ISSUE # 12 * MARCH 2014
www.northernlandscape.org
NORTHERN LANDSCAPE
HAVING COFFEE CHARLES KOSINA
PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIAL #12 WHICH FILTER AND WHY?
THIS IS (HI)STORY! THE BOX BROWNIE CAMERA
MONTHLY CHALLENGES NORTHERN WINDS: ILLEGAL ANIMAL TRADE: ARE WE FIGHTING IT?
COVER
Athabasca River 2 by Charles Kosina I have a photo from the same location in 2012 with quite different weather. This is the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada. 24 August, 2013 Canon EOS 550D, ISO 200, f/10, 1/320sec, 28 mm
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FROM THE EDITOR Hello dear reader! Spring is around the corner: YAY!! I usually love the winter, but this season the winter was really nothing but a huge disappointment. Not only there was not enough snow to ski here in the southern Sweden (or even in most of Sweden!), but as well we have had a wet Christmas, something we haven’t had for a very, very long time... It was so warm and rainy on Christmas and New Year day that I felt I was back in Portugal... except without the Portuguese Christmas food! Nightmare!! So, this year I am actually looking forward for spring and even summer! Actually, today – as I write this, 8th of March – is already a record warm temperature for this time of the year: 7° C and sunshine for the whole next week!! This makes me feel hopeful and full of plans for me and my girlfriend Canon EOS 550D. For instance, I am thinking about visiting the waterfall in Aneby and the Visingsö island, an island that stands right in the middle of a huge Swedish lake called Vättern (one of the biggest lakes in Europe and the second biggest lake in Sweden). Perhaps I will even visit the “Göta kanal”, a water channel built to connect the Baltic sea to the city of Gothenburg and that now is a major tourist attraction in Sweden.
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 Charles Kosina
As usuall, a lot of shots in my memory card and very little time to take care of all those RAW files... Anyone else familiar with this? What are you planning for this spring/summer? It would be really fun to know about your photographic projects for this hot season that is approaching and then publish them in our magazine. What do you think? Feel free to send us your plans by Bubble Mail or by our traditional e-mail I will be waiting for your great projects... Your host João Figueiredo
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INDEX 02 About the cover 03 From the editor & technical data 06 Northern winds - Illegal animal trade: are we fighting it? 12 Theme Challenge February ~ Man made 22 NLM photo tutorial #12 - Which filter and why? 30 Featured Work Challenge ~ February 40 The Box Brownie Camera 48 The BIG Challenge ~ February 50 Having coffee with Charles Kosina + his Featured works 74 Northern Landscape: Some facts 81 Back cover artist 82 Back cover 4 • Northern Landscape Magazine
THIS AMAZING MAGAZINE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
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Norden winds
Illegal animal trade: are we fighting it? It is a known and proven fact that nature (generally speaking) have never been so threatened before as they are now due to action of Man. It is also a known fact that we, Human species never have been so concerned in saving the the environment as we are now. But how does it go really? Are we really that concerned? Do we really want to save the environment? Are we really doing something or is it “just for the show”?
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nimal life and ecosystems are directly connected. If the animal disappears, the ecosystem will radically change and if the ecosystem dies the animal will be extinct. The repercussions of such a change are always hard to predict. While some animals might adapt quick, like monkeys or falcons, others never have enough time to adapt, like sea turtles or tigers. Summit after summit – read failure after failure – we always hear of how much and in what our governments have come in agreement and how such a huge step forward it is. At the same time, we also get to hear the complaints from the environmental defence groups that are deeply disappointment and predict a dark future for the planet. Counterinformation between the two parts is a constant.
isters of about 50 different countries on a summit about illegal wildlife trade is not an easy task, especially when we find ourselves in the middle of an economic-politic crisis. Still, the British government hosted a summit like the above described – The London Summit. Among the many different topics to discuss during the summit, there were laws to enforce the role of the criminal justice system, reducing demand for illegal wildlife products, and supporting the development of sustainable alternative livelihoods. Attending to the summit were representatives from the most wildlife threatened countries: Botswana, Chad, Gabon, and Tanzania and eve China. Countries where wildlife threatening is more focused on animals such as elephants, rhinos, tigers or panda bears.
What has been happening? We tried to find out... Gathering the heads of state and min-
Shark fin for sale in Hong Kong. Besides illegal, this is a very tragic way of hunting and consume an animal due to the rest of the animal is just wasted into the ocean without it’s fins, making them suffer during hours, days or even living for the rest of their lives as “handicaped” sharks. Sadly, superstition is the main reason why the demand of shark fin is so high in eastern Asia... Image from Wikipedia.
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Conservation organizations would like to see heads of state and government ministers publicly support and endorse commitments for stemming wildlife trafficking made in previous months. These include the Marrakech Declaration, the Paris Declaration on illegal wildlife trade from the Africa-France Summit on Peace and Security, and the African Elephant Summit Urgent Measures. They also want to see announcements of national-level commitments for addressing poaching, trafficking, and demand reduction—and clear mechanisms for follow-up. Bas Huijbregts, head of WWF’s campaign against illegal wildlife trade in central Africa said to the National Geographic on-line that he hopes governments “from key source, transit, and demand countries will commit to measurable action on national levels, and that they agree to being held accountable on an annual basis by reporting back to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly of the United Nations on the status of national efforts to implement international commitments.” Even before the summit, some countries started to take some action against wildlife illegal hunting. Just before the summit, the USA announced a ban to all ivory commerce. Unbelievable that by 2014 it was still legal to buy ivory in the developed western world... Chad, only of the last countries in the world who still has a national stock of ivory has also announced that they would be destroying that stock on February 20th. Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Wildlife, Lazaro Nyalandu, said, “We are saying no to poaching; we are saying no to this trade”. Unfortunately we don’t know if this was just a nice speech or if something is actually being planed or made. Nyalandu tweeted that Tanzania supports banning the ivory trade to help international efforts against poaching and that was all so far. “We may be at a turning point,” says Mary Rice, executive director of the U.K.’s Environmental Investigation Agency to the
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National Geographic online. “The mood in the room today is that everyone is now finally—and really—acknowledging the problem, and that we’re moving closer to support of a ban on all ivory from all sources.” That optimism was echoed by many. John Sellar, an anti-smuggling, fraud, and organized crime consultant has observed that many countries are not doing their home work – not a surprise. After all, this is an industry that generates millions every year! As if it wouldn’t be enough, the wildlife trafficking is highly connected to human trafficking. Many of the poachers used to hunt and process animals (or parts of them) are kidnapped and kept working against their own will and under threat. As a consequence, in order to fight effectively the illegal wildlife crime, we need to attack first on human trafficking due to poachers are very cheap and easily replaced, leaving the middle and top of the hierarchy of this organized crime untouched. Unfortunately, the skills needed to follow the money are often not found in wildlife agencies... Changing consumer habits is also another effective way to attack this issue. Not an easy task though... “Without a complementary effort to effectively address the persistent market demand that drives this trade, enforcement action alone may sometimes be futile,” says TRAFFIC’s Zain to National Geographic online. Illustrating the depth of the challenge was video footage released Wednesday by Hong Kong elephant conservation groups (ACE Foundation, and WildLifeRisk amongst others). The video shows sales staff at Hong Kong’s two largest ivory retailers advocating a variety of concealment techniques to potential consumers to help them evade detection by Hong Kong and mainland Chinese customs. It also revealed that staff heavily promote ivory products from freshly killed elephants that command a premium price.
Historical black rhinoceros range (ca. 1700 A.D.). Hatched: Possible historical range in West Africa. Image from Wikipedia.
Current black rhinoceros range: Brown - Native Pink - Reintroduced Red - Introduced Khaki - Possibly extinct Black - Extinct Image from Wikipedia.
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Since the summit happened in February it is still very soon to tell if the beautiful speeches are “just for the show” or if in fact those countries will take some actions. The profits in this industry are so high, and the “origin countries” where the “raw materials” are are amongst the most corrupt on Earth. Only time will tell if we can avoid a catastrophe or if we were just too stupid and greedy to protect ourselves from ourselves. One funny thought that I often read in the comment fields about wildlife crime articles is that we Humans consider to be our right to do whatever we want to our planet and everything that exists in it because we consider ourselves to be a superior species. But how would it be if the aliens would come tomorrow and started to hunt us for the sake of eating our delicious brains?
BASED ON A NEWS ARTICLE FROM NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM LONDON SUMMIT INTENSIFIES BATTLE AGAINST WILDLIFE CRIME
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WISH TO DEBATE SOMETHING? MAKE YOUR SUGGESTION TO:
INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG
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Theme Challen Februar Man ma 12 • Northern Landscape Magazine
nge ry ade
16 ENTRIES 40 VOTES 1 WINNER 5 DAYS FOR VOTING
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HOUSES AT THE FJORD BY ARIE KOENE WITH 6 VOTES
Challenge winner 14 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Arie Koene I am a retired ( 60+) software engineer . I started my career in 1961 writing programs for one of the first computers in the world in assembler language on 5-channels punched tape. I retired in 2004 while I was working on the Blu-Ray project. To give you an idea of the progress in the computer world : If you want to make a copy of the content of a Blu-Ray disc on a punched tape, the length of the tape must be at least 60000 kilometers. I also have a site at Flickr: akoene100 My hobbies: Travel,photography, puzzles.. like cryptograms and sudokus. I made a combination of my photos and a sudoku.
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SEVEN SISTERS CLIFFS, EAST SUSSEX BY LUDWIG WAGNER
THE ROCKIES, CANMORE, ALBERTA, CANADA BY ANNDIXON
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STEEL GIANTS BY DGSCOTLAND
END WALL, CALDA HOUSE BY LEZVEE Northern Landscape Magazine • 17
THROUGH THE PIER BY KEVIN SKINNER
BLACKFORD DOLPHIN SUNRISE BY WRAYZO 18 • Northern Landscape Magazine
TALLINN CITY WALLS AND ST OLAV’S BY WIGGYOFIPSWICH
MALIGNE LAKE BOATHOUSE 3 BY CHARLES KOSINA Northern Landscape Magazine • 19
BALLINALACKIN CASTLE BY GRAEME HYDE
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NLM PHOTO T
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TUTORIAL #12 WHICH FILTER AND WHY? You just bought a DSLR camera and you think that your shots will automatically be wonderful? Think again! If you want to take shots with perfect colours or light, you will need to purchase one or two filters. This cannot be considered cheating. Read in this article why and as well, how should you choose your filters...
COVER SHOTS FROM STOCK.XCHNG Northern Landscape Magazine •
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here is this huge myth outside of photography about filters and post edition that if you really are a great photographer you cannot use any “add ons” like filters or Photoshop. In fact, to hear from someone that “oh, this was Photoshoped” or similar is probably one of the worst insults one can get, unless we are talking about some specific case where the point is to use Photoshop or some other similar software. The point is, that line of thinking is wrong, and we, experienced photographers know it! In fact, things get even more silly if we think that post edition in photography is as old as photography itself! Too bad, photography is not an exact science like maths, and even maths sometimes is wrong. A great example of this is the HDR technique that was first experimented in the mid 1850s by Gustave Le gray. Computers and technology just made these techniques more accessible. Please do not mistake accessible with easy! Sure one great photographer manages to achieve great results with a simple camera, but even them must use filters or some slight post edition on their shots to achieve that “perfection effect” that technology on our cameras does not achieve just yet. So, if you are paranoid about getting that perfect shot without anything but your “raw” camera, you’re going to have a very, very, very, very looooong way ahead you. Good luck! That is the same as trying to put a Formula 1 driver behind the wheel of a Ford Mondeo and ask him to achieve the same results as with a Formula 1 car. “If you are really a great driver, then you will do it no matter which car you have...” - how does this sound? While I have talked previously about HDR, panoramas, Infra-red photography, (among others), I haven’t spoke about camera filters yet. Many of us have already heard about filters, but many of us don’t really understand the need to have one (or more) and which one(s) to buy. I hope that I will be able to help you with this tut...
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ALRIGHTY THEN! WHERE TO START? As our friend Ace Ventura would say: “Aaaalrighty then!”, where and how do we start?
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I would say that we start with some back-engineering. Instead of starting right away on the solution, ask yourself which kind of photographer are you and what do you want to evolve into? For instance: Are you a nature photographer? Do you want to become even better at nature photography? Do you want to evolve into macro photographer? Follow that logic and get some answers. Don’t forget to consult your wallet. Unfortunately your wallet will have a word on this. Still you can make quite a lot without spending a lot of cash!
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Check as well which camera you have and which lens you have. Some cameras already come with an incorporated CPL filter. It will not harm you to buy another one, but it might help you choosing a better CPL instead then just buying one that does exactly the same as the one that is on the camera. For best results and info just read your camera’s manual or google it! Don’t forget as well to check the size of your lens. Is it a 50mm lens? Is it a 75mm? 12Mm? This should actually be the first thing you should check up because some lens have a very specific size and have no filters for it. Each lens size have it’s own filter size, so don’t forget to make sure you have bought the right size. Due to this, it is not a bad idea to start here...
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The real pro photographers will be thinking that I am silly because I tell you to check your lens size so you know which filter
you can buy. The truth is that filters come in two varieties: screw-on and front filters. The screw-on filters will be screwing on the end of your lens and the front on are just placed in the front of your lens, which makes possible to use the same filter in any lens. The big issue of the front filters are that they work pretty well in situations where you can prepare yourself to shoot, like in a studio for instance.
there and ready to shoot. If you don’t need them for any reason, just unscrew them...
But if you are out in the nature shooting wildlife or at a wedding, you wanna be quick and be prepared at any time! So, because I belong to the group of people who love to be prepared at anytime, I always prefer to use the screw on filters – they are already
Besides, screw-on filters are also seen as lens protection. If anything goes against your lens and you have a screw-on filter, then the filter will be the first – and hopefully the only – thing to get scratched or broken and not your expensive and precious lens...
Besides, if you need for some reason to accumulate filters (let’s say, a warming filter and a Infra-red filter, interesting combination, right? lol), it will be very complicated and space demanding to have two front filters. It’s just so practical and portable to have screw-on filters...
FILTER TYPES AND WHAT ARE THEY FOR
Filter type
Primary use
Subject to shoot
Linear & Circular Polarizers
Reduce Glare Improve Saturation
Sky / Water / Foliage in Landscape Photography
Neutral Density (ND)
Extend Exposure Time
Waterfalls, Rivers under bright light
Graduated Neutral Density (GND)
Control Strong Light Dramatically Lit Landscapes Gradients Reduce Vignetting
UV / Haze
Improve Clarity with Film Provide Lens Protection
Any
Warming / Cooling
Change White Balance
Landscapes, Underwater, Special Lighting
Little / Big Stopper
Very long exposures
Any but typically on roads, streets or watery landscapes
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As you might imagine, the table above is not an exact science. It’s more like a guideline for your own orientation. With time and financial pressure companies that manufacture these filters start to make “hybrid” products. In other words, in order to increase the profits, they start to make filters that have more than one function. So when you go for a purchase, get ready to find the unexpected! Besides, you do not need to follow religiously the filters usage like it says on the table. Those are just “ideal situations”.
As I said previously, many filter manufacturers sell “hybrid filters”. So, it might happen that you find darkened CPL filters that suposedly do the same as a ND filter. They don’t. I’m not saying that you cannot do a long exposure with a darkened CPL filter, but a ND filter will allways give it a much better touch!
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GRADUATED NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS - GND filters or “Split filters” restrict the amount of light across an image in a smooth geometric pattern.
FINE THEN... WHAT DOES EACH ONE OF THEM DOES? That is a good question and I thought about talking about them a little bit.
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LINEAR & CIRCULAR POLARIZING FILTERS - These last ones are actually more known as CPL filters. Perhaps the most important of any filters, they work by reducing the amount of reflected light that passes to your camera’s sensor. A little bit like sunglasses, CPL filters will make skies appear deeper blue, will reduce glare and reflections off of water and other surfaces, and will reduce the contrast between land and sky. Generally speaking, your shot will be a bit darker but your colours will get a lot better and you will not have so many burned colours on your shots. Trust me, it works like a boss!
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NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS - If you hear about an ND filter, this is the one. They uniformly reduce the amount of light reaching the camera’s sensor. This is great when a sufficiently long exposure time is not otherwise attainable within a given range of possible apertures (at the lowest ISO setting) .
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Cases which are ideally suited for GND filters are those with simple lighting geometries, such as the linear blend from dark to light encountered commonly in landscape photography. In other words, perfect for sunsets or sunrises among others.
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HAZE & UV FILTERS - I would probably say that these ones are on the verge of extintion. Back in the days when film was the king of the hill, UV filters reduced haze and improved contrast by minimizing the amount of ultraviolet (UV) light that reached the film. Nowadays we have DSLR cameras. The problem is that they are nowhere near as sensitive to UV light as film was, therefore UV filtration is no longer a problem. So many people use it just for lens protection. I know... don’t get me started on this...
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COOL & WARM FILTERS - Cooling or warming filters change the white balance of light reaching the camera’s sensor. This can be used to either correct an unrealistic color cast, or to instead add one, such as adding warmth to a cloudy day to make it appear more like during sunset. Sorry to be this harsh, bvut with the
appearence of the RAW format, these filters became completely unnecessary. My personal belief is that in time they will also disappear. Perhaps I am mistaken, time will tell.
The name says pretty much everything: It is going to stop the light from coming into your camera’s sensor. This will allow you to make incredibly long exposures and achieve what I like to call “perfection”.
They are usefull though for all of you who don’t shoot in RAW and don’t use any programed camera colour filter/mode or don’t even have a computer for post processing...
CONCLUSION
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LITTLE & BIG STOPPER - There is a lot of stuff to say about these two filters but I will try to make it very simple so that you don’t get bored.
As I said in the beginning, the choice is to be made by you and yourself only. Try to find out which filter adapts best to your needs and wallet and go for it!
Have you ever seen those (literally) perfect shoreline shots at twillight? Or even those cityscapes where you don’t see a single car or person and wondered how the heck can a photographer pay for cutting the traffic on a busy highway?
I wrote this tutorial based on two websites and you can go there in order to get more technical data and more deep analysis:
This is how, by using a little or a big stopper.
Little & Big Stopper by Lee Filters
CAMERA LENS FILTERS by Cambridge in Colour
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THE BOTTOM LEFT IMAGE HAS A DIFFUSION FILTER APPLIED TO THE ORIGINAL IMAGE (SHOWN IN THE TOP LEFT). THE TOP RIGHT IS A CROSS SCREEN EFFECT. IMAGE FROM WIKIMED
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Northern Landscape Magazine • 29 INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG
Feature Work Challen Februar 30 • Northern Landscape Magazine
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nge ry
26 ENTRIES 33 VOTES 1 WINNER 5 DAYS FOR VOTING
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VESTRAHORN BY RODDY ATKINSON WITH 7 VOTES
Challenge winner 32 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Roddy Atkinson Roddy Atkinson Photographer based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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CLOUDS GATHER OVER KENTMERE RESERVOIR BY MARTIN LAWRENCE
EMERALD LAKE BRITISH COLUMBIA BY LYNN BOLT
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RED LINE BY ARI SALMELA
GLACIAL RIVERS BY NANCY RICHARD
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DOG SLEDDING IN SWEDISH LAPLAND BY ERIC TCHIJAKOFF
EILEAN DONAN CASTLE AT NIGHT BY DEREKBEATTIE
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PARROTT’S BAY II BY PHOTOSBYHEALY
SPIRIT ISLAND 2 BY CHARLES KOSINA
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THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS BY LEZVEE
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This is (hi
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i)story!
The Box Brownie Camera: 114 years on and still being used by enthusiasts Northern Landscape Magazine • 41
I
In 1898 the idea for the Brownie Camera was born. George Eastman asked Frank Brownell his camera designer and manufacturer to create the most economical camera possible. Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularised the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the world’s first film makers Eadweard Muybridge and Louis Le Prince. Brownell was possibly the most influential camera designer of all time. He started out as a cabinet maker, but began standcamera manufacture in the early 1880’s. George Eastman commissioned Brownell to make parts for his roll film holder in 1885 and he went on to design many early Kodak cameras, with the Brownell Manufacturing Company until 1902. Eastman wanted to promote photography to help increase film sales and hoped to get children interested, by naming the camera after the little “Disney” like characters created by the Canadian author and illustrator Palmer Cox. His verse and drawings were highly popular with children throughout the 1890’s and by adopting this strategy the shrewd Eastman gained a major marketing advantage. It could even be said that he created a market that was not there before. The camera was effective and reliable as well as good value, for the next 80 years the name Brownie was synonymous with popular photography. Generations of famous photographers said their interest had been sparked by using one of the popular cameras. Almost 100 models were created between 1900 and 1980, from the first made of cardboard and wood, to the last which was a compact, moulded plastic, cartridge loading, pocket camera, made by Kodak Limited.
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BOX BROWNIE
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The No.2 Brownie is significant in that it was the first camera to use 120 roll film. It started production made from leatherette covered card and from 1924 changed to a metal box. A simple camera with a very dependable shutter (mine still works fine). It has two sliding mechanisms on the top, one for a bulb or time setting, and the other for a choice of three apertures. These apertures are; large hole f11, medium hole f16 and small hole f22.
Type: Box roll film Introduced: Oct 1901 Discontinued: 1935 Film size: 120 Picture size: 2 1/4 X 3 1/4” Manufactured: US, Canada, and from 19281935 in the UK Lens: Meniscus Shutter: Rotary Numbers made: over 2,500,000 before 1921
There are also two reflecting finders for vertical or horizontal shots. The shutter speeds for the cameras when made were between 1/35-1/50 second depending on if the camera is marked with a “F”, a “.” or an “S”.
THE JUNK SHOP
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I bought my camera from a junk shop for about £15.00. It came with it’s original case and even the name of it’s first owner still inside. It takes some getting used to after the overload of technology on a DSLR, because it is so simple. You have to guess the correct aperture for the photo you want to take depending on the lighting conditions, stay very still when you press the shutter, and of course wind on the film. It is probably best to rest the camera on something to steady it if possible. The results are surprisingly good and film is still readily available on the net. I can get it processed locally and put onto CD or usu-
ally the companies selling it can do this for you. If you are feeling adventurous you can develop it yourself using a kit. With enthusiasts now buying up film cameras so they can get back to the roots of taking pictures, this is a relatively cheap way of seeing if it is for you, just as the original idea intended it to be. Cameras are available from e bay or if like me you enjoy rummaging around old junk and antique shops, there a plenty to be found from the whole range. If you find that it’s not for you, it makes a great subject for still life pictures. A superb resource for information on models and history is The Brownie Camera Page
MATCHING GREEN
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MOUNTNESSING WINDMILL
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MAIL US TO: Northern Landscape Magazine • 47 INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG STORIES?
THE BIG CHALLEN
16 ENTRIES 43 VOTES 1 WINNER
48 • Northern Landscape Magazine
5 DAYS FOR VOTING
NGE ~ FEBRUARY
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ATHABASCA RIVER 2
HARRIS: HUISHINISH BEACH 50 • Northern Landscape Magazine
CHARLES KOSINA
KASIA-D
9 VOTES
6 VOTES
The BIG top ten
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JOY
LADYFI
WOODEN HOUSES IN MORTSUND
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6 VOTES
ARIE KOENE
5 VOTES
DOUBLE SUN
DARK PAST
MANON BOILY
REBECCA TUN
4 VOTES
4 VOTES
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ARDVRECK CASTLE
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LEZVEE
4 VOTES
VIEW FROM KNOCKAN CRAG
WINTER FARM
KALARYDER
LUDWIG WAGNER
2 VOTES
2 VOTES
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ALASKA ... INSIDE PASSAGE
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ANNDIXON
2 VOTES
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CHARLES KOSINA
C
Featured artist
harles and I usually have long discussions about who has the best coffee in the world. In fact, that is pretty much how we started to collaborate at the NLM.
Besides loving coffee Charles is one of the many talented photographers that we have in our community and another Aussie that loves Canada. Recently he has given a huge contribution to this magazine by writing a story that took place in three issues of the NLM and as well as a tutorial. More frequently he contributes to this project with his talent. He is by far one of the most talented photographers we have here and it was just fair (in my humble opinion) that he won the BIG Challenge! I know I should be more neutral about this, but I can’t. Read the interview and see Charles’s portfolio and then you will understand what I mean... As usual, we went to have some coffee with the winner of the BIG Challenge and get to know him a bit better. Let’s see how it went:
# When did you start photographing?
Gee, that’s a long time ago. My first camera was a Zeiss Ikon that was my father’s. It took 120 roll film and photos were mostly black and white. Colour film was expensive back then. But really, I did not start photography seriously till 1991 when I joined the Minolta Camera Club, and a year later, the Melbourne Camera Club. That’s when I found out what f-stops, aperture, exposure and all the other details meant and started taking better photos. The Minolta Camera Club is long since gone, but I am still a member of Melbourne Camera Club, more on this later.
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INTERVIEW
Having coffee with Charles Kosina + his Featured works Northern Landscape Magazine • 59
BOW RIVER 1
CASTLE MOUNTAIN 60 • Northern Landscape Magazine
# What can you tell us about yourself?
I have a technical background, having graduated from the University of Western Australia with a First Class Honours degree in Electrical Engineering with a major in Communications. For the last 40 years I have been running my own Electronic Engineering business. This involves the design and manufacture of specialised electronic devices mainly in industrial control and data communications fields. But apart from my day job and photography I have a myriad of other interests. Being musical, I play the piano and have been in various choirs over the years (as a bass singer). This led me to another aspect, and that is of music recording. Over the last 12 years, I have recorded many performances of choirs, soloists and groups, both amateur and professional. My equipment has gradually been upgraded to better microphones, and recording devices. Currently I use a 4 channel Edirol R-44 stand alone recorder and this stores the WAV files on an SD card that I then edit with SoudForge. Skiing is a great love of mine (my wife, Alyson would call it an obsession!) and this takes me to lots of beautiful and spectacular places which is where photography comes in. So much so, that when you look at my portfolio, there is a preponderance of snow covered mountains and ski slopes. I learned to ski on Australian mountains, mainly Mt Hotham in Victoria. But, let’s face it, the Australian ski fields are no match to those found in the northern hemisphere. Having skied maybe a dozen mountains in California, Utah and Colorado, the last 5 years I have had several visits to New Zealand and Canada for my skiing. All the US visits were pre digital cameras and whilst I have many photos, mainly 35 mm slides from those times, they are just not in the running compared with the last few years of digital. There is no clearer indication of global warming than what I see in the reduction of snow cover on our Australian mountains. The seasons have been getting shorter, the snow wetter and unreliable. And although we do have snow making, it is of no use if the temperatures are above freezing. And so often, a good cover of snow is washed away by a deluge of rain! Can you blame me for heading off to colder climes? Not all my overseas travel is in winter. Alyson has no great love of snow and cold, and we have had several summer trips to New Zealand South Island, Canada and USA in the last few years. The last of these was in 2013 when we spent three and a half weeks in August driving in British Columbia and Alberta in Canada. This trip was documented in a three part article for Northern Landscape Magazine in September-November last year. We then flew to Salt Lake City to join a photographic trip through Washington State, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This trip was led by two professional photographers from Melbourne, Australia and we had twenty eight keen photographers on the trip, all from Melbourne and surrounds. The trip included spectacular scenery in Glacier National Park in Montana plus Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. I have about 8,000 photos from this trip and some have been put on RB, although only the Canadian ones qualify for the NL group.
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# How does photography fit in your life? And where do you want to get with it?
I would say that photography occupies quite a large chunk of my time. Let’s face it, with a backlog of thousands of photos, going through them, picking out the best ones, doing the necessary editing is extremely time consuming. I shoot RAW+JPEG, the latter mainly so I can quickly identify images that have potential. I then edit the RAW image in Photoshop and make further adjustments using NIK software. Whilst it would be nice to say that what comes out of the camera should be what I publish, this is rarely the case. I look on the camera output as a starting point, and I use whatever computer tools are available to create the image that I want. This may often involve a large amount of work in adjusting the exposure and colour balance in different parts of the image. And so often we find that arriving at some spectacular area, the weather is absolutely awful. Photos taken in such conditions can look extremely bland and uninteresting. What to do? We may not be back there for a long time, if ever. This is where the full force of post processing can recover some images into worthwhile photos. In particular the viveza-2 portion of NIK software can somehow burrow into the image and bring out details that would otherwise not be evident. Of course, care has to be taken not to over process and create an unrealistic final image. As you can see, my photography is almost exclusively landscapes. This is the genre that I enjoy the most. I have done portrait work as well, mainly as a result of my connections with the music world. I get asked to do publicity portraits for professional soloists and they appear happy with my work. But you are unlikely to see any of these on RB.
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EMPRESS HOTEL VICTORIA BC
GARIBALDI PROVINCIAL PARK MOUNTAINS
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# What photographic gear do you have?
My current camera is a Canon EOS 550D with three lenses covering the full frame equivalent of 16 - 400 mm. This camera is now almost 4 years old and is certainly off the pace compared with what is out there now. I chose this camera because it was of a reasonable size that I can carry with me for skiing. Would bigger cameras such as the 5D Mk III produce hugely better photos? Certainly better, but not by a huge amount. I really can’t justify the cost, let alone carting around such big beasts with bigger lenses. The camera scene is changing all the time. The emerging trend is for the smaller and lighter “four thirds” format cameras. Their quality is challenging that of their big brother DSLRs and I see myself moving in this direction in the future. Certainly I would appreciate the lighter load on photographic excursions and on the ski slopes.
# How does it feel to win our BIG CHALLENGE and have such a feature on our monthly magazine? I have won challenges in other groups in RB. Maybe I am biased but I think the standard in the NL group is amazingly high. To win a challenge in this group is a singular honour and I am indeed thankful to those who thought my image worthy of their vote.
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MALIGNE LAKE BOATHOUSE 2
MOUNTAIN NEAR FIELD BRITISH COLUMBIA
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# You also have your own photography magazine, right? What can you tell us about it?
I have been editor and co-editor of the bi-monthly Melbourne Camera Club magazine Exposure since late 2010. In this time, it has grown from an eight page newsletter all in monochrome to a full coloured 12 page magazine printed on glossy paper. Our club has a membership of well over 200, and we do a print run of about 350 per issue. Putting out a magazine regularly can be quite a treadmill at times (don’t you agree João?), but I take great pleasure in seeing the final outcome. The contents of the magazine include travel articles by members, technical articles, winning photos of competitions and other items of photographic interest. There are currently two of us producing the magazine, Phil, the Editor-in-chief as I call him, chases up people for content and passes it on to me. I, as Technical Editor then produce a PDF for the printer after using Microsoft Publisher to assemble the magazine. So often we start with a paucity of material and wonder what we can do to fill the issue, but somehow Phil seems to come up with the goods and the reverse problem arises in trying to fit it all in. And being ego driven photographers (aren’t we all!) Phil and I sometimes produce our own articles for Exposure. How long will I do this job? I did actually stop for a few months some years back as I was at that stage the sole editor and reached burnout. But I picked it up again after the substitute editor gave up after two issues. Now with two of us sharing responsibility it is a much more reasonable workload. With the worldwide communications technology available to us, I can work on it anywhere in the world, and have often done so when on overseas trips. I guess I will continue as long as the MCC board wants me to. So far there is no queue waiting to take over!
# Tell us about the winning shot!
Remember my comments about lousy weather in spectacular places? This was exactly that situation. We were travelling down the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff in Alberta, Canada, arguably just about the most spectacular drive in the world. And while it started well, the further we went, the weather turned gloomy and rainy. The original image looked very bland and unpromising but I felt it did harbour possibilities. This is where the full weight of post processing software can come in and without altering the content can produce what was in this case a winning image. Frankly, I was a little surprised that it did win, as I thought it was not really up to the standard of some photos I have put up in other challenges.
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# Describe us how would your perfect photo be!
Oh, João, what a question! I don’t know what perfection is, this is something very much in the eye of the beholder. Having entered photos in many competitions, with some of them being as perfect as I thought I could manage and then have them passed over by photographic judges with scarcely a flattering remark, I despair at ever reaching “perfection”. No, I don’t take photos to please judges, I take them to please me. Sometimes judges agree with my choice (obviously the better ones!). If not, I am still happy to hang up my works on the walls at home or the office.
# What fascinates you the most and what do you hate the most about the Northern countries?
I should point out that although Australian, I was born in Czechoslovakia and we moved here when I was a small child. Australia has spectacular scenery as you know, but of a much different kind. Maybe it’s my European origins and memories of the landscapes from my childhood that still permeates my psyche and I feel very much drawn to the mountains and forests that are found in the colder climates of the north. What do I hate about the Northern countries? They are too far away! A trip from Melbourne to Vancouver takes about 20 hours, and not being made of money, this is in the cramped back section of the plane rather than in Business Class luxury. Ah well, we have to suffer for our indulgences and our art. Where to next? Alyson and I are considering a trip to Europe later this year. Exactly where and for how long is yet to be decided. But I am not sure that it will extend north far enough to include NL landscapes (sorry João).
# Any other thought you want to put out there?
What draws me to photography? I am certainly not in the top echelon of photographers, sure I sell a few prints now and then and get nice comments about my work. But I have no illusions about it ever producing a sizable income. It is an enjoyable hobby, and I produce prints and calendars that are used as presents for friends. Competitions are also fun, and the occasional win is gratifying. But what to do with more than 67,000 images that occupy a good portion of the disc on this and my other computers? That is a question I ask myself and don’t have an answer. Finally, thank you João for the opportunity to feature my work and my thoughts. Yours is a great magazine and to the best of my knowledge it is unique in the Redbubble world.
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SPIRIT ISLAND 3
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WANT TO BE FEATURED?
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ATHABASCA RIVER 2 BY CHARLES KOSINA THE WINNER OF OUR BIG CHALLENGE ~ FEBRUARY
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Northern La Some facts
Estonia: What do we kno
O
fficially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariik), is a sovereign state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. The territory of Estonia covers 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi, +/- the size of Maryland + Delaware states in the USA), and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The Estonians are a Finnic people and the official language, Estonian, is a Finno-Ugric language closely related to Finnish, and distantly to Hungarian and to the Sami languages.
Estonia originated from the Aesti described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania (ca. 98 AD). Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is still called in Icelandic, and close to the Danish, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian term Estland for the country. The Oeselians or Osilians (Estonian saarlased; singular: saarlane) were a historical
Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties, with its capital and largest city being Tallinn. Estonia’s population of 1.3 million makes it one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A developed country with an advanced, high-income economy, Estonia has the highest gross domestic product per person among the former Soviet republics, and is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Estonia ranks high in the Human Development Index, and performs favourably in measurements of press freedom (third in the world in 2012, economic freedom, civil liberties and education. Estonia is often described as one of the most wired countries in Europe, and is recognised as a leader in e-government. One hypothesis is that the modern name of
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The Swedish Empire until 1660. Estonia was once part of the Swedish empire and still today does Estonia share many characteristics with other Scandinavian countries
andscape -
ow about it?
subdivision of Estonians inhabiting Saaremaa, an Estonian island in the Baltic Sea. They are first thought to be mentioned as early as the second century BC in Ptolemy’s Geography III. The Oeselians were known in the Old Norse Icelandic Sagas and in Heimskringla as Víkingr frá Esthland (Estonian Vikings). Denmark rose as a great military and mercantile power in the 12th century. It had an interest to end the frequent Estonian Viking attacks that threatened its Baltic trade. Danish fleets attacked Estonia in 1170, 1194, and 1197. In 1206, King Valdemar II and archbishop Andreas Sunonis led a raid on Ösel island (Saaremaa). The Kings of Denmark laid a claim on Estonia as their possession, which was recognised by the pope. The Reformation in Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther which resulted in
Estonia’s flag
great change in the Baltic region. Language, education, religion, and politics were greatly transformed. During the Livonian War in 1561, northern Estonia submitted to Swedish control. Southern Estonia in 1560s formed an autonomous Duchy of Livonia in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. In 1629, mainland Estonia came entirely under Swedish rule. Estonia was administratively divided between the provinces of Estonia in the north and Livonia in southern Estonia and northern Latvia. This division persisted until the early twentieth century. During the Great Northern War (1700–21), the Swedish empire lost Estonia to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad. However, the upper classes and the higher middle class remained primarily Baltic German. The war devastated the population of Estonia, but it recovered quickly. Although the rights of peasants were initially weakened, serfdom was abolished in 1816 in the province of Estonia and in 1819 in Livonia. As a result of the abolition of serfdom and the availability of education to the native Estonian-speaking population, an active Estonian nationalist movement developed in the nineteenth century. In response to a period of Russification initiated by the Russian Empire in the 1890s, Estonian nationalism Northern Landscape Magazine • 75
took on more political tones, with intellectuals first calling for greater autonomy and, later, complete independence from the Russian Empire.
military bases in Estonia on 17 June. The following day, some 90,000 additional troops entered the country. In the face of overwhelming Soviet force, the Estonian government capitulated on 17 June 1940 to avoid Following the Bolshevik takeover of power bloodshed. in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and German victories against the After Germany invaded the Soviet Union Russian army, between the Russian Red on 22 June 1941, the Wehrmacht was able Army’s retreat and the arrival of advancing to reach Estonia within days. The German German troops, the Committee of Elders of Army crossed the Estonian southern border the Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration on 7 July. The Red Army retreated behind of Independence in Pärnu on 23 February the Pärnu River – Emajõgi line on 12 July. At and in Tallinn on 24 February 1918. the end of July the Germans resumed their advance in Estonia working in tandem with After winning the Estonian War of the Estonian Forest Brothers. Both German Independence against both Soviet Russia troops and Estonian partisans took Narva on and the German Freikorps and Baltische 17 August and the Estonian capital Tallinn on Landeswehr volunteers, the Tartu Peace 28 August. Treaty was signed on 2 February 1920. The Republic of Estonia was recognised (de jure) This led some Estonians, to join the Finnish by Finland on 7 July 1920, Poland on 31 Army to fight against the Soviet Union. The December 1920, Argentina on 12 January Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 (Estonian: 1921 and by the Western Allies on 26 January soomepoisid) was formed out of Estonian vol1921. Estonia maintained its independence unteers in Finland. Although many Estonians for twenty-two years. were recruited into the German armed forces, the majority of them did so only in 1944 World War II casualties of Estonia, estimated when the threat of a new invasion of Estonia at around 25% of the population, were among by the Red Army had become imminent and the highest in Europe. War and occupation it was clear that Nazi Germany could not deaths have been estimated at 90,000. These win the war. The Soviet forces reconquered include the Soviet deportations in 1941, the Estonia in the autumn of 1944. German deportations and Holocaust victims. World War II began with the invasion and The U.S., UK, France, Italy and the majority subsequent partition of an important regional of other Western countries considered the ally of Estonia – Poland, by a joint operation annexation of Estonia by the USSR illegal. of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1989, during the “Singing Revolution”, in a landmark demonstration for more indepenOn 24 September 1939, warships of the Red dence, called the Baltic Way, a human chain Navy appeared off Estonian ports and Soviet of more than two million people was formed, bombers began a patrol over Tallinn and the stretching through Lithuania, Latvia and nearby countryside. The Estonian govern- Estonia. All three nations had similar experiment was forced to give their assent to an ences of occupation and similar aspirations agreement that allowed the USSR to estab- for regaining independence. The Estonian lish military bases and station 25,000 troops Sovereignty Declaration was issued on 16 on Estonian soil for “mutual defence”. On 12 November 1988 and formal independence June 1940, the order for a total military block- declared on 20 August 1991, reconstituting ade on Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic the pre-1940 state. The Soviet Union recFleet. ognised the independence of Estonia on 6 September 1991. On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia. The Red Army exited from their The 2004 enlargement of the European Union
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EU(blue and dark grey) the Eurozone(dark blue) and states outside the EU who use Euro as currency(light blue) was the largest single expansion of the European Union, both in terms of territory and population. Estonia was among a group of ten countries admitted to the EU on 1 May 2004. This helped to cement Estonia’s independence by getting out of the Russian sphere of influence. As a member of the European Union, Estonia is considered a high-income economy by the World Bank. The GDP per capita of the country, a good indicator of wealth, was in 2012 21,714 $ according to the IMF, between that of Portugal and Lithuania, but below that of long-time EU members such as Greece or Spain. The country is ranked 16th in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, with the freest economy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Because of its rapid growth, Estonia has often been described as a Baltic Tiger. Beginning 1 January 2011, Estonia adopted the euro and became the 17th eurozone member state. A balanced budget, almost non-existent public debt, flat-rate income tax, free trade regime, competitive commercial banking sector, innovative e-Services and even
mobile-based services are all hallmarks of Estonia’s market economy. Estonia today is mainly influenced by developments in Finland, Sweden and Germany, its three largest trade partners. Food, construction, and electronic industries are currently among the most important branches of Estonia’s industry. In 2007, the construction industry employed more than 80,000 people, around 12% of the entire country’s workforce. Another important industrial sector is the machinery and chemical industry. The oil shale based mining industry, which is also concentrated in EastEstonia, produces around 90% of the entire country’s electricity. Estonia has a strong information technology sector. Skype was written by Estonia-based developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, who had also originally developed Kazaa.
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IMAGES AND TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA
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Back cover artist
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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 # 12 * MARCH 2014
www.northernlandscape.org
HARRIS: HUISHINISH BEACH Beautiful beach and atmospheric skies on the Isle of Harris (Na Hearadh) in the Outer Hebrides. I loved the contrast of dark clouds and light sunlit s a n d a s w e l l a s t h e r e f l e c t i o n s o f t h e s k y i n t h e wa t e r. Location: The hamlet of Huishinish (HĂşisinis) lies at the end of a long and winding single-track road on the Abhainn Suidhe penninsula of Harris. The views from the road and the beaches and scenery at the end make the trip well worthwhile. Scotland, UK N i k o n D 2 0 0 . 1 8 - 2 0 0 m m . C a p t u r e d i n R A W. 19.01.2013, 1030 Views
NORTHERN LANDSCAPE MAGAZINE - ISSUE #12 MARCH 2014