A male capercaillie, caught while nibbling _pine needles, stands on a tapestry made of white snow, hoarfrost and milky sky. As always, click on the thumbnail to enlarge. In this case, even more so. At last the snow settled on central Sweden also - and it couldn’t be otherwise - although still not in a "Scandinavian" amount. Enough to justify going out in the woods; not enough to get views of them in line with the "winter wonderland" effect of stylization and simplification that snowy landscapes usually provide (and I usually expect). With such a low level of the blanket, brush and branches of the undergrowth remain in sight to mess with the purity of the whole. Therefore I thought to go with the good old motion blur, in order to dilute the "impurities" while maintaining clearly visible the side of the trees crusted with snow (I've been waiting for it a long time), which in any case would not show any detail. Blades of sunset enriched an already fascinating scenario. When you have to do with photos so alike, it’s dificult to tell which one is better, which deserves the title of "nice picture"; here, more likely, none of the three, but that is what I could get in this December so far.
And talking about similarities, the most careful of you will find some between the second picture here and the motion blur one in this post: when the elements in a picture are few, similar and simple (the trunks, in our case), the rules of a balanced composition can lead to photographs which look actually pretty the same. The other parameters involved (light, colours) make the difference, in these cases. Photography is like music (and I’ll like to return on this topic): the involved parameters are finite in number, but their combinations are endless. By the way: Happy Holidays to everybody. Or better: God Jul och Gott Nytt År! Roe deer is widespread in the forest areas; the graceful animals come to the villages at night, especially in winter, and therefore they are a quite familiar presence. Nevertheless, it is not common to spot them: in general you must be pleased to find their footprints left in the snowy gardens. People here make hay and specific feed (sold in the town) available to help them overcoming the coldest times, but I'm beginning to think that it doesn't only depend on the generosity and love for animals typical of Swedes, but also on the attempt to protect those who, in a few months, will become desired game animals. As much as it may seem strange, especially to a vegetarian like me, here the two things go hand in hand.
|
All site contents are: © Vitantonio Dell'Orto, all rights reserved worldwide. The Chronicles of Särna, and other stories from the North.
I live in Sweden, in Särna (Dalarna). The Chronicles are a photo diary about the nature (but not just) here around and from all the Scandinavian areas where my photo job takes me.
My book: "My Sweden - Tales from an Italian photographer in the North" is available in the bookstores and by the publisher.
Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|