17/08/2019

Mood Frozen in Time – Minimalist Photography by Philipp Dase

Photography is not only about capturing a small piece of the world in a certain space and a certain time. A talented photographer captures a story. The best photographers capture emotion in its rawest form. Doing that, but with very little in the way of objects situated in the actual photograph takes a real stroke of genius.

I firmly believe that stroke of genius can be found in the work of Philipp Dase, a photographer born and raised in Germany. His work in photography started back in 2016. Dase works as a project manager in city development, but in his spare time the passion for photography takes over. His gallery is rich with images of architectural wonders and historical sights of all sorts, from the Cathedral of Berlin to Charles Bridge in Prague. That wasn’t what caught my eye the most, though. It was his minimalist take on nature and the way he conveys emotion from it. The themes he takes interest in might not be the most cheerful, yet it could be argued even more beauty can be found in melancholy and nostalgia. He makes us feel these things by using a subtle colour palette verging on monochromatic and often focusing on just one object, a lonely tree on the bank of a lake as an example.

His best piece for me is called “emptiness” and it was taken in New Hampshire, USA. It captures a slightly rippled ocean surface, with mist dominating the air and the horizon ahead. The feeling of emptiness comes from the vastness of the ocean, which is a beautiful contradiction. Mr Dase, with all the tools he enjoys using, and with all the themes he so successfully conveys is truly a refreshing addition to the scene of photography. Whatever might be his next project, I’m sure it will include that degree of excellence that I’ve come to expect from him.

philippdase.com