According to a legend, an old man, named Bård, lived in Haramsneset, at the westcoast of Norway. He had his own «stonechurch», made of the power of waves and the tide. At low tide he went into his church and played his violin. At festive seasons like the easter holidays he entered a corridor at the left hand side which was even more beautiful as the rest of the «church». Now it was my turn to enter the “Church of Bård”.
Photo by Ola Einang
It was really amazing and a kind of meditation! The ground was filled with round stones. The walls all formed in nice organic shapes, reflecting some light coming through the top and from the «windows» on the seaside. At very low tide it is possible to have a look into the leftside corridor and I can imagine why Bård loved this place so much.
To photograph in this dark «stonechurch» with sunlight coming through the «windows» in front is a great experience, yet quite challenging. Here are some of my pictures from this location. I definitely need to come back for more photographing and meditation.
The year is not old yet, however I am already in the middle of a lot of photo activities and planning for new ones. Let me tell you a bit.
After the end of januar basic-workshop I am now preparing for the advanced workshop at 11th of february. In this workshop we will focus on creative photographing, starting with reflecting about what it means to be creative for a photographer. Key aspects of creativity are strongly connected to the mindset of a photographer creating photographs. How can I use my camera (not photoshop) to create artistic images? We will teach and learn some techniques I am using frequently. There will be ICM (intentional camera movement) and multiple exposores in camera. I hope every single participant will go home with at least one picture to hang on the wall. High ambitious? Yes, but it is possible. There are still some places in this workshop, 11.02. in Volda. Take contact at antje.meier@volda.frisurf.no if you would like to join.
Coastal impression
For those who cannot travel to Volda there will be an online workshop with almost similiar content. I am really excited that I am now able to work with photographs from all over Norway and maybe abroad. Digital tools like Zoom which we learned to use in the Corona years, are useful! There will be a lection in evening the 02.03. and one evening lection at 16.03.. In between participants will get some tasks. They will be working with exercises using the techniques they learned the first evening. At the second evening every participant is invited to share some pictures and we will have a constructive talk about the pictures. If you wish to join us for this online course, please contact me (see the adress above).
In the beginning of march, I will work together with the artist Maria from Argentina again. Have you seen my pictures from our last project, Emotional Weather States? Now the concept will be connected to the melting of snow and climate changes (more details later). For some weeks now I am doing a paper experiment, exposing prints to the weather, rain, snow, melting snow, vind etc. I wish to find out which paper is reacting to which weather conditions. This will be a part of the project. Curious? Me too. Her two examples from the paper experiment.
I hope I will be able to present the results of this project before april.
In march I will be one of seven participants for the Pecha Kucha performance at the Norsk Naturfotofestival in Ski (Norway). It is the first time I will do such a presentation of 20 pictures, each for 20 seconds. An exciting concept! To meet many talented photographers at this festival will be amazing. I know many photographers (or mostly their pictures) from social media. but it is not the same as to meet in real. Really looking forward to this event! And maybe we will meet there or at one of my workshops?
Happy Holidays to all my friends and followers here, whereever you are and however you celebrate this holiday season!
My photo-year has been filled with travelling both south to Africa and north in Norway. I was lucky to be invited of some photo clubs to show my pictures and tell my stories, especially from my cave photograhy in Norway. Always very interesting and inspiring to connect to people in photo-clubs!
Also workshops has been an important part of my photograhy activities, both for own learning and development, and for learning away to other photographers. A lot of fun and nice to meet old and connect to new enthusiastic photographers!
Thank you for following me here on my website and hope to “see” you here or in real again in the next year!
Hope everyone have a good Advent time! Only some days left before Christmas Eve and some more days before the new year starts. Time to make new plans. As my workshops are mostly for norwegian photographers, I will continue this bloggpost in the Norwegian language.
Vinter i Volda
I neste år har jeg planlagt flere workshop av ulike typer og også en fotoreise. Det er noe som er nytt og noe som er gjennomført før, med gode tilbakemeldinger fra deltakerne.
Om kreativ kurset: “Inspirerende og lærerikt” (Hilde), “Godt faglig innhold, lærte mye om teknikker, gode tips. Kurset passet til alle nivå” (Elisabeth)
I slutten av januar kan en lære grunnleggende kamerateknikk i et dagskurs i Volda (1200 NOK). Viktig å vite om sammenhenger mellom Iso, lukkertid og blender hvis en skal utvikle seg som fotograf. Les mer om kurset her.
I februar kan en fortsette med en kursdag om kreative teknikker i kamera (1400 NOK). Dette kurset gir både innblikk i teknikker rundt kamerabevegelser og med flere eksponeringer. Det blir gitt mange praktiske øvelser med individuell veiledning. Se en beskrivelse her.
Kveldslys over Arlanda flyplass
For dem som ikke bor i nærheten av Volda kan mitt nye tilbud, et online kurs om kreativ fotografering med kamerabevegelse (900 NOK) være passende. Det går over to kvelder i starten av mars, med praktiske fotooppgaver mellom kurskveldene. Mer om kurset her.
Etter noen forespørsel tilbyr jeg nå også en fotoreise, i starten av november. Reisen går til “min” øy, Norderney i Nordtyskland. Jeg er kjent med denne spennende øya i nordsjøen siden jeg var barn, har levd en stund på øya og kjenner mange kriker og kroker. Fantastiske fotomuligheter for landskapsfotografering med strand, dyner og vadehavet. Kurset vil inkludere vanlig fotografering og kreativ fotografering, og også personfotografering i et stort maritimt landskap (se noen eksempel her). Selv i november når det ofte er mørkt og regnfull i Norge, kan det være spennende lys, mye vær og fortsatt bademuligheter for de tøffe. Det kommer mer informasjon om denne reisen snart. Skriv gjerne en melding til antje.meier@volda.frisurf.no om du er interessert i denne reisen.
Norderney
Ta gjerne kontakt om du lurer på noe, enten det gjelder utstyr eller om nivået på kursene passer deg.
Og sist, men ikke minst, er det snart jul og jeg har lyst å takke for all støtte gjennom året med en liten julegave. Det er 20% på alle kurs ved påmelding før 24.12.22. Kanskje det kan bli en gave til en fotointeressert venn eller deg selv?
In Landscape Photography it is common to use wide angle lenses, take the wider perspective to cover the whole scene. When I study my pictures I can feel “great, but something interesting is missing”. What is missing? I think, when looking at a landscape, my eyes focus on details, some elements that my eyes caught. The camera pointed at a great scene cannot focus on these details if we don’t help to do so.
On my weekend daytrip to a mountain close by I tried to help my camera to “see” some details that my eyes catched. All of sudden, I saw a nice composition and a little detail that could be included in the composition.
When first starting to focus on such details, more and more interesting motives and views appeared. Some more examples here.
When strolling around in nature, for me the secret of seeing details is about observing with all my senses. This is not only a good photography experience, but a kind of mindful way of being on a photography tour, and being myself.
One of my photographs from an icecave in Spitsbergen has
been chosen for the Travel exhibition of the Black Wall Gallery in Athen from
23.9 until 5.10.22. Unfortunately, I could not visit the exhibition by myself.
Luckily, the manager of the gallery sent some pictures from the opening of the
exhibition.
About 100 photographer from all over the world presented
their work. They showed places they visited, viewed with their own eyes and
lenses.
My picture shows a detail from my visit to the Longyear glacier icecave.
As there is either very low light or not light at all in a
cave, photographing is quite challenging. In my cave photography I am using lightpainting
with long exposure, no flashlight. In this way the process is creative and each
image is unique.
Right now, I am preparing a photo talk for my local photo
club and I am wondering what all the talented photographers there would like to
know.
Recently I photographed old analogue negatives and had to invert them. Despite knowing how the colours, light and shadow will change I was amazed! Then, I tried to do the opposite. I used digital pictures (positives) and inverted them to negatives. WOW, what an effect!
I continued to explore the world in this different way, an exciting journey!
A sculpture
and it’s invert
Some kind of pictures got a really nice «opposite», while other
kind of pictures just did not work for this technique.
Here are some more examples:
Thank you for reading and feel welcome to comment.
The whole area beneath the Rana region seems to be like a
cheese with bil holes, the cave systems with a network of passages. They are shaped
by water and ice through thousand of years .
Actually, only a few caves are possible for visitors to walk
inside. The Grønligrotta is one of them. At this time it is measured to about 4200
meters, but there are still pathways that are not explored. We could walk
through only a little part of that cave system.
How amazing! When lightening up the darkness there appears
wonder after wonder: Rocks with special limestone formations, beautiful patterns,
colours, potholes, stalactics, an underground river and waterfalls. Just listen
to the water running in this closed rom of rocks! Nothing disappeares and one
hear every little dripping.
Lately I experiences the very special natural marble formation in the Rana region. This region is rich of limestone and marble. When standing close to the strong river I could imagine how the water gradually could wash out the softer limestone and shaped the hard marble. A lot of amazing forms and potholes are «created» by water.
On this day we had lovely sunny weather. Actually, not so lovely for a photographer who didn’t wish to focus on light and shadow only this day. Maybe I need to go back on a cloudy day.
Enjoy my pictures and be welcome to give a feedback if you like.
Beside the strange sculptural forms there are also lot of caves in this region. In my next post I will show some pictures from the Grønligrotte.
