The influence of Japanese design is incalculable. It is especially the simplicity that sets it apart in today’s busy, busy world.
zen garden
Susan says, “Japanese design holds many important lessons, but underlying all the principles is belief that more is less. Here three stones immediately grab our attention, as they ‘look’ together at the larger standing stone. The swirling purple/blue sand raked into circles represents the water encircling the stones. And that’s the entirety of the design. A perfect immutable world of rocks and water frozen into place. The only thing that changes here are the shadows that play across them. This kind of simplicity is very difficult to achieve whether in photography, gardening, poetry or presentation design. Without it, the important elements get lost in the clutter and lose their power. How would this garden fair if more rocks were added or a more intricate design was raked into the sand?”
Lucia says, ” ‘Keep it simple’ is one of my mantras as a photographer. This is no easy task. But the Japanese Garden in Portland does it in spades. The result is a serene place to visit. And this section of rocks and sand is particularly tranquil. Susan’s description captures the strengths and power of simplicity in design. This scene of the Zen garden posed a real challenge for me. I wanted to depict the tranquility emanating for the simple scheme, the sense of movement, and especially the shadows of the sunlight through the trees. These shadows added another important layer to my photo giving it depth. I spent quite a long time here looking at this scene from different angles, soaking up the peacefulness, and trying to capture all of it in a still image.”
Think about what you could remove from your presentation that would make it more powerful.
