WRITTEN BY ALI ZOLGHADRI
Ali Zolghadri’s simplistic fine art photography serves as an excellent reminder that a minimal view in the midst of everyday’s hustle and bustle is an ideal way to avoid visual turmoil and achieve peace of mind.
For Iranian minimalist and fine art style photographer Ali Zolghadri, simplicity is the key element of his work. He finds most of his subjects in Tehran and always tries to include concept and content in the images he creates. Thereby, expressing the beauty of human moments and revealing clean, minimalistic line images in order to show Tehran’s multiple facets, is one of Zolghadri’s main objectives. Every of Zolghadri’s photographs tells a story about the city of Tehran.
Zolghadri’s intense interest in simplicity as well as in the combination of the human mind with content and subjects is what led him to his photography style. In addition, his minimalist style stems from the desire for calmness and the avoidance of visual turmoil.
How Zolghadri views his environment is a result of his thoughts which circle around the street subjects in his surroundings. One of the most central elements in this regard are shadows which also serve him as source of inspiration.
Instead of pre-planning his photography, Zolghadri captures anything that appeals to him which is, how he says, mostly completely random, by chance and coincidence, and without pre-thought ideas. In general, ideation for him starts with closely observing his surroundings, not other photographers or photos. Usually, he is looking for simplicity around him, takes a photo and often merges it later in the editing process with other photographs in order to create a new picture, and to give his creativity a meaningful outlet.
However, Zolghadri’s work is also the result of thought processes that get started by watching a movie or listening to a story. This, too, can provoke topics which Zolghadri then tries to capture with his camera. When he goes to a particular subject or place with pre-thought ideas, it is his goal not just to capture the subject, but to process the main idea, vision and subject in a way in which the composition conveys all his thoughts and ideas to the viewer.
To narrate his photographic story, Zolghadri’s compositions include lines, people, modernist buildings, symbols, light and shadow as well as contrasts and textures while simultaneously focusing on the absence of additional, possibly distracting elements. By relying on simplicity as most important element in his compositions, Zolghadri leaves room for the viewer and his/her/their thoughts and individual points of view.
For Zolghadri, photography is not just about capturing an image. For him, it is the impact and effect on the viewer that is particularly crucial. In the style of minimalism, images may be simple, but they require special vision and high creativity as Zolghadri photography reflects. Zolghadri’s art works remind us that taking a simplistic photo and having a minimal view in the midst of our busy everyday lives as well as the technology we are constantly surrounded by, is an ideal art to achieve peace of mind, save the mind from confusion and avoid visual turmoil.
Although Zolghadri does not look for inspiration in the work of other photographers, Instagram plays an important role for him as it has a huge impact on the visibility of his works of art from which he benefits greatly. Zolghadri strongly believes that the art world needs internal as well as external - eye and mental - communication. For him, this has been made possible through Instagram and has introduced the minimalist and simplistic style as well as a connection with the surrounding world which strengthens the importance of urban symbols and beauties.
Zolghadri’s photographic work has widely been recognized by award juries as his recent nomination for the "Architecture" Runner Up of the Creative Photo Awards 2022 reflects. This is also due to the fact that his photographs combine an adaptation to the reality of his surroundings with the principles of photography. In addition, it is his creativity in creating a different environment which further adds to the unique appeal of his photographic works.
Ali Zolghadri minimalist fine art photographs are intriguing depictions of our surroundings with a strong focus on simplicity, contrasts, lines and texture, reflecting a desire for calmness and the avoidance of visual turmoil.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is Ali Zolghadri. I'm from Iran.I am a fine art and black-and-white photographer. I studied computer engineering. I have been photographing professionally for 9 years. In these years, I won more than 60 photography competitions and was also a member of the jury of several international photography festivals. Articles My photography has been published in several international and prestigious photography magazines and I have also participated in several international photography exhibitions.
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Lovely works !