As I’ve said before, minimalist photos rank are my favorite. To take simple elements and bring them all together to create a powerful image takes a vision and a mind beyond my feeble skills. This picture by Marius Rustad is no exception as it is a powerful photo.

According the short bio of Marius contained in “Silvershotz”, he was an only child, but he says he never felt alone as he was growing up. I can certainly see how this translates to his work. The photo here shows the lone diving platform, but one does not get the impression at all that the sense of loneliness one would normally get from an image such as this. Instead, the platform seems to enjoy its place in the seeming void of the water. This sense is reinforced by the perfect calm of the water, making the reflection nearly flawless. If it weren’t for the reflection and the darkening color of the water at the horizon, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to believe that this platform is floating in the air. The calmness of the water also provides serenity.

The placement of the platform suggests that while it is far away, it is not so far that it is inaccessible. On the contrary, the platform seems to have chosen this spot as a small test of one’s worthiness to climb aboard. The test is there, but not impossible, or even hard, but still must be passed.

One area where this photo really stands out is the tonal range. The smooth tonality here is impeccable and was the first thing I noticed about this photo. The serenity offered by the calmness of the water is strongly reinforced by the ultra-smooth tonality of the photo. The only break throughout the photo (aside from the platform itself) is the horizon, but even that serves as a compliment to the overall feeling of the image.

The clarity is amazing, owing in part to his use of a 6×6 medium format camera (which is why the image is square). Medium format cameras use film that is larger than the standard 35mm film to which most of us are familiar. The result is superior clarity in smaller prints, with the ability to make larger prints.

I would encourage anyone to look at more of Mr. Rustad’s work, which can be found by clicking here.

What do you think of the photo? What does it say to you?