End frame: Altitude 2 by Hengki Koentjoro

Ruth Grindrod

Ruth Grindrod is a landscape photographer living in Norfolk in the UK.  I   like to  work in a variety of landscapes but favour sea and  coastal  photography.  I  believes that the end product in photography is a quality  print and this is what I  strive to produce   for My work has been published both in the UK and abroad.  

ruthgrindrodlandscapephotography.co.uk

I chose to write about this photograph quite simply because it is in my eyes completely beautiful. Sometimes as photographers we are so busy creating ‘the image’ that we forget to really appreciate the beauty of what we see as we take the image, surrounded by nature at its best, whatever the weather. Hengki Koentjoro is evidently very in-tune with his surroundings in Indonesia and the charm and atmosphere that surrounds him. As he writes about his gallery Altitude: ‘It’s one of the utmost forms of joy in life: the delight of waking up in the youngest hour of the morning, racing with the break of dawn to ascend the height of the earth.’

What I love about this particular image, Altitude 2, is the delicacy of the leaves, which contrasts against the solidity of the tree trunks as they rise up through the image while the light spreads mist-like down through the trees. This type of composition is seen often but rarely captured with such skill where the features work together to create an image which is greater than the sum of each part. It creates a sensation of warmth and air and has a gentle ephemeral feel. From a more technical point of view, I like the way this two-dimensional image creates three-dimensional space, moving the eye up and through the trees into the dawn light above. In this image, Hengki creates both movement and texture. The image draws you in and holds your attention so you look through and around the frame again and again. It’s the sort of image I would never tire of looking at in my own home or elsewhere.