Video: Why your photos are too cluttered (and how to fix them)

Minimalism may be popular in modern street photography, but the approach has much deeper roots.

One of its early masters, and perhaps still the best to ever do it, was Fan Ho, whose dramatic black and white images captured Hong Kong street life during the 1950s and 1960s.

In a recent video, photographer and educator Tatiana Hopper highlights several lessons from Ho’s work that can help photographers simplify their compositions and reduce visual clutter.

Ho often treated the street as a stage, waiting patiently for the right moment to unfold. He used light and shadow to structure scenes, placed a single subject carefully within the frame and relied on negative space to draw attention to the key element.

On crowded streets, these techniques remain useful today, offering a simple reminder that strong street photography often comes from careful observation and thoughtful composition rather than complex scenes.

Cover image: Mike O'Connor