The magic of simple
Simple, subdued.
Vegetation here is very much the opposite of those: dense, crowded, chaotic and unavoidable. In such circumstances only one thing can bring some measure of simplicity to my nature photography: fog. That is why I love it so much. Ever since I started this blog I have been yearning for uncomplicated compositions, a subject and nothing else. Maybe it is this time of my life when the vibrant, fast and colorful city lost its irresistible attraction to give way to more peace and calm. Maybe…
Nature around Seoul is actually fairly young, it was mostly destroyed during the first part of the XXth century for building material as the economy picked up and, later on, during the Korean War much of what was left was wiped out. That is why you will see a difference between mountain sides that face the city and sides that don’t. Facing the city vegetation is quite thin, low and extremely dense, whereas on opposite sides you will find thicker trees that have cleared up their immediate proximity. That being said, the forest is still mostly dense and young, and that renders forest photography efforts vain more often than not. Except during foggy conditions, fog cleans up compositions by removing distractions. Since we don’t get much fog in Seoul compared to other regions, rain or snow are, for the most part, the only occasions to get out and point my lens at trees.
There is something magical about snow, it puts a muzzle over the city and cuts the mountain hiker off from its exasperatingly constant loudness. Also, I love the crunching sound of my steps in the snow, and the fresher and softer it is the better.
I don’t need to tell you where this is, it is lost in a cloud of soft snow, falling profusely from above, silent; a wonderland. You may try to imagine nearby hills and the horizon line but I recommend you don’t. The following images are a focused work on shapes, light and simplicity; no need for other visual interference, this world is not made of depth, it has only two axes.
Snowfall is still moderate at this point, and yet the shape of these pines stands out, alone, harnessed to their rock. Seeing it from this angle reminded me of high waves on the point of collapse but confronted by a strong face wind curling their top back. Nothing that violent here of course, but maybe those rocks are an extreme slow motion mineral version of those waves.
I suppose that finding one’s way out of a rock face isn’t simply an affair of growing straight out of it!
Look at how these 3 trees undulate in about the same way, almost as if they are from the same family.
What these three pictures have in common (other than tree+rock+snow) is a white background. It is a photography technique called “subject separation”, any nature photographer will use it abundantly in their work to differentiate their subject from its background. In the above picture, without fog, you would have seen the opposite ridge behind the whole scene and your eyes would have been unavoidably attracted to it, rendering the tree a mere confused object in the frame. Of course fog isn’t the only way to separate subjects from backgrounds, light and/or color contrast is another, using a fast lens to blur the background is also another way and there are many more. I will focus mostly on disappearing the background and using light contrast in this post.
Wandering in the woods you may find an old relic, hidden under the snow and a canopy of pine needles. Who knows, if you touch it you might awaken long lost magical powers in it. Step in!
The trees are trying to show you where the magical beacon is, activate it and you might reveal a portal to a new dimension.
Here it is! The window to another world!
Yes, snow makes me imagine things. But isn’t that precisely the magic of snow? Forcing your mind to conjure mythical beasts and transfer them into shapes you can’t quite identify any more. Call me Alice or cliché if you want but I am sure you would also let your soul wander between real and fantasy when both ground and sky wear the same coat.
There aren’t many straight lines in this image, it is almost as if Van Gogh painted this scene. Even the trees’ bark carry the same thickness as the paint he placed on his canvases. Also, for some reason, the chaos in this image seems to make sense, order in disorder.
These twin trees are studied in geometry classes during vertical symmetry sessions. It’s almost like the wind blows in a different direction on each of them. Clearly, when there is a will, there is a way.
I can imagine the deal between this tree and its rock: “if you shelter me from wind I will shelter you from snow… when I’ll be a tall and wide pine.”
Along the way I found another world, ordered chaos, symbiosis and finally I am now approaching the goal of this hike: simplicity. A subject, and nothing else. One look and you’ve seen it all but you may want to look again, with your inner eyes, and let yourself drift to that imaginary place you discovered while hiking in the snow. The magic of simple.
Again a great thank you for reading this far. I hope this post will have inspired you to take your camera out during a snowfall or try subject separation in your next workflow.
Also, as always follow me on instagram @romainphoto_outside (or the link at the top of this page) for more photography than I can blog about!
Feel free to leave a comment below and share my blog so that, one day maybe, I can meet you during a snowy hike!
A bientôt!