New minimalist winter photography titled Fading added

Winter hasn’t been brilliant here in Switzerland. Plenty of snow on higher altitudes, but not a lot of decent winter goodness at lower elevations. This messed up my plan to go out and shoot minimalist winter photography more often this year. In the end, I only went out to shoot them on one morning in February. This is one of the photographs I shot that morning. It is titled Fading, for obvious reasons.

Yes, yes, I know it is very minimal and probably not to everyone’s taste. Many of you might even find it boring. I love seeing minimalist winter photography like this as well as looking at minimalist work of others in general. It’s all about capturing the essence of a scene and the art of leaving things out, which can be rather challenging! Things like leading lines, depth and composition become even more important than in regular landscape photography. In my experience, shooting scenes like this is an excellent way of improving your photography skills.

I captured this winter landscape with a Nikon D800E in combination with a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens (45mm, ƒ/8, 1/640s and ISO100). No filters where used.

Click on the photograph if you would like to learn more about it or wish to buy a print or licence.

I hope you like it!? Cheers, Johan 🙂

Fading, a winter landscape photograph in B&W

A winter landscape photograph in B&W, with telephony poles disappearing towards the horizon in a foggy and snowy Swiss winter landscape.

203 thoughts on “New minimalist winter photography titled Fading added

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      I am very sorry for the late respond. But you know I did appreciate your comment a lot 😀 

  1. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Annick: thanks Annick 🙂 Glad it is spring now and that the crap winter is over 😉
    @Christa: thanks Christa 🙂
    @Girolamo: thanks for the compliment Girolamo! 🙂 

  2. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Marilou: thank you very much Marilou!
    @kenny: glad you like it Kenny 🙂
    @Jim: thanks Jim! 😀

  3. Aline says:

    Great minimalism Johan!
    This is something you have to see, you saw it 🙂
    And…. by seeing it, it isn’t enough, you have to see the possiblities also 😉

  4. Michael says:

    Hi Johan,

    I hope you are well.

    Your intro rang the same bells for me this year in that we had absolutely no snow either this year where i live, and therefore i had to drive around an hour to get to higher altitudes above a 1000 metres for any decent images this year.

    Love this shot, it really is right up my street this type and style of image. Bravo.
    Love the composition and the wonderful contrasts, and a great one for the portfolio, and not boring at all.

    All the best

    Mike

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      All is well Mike thanks! And thank you for the compliment. Nice to hear that from a minimal snowscape guru 😀

      Yes winter was crap. I did get the normal winter stuff, but not the minimal stuff I was after. Hopefully next year !

  5. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Mikko: thanks again Mikko 🙂
    @Enzo: 😀 Merci pour le WOW !
    @Benjeev: thanks for the kind words Benjeev!
    @Louisa: many thanks Louisa for the compliment Louisa! I like doing images like these. It is a nice change from normal landscape work. Much more zen 🙂 

  6. Louisa Catharine Forsyth says:

    Honestly Johan, the more minimal shots border on art to me, love them so much more than the others! This is exceptional! 

  7. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Grzegorz: minimalistic is a great change from the normal landscape work 🙂 Glad you like what I did here 🙂
    @Meg: many thanks Meg!
    @Yasmin: blushing 😀 have a great rest of the week! 

  8. Yasmin Simpson says:

    Dear Johan, minimalistic work or not, whatever you create is always lovely and well done.
    Sorry to hear that it was not a decent winter for lower altitudes but with this you proof that your artistic talent shines in all kind of photography… ;).
    Happy rest of the week!

  9. Grzegorz Piechowicz says:

    Not often, but when you do minimal art you do it in fantastic way! I must agree this type of photography is difficult not only for the photographer but also for the viewer. But your work has something special…. I would say – great power 🙂 Superb Johan! :-)

  10. Hope O'Hara says:

    Minimal very much so.. but wow what a huge impact this gives the viewer..
    not to sure how you get all of your captures so alive..
    but love what you do and how you do it..
    you really are an inspiration … to be able to take a mundane object that one sees every day.. and turn it into something that sparks ones imagination.. is talent beyond comprehension .. hugs

  11. Joel Tjintjelaar says:

    This is great Johan. it almost looks like your approach to B&W has changed or maybe it’s because I have neglected G+ for too long this past year:)

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      I guess a bit of both Joel 😉 Trying to explore different things, learn and improve … nice to see you around!

        • Johan Peijnenburg says:

          that is nice to hear Joel! I am actually revisiting a lot of B&W stuff I did in the past and working on some new stuff as well. My vision is definitely changing. Hopefully for the better 🙂

  12. Dylan van Graan says:

    Definitely according to my taste 🙂 It seems like your winter weather has come down south a bit early :(

  13. Günter Schurr says:

    You’re absolutely right Johan! Weather has become more extreme in recent years. Last year we had a very long winter and almost no spring, this year reversed. Where will it end? Let’s hope that next year things will get better.

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      yes and last year we had a very late Autumn as a result of no Spring. Guess this year Autumn will come very early … 

  14. Елена Ващукова says:

    Reminds me our East Syberian winter views from my childhood 🙂 thanks for sharing this one with us !

  15. Stephen Cairns says:

    It’s interesting, isn’t it? They look so easy to make yet the entire image’s strength rests in the balance of objects to space, their arrangement, and how tonalities are managed. I’d say the first two are paramount while the tonalities of the image leave a lot of room for personal taste.

    Like you, I had intended to do a lot more winter photography but it never really came to lower attitudes here in Japan either. Next year, I’ll have to chase the images in the highlands to be sure I get something I like.

    The slight difference in whites between the snow and sky is just enough. Lovely vertical minimal image Johan 

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      To me that’s what makes this type of photography fun. It’s a nice challenge and a great way to improve skills 🙂 Many thanks for the great feedback Stephen! Hopefully we both get more luck next winter!

  16. Anna Ryndak says:

    Simply beautiful! Endless purity….. Less is more….. We had the longest and coldest winter in Chicago so I’m glad that is ending. It is a difference when you go shooting in the beautiful mountains. I got enough sooting “dirty” winter streets…. Johan Have a good night!:)

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      many thanks Anna! Ow yes it is certainly different in the mountains. They look best with nice fresh snow though and haven’t had much of that this year …

  17. Tom Tran says:

    It’s minimal and delicate looking, even. Even those insulators look pretty from the distance. I bet a nice stack of rocks at each pole would be a neat pairing, Johan. :P

  18. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Ray: many thanks for the compliment Ray 🙂
    @Shawn: glad you like it Shawn! 🙂
    @Dirk: Danke vielmals :)

  19. Dominique Dubied says:

    Not boring at all! A wonderful composition for this minimalist shot Johan. We have both shared for minimal Monday this week, great to to participate to the theme with you :-)

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      glad you like it Dominique. Yes, we both did. Love your entry! Did you get some nice new winter scenes in the past few months? 

  20. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Eric: thanks for the compliment Eric! Hope all is well in Belgium!?
    @Heidi: thanks 😀 Yes those fitting are very typical here 🙂 

  21. Nikola Nikolski says:

    Minimalism and composition are very nice here Johan. I like it a lot! Who knows next winter will be better than this one 🙂 

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