30 Of The Most Stunning Pics That Nailed Minimalism

Bored Panda reached out to Kateryna Polishchuk, who won 2nd place in the Aerial category for her image ‘Shadow Basketball III.’ We wanted to gain more insights from Ukrainian photographers about their awarded work. Polishchuk began by sharing what initially inspired her to photograph this unique basketball court, featuring a tree growing at its center: “I have always been looking for unusual photo spots since I started to fly drones a few years ago. This basketball court is part of a so-called urban park, the first one of the three urban parks built in my city of Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2020-21 and I've never found any information about other courts like this one elsewhere in the world. (Are there any?)”

We were curious about Kateryna's approach to minimalism in photography, and she explained: “It has been my experience that the typical urban environment offers rather limited opportunities for minimalistic aerial photography. But outdoor sports facilities and basketball courts in particular always make for interesting photo spots. They have certain conciseness and also dynamics, of course. I consider it best to visit them not in the golden hour but during the sunny day when the shadows can be used as additional elements of composition or optimally positioned like the shadow of this oak tree in the middle.

Next, Kateryna shared more about the symbolism of the tree she captured and what it represents within the urban setting: “What I see here is respect for nature, and it’s inspiring to witness how societies are becoming more responsible over the years. This scene exemplifies a successful solution that harmonizes both urban and natural aspects of life in a big city. Some of my minimalistic works feature people or objects in natural surroundings, but this scene represents something completely different.”

Lastly, the photographer explained how this award-winning image fits into the broader context of her work: “Before aerial photography I specialized in landscapes, both urban and natural, while nature has always inspired me most. Until now, nature has been present in most of my works, one way or the other. I cannot say I purposefully explore the themes of nature coexisting with man-made environments but this sure interests me a lot and I would be happy to do it more often in the future, I have new ideas.”