ISSUE # 11 * FEBRUARY 2014
www.northernlandscape.org
NORTHERN LANDSCAPE
HAVING COFFEE LARRY LINGARD/DAVIS THIS IS (HI)STORY! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN REDBUBBLE MEMBERS MEET? MONTHLY CHALLENGES
PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIAL #11 - HOW TO TAKE PHONE CAMERA PICTURES?
NORTHERN WINDS: GAZPROM: THE REALITY CHECK
COVER
The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk cliffs that form part of the South Downs in East Sussex, between the towns of Seaford and Eastbourne in southern England. UK ….Not to be confused with the chalk cliffs at Dover. This shot was taken looking west allong from the Tea Rooms viewing platform. Click on image to enlarge.* taken with a panasonic Lumix G2 using a 14 – 42mm Four Thirds Lens with a touch of HDR ,,( x3 images in Dynamic PhotoHDR.)
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FROM THE EDITOR Hello dear reader! I am not going to make a very long speech this time... After the big step taken last month of making some radical changes, I cannot avoid making a balance of the changes I introduced in the community. The balance couldn’t be more positive. As my time decreases more and more due to professional reasons, these changes were absolutely necessary to ensure the survival and success of the magazine. We are still a bit far away from that goal, but right now I can say that I see things evolving very positively in what matters to start sending printed copies to challenge winners. I guess that it pays off to cut off with some habits, especially if they are bad ones – which was the case. I really hope you still keep on enjoying the magazine, at the very least the same way as I do and that this loving relationship keeps on growing stronger.
Editor Chief João Figueiredo
Test readers Charles Kosina, Alyson Kosina
Graphic Artist João Figueiredo
Tutorial by João Figueiredo
Web site www.northernlandscape.org
E-mail contact info@northernlandscape.org
Featured artists in this issue Larry Lingard/Davis
My dear community members, enjoy the 11th number of the renewed Northern Landscape Magazine! Your host João Figueiredo
Northern Landscape Magazine • 3
INDEX 02 About the cover 03 From the editor & technical data 06 Northern winds - Gazprom: The reality check 12 Theme Challenge January water 22 NLM photo tutorial #11 - Tips: How to Take Camera Phone Pictures 30 Featured Work Challenge January 40 This is (hi)story! - Have you ever wondered what happens when Redbubble members meet?
50 The BIG Challenge ~ January 59 Having coffee with Larry Lingard/Davis + his Featured works 80 Northern Landscape: Some facts 85 Back cover artist 86 Back cover 4 • Northern Landscape Magazine
THIS AMAZING MAGAZINE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Northern Landscape Magazine • 5
Norden winds
Gazprom: The reality check Gazprom is a giant gas company that has powerful friends and at the same time is often used by the Russian government as a blackmail weapon to achieve political and economic conquests mainly in Europe. The economist made a very good analysis of how Gazprom is in the present and why it is like a giant falling down...
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T
he world’s largest natural-gas producer, founded from the old Soviet gas ministry, used to enjoy sky-high gas prices for years. The gas flowed along pipelines into Europe – it’s hostage. Needless to say, the profits were huge which encouraged Gazprom to project a 1.9 billion USD headquarters. Whatever problems it encountered, they could be solved with money. Yes, those were the days... those days are now long gone and a new reality is opening to Gazprom’s eyes. Its ageing gas fields are in clear decline. America’s shale gas boom is more plentiful on the world market and changed the world’s energetic map. Gazprom’s European customers are now realising that they have other choices which provokes a fall on the prices it can charge. Many years of easy money have made Gazprom fat and slow like an empire who stretched it’s borders beyond it’s capacity of
existing. Back home dominates the domestic market with about 75% of Russia’s gas which pretty much makes of them the only player in the game deciding prices and production. It also enjoys a monopoly over exports of gas in the whole Russia. Gazprom serves two masters. As a firm that issues shares to outside investors, it should in theory strive to maximise profits in the long run. But since it is majority-owned by the Russian state, it pursues political goals, too. Recent happenings in Ukraine are the most clear and recent evidence of that – if Ukraine were to sign the EU cooperation contract, Russia would order Gazprom to raise the gas prices as the Russian energy minister said “It can be a very cold winter”. As President Vladimir Putin consolidated his power in the early 2000s, he built Gazprom into a main instrument of Russia’s new state capitalism. He appointed allies to top positions. He used Gazprom as a tool of foreign policy, for example by cutting off gas
Gazprom delivers gas to 25 European countries, the only major exceptions being Spain and Portugal who get their gas from Northern Africa. Image from Wikipedia.
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supplies to Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova during political rows. Gazprom’s deep pockets have helped Mr Putin at home, as well. Oddly for an energy company, it has bought television stations and newspapers, all of which are now friendly to the Kremlin. With friends in high places, Gazprom has enjoyed low taxes and privileged access to gas fields. But its costs are startlingly high. It treats its executives generously: a 2008 tender, for example, included a solarium and a special bath for horses. The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a thinktank, reckons that although Gazprom posted nominal profits of $46 billion in 2011, it lost $40 billion to corruption and inefficiency. Some projects favoured by Mr Putin are of questionable economic value, for instance, he is dead set on building a $21-billion South Stream pipeline between southern Russia and Austria via eastern Europe. This project has political appeal because it would bypass troublesome Ukraine as the main transit route for gas to Europe. But given weak prices and demand, it can be. The opening in 2011 of Nord Stream, an offshore pipeline to Germany, was a diplomatic coup for Mr Putin, but it is still running far below capacity. These days, Gazprom is finding itself in an unfamiliar situation: it has more problems and less money with which to drown them. On March 4th its shares hit a four-year low. Investors reckon Gazprom is worth only a third as much as it was in 2008. By one broker’s calculation its market capitalisation of $110 billion is barely half the value of its assets. The central battleground for Gazprom is Europe, its traditional stronghold and the source of 40% of its revenues. Gazprom is fighting to preserve its old pricing system, whereby big European customers sign longterm contracts linked to the price of oil. But those customers now have the option of buying liquefied natural gas from other parts of the world.
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Gas on the spot market is often much cheaper than Russian gas delivered under long-term contracts. Norway’s Statoil, a nimbler state-controlled energy firm, has cut its prices and grabbed market share. Gazprom has slowly and reluctantly offered price cuts too, which it expects will cost it $4.7 billion this year. Citi, a bank, calculates that every drop in European gas prices of $1 per million British thermal units reduces Gazprom’s profit by $4 billion. Gazprom’s managers act as if this is a temporary inconvenience. They insist that the old system of oil indexation is here to stay, ignoring the latest developments in the gas and oil world. Because so many of its customers are tied to contracts, the full effects of the global gas glut on Gazprom’s bottom line will not be felt straight away. But it is already cramping investment. Last August Gazprom and its partners, France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil, decided to freeze a colossal offshore project in the Barents Sea, which was intended to produce gas destined for export to America. The final threat to Gazprom’s old way of doing business is legal. An antitrust probe launched by the European Commission alleges that Gazprom is using its dominant position in central and eastern Europe to restrict competition and hike prices. If it loses the case, it could face a fine of up to $14 billion and lose the mighty lever of being able to charge some European countries more than others. An adverse ruling might also threaten its strategy of trying to dominate the European gas market by owning both the supplies and the means of distributing them. Gazprom has quietly bought gas pipelines and storage facilities. It has tried to strike deals whereby it lends money to impoverished European utilities in order to secure their custom. If this strategy stops working, Gazprom will no longer be such a potent foreign-policy tool for the Kremlin. Gazprom’s future may involve more robust competition even at home. Two domestic rivals have emerged: Novatek, a gas
producer part owned by Gennady Timchenko, an old acquaintance of Mr Putin’s, and Rosneft, a state-owned oil firm led by Mr Putin’s trusted adviser, Igor Sechin. Put together, non-Gazprom firms now account for a quarter of all Russian gas production. The rise of Novatek and Rosneft do not suggest that the Kremlin set out to create competition but rather that it decided not to block it, as it might have earlier. A precaution against things that might happen perhaps? Novatek, which is developing a vast gasfield in the Yamal peninsula with France’s Total, wants the Kremlin to revoke Gazprom’s export monopoly. No decision has been made yet, but the Kremlin could decide to loosen the monopoly by liberalising gas exports while keeping Gazprom as the only exporter of piped gas. The overall message is clear: Gazprom cannot count on its gilded position lasting forever. Besides USA’s boom on shale gas, some EU countries are keen to start fracking on their own territory. Exploratory drilling proceeds apace in eastern Europe, though fracking is still banned in France, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. At the same time, Gazprom’s gas fields are running down. The International Energy Agency, a rich-world energy club, reckons Russia’s gas producers must spend $730 billion by 2035 merely to replace most of their current production of 655 billion cubic metres a year. Could be an easily problem sorted out but Gazprom’s 35 trillion cubic metres of reserves are in places such as the Yamal Peninsula, the Far East and Eastern Siberia – with very bad accessibility and logistics. Gazprom will have to pay much more to explore this gas.
The big and slow giant Gazprom has been very sloppy and lazy in it’s mission: despite pumping a sixth of the world’s gas, it has just a 20th of the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) trade. A planned $7 billion LNG facility in Vladivostok will help, but Gazprom will need to invest billions to ramp up production. The other way to get gas to Asia would be via pipeline. The obvious destination is China, which sits on Russia’s doorstep and is potentially the world’s biggest market for gas. The two countries have argued about budget and prices unsuccessfully for a decade. Finally in February they revealed they had agreed to everything related to pipeline exports apart from the price. China has signed up to import gas from Central Asia, Australia, the Middle East and west Africa; almost everywhere, in fact, except Russia. Creating a more nimble, commercially minded Gazprom would require massive political will. The firm has traders around the world who could take advantage if Gazprom started producing lots of LNG. It has builtin advantages, like access to once-frozen Arctic routes for shipping LNG. It might even try to woo more investment from the world’s big oil firms, though they may prefer to invest in easier countries than Russia where politics and money have a special relationship. Gazprom still has many advantages, from vast gas reserves to gas-hungry neighbours. But it has exploited them so ineptly that it might be precisely that that will be Gazprom’s cause of death. For now, only Mr Putin can change that. If he waits, soon neither he nor Gazprom will have much more to do about it.
Meanwhile Gazprom is also losing its technological edge. Some insiders predict that the company will be able to sell gas at high prices to Europe for long enough to raise the necessary cash to invest in developing new gas fields. If the firm were better run, it would have found ways to move more gas to Asia, where prices are much higher than in Europe.
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BASED ON AN ARTICLE FROM
RUSS THE ECONOMIST ON-LINE
WISH TO DEBATE SOMETHING?
MAKE YOU 10 • Northern Landscape Magazine
SIA’S WOUNDED GIANT
INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG
UR SUGGESTION TO: Northern Landscape Magazine • 11
Theme Challen January water 12 • Northern Landscape Magazine
nge y
23 ENTRIES 32 VOTES 1 WINNER 4 DAYS FOR VOTING
Northern Landscape Magazine • 13
GROTFJORD BY PIPPA CARVELL WITH 5 VOTES
Challenge winner 14 • Northern Landscape Magazine
e
Pippa Carvell I am a professional photographer based in Swansea, south Wales. I have experience of corporate, events, weddings, portraiture and a LOT of travel. I have photographed weddings both in the UK and overseas and am a member of the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA.) For information on wedding photography, please see: www.pippacarvellphotography.com I like to travel to far flung places to see as much of the world as I can. I also work in higher education marketing and have recently completed my Ph.D in journalism and cultural studies. I’m particularly interested in landscape photography, wildlife, macro, people, occasions and candid street photography. My shots are purely a reflection of what I see and how it is captured, which is what I love about photography. I use Canon 5D Mark IIIs
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A PLACE TO REFLECT BY KAT SIMMONS
MEDICINE LAKE BY RON FINKEL
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MADE OF MIST BY REBECCA TUN
DUSK SHORELINE NEAR MOVILLE, DONEGAL (RECTANGULAR) BY GEORGE ROW
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THE RIVER LEVEN BY KERNUAK
KYNANCE COVE, CORNWALL BY LUDWIG WAGNER
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PATRICIA LAKE AND PYRAMID MOUNTAIN, JASPER BY CHARLES KOSINA
THE LAST ICE ON WONDER LAKE BY GRAEME HYDE
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THE CRYSTAL CLEAR WATERS OF LAC BOISVERT BY GERDA GRICE
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NLM PHOTO T
TIPS: HOW TO TAKE CAMERA PHONE PICTURES
Many photographers (me included) think of taking shots with mobile phones with a certain disgust. But the fact is, smart phones came to stay, they have cameras with increasing and better technology and that’s a fact. 22 • Northern Landscape Magazine
So... what to do?
TUTORIAL #11
COVER SHOTS FROM STOCK.XCHNG Northern Landscape Magazine •
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T
The twentieth first century is here. We still don’t go to work on our space ships like we thought we would do in the 70’s and in the 80’s, but still we have had some major technology leaps ever since. Not extraneous to us, photographers, smartphones have arrived with their photographic cameras. While many of you think that there is no reason to be worried about because there is no way smartphone cameras reach the quality and settings capability that traditional cameras have, I would say that or you have been sleeping in the past 30 years and did not see how technology has evolved and what way it is taking or you are stuck to your limited iPhone technology that decides everything for you and has lower quality then other products. Sorry, I know... this was harsh but it was the truth! For those who use Android – not those very cheap Android phones – or even other smartphones, know that my last paragraph is truthful. If you have a telephone like mine you can not only control many of the usual settings present at traditional cameras but as well already take a step ahead and produce HDR or panoramas in not more then 2 clicks. I am not even going to get started on the number of Mp a smartphone camera can have because it just doesn’t stop increasing, just like digital cameras did in the past 14 years. I still remember my very first digital camera that had 3Mp and what people used to say about digital cameras when they showed up. The truth, the painful truth is that in the future cameras will disappear. The advantages of a smartphone are countless... Among them there is the more increasing power computer of a smartphone, the reduced size and weight, the possibility to skip Photoshop edition in order to do panoramas or HDR or applying filters, internet connection, etc. Do you think I am wrong? If this wouldn’t be truth then Adobe would not lose any time at all developing apps to smartphones, among them, Adobe Photoshop Express which is still in it’s primary stage... News feed for the most distracted ones: Samsung is
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planing to release the new Galaxy S5 with RAW support and even Nokia has already two phones on the market that support RAW: Lumia 1520 and 1020. Convinced? The future is here and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it except to adapt and conquer or be extinct! I chose to adapt.
OK, I’M CONVINCED! HOW DO I SHOOT WITH A SMARTPHONE? Sure smartphones still have a lot to evolute to decree cameras death, more specifically in areas like lenses and lightning but they are on their way – that is a fact! I searched online for some tips of how to shoot better with your smartphones and I gathered 12 important ones. You can try them at home, on holidays or on the street. Enjoy!
1 -
Master the technique of panning. With it you can create some very amazing images. Hold the phone with both hands in order to achieve for steadiness and frame the subject on the LCD. If the subject is moving, like a car or a train, move the phone at the same speed as the subject, thus freezing the subject while the background is blurred through motion.
2-
Like I said before, technology is not perfect yet. Many phones still have shutter lag and therefore you need to get to know your phone’s camera so you learn how to anticipate it. This way, if something interesting happens, you’ll have a good sense for the point when you need to press the shutter release to capture the most interesting moments. Try this in various situations, like for instance in low and high key.
3-
Use some basic composition rules. Simple tips like this can bring a whole new
life to your photos taken with your phone. A great example of this is to put horizons in the right place. Sometimes, putting the horizon down low to emphasize a dramatic sky is preferable.
4-
Using a black or dark background will make bright subjects stand out because they tend to absorb any light hitting it. As a result, no shadows or reflections appear in the picture.
5-
The better you illuminate your subject, the clearer your image will be. If you’re turning on lights in a room to add extra light to your shot be aware that artificial light impacts the color cast in your shots and you will have to change the white balance to fix it, just like in a traditional camera. The best phones come with a built in flash or light. This is clearly an advantage because in most cases it can really lift a shot and add clarity to it, even if you’re shooting outside If your phone doesn’t have a flash or light, you’ll end up with subjects that are silhouetted which can be both a problem and an advantage, depending on the wished result.
6 -
Avoid that your subject ends up being a tiny object in the distance. Camera phone images can be quite small due to low resolution (a standard that is changing more and more), so fill up your screen with your subject to save having to zoom in on the subject in post editing, which will decrease quality even more.
7 -
Shoot and save the original. You can always make it black and white on your computer or later on in a phone app, but you can’t make it color if you take it in Black and White mode. Therefore, take a shot and leave the original alone so it works like a
source. The same applies to any other filter from any other app that you might love.
8-
Like I previously said, technology is not quite there yet. Therefore, try as much as you can to avoid using the zoom feature of your phone. Smartphones usually have a non-natural zoom because they don’t have complexes lenses and therefore they have a digital zoom made with software. In orther words, when you zoom you will not be seeing the real image but something semi-real, “invented” by your phone’s processor. Long story made short, the shot will end up pixelated... If you do have a smartphone lens that allows you to do zoom like ion a traditional camera lens, then it is another story...
9 -
Use and try different white balance modes. Nothing that you aren’t already familiar with...
10 -
Long gone are the times when a mobile phone should be as small and discreet as possible so that they could fit in any pocket. Nowadays mobile phones are big so that you can for instance use internet or see photos, videos, etc. Therefore don’t be scared to invest some cash in a very good smartphone cover that protects your smartphone lens from scratches or dirt, even if you keep your phone in the same pocket as the house keys or the shorts on the beach. This is a tough challenge but it a clean and undamaged lens will give you a lot better results then a dirty and damaged one, just like in a traditional camera. A cleaning set and some cleaning routines harm neither...
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11 -
If you have a decent smartphone, then you will be allowed to choose what resolution you want to take photos at. This might sound like a “beginner’s thing”, but I know that shooting with a smartphone is still another universe and people tend way too much to shoot in the default settings. So, make sure that you set your smartphone camera to shoot with the highest resolution as possible. This little trick will improve your shots in so many different ways...
26 • Northern Landscape Magazine
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AUTUMN IN SWEDISH WOODLANDS BY JOﾃグ FIGUEIREDO TAKEN WITH A SAMSUNG GALAXY S3
WANT TO SEND US YOUR TUTORIAL? 28 窶｢ Northern Landscape Magazine
SEN
ND IT TO
Northern Landscape Magazine • 29 INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG
Feature Work Challen January 30 • Northern Landscape Magazine
ed
nge y
29 ENTRIES 39 VOTES 1 WINNER 5 DAYS FOR VOTING
Northern Landscape Magazine • 31
PORTLAND BILL BY MARIAN UBRANKOVIC WITH 5 VOTES
Challenge winner 32 • Northern Landscape Magazine
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Marian Ubrankovic Thank You for visiting and welcome to my gallery! I am based in the heart of the Great Britain. My photographic path began in 2007 when I purchased my first Nikon DSLR. Within a short time a casual hobby became an all consuming passion and every spare minute spent thinking about exploring and capturing “The Glamour of Landscape”, and preserve it for eternity. Landscape Photography requires a big planning to be in the right place at the right time. It’s easy to look at an image and think “If I was stood there at that time with the camera pointed in that direction….” but of course being in the right place requires a lot of dedication. For every successful trip there is an unsuccessful one, and dragging yourself out of bed at 4 am for a summer sunrise is no mean feat! My portfolio represents many hours outdoors chasing fleeting moments and forcing myself uphill. However, when everything comes together there is nothing I love more. My camera equipment includes Nikon Full Frame DSLR body, Carl Zeiss manual focus wide-angle lens, Vanguard pro tripod & head, Lee filters, Lowepro camera bag and a pair of eyes. Please take your time to enjoy all my images!
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PORTPATRICK STORM BY DEREKBEATTIE
HAPPY NEW YEAR! BY RODDY ATKINSON
34 • Northern Landscape Magazine
WASTWATER BY VOLUNTARYRANGER
DOWNHILL BEACH BY STEPHEN MAXWELL
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THINKING ABOUT SUMMER BY JCHANDERS
REFLECTIONS OF LOCHGOILHEAD SCOTLAND BY LYNN BOLT
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AT THE END OF THE DAY BY BODIL KRISTINE FAGERTHUN
CORNERBROOK, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA BY NANCY RICHARD
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SNOW COVERED TREE HOUSE BY ANNDIXON
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This is (hi
LORRAINE A.K.A POETE100 AND YANNIK HAY TELL US ABOUT A REDBUBBLE MEETING THEY HAD IN CANADA. HOLD ON TIGHT! 40 • Northern Landscape Magazine
i)story!
Have you ever wondered what happens when Redbubble members meet?
Northern Landscape Magazine • 41
O
Our Bubble meets first started with John44 and wife, our Dutch member visiting Quebec twice a year to see his daughter, son in law and grand daughters. Every Christmas time or New Year time, John and wife come to visit his family and of course, take some pictures in the region. He just loves wolves. So there is a beautiful park called Omega Park, where wildlife of all sorts roam freely in enclosed pastures. We visit in our cars. And there is that wolf section, Arctic wolves and Timber wolves section where we all meet. So we meet in the morning and then we go for a lunch at the park house and then we go back for photos of other animals, there are the buffaloes, the deers, the coyotes, the tundra caribous, the bears, etc. Animals from our country. This is all topped with a dinner at a nearby restaurant to exchange more closely. Everyone is invited to the group and it is a great way to meet new bubble fellow members and family and/or know better the ones that can come for the meet yearly.
HERE IS JOHN AT OMEGA PARK, WE CAN SE TRACEY DRYKA ON OUR RIGHT HAND SIDE
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THIS PACK WAS PLAYING IN THE COLD OF WINTER!
EE E
HIDE AND SEEK! - TIMBER WOLF Northern Landscape Magazine • 43
TIMBER WOLF IN SNOW
ON THE PROWL - ARCTIC WOLF 44 • Northern Landscape Magazine
PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY YANNIK HAY
D
ecember 26, I traveled from Massachusetts USA to visit my brother in Quebec an took the opportunity to meet a very nice group of people from Redbubble like me to visit Parc Oméga Wildlife Resort on December 28 and take pictures of the fantastic wildlife running wild and free there… Wow…The place is magnificent…we met at the Arctic Wolf place and our cameras worked on overtime capturing those beautiful white wolves…
We took a 2 kilometer walk in the woods while surrounded by White tail deer and they just love those carrots people bring for them… There’s a sugar shack at the end of the walk and after we headed back to meet the rest of the group at the Maison du park…it was a fabulous day!!! There we planned a nice little ride to a restaurant nearby… The sad part was to say goodbye after dinner…hope we can do this again!!!
Next we went to lunch at the Maison Du Parc…It was nice to sit, chat and take group pictures…after lunch we drove to Timber Wolves area where we spent much time there…we love them so much and they’re very entertaining… What a blast to have a group of people with cameras…no empty hands there… After a time some of us drove the whole length of the park to view and capture all the animals running wild and free, some knee deep in snow…Snow is what makes it worth while to photograph this place…
KRIS KRINGLE
Northern Landscape Magazine • 45
RED DEER WALK
PHOTOGRA BY LO
ARCTIC FOX
46 • Northern Landscape Magazine
APHY AND TEXT ORRAINE
Northern Landscape Magazine • 47
GO AHEAD...TAKE THE PICTURE !!!
WANT TO SEND US A STORY ABOUT YOUR 48 • Northern Landscape Magazine
LOCAL
ANNUAL WINTER BUBBLE MEET AND OMEGA PARK WITH YANNIK HAY, JOHNN44, MANON, MICHAEL CUMMINGS, TRACEY AND LORRAINE PHILLIPS
MAIL US TO: Northern Landscape Magazine • 49 INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG STORIES?
THE BIG CHALLE
24 ENTRIES 39 VOTES 1 WINNER
50 • Northern Landscape Magazine
7 DAYS FOR VOTING
ENGE ~ JANUARY
Northern Landscape Magazine • 51
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF THE SOUTH
LARRY LINGARD/DAVIS
HARRIS: SOUTH WEST COAST BEACHES 52 • Northern Landscape Magazine
KASIA-D
15 VOTES
15 VOTES
The BIG top ten
Northern Landscape Magazine • 53
SPIRIT ISLAND 4
CHARLES KOSINA
ATHABASCA FALLS - CANADA
54 • Northern Landscape Magazine
RON FINKEL
5 VOTES
4 VOTES
HOW LONG WILL THEY BE THERE?
IRISH FARM
NANCY RICHARD
LUDWIG WAGNER
4 VOTES
4 VOTES
Northern Landscape Magazine • 55
LAKE REINEVATNET - LOFOTEN - NORWAY
PEGGY’S COVE II
56 • Northern Landscape Magazine
ARIE KOENE
PHOTOSBYHEALY
4 VOTES
2 VOTES
DOG SLEDDING IN SWEDISH LAPLAND
ERIC TCHIJAKOFF
2 VOTES
MIDNIGHT SUN: BORGARVIRKI MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE, ICELAND THEWAXMUSEUM
2 VOTES
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LARRY LINGARD/DAVIS
L
Featured artist
arry is one of our community members who submits more shots. I have no statistics on this, but I am pretty sure he stands on the top 3. Due to that and the high quality of his shots, he as a great deal of featured photographs and we were forced to make a selection of his 50+ featured works so that this would become an endless magazine.
With a whole life of different experiences, from harmonica to photography, Larry has been in the top-10 of our challenges for some times now. It seems that it was a long trip to the top and now that he is the king of the hill we thought it would be a nice time to have some coffee with him and get to know him a bit better. I will not speak much more because the interview with Larry was very much productive and speaks for itself. Ladies and Gentleman, may I present you the winner of our BIG Challenge, directly from Riddells Creek, Australia: Larry Lingard/Davis!
# When did you start photographing?
In 1965, when I was 18. I learned to SCUBA Dive and wanted to take images underwater. So I bought myself a small Kodak Instamatic inside an underwater housing.
# What can you tell us about yourself?
I have always kept myself busy with many interests such as SCUBA Diving / Ballroom Dancing / Apiary / Lapidary / Gardening / Playing Blues Harmonica and Percussion Music Professionally / Acting / and the list goes on…… and on…
58 • Northern Landscape Magazine
INTERVIEW
Having coffee with Larry Lingard/Davis + his Featured works Northern Landscape Magazine • 59
THE SOGNEFJORD LIGHT (2)
60 • Northern Landscape Magazine DENMARK.....
NYHVN (1)
# How does photography fit in your life? And where do you want to get with it?
Photography is not only a passion but also an addiction... As I was a Freelance Photographer with “Powerboat” Magazine for quite a few years, and working for the Melbourne Herald Newspaper, I know what is required to do it professionally. So these days as I am now fully retired from work, I only want to make my name locally by selling the odd calendar and images through local business’s…. I also like to bring out the occasional “coffee table” book.
# What photographic gear do you have?
Panasonic Lumix G2. of which I use a 14 – 48mm micro Four Thirds lens, a 48 – 200mm zoom, and a Leica DG Macro – Elmarit 1:2.8, 45 Macro lens. I also have a Pentax MZ60 SLR 35mm which I still use occasionally.
# How does it feel to win our BIG CHALLENGE and have such a feature on our monthly magazine?
I have a lot of fun and satisfaction being a member of the Northern Landscape Group, but to be featured like this in a magazine is a great bonus… You can always hope to get that little bit of extra exposure, but to have it like this in a magazine is the best you get…
# You have been in the top 10 some times, was it just a matter of time until you would win? I enter into challenges for the fun of it, and to set myself a personal challenge to see what I am up against. And if I don’t win, then I look at why I didn’t win by comparing mine to the others and to try to learn to do better. Winning was a bonus. But to be sharing the prize with Kasia-D I couldn’t ask for more...
# Tell us about the winning shot!
As I am always travelling/holidaying from Australia in the Southern Hemisphere up to the Northern Hemisphere, I am returning to the UK many times to travel and visit with my cousins in Hailsham. The image was taken at the “Seven Sisters” which are a series of chalk cliffs that form part of the South Downs in East Sussex, between the towns of Seaford and Eastbourne in southern England. UK ….and are not to be confused with the chalk cliffs at Dover. The image in question was taken looking west along from the Tea Rooms viewing platform.
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# Describe us how would your perfect photo be!
Something of what I judge other images on…. which include clarity, composition, tone, balance, individuality, with mood and ambiance (depending on the subject matter).
# What fascinates you the most and what do you hate the most about the Northern countries? The difference in temperatures, the far better public transport systems... But more than anything, the totally different landscapes.
The only thing I hate about it is that I have to leave it to come back to the Southern Hemisphere.
# Any other thought you want to put out there?
Keep your camera at your fingertips for every second you can. Keep experimenting with different angles and subject matter. Keep challenging yourself to do better with everything in your life. Do as much as you can and as good as you can in your life... And make every minute count. We are only in this life but once…!!!!
60N... WAITING 62 • Northern Landscape Magazine
ACROSS THE BRIDGE TO FUNEN
BEING ROYAL IN STOCKHOLM (1) Northern Landscape Magazine • 63
THE LOM STAVE (2)
ON THE WAY TO LOM (1) 64 • Northern Landscape Magazine
TIVOLI GARDENS (1)
BERGEN HARBOUR -- BUSINESS AS USUAL
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60N.. JARLSHOF (2)
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TRANQUILLITY GREEN ON THE SOGNEFJORD (1)
MORNING BLUE ON THE AALBORG LIMFJORD (1) Northern Landscape Magazine • 67
THE BIG HOUSE AT JARLSHOF (1)
HEADING INTO THE CLOUDS ( 1 )
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MORNING BLUE ON THE AALBORG LIMFJORD (2)
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LEAVING STOCKHOLM ( 2 ) MEMORIES OF THE TWIN TOWERS
A NEW DAY IN STOCKHOLM
THE STAR INN AT BERWICK
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ON THE BEACH IN EASTBOURNE (8)
COPENHAGEN WANDERINGS (2)
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ST. CANUTE’S CATHEDRAL (1)
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DOF ON THE SOGNEFJORD (2)
DREAMING OF THE SOGNEFJORD ( 2 ) Northern Landscape Magazine • 73
FREDERIKSBORG CASTLE (1)
ENGLISH GREENERY 74 • Northern Landscape Magazine
BERGEN FROM THE FLﾃ郎EN ( 1 )
BERGEN HARBOUR -- REFLECTIONS .2
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CANON AT THE TOWER
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WANT TO BE FEATURED?
78 • Northern Landscape Magazine
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF THE SOUTH BY LARRY LINGARD/DAVIS THE WINNER OF OUR BIG CHALLENGE ~ JANUARY
DON’T LOSE OUR NEXT BIG CHALLENGE! Northern Landscape Magazine • 79
Northern La Some facts
One Finnish soldier killed in 100 days!
A
ll nations have a hero. Someone who was crucial for the history of the country, who made the nation survive through a rough time, or was decisive for the country’s birth or made the nation more powerful, etc. The most famous cases are people like Joan D’Arc and Napoleon from France, Robert Bruce in Scotland, George Washington in the USA, and so on. In Finland, one of those people has an amazing life history to tell, unknown for most of the people outside of Finland. His story doesn’t come on the books, but he still made history! His name was Simo Häyhä, nicknamed “White Death” by the Red Army and he was a Finnish marksman. Using a modified Mosin–Nagant in the Winter War, he has the highest recorded number of confirmed sniper kills – 505 – in any major war. In the winter of 1939, Josef Stalin decided he would seize the opportunity to head into Finland and take over as much land as he could, and claim it for the Soviet Union. This might have been a huge mistake. What seemed to be an easy task, quickly revealed to be a failure.
Häyhä after being awarded with a rifle
During the Winter War (1939–1940) between
Red Army in the 6th Company of JR 34
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Finland and the Soviet Union, Häyhä served as a sniper for the Finnish Army against the
andscape -
d over 700 Soviet Troops need his service out of desperation.
Finland’s flag during the Battle of Kollaa. In temperatures between −40 °C and −20 °C, dressed completely in white camouflage, Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed kills of Soviet soldiers. Simo Häyhä, a man who didn’t stand an inch over five feet, was a Finnish soldier who wouldn’t allow his country to succumb to an invasion of the Soviets who just some years before had lost Finland in the Finish Independence war. But, Häyhä wasn’t an ordinary Finnish soldier, he was the equivalent of an American minuteman - someone who gets called by his country when they
Häyhä was stationed in a barren wasteland. Clearly the temperatures didn’t bug Häyhä, because he survived, by himself, for 100 days killing over 700 Soviet troops – an average of 7 man per day! The Soviet’s efforts to kill Häyhä included counter-snipers and artillery strikes, and on March 6, 1940 Häyhä was shot in his lower left jaw by a Russian soldier. He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said “half his cheek was missing”, but he did not die, regaining consciousness on March 13, the day peace was declared. Shortly after the war, Häyhä was promoted from Alikersantti (Corporal) to Vänrikki (Second Lieutenant) by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. No one else has gained rank so quickly in Finland’s military history. It took several years for Häyhä to recuperate from his wound. The bullet had crushed his jaw and blown off his left cheek. Nonetheless, he made a full recovery and became a
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successful moose hunter and dog breeder after World War II, and hunted with Finnish President Urho Kekkonen. When asked in 1998 how he had become such a good shooter, Häyhä answered “Practice.” When asked if he regretted killing so many people, he said, “I only did my duty, and what I was told to do, as well as I could.” Simo Häyhä spent his last years in Ruokolahti, a small municipality located in south eastern Finland, near the Russian border. He died at the age of 96...
Häyhä in the 1940s, with visible damage to his left cheek after his 1940 wound
W
IMAGES FROM WIKIPEDIA
USED UNDER THE FAIR USE TERMS
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Back cover artist
I
t is becoming an habit on our BIG Challenges to have a tie breaker – or at least it seems to! For the second month in a row we had one. As if it wouldn’t be enough, the result of the tie breaker was a tie! That’s right... For those who did not pay attention to what I wrote on the Redbubble group forums, I decided to give the win to the photo who got the first vote first – and that is how Redbubble organizes the entries in case of a tie. It seems that we have had some clash of the titans at our last BIG Challenge. Our second place winner, Kasia-D is nowadays a celebrity in the community after her huge feature at the Redbubble blog with her aerial shot of the Kisimul castle in Scotland. How about we get to know Kasia-D a bit better? Born in Scotland, at home in Europe, Kasia is a passionate photographer who loves to travel and capture images of the world. Islands and seascapes are favourite motifs, and you will find many images from Scotland, especially the Highlands and Hebridean islands. Kasia is also fascinated by the World from above, whether sculpted by Mother Nature or by Man and has been lucky enough to capture many photographic impressions from commercial flights over Europe, Asia and North America. Floral and abstract art round up her portfolio.
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NORTHERN LANDSCAPE ISSUE # 11 * FEBRUARY 2014
www.northernlandscape.org
HARRIS: SOUTH WEST COAST BEACHES BY KASIA-D O n e o f t h e m o s t a m a z i n g b e a c h s c e n e s I k n ow. Lo o k i n g a c ro s s p a r t o f t h e beach – there is a lot more you can’t see in this shot – from Seileboost to L u s k e n t y r e . I f y o u e v e r t r a v e l f r o m t h e L e v e r b u r g h f e r r y t e r m i n a l t o Ta r b e r t on the south west coast of the Isle of Harris you have to spend time on this and a couple of other unique beaches. The hill to the left across the sound, i s o n t h e I s l e o f Ta r a n s a y a n d t h e h i l l s o f H a r r i s c a n b e s e e n i n t h e d i s t a n c e . Captured from a bus, unfortunately traveling at relatively high speed. I went back a couple of years ago to enjoy more:-) Location: Seileboost, Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK. 57° 52’ 1.66” N 6 ° 5 6 ’ 3 4 . 2 4 ” W - N i k o n D 2 0 0 , S i g m a 1 8 - 2 0 0 m m . C a p t u r e d i n R A W.
NORTHERN LANDSCAPE MAGAZINE - ISSUE #11 FEBRUARY 2014