that the typical urban environment offers rather limited opportunities for minimalistic aerial photography. But outdoor sports facilities and basketball courts in particular always make for interesting photo spots.
They have certain conciseness and also dynamics, of course. I consider it best to visit them not in the golden hour but during the sunny day when the shadows can be used as additional elements of composition or optimally positioned like the shadow of this oak tree in the middle.
Landscape Photographer Of The Year: Arctic Silence 5 By Patrick Ems
We were curious about Kateryna’s approach to minimalism in photography, and she explained: “It has been my experience that the typical urban environment offers rather limited opportunities for minimalistic aerial photography. But outdoor sports facilities and basketball courts in particular always make for interesting photo spots.
They have certain conciseness and also dynamics, of course. I consider it best to visit them not in the golden hour but during the sunny day when the shadows can be used as additional elements of composition or optimally positioned like the shadow of this oak tree in the middle.
Abstract, 3rd Place Winner: Water world (Oil & Water Studies) By Beth Buelow
Lastly, the photographer explained how this award-winning image fits into the broader context of her work: “Before aerial photography I specialized in landscapes, both urban and natural, while nature has always inspired me most.
Until now, nature has been present in most of my works, one way or the other. I cannot say I purposefully explore the themes of nature coexisting with man-made environments but this sure interests me a lot and I would be happy to do it more often in the future, I have new ideas.”
Landscape, 2nd Place Winner: Winter Cottonwoods By Andrew Mielzynski
During the pandemic, I went out for a walk at a local park during a fierce winter storm. I ran across this scene. It seemed very chaotic with many layers of trees. I loved how the snow, driven by high winds, got embedded into the bark of the trunks. The snow on the bark created a textural contrast that adds detail and interest to the trees. I took a few frames, trying to simplify the scene in front of me and settled on this one, loving the tones, the depth, the order and the minimalism.
Even in a chaotic scene, there seems to be a sense of balance that feels orderly and pleasing. I took these pictures in Switzerland, the Canary Islands, Austria and Spain. My goal as a photo artist is to find angles that reveal unexpected beauty in the mix of geometrical shapes and colors. The simplicity invites you to eventually almost forget that you are looking at actual buildings. This is when the magic happens and you sink into the picture and forget about everything around.
