Via Negativa Photography

One of the best ideas I’ve gotten from the philosopher Nassim Taleb is the notion of via negativa. That, in order to improve things, best to subtract things.

This agrees a lot with my thoughts on minimalism and photography. that is, in order to become a better photographer, and a more focused and productive photographer, figure out what to get rid of, rather than what to add.

For example, the less camera gear you own the better. With composition the fewer distractions in your photo the better. Also monochrome photography is good because it subtracts color.

Editing down your portfolio

Typically speaking, the fewer photos you show the better. For example, if you meet other photographers, better to show them your best number one photo, than 10 above average photos.

Or, on your portfolio website, just show your top five photos. I like the number five because it is the number of digits in your hand. Also, it is easy to remember five images, difficult to remember any more. Even with the most famous photographer of all time, Henri Cartier Bresson, his most famous images are only about three.

What to subtract?

What else can we subtract when it comes to photography? Or what are some other creative constraints we could add to our photography? Some thoughts:

The zen of one camera, one lens
Restricting yourself to one focal length
Restricting yourself to only your blog, deleting and getting rid of social media
Subtracting color from your photos, only shooting black-and-white
Not using raw, only JPEG
Subtract your subscription services. For example, cancel your adobe subscription, and just use Apple photos instead. Also if you want to use Photoshop or indesign, just buy affinity designer and affinity publisher on your Mac. For myself, I am anti-subscription model. I like the idea that I could just pay a premium price, and just own it forever.
Via negativa location: this means, get rid of the desire to be anywhere else then you are currently. That is, imagine if you could never drive, or travel anywhere else besides the 2 mile radius of your own home. If that were the fact, how could you maximize it for yourself, in terms of making photos?
Anti-print: another thought, what if you could only publish your photos digitally? That means, only on your own website, blog, or as a PDF e-book? How could this thought liberate you?
What if for a whole year, you did not allow yourself to acquire any new camera equipment? If that were the fact, how could you maximize the camera are you currently own?
Anti film? While I do believe there to be many virtues of film photography, I also think that it holds back a lot of photographers back. It seems that a lot of photographers who seek a certain look or legitimacy shoot film. And it also becomes kind of a cult, which is, when you have a preference for film photography, you almost see digital photography as less legitimate, and the devil. Personally speaking, I’ve made the biggest strides in my photography re-accepting digital photography as my preferred medium. Digital is at least 1 trillion times cheaper than film photography, 1 trillion times faster to process, and publish. Shooting digital photography is like driving a Tesla model S plaid, and shooting film is like driving an old Toyota Tercel. Also, philosophically speaking, better to be future oriented than retrospective. Film photography and romanticism says that the best which has ever existed was in the past, and can never be superseded. The philosophy of futurism and growth is the opposite: the best is yet to come, which is a great and optimistic thought for me.