I agree with you on the mosque, but the torso and flowers is something reduced to an almost abstract by not showing the whole and therefore closer to minimalist. There are some other shots where the surroundings/negative space becomes part of the subject (for instance the two people on the rim, the person in the stadium seat, the woman hanging from the cliff) and therefore fail (imo) your definition of a single sublject maximally separated from it surrounds while they still would be minimalist in my mind.
Ah, yes, but by separation i mean "visually distinct" or easily discernable. The subject becomes easily discernable because of minimizing visual stimulus of the surrounds, even though that may be complex patterning.
The torso is more about storytelling imo. There is more than one element that seems to demand our attention with very complex interaction or symbolism.
The odd exception though is this: what about a portrait separated from the background by beautiful backgroundblur?
Is that minimalist only if the head is smaller than 10% of the frame? Or if it is cropped to bare essentials? Maybe just the very side of the head, wrinkles near the eye just visible, so you can just make out the emotion?
