Minimalist photography has always appealed to me because it is about stripping away everything superfluous and leaving a single clear subject surrounded by calm. I was reminded of that when I edited this image, taken at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen during a Christmas concert in December. For a brief moment the stage was completely dark, broken only by a narrow beam of light falling on the musician. In the editing process I became aware of how deeply absorbed he was in the music, and how the simplicity, stillness and contrasts in the light emphasised the concentration I had unconsciously captured.
I let him occupy only a small part of the frame, allowing the large black area and the vertical column of light to dominate the image. This strong negative space draws the viewer’s eye towards the musician and reinforces the feeling that everything else around him disappears. To me, the image has become a visual story about concentration, presence, and a moment in which the world outside briefly fades away.
