Your first assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to create a minimalist image.

The Free Dictionary defines minimalism as “a school of abstract painting and sculpture that emphasizes extreme simplification of form, as by the use of basic shapes and monochromatic palettes of primary colors, objectivity, and anonymity of style.” While that definition focuses on painting and sculpture, it’s a relatively simple step to extend the core concepts to photography.

Minimalism in photography can encompass your choice of subject, color palette, composition, lighting—in short, pretty much any aspect of the images you choose to create. This week’s sample images both take a minimalist approach to color and composition. And the cobblestone image is so minimalistic that the bricks in the image aren’t even really there: they’re only suggested by the shadow of a chain link fence cast on a section of smooth concrete sidewalk!