Michael Roberts describes his delicately conceived photographs as “minimalist.”
“Starting last fall,” Roberts remembers, “I wanted to capture the very basic forms and graceful structures I would perceive while hiking in the Sonoran Desert. Carefully composed images with certain lighting and reduced background lent themselves to minimalism in nature and without the intrusion of color that often supersaturates photographs today. I love the simple complexity of natural structures. The images focus on one’s own perceptions and interpretation.
“I seek to portray things and scenes that are overlooked or are mere backdrops to everyday life. I have been exploring minimalism as a way of projection and abstraction, although seemingly bleak, trying to find beauty and hope in the gracefulness of nature.
“Not unlike a Rorschach inkblot, interpreting these images reveals potential insights into dynamic relationships or prompts reflection and introspection. Or maybe minimalism is simply an appreciation of the vestigial elements of our natural world. Not all minimalistic photography is in black and white; but the judicious placement of subjects within white space is compelling to me.
“The abundance of white space enhances serenity and appreciation of the lines. I see this approach as austere, but not bleak or devoid of hope.”
A recently retired clinical child/pediatric psychologist in Anthem, Ariz., Roberts only lately began to pursue photography full-on, although he comes by it naturally via his parents, photographers in the 1930s and 40s. They did not formally instruct their son but gave young Michael pointers on his early compositions.
“In the early 1950s, we lived summer months in Yosemite while my father worked for the park service, so Ansel Adams was ever present. Our family lore says that Adams was talking to my father about photography in his studio store and he patted my brother and me on our heads. I could interpret that was a laying on of hands to inspire me to photography, but I was a ragamuffin, so he was likely saying, “keep your dirty hands off my prints. I still admire his art,” says Roberts.
Mostly self-taught, Roberts has participated in photography workshops and studied photographs made by many artists in magazines and books. “I think I am also influenced by the Impressionist painters. They attended to effects of light in the world and often reduced the scenes to the essentials, while favoring color. Some of them dabbled with photography which was then a new invention.”
Roberts also sees influential elements in the wood block prints of Chinese and Japanese artists using the simplest composition to portray a scene and subtle colors. “There are many photographers in the minimalist tradition who kind of sneak up on you with their dramatic impressions of the world” he says. “Although color landscapes might make you say, “Wow!” I think minimalistic photographs often make you say, “Hmmm?”
Most of his minimalist images were shot in hiking the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix where Roberts lives. A few were taken while traveling in the Sahara Desert in Morocco.
He also takes color photographs of landscapes, flowers, alpine and desert trails, and weathered, desiccated trees and cacti. “I love the gnarly. I love the light of sunrises and sunsets,” he says. “The gnarly branches of desiccated trees and bushes speak to resilience and residual beauty even in the harsh conditions of arid heat and timeless wind of the desert.”
Roberts notes that his parents shot monochrome in the 1930s and 40s, and then enthusiastically embraced color when it developed. “They never looked back at black and white photography. I have always appreciated the power of projected emotion in black and white images. I wanted to capture the very basic forms and graceful structures I would perceive while hiking. Carefully composed images with certain lighting and reduced background lent themselves to minimalism in nature and without the intrusion of color that often supersaturates photographs today.”
Roberts started with a Kodak Brownie camera in elementary school and graduated to a Yashica Lynx camera in high school. Much later he bought a Canon EOS Rebel while still shooting film and transitioned to digital with another Canon EOS. His daughter gave him a Diana plastic camera and he now relies on his smartphone, an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
“I was obsessed with the film and plastic camera genre,” he admits, “now I think I’m in the middle of an obsession with minimalism, so I cannot predict where my next motif (or obsession) may come.”
He uses post-processing to remove saturation, warmth, and tint to create monochrome images. “I then increase the exposure, brightness, and highlights to blow out the backgrounds (usually the sky) and isolate the forms in silhouettes on the white space, leaving the residual structures and natural art forms,” he says.
“Black silhouettes on white backgrounds reveal the aesthetic architecture of nature such as branches and leaves, and even those forms made by humans such as power line towers, transformers or fire hydrants.
“When hiking,” he adds, “I always push a little farther to see what’s around the next corner. Similarly, my future work may look very different from what I’m obsessed with today. As I evolve in my obsessive avocation, I am always excited to see what’s next.
“In times such as the present, minimalistic images may grant serenity and provide at least a momentary escape from chaos and uncertainty.”
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