My last outing of 2019 was also one of the most succesful. Actually, for a long time it looked like I may not come home with anything as the light was harsh and my inspiration gone. But the whole time I put my faith in an image I actually had had in mind for months: a shot down one of the canals with the sun setting in the horizon between the buildings. So I had actually researched when the sun would set in the right place and timed my venture into Copenhagen in accordance to that. And boy, the result was exactly as I had envisioned. I love these images taken down the canal, and they ended my photography year on a high note.

Back in Gribskov for some run-of-the-mill forest photography in soggy surroundings. At least my boots held up. Not so sure about the photography as I'm starting to feel a little burned out on snow-less winter forest photography in dreary and boring light.

After a lot of forest photography, I finally pulled myself together to do something different. And what a day I had at the beach! The winds were strong, and as a result the windchill became almost unbearable. But sporting a brand new Norwegian coat (they know how to make coats) and new waterproof boots, I pulled through and was rewarded with some of my favorite images of the year so far. And of course, while waiting for sunset I couldn't help wandering into the forest behind the beach to get a treescape or two.

A long, long walk deep into Gribskov forest, during which I at one point twisted my already sore back, causing a pain so bad I thought I would never make it back home. But the pain subsided after several minutes and I was able to slowly and carefully walk the remaining 3-4 kilometers. I even managed to stop and take the image of the red gate in front of an orange and pink colored forest, one of my favorites of the day. Before that, my original target of Gribskov Lake had turned out to be a dud photography-wise, but I manged to capture other forest scenes that I was happy with.

I ventured into a different part of our big local forest to see what I could find. Nothing too spectacular, it turned out, except lots of mountain bikers who came blazing through the trees in their lycra clothes, as one of the pictures shows. Still, I was happy just to get out and see something new, if not all that different.

Just another walk around the castle and the castle lake, but what a great result from a photography perspective. The light was spectacular throughout the afternoon, and at one point, the clouds aligned perfectly in a strange whirl behind and above the castle.

A colleague of mine had told me about this wonderful spot near the town of Holte outside of Copenhagen. It was a woodland area on a tiny peninsular in a lake. I figured it was probably a nice place, but I wasn't sure it could compete with my rich local forests that I was so used to. But I was pleasantly surprised. Part of it was arriving when the golden colors of the leafs were peaking, but it truly was an unusually beautiful spot - as the pictures  hopefully reveal - and I was happy that I went.

A marathon trip into to Copenhagen, riding around on a new metro line, visiting a famous graveyard, and climbing an artificial ski resort on top of a waste-to-energy plant (I know, sounds crazy, but it's true),  with the best view of Copenhagen anywhere save a jet taking off from the airport. I had a blast and was exhausted by the end of the day, and I came home with a ton of images, some of which turned out pretty well.

One of the most common pieces of advice you come across from all the landscape photography gurus out there on the interwebs is that you should go about your photography in a slow and deliberate manner. Quality over quantity. They will tell you that if they take a couple of keepers a month, they are more than happy! Sometimes when they are out on a photo outing, they never even get their camera out of the bag because they "didn't see any compositions".

Part of me feel that they are probably right. I feel that I should be more like them - cool and composed - and every time I go outside with my camera, I tell myself to not take so many damn pictures, and that the ones I do take should be not good, but GREAT. I often stick to that promise - for about 2o minutes. Then I get excited. Being outside in nature excites me and overwhelms me, whether it's in my local forest or in the Canadian Rockies. I can't help it. I start to see compositions everywhere. I frantically point my camera in all directions to capture everything. I take the same picture five times with slightly different settings for fear of screwing it up.

It gets so bad that I can hardly even quit and go home. I may fold up my tripod, put my camera in my backpack, and start heading home... but two minutes later I unpack it all again, because I have seen a ray of sunlight on a branch that I'm sure can turn into the best image I've ever taken (it usually can't). This may repeat 5-6 times before - thirsty, starving, shoes wet, legs sore, and with 200+ new images on my SD card - I finally make it home. I guess you can call it FOMAS - Fear of Missing a Shot. I'm so afraid that all that beauty around me will go away, or that I will never get quite the same light again, or that I won't make it back to that exact spot at all. Often - especially when you go abroad or other parts of the country - it's more than just a fear or a feeling. It's very likely that you won't get another chance at that spot again - ever. The thought, to me, is devastating. So all I can do is keep shooting and keep shooting until every last leaf has been documented from every possible angle. If that will forever make me uncool and excluded from the landscape photography elite, so be it. Not that I had any hope of reaching it, anyway.

Now, you would think that the images I take while I'm still calm and composed turn out better than the images I take when I'm frantic. That would certainly teach me that I need to stay calm. But that's not the case. There is no pattern. In fact, if anything, it's the other way round. Often the images I take in a state of panic towards the end of my shoot are among the best of the day. The below shots are all examples of that.

 

A rare morning of fog made me rush out to my local forest with my camera. Usually fog disappears quickly, and I very rarely have a chance to go out and shoot fog pictures, so I was thrilled with this opportunity. As you can tell from the images, it wasn't a thick fog, but it still provided a nice soft and eerie atmosphere to the forest.

You never know when you go out for a photo shoot in the woods whether it will be succesful or just meh... Sometimes you don't even know until you download your images and start the post-processing. After this walk in Gribskov I didn't have a particularly good feeling, but it produced some of my best shots of the fall, in my own opinion. I really like the dusk shot of a forest wetland area, framed by the orange leafs. It doesn't look like any of my other forest pictures.

One of the most beautiful places in Denmark at one of the most beautiful times of year. The picture of the golden tree alley is one of my favorites of the entire year. I took a similar picture in 2018, but this time I had my 300 mm lens and a better idea of what I wanted to achieve.