Heime - An Update
It’s been a couple of extremely busy weeks. 2 weeks ago I got a notification saying “the books have arrived”. I was not prepared for what was to come, but most importantly; the books look AMAZING! I couldn’t have been happier about how they turned out. The paper…it just feels so incredible. I achieved the look and feel that I wanted – 100%! It looks almost film like, with muted shadows and lowered contrast. The feel is like a fine art print. Again, I couldn’t have been happier!
I had underestimated the amount of work that goes into packing and shipping. It took me almost 10 days to get all the preorders sent out. I had to put together each slipcase, sign all the books, pack the limited editions properly and then finally protect everything in bubblewrap before putting it in the book cardboard box. Such a tedious and time consuming process and the hours went by so fast! But as soon as I started getting notifications from people all over the world, people telling me how much they love the book, then its all 110% worth it all. It means the world to me to receive so many wonderful responses and there have been moments where I just had to sit down and take it all in. So, to all of you who have bought the book, I’m sending a deep and sincere thanks to all of you!
The limited edition has only 1 copy left – edit: its now sold out. But there are still lots left of the regular edition. So if you want to get your hands on my precious, you can either message me or place an order through the book page. I am shipping as soon as orders come in and the shipping time is impressive. For orders within Europe it takes roughly 2-3 days from you place an order until you have it. Outside Europe its less than a week. Strangely, the slowest shipments are within Norway, thanks to the incredibly slow Norwegian postal service.
I wish all of you a fantastic weekend and hope you have a great one.
Arild
Behind the Shot - Mist Trees
The Dolomites on the border between Italy and Austria are incredible, especially when fall colour explodes and atmosphere reaches its peak. I love this place and I have been returning every year since 2016. Each visit is different, the conditions are never the same and each time I discover new gems. But one thing that never fails is finding random compositions along the way. This is one such random find. Close to the Tre Cime area we stopped the van when we saw low clouds and mist floating around the trees on the mountain slopes. Incredible colours of red and orange on the larch trees! Perfect for a longer lens, so I ended up using a 55-200mm (300m equiv) . I took lots of shots as the mist moved around between the trees, but i really liked this one. It just seemed a bit “orderly” despite the chaos created by all those trees. Its all about the atmosphere in this one!
Fuji XT-10 – 55-200mm @f6.4 – 1/35s – iso 200
Behind the Shot - No Scale
I’m not a drone photographer. Whenever I try to fly a drone i turn into a kamikaze pilot and everyone around me runs frantically around trying to find a safe place. I can’t think of many drone shots I’ve taken that I really like. Not more than a handful really.
This one is a bit intriguing. When i look at this image it almost looks like a frozen puddle, not more than maybe a meter from edge to edge. I had forgotten i even took this image so when I saw it in my folders, years later, I immediately thought it was something I had shot on the ground. To my surprise it was taken with a drone and the dimensions where insane compared to what I imagined.
One of the frames I took had a bit of land in it. And to my surprise it showed our van parked in the frame. These ice patterns are HUGE!
See that tine van down in the corner? That gives an idea of the dimensions. I was blown away, both by the scale and the fact that i had overlooked this image for years.
Book Recommendation: Arctic by Vincent Munier
Over the last year, together with my close friend Stian Klo, I have built quite a nice collection of photo books. It has become almost an obsession and these days I find myself searching through the dark corners of the world wide web , looking for rare editions of Japanese landscape books. I have become a book junkie, constantly chasing the next fix.
So i figured I might put out some recommendations on which books are worth getting. There are so many books out there and its easy to get lost in the jungle of mediocre books. It could be worth keeping in mind that in my opinion images that look great on screen, don’t necessarily work so well in printed format. There is also so many other factors that have a huge impact on the final result when it comes to books. Most importantly i find the choice of paper to be crucial. This is where many self publishing photographers choose to save money. Because there really is a lot of money to be saved when choosing a cheaper paper. When I decided on the paper for HEIME I went for the most expensive, heaviest matt paper I could find. Compared to choosing a semi glossy thinner paper, it doubled the cost of the book. So it makes perfect sense for many to go for a less expensive paper. But it is such a wonderful experience working your way through a book printed on thick non-reflective paper. I cant get enough of it!
So why should you invest in photo books? For inspiration! Great books can provide you with fresh inspiration and make you grab your camera and get lost in nature again. I find so much joy and inspiration, and a great deal of learning elements, through books.
The book that really got me into all of this is this first one that i will recommend. Vincent Munier is a French wildlife and landscape photographer specialized in photographing harsh and challenging environments in the Arctic. Camping out for weeks and months waiting for the moments where animals and landscape becomes one, its a highly impressive accomplishment. Most of the images are high key ,colorless and captured in almost white-out conditions. The use of contrast is sublime and its so simple, yet extremely effective. A great photograph, to me, is one that leaves you with feeling something. Munier’s work leaves me impressed, speechless, wondering and daydreaming of photographing something remotely as stunning as what I’m looking at. His images of polar bears and wolves in particular are next level stuff. But also his landscape work speaks to me deeply. As a child of the arctic, living my entire life in the north being closely connected to winter, snow and ice, his way of showing the beauty in the harsh and quite “common” arctic scenery is just highly impressive. Composition is always flawless, his processing is tastefully kept to a minimum. Just quality work from start to finish.
The book itself is pure quality. The matte heavy paper is the perfect match for these images. Its like you can feel the rocks through the snow on paper. Presentation is so elegant and tasteful and i just flipped through the whole thing in awe. It also comes with a behind the scenes booklet, describing what it was like capturing these images. It makes you realize that what most consider adventuring, is nothing but a walk in the park compared to what Munier put into his work. That’s inspirational, it makes me want to push my own limits and get out there to battle the elements.
If you ever want to buy a photo book, this is the one you should start with.
Behind the Shot - Riebecohka
Some mountains have become close friends of mine. These are peaks that i have photographed numerous times over the years, climbed in every season and portrayed from almost every possible angle. Riebecohka, which means Fox Peak, is one of those peaks.
This particular morning, in early November, mist was floating through the area. I was with the best people and we were all mesmerized by the beauty. I wish i could say i had to put in some serious effort to get this shot, but no, its taken from the side of the road. It was a wonderful morning and looking at this shot takes me right back there. The scenery, the fresh air and everything else.
Over the past year i have been moving in direction where i work with less colour. When i work in color its always with quite muted tones and never with strong bold colors. Im certainly moving towards a monochrome expression lately and ive been enjoying working in mono over the last months. Curious to see where this leads me over the coming year. Time will tell.
Shot this on the Fuji GFX 50S with a 250mm. Again, its a simple composition with the tree line contrasting against the mid ridge and the mountain in the back, creating a triangle of lines and shapes and negative space above and below. The key word for a lot of my compositions is balance, and this one fits that quite well.