Photography

PODAS - how it all (re)started

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Back in the mid eighties I bought my first camera, and I have been taking pictures ever since, off and on. Over the past couple of years though, my favorite hobby had been lain dormant for various reasons. But early this year, in May-June 2012, I went on a week long PODAS workshop.

PODAS, or Phase One Digital Artist Series, is a series of photographic workshops spearheaded by Kevin Raber. The PODAS experience is special. Over the course of a week you get to work with a state of the art medium format camera, a 645DF with the IQ160 digital back. A number of instructors will be at hand to help you out, and like Kevin they are all photographers of outstanding merit. All available lenses for the 645DF camera, Phase One and Schneider will be at hand and at your disposal. And you get to do this at some photogenic location, anywhere from New Zealand to Iceland, Namibia to USA. Everything is taken care of from you arrive at the airport and till the end of the workshop.

I decided to join the Iceland PODAS. For me it was truly inspiring, and I will post images from the Iceland PODAS in blog posts over the weeks and months to come. Stay tuned.

You can read more about the workshop on the page titled "PODAS Iceland 2012". Click on the link, or look under the "Articles" section in the site menu. 

Inner glow

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This image is one of the shots from the Iceland PODAS, taken at the Jökulsárlón. This is a lagoon created as the Breiđamerkurjökull, which is part of Vatnajökull, has advanced and retreated again. Large chunks of ice break of the glacier front and float into the lagoon and towards the narrow outlet which leads to the sea. This block of ice is fresh and clear, and  when you use a polarizer you can really bring out some amazing features and color. Hope you like it. 

Geiranger

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Geiranger is one of the popular destination for the countless cruise ships visiting the fjords of Norway. But as all forms of mass tourism it does leave a calling card. Under certain weather conditions the steep mountains lining the fjord tends to limit the air circulation, and the exhaust from the cruise ships forms a smog like haze. The haze lingering over the fjord in this image is first and foremost caused by the cruise ships anchored in the fjord.

Autumn B&W

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Another autumn impression, the colorful leaves are all gone and the gray season is upon us. This one is from the archive, and that is one of the things I enjoy with this blog - the incentive to go back and have a look at old images and work with them again, this time with a better understanding of what can be done with post processing.

Stars

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Sometimes an artifact you would do almost anything to prevent or suppress  can create a pleasing results, such as the star like effects around the specular highlights in this image. A CCD sensor is made up of a large number of pixels, each pixel a few µm large, forming a two dimensional lattice. When light hits the sensor the lattice gives rise to diffraction. So this is a sensor artifact, and not done with filters.

Covered by Leaves

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Instead of adding yet another colorful image to the deluge of colorful images of autumn leaves, I thought I would do something different. So I went for a black and white version, added a slight touch of tone and dodged the upper left part and the lower right hand corner to emphasize the leaves covering the car. Hope you like it.

Hard Rain

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After a brief taste of winter, the weather has been gray, mild and rainy again. The rain has been pelting down so hard that the spray of the rain hitting the ground bounces back a feet above the ground. I tried to illustrate this with this picture of the water pouring over the edge of a clogged up gutter.

Office buildings II

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This is an image of the buildings which are the latest additions to "Forskningsparken" complex, or Oslo Innovation Center, close to the University of Oslo.  Not the most exiting angle for to shot from, but the reflection made it a bit more interesting. The pond is in front of the new building for the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. (See post titled "Office buildings I")

Office buildings I

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This is the new building for the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. I have used a ND graduated filter to darken the sky two steps. With the camera I used, I think I could have brought some of those details back without the ND filter, but it would have required more post processing.

Looking up

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As I have mentioned, I tend to be more content with simple motifs or scenes reduced to their bare essentials. This is another example of such a scene - complementary colors; branches with and without leaves.

Vigeland Sculpture Park

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The Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo is popular with locals as well as tourists. The park is one of the cities green lungs and a popular recreation area. The sculptures are made from cast iron, bronze and granite, and the surface of the granite sculptures is amazingly smooth. A visit to the park is highly recommended.