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Johan Lennartsson

I am an amateur photographer living in a small village named Heby close to Uppsala in central Sweden with a passion for nature and wildlife photography. I love to be out with the camera when I am not working. The images I like to make have a dramatic and painterly feeling to them so I am far from a documentary photographer. For me being out in the landscape all alone an early morning experiencing the arrival of light is very best way for me to recharge my energy for the rest of life.

johanlennartsson.se

To first search for an interesting place to visit and then try to catch the essence by photographing it really strengthens my experience of nature and gives me the drive to get out there. I very much appreciate the moments waiting for the conditions to take the image I have in my head. However, most of the time I have to return to the same location many times before I am satisfied and the image is in line with the idea I had in my head.

I really like to show the nature to people with a mood or atmosphere that most people (except photographers) do not experience. This means going there at odd times and especially during ”bad” weather conditions. Many people have said it and although I did not understand it at first, now I do: what ”normal” people call bad weather is good weather for photographers (and vice versa).

I believe I am in a process of change my photography vision. I use to strived towards grand vistas with large mountains and waterfalls (and I still like those types of places), but I am changing. I have started to appreciate smaller intimate landscapes much more. This has been inspired by YouTube/podcasts from photographers like Adam Gibbs and Alister Benn among others. Also reading articles here on On Landscape website has been really inspiring on this journey. Maybe I am following a trend, not sure where it will lead me but I like it. Time will tell.

The images in this 4x4 were all taken on 3 January 2021. I drove alone (these are covid-19 times) to a coastal area close to where I live. I wanted to make ”fine art” images with long exposures and with an ethereal look. It has been a dark year so I wanted to make dark images to reflect this. The plan was to turn the images to black and white. It was cold, windy and snowfall was blowing in from the sea - horrible weather for most but great for me! First I used exposure time to catch the textures in the waves (around 1-2 seconds), but after some experimentation and decided for longer times (20-30 seconds). I really like what the longer exposure did to the scene. I also focused on rock details in the water instead of the grand view. When I came home and opened the images on the computer I liked the monochrome colour tone so I decided to skip the black and white conversion, the images were naturally monochrome but with a colour tint. I also liked the drama in the scene which I enhanced by making the images darker, adding contrast and making them a little cooler in Lightroom.