July 2011 – Page 2 – www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

ICELAND LANDSCAPES – BY DANIEL BERGMANN

July 13, 2011 Posted in Iceland, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Reviews, Travel Photography, Uncategorized1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from my Iceland friend and photographer Daniel Bergmann that his new book ‘Iceland Landscapes’ was now finished and available for order. I was just passing my laptop on the way to bed when I saw his email but could not resist the temptation and ordered a copy then and there on the spot. I have subsequently been eagerly waiting for it to arrive; which it did yesterday and I have now had a chance to sit down, read, and absorb the wonderful photographs contained therein.

I spent a couple of weeks travelling through Iceland with Daniel Bergmann in July and August, Summer 2010 and have visited many of the locations photographed in this new book. Indeed, I feel a personal connection to some of the photographs as I was standing alongside Daniel (or, was at least in the nearby vicinity) when they were taken. As such, I have a wonderful emotional connection to the photographs that is for me at least quite visceral. Photographs of locations I have not yet visited – well; they inspire me to return to this amazing country to seek out the light and subject captured by Daniel.

Iceland Landscapes includes 110 landscape photographs from Iceland, mostly taken during the last five years. The book is in English and covers both the locations photographed along with technical information and thoughts on photography. Renowned English landscape photographer David Ward wrote the introduction and an Icelandic author, Pali Asgeir Asgeirsson, wrote the preface. The book is 144 pages long and is 24 x 28cm. It was printed in Iceland on high quality semi-gloss paper. It is self published by Daniel Bergmann. The print quality is extremely high and the colours and beautifully reproduced. This is an extremely well produced book.

Iceland Landscapes is not yet another tourist book on the amazing geological landscapes of Iceland. It is rather a successful effort to capture the essence, soul and stunning light found in Iceland. It is a book that is going to appeal to photographers and those who appreciate fine art photographs on many levels. It will serve as an inspirational guide to those wishing to travel to the remarkable country of Iceland for Photography and inspire them to visit some of its many wonders. It will also fill the cup of those who want to experience Iceland through the pages of a fine art photography book. David Ward eloquently sums up Iceland Landscapes better than I can in this excerpt from his introduction –

… More extraordinarily, the photographs reveal that Daníel can find new perspectives in subjects that are familiar to him. This requires a particular openness of mind that, as I know from my own struggle, is extremely hard to achieve. American photographer Wynn Bullock wrote, “Mysteries lie all around us, even in the most familiar things, waiting only to be perceived.” The photographer needs a desire to explore, a yearning to look in new aesthetic directions as well as to tramp all points of the compass. Only by prolonged and in-depth observation can a photographer begin to see beyond the expected and reawaken a childlike sense of wonder. In this way one might begin to see one’s homeland, as Daníel does, with the eyes of a stranger. And imagine what a gift that is…

Daníel Bergmann’s images in this book succeed as both distillations and revelations of his country’s amazing landscape. Both beauty and the sublime are evident in his photographs, and his work even manages to transcend Iceland’s amazing subject matter.

I encourage any photographer (or non photographer for that matter) who may only have even a passing interest in the amazing, varied and often primordial landscapes of Iceland to purchase a copy of Daniel’s new book ”Iceland Landscapes. The photography and print quality are wonderful and having spent time in Iceland can say with some degree of experience that Daniel has captured the soul of his countries amazing landscapes in this new work.

I already had plans in place to return to Iceland in July next year 2012 for a couple of weeks with Daniel. Now that I have read Daniel’s new book I feel totally re-ignited to get out in the amazing landscapes of Iceland.

Iceland Landscapes can be ordered online at HERE and shipping is available worldwide. I highly recommend this book.

Conclusion: **** You should own this book and consider it an important part of your photography library.

COPYRIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY – PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS

July 9, 2011 Posted in News and Updates, UncategorizedLeave a comment

There is a relatively new feature in the ever more powerful google search engine that I only became aware of earlier this morning thanks to a forum thread on the Luminous Landscape and a blog post by a fellow photographer – Graham Mitchell. This feature allows you to either upload an image to google or direct google to a link on your website with the chosen image and google will then trawl the web for all instances it finds of the photograph. This new feature allows photographers to scan the web on an image by image basis for unauthorised use of their photographs. Here is how it works:

1 – Go to http://www.google.com and click on the images link in the top left hand corner

2 – Now click the small camera icon in the search bar

3 – Upload a jpeg of one of your photographs or direct google to a link on your website where it can be found and hit search.

Google will now search the internet for all the instances it finds of this (and similar photographs). The search is not perfect or fool proof, but you may well find instances of your photographs on the internet that you had not authorised. I have found several instances after only a few minutes of searching of some of my photography being used by overseas commercial travel companies to promote travel destinations. These are instances of use without my permission or payment and are an infringement of copyright. One of the websites has even had the gall to remove my copyright logo (badly in Photoshop) and replace it with their own. Included below is the result of their photoshop work. I am refraining from linking to their website as I do not want to give them any more ‘google-fu’ power. Suffice to say that they have been contacted regarding the matter.

0443343o347zimo4m56w76 — The Stolen Photograph

Screen shot 2011-07-09 at 1.59.55 PM — Bad Photoshop Work Remove of Copyright Logo

Screen shot 2011-07-09 at 1.59.43 PM — Addition of their Logo to the Stolen Photograph

I am hopeful that google will continue to develop and refine this tool further as it is a great asset to protecting a photographers rights. Of course, its one thing to find an unauthorised use and it is quite another to have it removed or to collect damages.

DRAGON EGGS – MOERAKI BOULDERS NEW ZEALAND

July 9, 2011 Posted in Landscape Photographs, New Zealand, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized4 Comments

One of the locations I most wanted to visit during my recent trip to the South Island of New Zealand was the Moeraki Boulders. The Moeraki boulders are located on the East Coast of the South Island not far from Dunedin. The area is so named for the large and highly unusual spherical boulders which are grouped together on the beach. Wikipedia has a good explanation of how these boulders formed as well as additional information about them. The boulders themselves are only a short five minute stroll from the car-park making them a very popular tourist attraction. I was fortunate during my visit to the boulders that I had the entire location to myself at both sunrise and sunset on two occasions – one of the benefits of shooting in the dead of winter I guess.I took this photograph not long before sunset as the tide was going out on a very overcast stormy afternoon. I actually prefer sunset at the Moeraki boulders even though the sun sets behind the photographer and is lost behind mountains quite early in the afternoon. I found sunrise somewhat problematic as so many of the boulders are deep in shadow and the moment the sun rises it is hard to exclude the sun from the frame if shooting wide angle lenses. That said, I do have some photographs from sunrise that I like very much and will post over the coming days.

I used Canon’s 17mm Wide Angle TSE lens for this photograph. A higher resolution version of this photograph is available for viewing on my primary portfolio website at www.jholko.com under New Zealand.

MOAB PAPER – SOMERSET MUSEUM RAG FINE ART PAPER

July 6, 2011 Posted in Media, News and Updates, Photographs, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The good folks over at Moab have an update on their blog about one of my prints that took out a Gold award at this year’s APPA awards (Australian Professional Photography Awards). The print (in fact all four of my APPA prints) were all made on Moab Somerset Museum Rag paper; which is my absolute favourite fine art photographic paper. I have two exhibitions opening later this year 2011 at Source Photographica in Brighton and at the Wilderness Gallery at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania and both will be printed on Somerset Museum Rag paper.

There are high resolution images of my APPA award entries on my primary portfolio website at www.jholko.com

WATERFALL DRILL AT FOX GLACIER NEW ZEALAND – PHOTO OF THE MONTH

July 3, 2011 Posted in Antarctica, Arctic, Iceland, New Zealand, News and Updates, Photographs, Reviews, Scotland, South America, Travel Photography, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Some of the most enjoyable photography I have done in the South Island of New Zealand has been by small mountain helicopter. There really is no better way to see, experience and photograph the Southern Alps and glaciers than by helicopter. With the doors removed for better photography, warm clothes and cameras ready I spent just an over an hour this trip photographing the spectacular landscape. One of the goals of this trip was to try and get a photograph of the waterfall drilling down into the side of Fox Glacier. I had flown over these falls several times on previous trips, but had not been able to get the shot I wanted. My pilot from this trip was Mike from Mountain Helicopters. Mike is as good as they come and he was able to position the helicopter in the ideal position for me to lean out and take this frame with a wide angle 24mm lens on the full frame Canon 1DS MKIII. We were less than 30 metres off the deck when I took this photograph. I have flown with Mountain Helicopters several times now and can highly recommend them to anyone looking for very experienced pilots who can position a helicopter exactly where the photographer wants and then manage to tilt it to keep the rotor blades out of frame.