The Japanese have a word (Ma), for the space or interval that gives shape to the whole.
In the West, the closest translation combines SIMPLIFICATION + EMPTY SPACE. It holds a major role in many aspects of Japanese culture, such as pauses in speech.
Visually, it is expressed in traditional open plan Japanese homes. Thus the size of a room can be changed by altering the partitioning. Large traditional houses often have only one ima (living room/space) under the roof, while kitchen, bathroom, & toilet are extensions to the house. Room dimensions defined by standard Tatami mats and moveable Shoji screen walls, featuring rooms without permanent furniture.
Creating MA in photographs is to create empty space - images without furniture - it is a challenge to create the right balance of empty space, when it is really tempting to "fill the frame" with a subject.
The symmetrical volcanic cone of Rangitoto, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.
A solitary tree guards the gap overlooking the city of Auckland
Hi Rick:
Thanks for your post and image.
- I'm glad to see other contributions, but I am no expert.
Your subject seems appropriately small, but personally I think it would conform more to the principles of 嗎 (Ma) if the sky and water were less dominant: they both have a strong, and thus competing, presence in the image. Usually I would expect the sky and its reflection to be without strong texture or form, as per my first image. This leaves the subject almost floating in isolation in the image.
In the second image the tree was obviously grounded, but that was kept to a minimum and was balanced out by the large area given to the sky.
i hope that makes sense! 
What would they say about this:
This happened on one of our long range tracking cameras at the Tonopah Test Range. About the most exciting thing that happened during that test.
@kvbarkley wrote:What would they say about this:
This happened on one of our long range tracking cameras at the Tonopah Test Range. About the most exciting thing that happened during that test.
This definitely gives space to the subject! I can see there are no flies on you! (rather the window pane) {:-D)
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