Vestrahorn is a 454m high mountain ridge on Stokksnes peninsula in East Iceland, about a 20 minute drive from the town of Hofn. The breathtaking beauty of the place lies in its ascents rising steep from the flat black sand beach and sea, as well as in its isolation and photogenic shape. When I saw it for the first time many years ago, I was stunned. I felt like I got very close to the way the Earth looked when it was made. The flip side of the magnificence of the place is that it attracts enormous interest from photographers and tourists. I actually did not even pull the camera out when I ventured there back in 2012; first, it was midday, second, there were plenty of people walking the sand dunes and the beach making it impossible to create anything meaningful.

I do not remember why but I could not return the next morning and then we moved on. But I kept it in my memory as one of the most staggering spots in Iceland. And I have seen plenty incredible images in the years to follow, which in fact made me avoid Stokksnes until my very recent trip last year.

I was staying overnight in Hofn en route to the north, the wind blew strongly outside, it snowed. I came there well before sunrise and was alone. The dunes looked like waves on a rough sea and the heavy snow storm washed out the mountain range so that I could only occasionally see some parts of it coming out and disappearing like ghosts. The snow was running fast on the frozen grounds, creating charming patterns that were immediately decomposed by the wind. The place felt vast, empty, naked and otherworldly.

I spent some time walking the dunes, looking for compositions and hoping that Vestrahorn will show itself. Soon enough (when the first photographers arrived), I went down onto the beach fascinated by structures of the dark circles on the white surface that the wind and snow was shaping around small leftovers of ice. With the pieces of mountains in the background, I visualised a minimalist pattern-based monochromatic design that I went after.

I was grateful for the weather, which decluttered the scenery to its basic components - circles, lines, triangles, plenty of negative space. I have always had a passion for simple settings, geometry and almost mathematics in the landscape. It happens rarely (and it often hurts) that the weather conditions discard imperfections and distractions so that I can only work with pure essence, but this was exactly the case.

As I walked this immense space-like scene, I realized the ephemerality and volatility of time and all the elements around me (snow, sand, mist and frozen fragments of ice). The thought was to express the conflict between this and the eternity of rocks. I believed a good way to approach it would be through a central placement of the two main contrasting subjects - the circle shaped around the ice and the triangle of the most visible part of the mountain. I shot it like this knowing that it will require some warping and retouching in the post-process. For your reference, I’m attaching the raw file below.

What do you think?

I am not an expert on glaciers or climate change, but as frequent visitor, I am very concerned about their latest state. I consider glaciers as big data bank, where the memory of our planet Earth is stored. They have been here much longer then we humans, and it is shocking how quickly they are disappearing, especially during the last ten years. According to some estimates Alps can be without glaciers in 20 to 30 years from now.

I am quite fortunate having still a chance to visit the glaciers, and be able show them to my kids. Unfortunately, they might not be that lucky with their children. Therefore, I think we should all do our best to reduce our carbon footprint, at least try to slow down the climate change process a bit, as I fear the worst that it is already too late to stop it.

I hope these photos will motivate you to think about consequences of our lifestyle, and that they will serve as memory of something we are loosing and in some cases have already lost.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

At the beginning I always wanted to go to photograph with some friends, but as most of you know, there is big difference between hiking in the mountains and aiming for some serious landscape photography. So after a while I ended up without any companions, and I had to become independent in accessing the mountains. There is always risk involved, when you go up there. Therefore I started very slowly, and as I was progressing, and gaining some confidence, I ventured to more and more remote and less accessible terrain.

The big change happen last year, when I finally ventured to the high altitudes. It opened up totally new perspectives, but also brought some new and much higher risk. Despite my decent experience, there is still very steep learning curve in front of me to be able to deal with the new environment. It is not going to be easy, but I really feel very excited about it. I am finally able to combine all of my hobbies together. I can ski, climb and photograph in the same time. The possibilities for my landscape photography have became endless.

However, there is one thing I always have to remember, the higher I get, the more I have to be prepared. It is crucial to evaluate and understand all the risks which I can encounter during these adventures. Sometimes I even have to turn back before I can reach my goal, and come home without single photograph. Believe me it can be very frustrating, but no photograph is worth an injury or even higher consequences. In these situation it is important to realize the simple fact, that I can come back some other time. For all of us photographers and adventures, I would just rephrase the famous Ed Viesturs motto, which we all should always remember “Getting the photographs is optional, come back home is mandatory”. So have fun out there and STAY SAFE!!!

Nevertheless, I went again in the beginning of March with the simple plan to stay on the south (despite the crowds but due to the short time) and try to explore different places off the ring road and with my drone. The idea did not quite work out as I was constantly failing to find anything interesting even taking detours to small roads. Ventures deeper into the inland were impossible due to seasonal roadblocks, but it must have been an element of genius loci as well causing that I actually caught myself ending up up in notorious places framing up for the known sceneries. With one difference though - out of curiosity I was counting people on the Diamond Beach near Jokulsarlon on one early morning and I ended up with over 200 bodies. Years back, I was there alone.

Things has changed in Iceland since my last trip. The infrastructure continues to be developed, the parking slots are enlarged, the fast food stands number is growing and hotel rooms count is increasing. The gravel parts of the ring road en-route between Hofn and Myvatn are now paved and there is even the tunnel (Vadlaheidargong) significantly shortening the north-west journey back to Reykjavik, which I find a good thing.

My plans are changing. After 3 days between Vik and Jokulsarlon, I decided to check the north and see if the traffic of photographers is less intense. And trust me it is. The road from Hofn is unbelievably empty and the beautiful Fosshotel near Myvatn lake has plenty of free rooms. The places here are deserted in the mornings and I’m finding everything that I could not find in the south. And more.

I realize, there is really something interesting in all those colors, light gets slightly different perspective, and it is really nice to get up early to be able to catch the rising sun in the mountains.

Unfortunately, nothing is ever easy. One day in October last year, I came back from Chamonix, after beautiful morning full of autumn colors. The memory card was half full, and I also mange to get two rolls of film with Mamiya. I put my photo backpack to the basement and we left to visit our friends for the afternoon. When we got back, the beautiful day turned into total nightmare, as somebody broke into our house while we were away. One of the many things which got stolen, was unfortunately my camera backpack, with all the gear I had with me for the morning trip.

I was very frustrated and really sad, and together with my cameras I also lost appetite for photography. Luckily time is the best doctor, and just before Christmas I was back on the horse again. For the fresh start, I got myself brand new Canon EOS R. I know there has been a lot written and said about this camera. So I will not bother you with technical details, and I am not going to analyze every single pixel. I can just say from my short experience, that it is an amazing new system, which allows me to merge my two favorite activities, photography and skiing. Compare to 5D mk II, it is lighter, more compact and significantly faster. Definitely huge improvement for me.

As downside, I have to say it is completely new system, and I had to learn everything from scratch. To my big surprise I also shortly find out that my computer is too old, and I cannot process the raw files yet:( Therefore, I am working with jpg only for the moment. I will have to do some system upgrades to be able to instal the latest version of Lightroom or canon DPP software, but as I am skiing and taking pictures every weekend, I do not have time to do it until the end of winter.

Here you can see some sample photos from my recent ski touring trips in the Alps, and maybe I will get some more serious color landscape soon too.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

But. There is also a vertical direction to get the unusual sights. For years, I was ignoring it as drones were simply too large, too heavy and not portable enough. It was not an option until some time last year when I spotted the first Mavic Pro in one of the shops and its compact size when folded striked me immediately. The size of one middle range lens (198 x 83 x 83mm). Meaning that I could now carry my main kit and only replace one lens with the drone and put the controller in my pocket. I had it with me in Baikal this Spring and I wrote some bits here and here. I wanted to do a more comprehensive review, which eventually has not happened.

And now with Mavic 2 in my hands it makes little sense to do it.

Why is that? Simply because if you think of the drone as I do, as an additional camera and as a photography tool, these two Mavic versions can’t be compared. I would be writing about fantastic technology and handling and 4k crisp videos and new (endless) options in perspectives that the first Mavic gave me, but I would also be talking about the disappointing quality of images; a major flaw for me. As a person that is used to working with high detail files from the Phase One digital back or Nikon D800, the outcome of the Mavic was just poor, even if I say that I could have expected it (and I did) from the 1/2.3’’ 12 MP chip hanging from a mini aircraft.

Hyperlapse shot with Mavic 2 Pro

So I did not intend to use it as a camera for my landscape work but instead, I was thinking about expanding into some video footage. And, as an anecdote, use it to scout locations on places like Lake Baikal, which was tremendously helpful in finding interesting ice formations and structures. And then all you need to do is to give GPS data to the driver to take you there. Imagine this! :-)

Now, with the Mavic 2 Pro, my wishes came true. They mounted a 1-inch sensor to this small flying beast. Hasselblad! Hasselblad in a compact box, Hasselblad in the air. How does this sound to all of us having used a legendary 500c or H1 with Fuji Velvia just a few years back. The most important is that the Hasselblad delivers. We now have a portable, foldable, powerful machine that takes a relatively large chip to the air and returns with great quality files.

Just for the record, I also looked at Mavic 2 Zoom but it was a no go for me. The main reason being the resolution of the Pro (20 Mpix vs 12 Mpix - is this the same chip as in the first Mavic? I honestly do not know...) and you still can ‘zoom’ by flying closer. :-) And the larger chip means better dynamic range (important for low light shots) and usually less noise. The only reason why I would be thinking about running two drones is a wider angle (24mm vs 28mm), but that is not enough. The better and the larger sensor up in the air is worth any extra dollar (yes, the Zoom is somewhat cheaper), especially if you are seeking serious photography that can be presented in print one day when it becomes fancy to have exhibitions again.

I would say this drone redefines what has been possible in aerial photography. I’m not going to praise the technology of the Mavic 2 too much here, but I’m impressed with the things it can do at the price and at the size. Most importantly, it works flawlessly when it comes to controls and the reactions of sensors. I flew it in the forest (carefully though) and the way the aircraft avoided the obstacles was just impressive. I will not be scared to have it flown by my 12-year-old son, whose only interest is the speed and height.

I took it for a test drive to Slovakia last week. Although I captured a few videos, the main purpose was to see if the quality of pictures is good enough. And it really is.

4k video shot with Mavic 2 Pro

My main observation is that when I tried the first Mavic in Baikal earlier this year, it did an excellent job shooting movies and scouting locations, but I was largely disappointed by the low quality of the images. With Mavic 2, after examining raw files, I knew I would use it for photography almost exclusively to complement my ground work. Apart from remarkable improvements of the aircraft itself (flight life grew approximately 5 min, speed, number of obstacle avoiding sensors, landing lights for night flights to name the few), the most noticeable upgrade vs the Mavic is simply the quality of still images output. The files are extremely rich in detail in an ‘average,’ lunch time light, the camera now gives you the option to adjust aperture or a fully manual set up. Very helpful in low light conditions. To process the raw files (DNG), I used photoshop raw converter, which does a decent job in expanding dynamic range and enhancing colours. Not much further processing has been performed on the sample pictures below. I have not tried Hasselblad native Phocus software - I’m downloading it as we speak.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

To conclude, with Mavic 2 Pro you get the excellent camera, performing well in low light, attached to the compact size helicopter that you can easily carry in your backpack alongside your traditional photography gear. It is the perfect drone for photographing from the air, which is exactly why I got the first Mavic but it had failed my expectations a bit. The difference between the two becomes very clear when I compare the images from both drones side by side. I will continue playing with this magic toy and report back.

Lake Baikal From The Air

As a photography traditionalist raised with a transparency film and a newbie to the video editing, I'm still studying how to process and edit clips in the software (Adobe Premiere Pro) that is perhaps the most time consuming part of a learning curve. I see now where I made mistakes and how I'll fly next time. It's very interesting though. While in the middle of the process, I created a short mix of sequences to share at this stage. It shows what I was doing and although it has a different dynamics from how I want the final movie to look like, it gives an idea:

Enjoy and tell me what you think!

One morning I made a rare exception. Since it was snowing all night, it might have been dangerous to drive on the snow-covered ice at night for a dawn shooting. My driver was brave enough to try. I felt limited in options as due to the lack of backgrounds, I always need to use structures or patterns in the ice to construct an image. On the other hand, I had all lake for myself as there seemed to be nobody at all. I had a lake all for myself, but there was nothing but 10 centimeters of snow on it.

I chose to go and check Ogoy - the island with a typical ‘dragon-like’ head. We came early. The engine stopped and I carefully walked the virgin snow. What a feeling to be alone again in a wind and coldness! The space and silence were immense. The rock was mine and I was all hers (if it is she :-)). It's been an hour till dawn when I set my camera up for the classic composition with the tip of the rock exaggerated by my wide angle Rodenstock. I thought of other options, but did not want to spoil the foreground with my footsteps. Rightly so as I figured later.

I agree the composition is rather obvious. On the other hand, the fresh snow on ice makes a scene very clean and a bit unusual from what has been photographed at this place. I was also lucky with the light - it's been breaking enjoyably slow and yielded some nice pastel tones at the end.

I made couple of exposures after a long wait as the sun was crossing through the horizon. Later on, I tried different angles and views destroying the snow all around, but this one made the best justice to the shape of the rock, which was key for the image in this situation. In the post-process I corrected the contrast via curves and added some punch (gentle enough, hopefully) to the sunrise colours with the help of luminosity masking.

Especially DJI Mavic Pro drone impressed me how well it behaved in a strong wind and that the batteries’ life was not significantly shortened due to very low temperature. By the way, this drone is a fantastic toy simply elevating a photographic pursuit to another level. I used it to scout the ice, but of course I shot some beginner footage and photos. I will write about it once I process the material.

Back to Baikal. It’s my third time here at the same time of the year. I remain amazed by its immensity and subtleness that a visitor gets in one package. Ever-present ice formations and structures remind humans that everything is subject of time that can’t be controlled. Just walking and observing is a great experience of its own.

But this time round, I need to travel much farer to avoid the crowd. The lake is just flooded with tourists, mostly from China, who are moving in droves very early morning. It was not the case last year when I was warned by the hotel receptionist that it is dangerous to drive (or better be driven by a local guide) on the ice in dark. We could go anywhere and it was no doubt we would be alone at sunrise. One year later, the request to have a packed breakfast does not surprise anyone. Each and every night, we keep seeing whole clusters of small buses for 8 riding one after another to all known spots of Lake Baikal each and every night.

Utterly disappointing.

Nevertheless, with a distance, I found a beauty and satisfaction with Baikal that differed from how I visualised it after my first visit. I'm actually glad with the results as it forced me to change my goals and be way more creative. I remember how amazed I was by the lake's simultaneous  immensity and subtleness when I saw it first time. By its enormous space and by its tiny little details. The sceneries were pretty obvious and results generally depended on quality of light, which was not spectacular. With that in mind, I went there again and you know the result.

Although I'm not done yet with processing all 'keepers', I just added a collection of photographs from Lake Baikal to our photo gallery. It now consists of 20 images from both trips and eventually it may not be as easy to say which was made when. At least I think so.

Enjoy and let me know what you think in case you think anything. :-)

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Korea is beautiful and picturesque, especially in autumn, but also highly populous and urbanized. There are more than 50 million people living on the land area that is smaller than Czechia and Slovakia together; and I always thought that my former mother country is way too densely populated with 11 million inhabitants (only). By another measure, roughly the same population as in South Korea enjoys 5 times larger land in Spain. It might have been a perception problem of the man from a small place, but what looked like a village on the map was actually pretty sizeable town, which was devastating to all my pre-visualisations. On the other hand, I could at least be sure that there is going to be a decent Korean barbecue or fish restaurant anywhere I went to. As for the infrastructure, including highways and roads, it is just perfect.

Due to limited time, I only picked a few places to go to. I started at Seoraksan National Park in hope for mountain vistas, but the weather was too ideal for any adventures off the beaten tracks and thus for any meaningful photography. The tourists enjoyed it though and I did with them.

I then moved to the seaside on the east with no particular success either.

I decided to go deeper inland for the last two days. A few hotels I checked were sold out even in November (Koreans seem to really like traveling their country) so I virtually let booking.com choose a place for me. I ended up near Chungju, the largest dam in Korea. This is where I got lucky on my last morning before returning to Seoul.

There was a gentle mist above the water, calming down the surroundings. Initially, I was shooting long exposures of this rock formation from a different angle. Soon after the clouds disappeared and the mist started to raise. The sun went up and back lit the rocks nicely. I tried few images against it, but the reflection was ugly enough due to the wind causing ripples. I packed my stuff and was on my way out when the wind suddenly ceased. I could do this picture that I perhaps like the most of the series. In the post-process, I only moved the temperature to a warmer rendition to add the mood and tonality.

South Korea is an amazing country for food and shopping tourism, but also full of cultural monuments, nice people and landscape beauties. I'm only sorry I did not have more time and a bit of more luck. Plenty of reasons to come back one day.

Three years back I got brand new Ebony SW 45 camera as birthday present form my wife and kids. It was such a nice surprise, I still remember the moment when I opened the box. This camera is beautiful piece of art on its own. Ebony wood with titanium parts looks absolutely amazing, and it is hand made in Japan with ultimate precision. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

The SW 45 version offers more movements possibilities and therefore more creativity, but I have to say that both cameras are suitable for landscape photography. It is pleasure to work with both of them, as they equally provide the main benefits of large format photography. The size of negative is the first obvious advantage, but I also appreciate the entire workflow, which slows me down and let me to focus on one particular photo at a time. With this camera I am not in rush. I do observe the landscape around me for long time before I take the camera out of my backpack. I look for special objects to place into my photograph, for interesting compositions, and when I am sure that I have all elements aline, I can start to set up the camera. 

From the moment the camera is firmly attached to a tripod, the magic part begins. I am lost in darkness, and totally isolated from all surroundings by dark cloth. The only thing I can see is the small portion of landscape I decided to capture. This isolation together with the fact that what I see on ground glass is upside down and side reverse, makes me to fully focus on what is in front of me. It helps me to eliminate small disruptive elements from the frame. I can pay attention to every little detail. After I am happy with final composition, it comes the technical part of this workflow like: focusing, setting up aperture and shutter, attaching filters and cable release, inserting film holder, closing lens, removing dark slide and finely capture the photo. 

Overall, if I am fast this whole process takes me at least 5-10 minutes, but in some cases it can take even longer. It is also not unusual that the weather conditions, or light change during the set up time, and I have to wait and wait until the conditions are perfect again. That is why no one wants come with to my trips:)

So I have exposed the negative, did some bracketing, just to be sure and I can go home. Luckily for me the process does not end here. I still have to develop the negatives and take them to darkroom to make the final photographs. (I will write more about these stages in my future posts)   Sometimes there are couple of months between these stages, which gives me the joy of rediscovering one particular again and again.  

I tis not easy workflow, but definitely very rewarding, and I can recommend it to all photographers. Recently I have also seen couple of new affordable large format cameras to come to market soon, so it can be your chance.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I have been exploring this part on many occasions and all the time I was facing the same challenge. How to create something new and interesting? The weather conditions play critical role in the appearance and mood of final image, but I am always trying to find new view, new composition, new stones, new something. 

To be locked on small place, it is quite good exercise how to improve creativity, and I am very surprised that I still have many images on my mind, which I have not been able to create yet. I have been photographing this place only in winter time, but this year I would also like to venture there during summer and fall to see if something new pops up.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I can only recommend this exercise to all of you! Go and find some small area near where you live and go there when you have time and mood for photography. Discover and rediscover this place in different weather conditions, with different cameras, lenses, films etc. You will be surprised how creative you will be in the place you know inside out. 

Have fun and let me know, how you progress and if you send me your images I will publish them here on our blog.

Here is the location on Google Maps

Last summer was especially hard on me, high pressure dominated weather was very well set up for most the time here in the Alps. As you know me these are not weather conditions for me. I really like when it rains, when it is foggy, windy and the clouds moving over the sky. I really mentally struggle with blue sky conditions, and I was probably the only hiker who was not happy, under the sunshine and blue sky☺

I was heading towards Chamonix one late summer Saturday morning, and I wanted to try new hike route close to Aiguille du Midi. I parked the car and started ascent when it was still dark. Sky was full of starts and I knew that I will not be able to make any of earlier previsualized photographs I was hoping for. So I was going through the forest when the light was slowly becoming stronger and I started to discover some interesting details, and as I was not in hurry I started to photograph them. 

It took me some time to get above the tree line. My mind was finely in peace and I was enjoying the quiet mountain landscape. Suddenly my lazy rhythm had changed dramatically as I noticed appearing rays of light over the Mont Blanc massive. Promptly I was in rush to find some nice view point, set up the camera correctly, measure the exposure, decide whether to use ND filter and capture the amazing light show. It was bit tight, but I did manage at the end, despite the fact I had not much room for error as the sun was moving quickly. 

Here is the final photograph I made that day. Totally unexpected, and I would say it is one of my favorite from last year. What I have learned from that experience? It is good to have some ideas and expectations what and how to photograph, but I should never limit my mind to one specific vision. I should have my eyes and mind always open for new things. I should be able to improvise and change plans, take another route, and most importantly expect something unexpected to happen. At the end, it is great to be just out there and it is not mandatory to bring home some new photographs from every single trip. Sometimes it is good to just observe end enjoy the nature without the pressure of beeing creativ.

At the end I did not use any filters, just measured the exposure from the dark rock massive, put it into zone 3, measured the light and put it to zone 7, and I did some bracketing to make sure i will have at least one good frame. At the end I did take in total 6 photographs, as the light was moving. I used Kodak T-Max 100 negative, developed in Kodak D-76, 1+1 dilution for 12 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. I only managed to make some contact prints yet, but I am looking forward to take this negative to darkroom in coming weeks and make 40x50 cm photograph for our living room.  

Let me know what you think, and what experience you guys have.

I guess it would be too harsh to say the place has become uninspiring as its vastness certainly remains, but it does not stand up anymore - it’s considerably muted by its white color and the Caribic-like blue sky.

What a change from last year! Designs with various ice structures and dramatic skies I experienced got so deep under my skin that they became an integral part of this trip many months ago.

And now I struggle.

I guess I struggle more with my own assumptions and visualisations rather than with the conditions themselves. I should have come empty and open, but instead, I brought only ideas that were based on what I was thinking I will see. Everything is different though and I’m in dispute with reality, unable to connect myself with my subject the way one needs to create a meaningful art.

Baikal is teaching me a grand lesson.

It does not mean at all that I don't have fun. Enjoying my new friends (@followourdreams, @jarda.zakravsky) and old buddy Stefan, listening to the drivers’ stories, admiring capabilities of their UAZ 2206, trying new photographic disciplines, testing my iPhone creativity, walking under full moon.

And maybe, after I write it off me, also the connection will finally come. Or a better weather at least. :-)

I encourage you to read the entire text - it is full of intriguing ideas and in some short fashion, it gives you an ample idea why Guy's fascinating work inspires so many people:

"The inspiration I refer to and that I feel here is not just a general desire to create, but an intense and intoxicating (at times to the point of being emotionally overwhelming) sense of vitality."

The article triggers my response as well, although no answer is right at all times. It has been changing over years or months, or even by places I went to. Nowadays, when I feel more mature and settled in life I much more appreciate a genuine experience of the process rather than illusory and relative effects of the results.

For those of us who practice photography as a hobby, no matter how serious, alongside a professional career in another field and alongside family affairs that can get pretty busy, the moments of free time to make images are greatly precious. (The reasons why I chose this life and not another are outside of the scope of this post, but I guess I will stick to it while I feel that I'm remaining true to myself at work and until my children get grown as good people...)

The mere inspiration takes off when dreaming (planning if you wish) where to go next - trip, day or morning. Continued by an untroubled ritual of being out, an act of looking, of seeing, of setting up, then waiting, triggering, downloading, sorting, post-processing, re-thinking, returning. 

Looking, seeing, setting up all over again... The repeating routine that is the most pleasing and satisfying of all routines as its elemental content never repeats. :-)

It is the whole process of creating photographs and not so much the photographs themselves that blows me away. As anything in one's existence that is different from ordinary and that goes beyond bare necessities of life, it has a beneficial effect on all vital functions and human senses. It feels as if the process creates a simulation in my brain that allows me to be someone else (?), placed in a completely different universe, in a dissimilar spell where the time is a non-present dimension. I operate out of any relation to what I do otherwise, and I'm always coming back to reality freshened and recreated.

An accidental experience out there is everything I need to function here.

In my ordinary life, I'm surrounded by a visual smog of large cities and modern office buildings; by the noise of airplanes, traffic and... yes, people. I deliberately choose places to photograph that are visually empty and noise-free. And cold, ideally, as it embraces a solitude. Mountains and forests when I'm in Czech or Slovakia. Iceland, Norway, Scotland when I can travel.

Last year in March, I went to see Baikal. I developed a severe passion for the place that calls for a return now as a part of the above process. Going there next week for my annual dose of inspiration.

Why do you photograph?

It was big surprise for me when I received email from Bergger official informing me that my photo Swallow from series Northern light in Black and White was selected to represent their Prestige Variable CB style paper, which is by coincidence my favorite paper from their selection.   

After my exhibition of Small World project, this was another very positive and motivating momet for my photography. I am now very motivated to go out and continue to work on my photo projects and also to go back to darkroom to print some of my older negatives. I guess i will have to print this one again and hang it in our living room:)

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

This time my fear was exaggerated by the fact that this project is something different from my usual landscape photography. I am aiming to express something more than usual view on landscape, I am trying to reveal hidden world of small things without any direct guidance to what to look for in the photograph. I want the viewers to see and find their own things and interpretations. To that goal I also adjusted the whole printing process and the final photographs are quite small 18x14 cm only. 

At the end I was actually quite happy, as I received a lot of positive reactions from people and other photographers. I also got a lot of good advices, which I am sure will help me with the future exhibitions. I was also happy to see that people appreciated the fact that my photographs are still printed in traditional darkroom, and I left this event full of new energy and encouragement for my future photography adventures.  

For those of you who were not able to see the real prints I just updated my Small World gallery  on our website with the electronic versions ☺.  I am ready to move forward with new projects, which have slowly evolved from Small World. Let’s see how it goes.

For those of you seriously interested to win, I offer a way to increase your chance one more time: subscribe to our newsletter here. This will represent another entry. On February 15th, I'm going to import all entries to RandomPicker (or similar) and have my lovely daughter draw 3 winners.

The prints' size is 40x30 cm, matted in thick archival matt which makes them 70x60 cm in total. They are high quality inkjet prints on amazing Crane Museo Silver Rag material that gives them an impressive velvet gloss and structure. Play the video below to see the pictures. Click here to see how they look on the wall. For logistic reasons, I will be sending them frameless.

Shipment to anywhere on the globe is included.

Let me wish you good luck!

No matter how many great spots I can visit for my annual photography trip, the wish to return to Baikal Lake keeps coming back as an unfulfilled dream. Baikal is so calm and thrilling, so empty and deep - and I don't mean its waters.

My images didn't do the place much of a justice last year. I have seen different things from what I later found on my card. I gave the photos some time to settle, but it didn't help. I guess I made a whole series of mistakes, and I'll leave it for later to assess why that was.

They were of all sorts - logistical, technical and emotional. Only now I know that I spent an unnecessary amount of time in Listvyanka. As much as I liked the spirit of the place, snowmobile driving on the snowy surface of the lake and meeting all the participants of the International Ice Marathon, I didn't find anything that would resonate with my taste for design, perhaps except for this image:

I figured later that Olkhon island excited my photographic vision much much more. I was left with 4 days there only, out of which I saw a good light twice.

Technically, I only used the widest angle lenses on both cameras. They (I, actually) captured ice structures in the foreground well, but left fragments of coasts on the background small. Very small and insignificant. And unless there were magnificent clouds, the photographs ended up empty as a robbed room. Even for my simplistic taste. The only excuse is that which of you would change lenses on the stone cold linhof body in minus 20 Celsius?

This is what I'm talking about:

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I don't use a polarizing filter on my very wide angle lenses as it makes the sky look weird. I should have used it here though. I could not process plenty of photos due to excessive sky reflection on the ice that the polarizer would deal with.

I also think that I connected too much to the lake emotionally. I missed the perspective. Detachment. And as a result, I hooked myself in small details, bits and pieces. There was no one around to share imminent impressions with, to seek critical views from. Or just to simply discuss and digest what is around that would help to achieve a higher degree of objectivity when taking pictures.

But don't get me wrong. This place is so different from everything I have experienced so far that it deserves every kind of engagement and one is actually unable to avoid it unless he / she lives there. I just feel I owe Baikal more than what I have done last year. Hence, I'm going there on March 11 for a week. To one place only:

In case of interest, I would be very happy if any of you joined me. Seriously - I can help with the logistics and everything else. Just write me an email now.

This time, if I end up making better images with my iPhone than on two serious cameras, I will donate my Linhof to a charity.