The winter was quite a challenge for me, photographically speaking. On most mountain trips, I was often greeted by hail, strong winds or winter storms and when the winter finally announced its departure, I must have felt like what writers call writers block. Uninspired, empty and like as a dark cloud was following me around. Other than that, winter was great.

In landscape photography, weather and light is more or less crucial and even if you have worked out how to compose or photograph a subject or landscape, light is the final touch. Each subject, each landscape and each photograph has its own character. Remember, fantastic light is not limited to an exploding sky. I always study my impressions and emotions closely and then try to be creative to resolve the empty spaces between the lines, and to reveal the mysteries. One of my own personal mysteries, happen to appear in the summer months at the western coast of Norway, especially on the long sand beaches in Jæren District where the powerful sound of the Gulf Stream waves reminds me of a distant memories, or even subdued primal instincts. These days, the sun at Jæren sets at 11 in the evening, sun rises at little past 4 in the morning and between those hours it never gets (really) dark. Those blue hours often has a certain light quality that I find wonderful to work with and which often makes me hear some faint echo...
of something long forgotten.

Patterns in sand, Gulf Stream waves and Feistein lighthouse (establ. 1859) at dawn.
Jæren District, western coast of Norway. June 2012. *click to see large or to order a print.

The above photograph is one of the 5 photographs that I made that morning that I was very pleased with. It`s simple, all about lines and texture and less about light and color, though the even light and soft, muted colors really was what made the photographs speak to me in the end. Every year, I always make the time to evaluate what I have done the past year and then to decide which path that will please me the most to pursue. It seems that the longer I photograph, the more simplified my photographs become, just like when I first started with photography many years ago.

4 sec. (1 sec. in the photograph below) exposure (Canon 5D Mark II, TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II-lens with shift for even perspective control and tilt for near-to-far sharpness, Lee grad. neutral density filter) made 4 in the morning, just before sunrise. When photographing patterns in the sand, the challenge lies in finding interesting patterns as they seldom have a clear appearance to the naked eye and the photographs often look featureless on the LCD. Careful work with the curves-tool though, helps me accentuate the patterns in the photographs when processing. Also, at the time of shooting this kind of photographs, often a brighter (than usual) grad. neutral density filter is used to compensate for increased contrast (curves) later on so that the sky doesn`t get overly dark in the process.

Patterns made by high tide and waves, Feistein lighthouse in the distance.
Jæren District, western coast of Norway. June 2012. *click to see large or to order a print.

Both photographs are now available in my website galleries as Fine Art Prints and more photographs from this trip to Jæren will follow later on. I`ve been on the move for most of the last month with little time to process all the resulting photographs. In my next blog post, I will release new photographs from Dørålen Valley in NE Rondane National Park from a recent trip I made to celebrate its 50th anniversary as Norway`s first national park. But first, a trip to Denmark. In the meantime, you can visit my Zen Shores-gallery to see more coastline photographs or take a look at Recent Work-gallery to see my latest work. Hope that all of you are enjoying the summer! See you soon.

Behind the scenes:-)
A 30 sec. long exposure, using a headlamp and small flashlight to light paint while scouting for locations.
Fun times..together with Bob Marley!
 

Best Wishes
Seung Kye

Subscribe RSS-feed or e-mail to be Notified of New Posts. Connect with me on Social Media.

Website Home    |     Facebook     |     Google+    |     About Me

Blog Home →