Catharsis I – In Your Shadow
(catharsis = purification, renewal, reborn of the soul and spirit through art)
Metsovo, Pindus Mountains, Greece
After the “black” series …now I’m going to the other extreme to explore white. Starting a new series, quite different from what you’d expect from me, but perfectly fit in my process of experimenting with ways to convey my ideas and feelings through my images, which is my main goal in photography, why I do it in the first place (yes, art is a selfish act for me. Also, perfectly fit with my aesthetic patterns and the way I see the world, which in a nutshell is that I’m both in love with architecture and with nature. Some parts of me resonate with the one, some other are touched by the other. This time I was fascinated by the silence and the purifying power of a snowy scene.
I believe a mountain covered in fresh snow is one of the best places to find oneself and make peace with one’s past, present and future. This is why the title I gave to this series. The removal of almost all the things we normally see in a scene and that remind us about life as it is, which is what the snow does to a place, suddenly brings to surface the spirit of the place, purified of everything, showing its primordial state and this has an extremely powerful effect on our spirit and soul, purifying and liberating them.
The day I went to this mountain to take the shots you will see in this series was one of the very few times that I can see snow here in Greece.
So, me being there at the right moment was a big joy, especially that I was trying to photograph this place under snow for a few years already, but never had the right conditions.
This time it was both about planning and also about luck, so I wanted to take full advantage of it. I tried to move away from the “civilization” so I went further into the mountain till I couldn’t see any other being around me and the experience of standing there, in the middle of all this untouched white, with a snowstorm that was getting quite strong from time to time to whip my face, all this I can tell you was an unbelievable gnostic experience.
When you’re there surrounded by nothing but white, you feel for a moment like the only human being in the whole universe. And everything seems possible then.
Technical details:
handheld shot 1/125 @ f/9,0, Tamron 18-270mm f/3,5-6,3 PZD @ 18mm, ISO 100, Processing: LR4, PS CS6, SilverEfex Pro2
FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES
FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY, LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Find more resources about fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architecture photography in Julia Anna Gospodarou’s extensive collection of photography tutorials. To receive free future tutorials, you can subscribe here.
Learn more about how to create fine art photography, from vision to processing and the final image in Julia’s video course From Vision to Final Image – Mastering Black and White Photography Processing, in the video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography – Creating (en)Visionography, and the book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, or by attending one of her highly appreciated workshops.
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Founder of (en)Visionography™ and creator of Photography Drawing™, internationally acclaimed fine art photographer, architect, educator, and best-selling author, with 25+ years experience in photography and architecture, Julia Anna Gospodarou is a leader in modern fine art photography who shaped with her work the way architecture fine art photography looks today.
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