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One on One featuring landscape and seascape photographer Matti Boeschote
Home and Childhood
Matti moved in to Helsinki, Finland 3 years ago from the Netherlands, where he spent his early years.
“I am a 28 year old guy born in Finland, after my birth I moved to the Netherlands where I lived most of my life. 3 years ago I followed my heart back to Finland, where I met, now the mother of my child. My childhood was pretty normal. You always read a lot of stories of people getting into photography at a very young age. I’m not one of them. I started like a lot of us amateurs out there. A small compact camera (back then with 4mp and a tiny digital screen) to take nice pictures on holidays. Also the idea of making pictures and getting them directly on your computer or TV screen was something amazing.” If you could live anywhere on this awesome planet, where would you build your dream home?
“Just from a photography point of view I could name a lot of places, and of course if money is not an issue. I pinned down 3.
What sort of Photography genre do you specialise in and how long have you been a photographer?
“Mostly landscapes and seascapes with a hint of cityscapes once in a while.”
With a young interest in cityscapes, the ever-changing beauty of nature always grab s Matti’s attention.
“Being all alone enjoying the nature sounds is so relaxing compared to crowded cities. Living in Finland with the extreme seasons gives so many different opportunities. In the summer you can enjoy endless long golden hours due to the nightless period. In winter you can capture the beauty of a snowy and icy landscape. I still do enjoy shooting in the city as well, capturing everyday life and movement is always a challenge.” "As long as you keep sitting inside or wondering what could have been, you’ll never get the shot you are dreaming of.”Did you go school to study photography?
“Nope, I am a so called ‘self-taught’. Learning through the Internet and mostly by just getting out there. I think that is the most important thing I learned in the last year or two; going outside, taking the shots is the most important thing. As long as you keep sitting inside or wondering what could have been, you’ll never get the shot you are dreaming of.”
What or who got you started in photography?
“I borrowed a DSLR camera from a friend when we went on a trip to New York and I was so impressed by the picture quality and possibilities that I bought my first own DSLR (Nikon D3100) shortly after we got back. From there it developed to a holiday kind of photography.”
How would you describe your photography style?
“I find it difficult to really describe my style especially since it’s something that is developing all the time.”
Trying to capture nature’s beautiful colors, Matti explains his style with a critical twist: “A popular style at the moment is that of low contrast and bright lights and more dimmed down colors. I really enjoy this style but I don’t think it's something I am looking for. The beautiful color of our nature is what makes me happy and it’s something I want to share. I also think you always pick up something from what style is in ‘fashion’ at the moment.” "A decent tripod is what every (Landscape) photographer should have in his bag."What camera gears do you use and what’s your favourite photography accessory, other than your camera?
“Nikon D7200 DX DSLR teamed up with a Sigma 18-35 F1.8 and a Sigma 10-20 F4-5.6.
Buy now at Nikon.com
“My favourite accessory is definitely my trusted tripod. I think a decent tripod is what every (Landscape) photographer should have in his bag. It gives you so many possibilities in every lighting condition and it makes you think so much more about your composition. And also, what I noticed is that it gives you peace and time to think about what you are shooting and how. Especially beginners seem to be struggling with image sharpness due to camera shake whilst trying to capture low light images.”
If you had to choose one lens for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why?
“I would stick with an ultra wide lens since I just love to focus and capture small details combined with wide views of a dramatic scenery. So to sum up, it would probably be the Nikkon 14-24mm. A state of the art lens that would fit my style. I would also love to own a Zeiss made lens, for example a Distagon 15mm. The quality of this lens is just amazing, maybe one day :) ”
How important is post -production retouching in your final images?
“Post-production is a big part of my images definitely, and it is also a thing I enjoy doing almost as much as the actual capturing of the images. There are a lot of situations in the field where I think of the post-production possibilities and know already what kind of feeling I want to create."
Before
After
Rule number one is always to get a good composition and exposure; it cannot be that you have to fix the basic things in post-production. Post-production for me is more to help the camera with things it cannot do itself.
For example extend the dynamic range by bracketing. I also think it is very important not to change the reality too much. What you see a lot these days is people making composites of 2 or 3 different photos. Making the audience believe for example that a milky way can be seen from everywhere in every direction. I don’t think I will bring my retouching that far. I love to look at those pictures though but for me it is not the essence of photography.” MAC or PC ?
“PC :) I have thought of Mac a lot of times but I would require too much changing of my workflow.”
Can you describe for the readers your photographic workflow in few steps?
“This picture was taken on a beautiful autumn morning in Finland. After finding a good composition I start thinking of what kind of photo I want to create. Since it was autumn, with the last mist disappearing from the lake, I wanted to create a more mysterious atmosphere.”
“Since I bracket my photos, it starts by checking out the different exposures in Lightroom. Mostly I look at the histograms and see if there is any detail lost in the shadows or in the highlights. Since the dynamic range of single exposures is so good these days, the shadows can be saved most of the time. When you lose data in the highlights it starts to get troublesome. Then I remove the chromatic aberrations and straighten the picture by applying the lens correction.”
In this example (which is the normal exposure) you can see there isn’t much detail neither in the shadows nor in the highlights.
Normal Exposure
For this I grab the overexposed photo. You can see that the light parts are too bright but the foreground gives us good detail.
Same goes for the sky, in the normal exposed one you can see it maybe a couple of stops overexposed. Exposing on the sky gives us a better result.
I have been using Photomatix for blending the 3 bracketed photos. It does the job quite nicely but I’m learning to do it with Photoshop so the loss in picture quality is less. For beginners, Photomatix (or NIK HDR Efex) are great programs to get the hang of blending, there is always the danger of creating these infamous HDR pictures, nobody likes. :)
After we let the software do its job, our picture looks like this. Now we have details in the foreground and the background, plus our sky looks like it should be.
But it still doesn’t have the magic and atmosphere I am looking for.
First I crop and fix the parts of the composition I don’t like. In this example the branches on the left and some small dust spots from the sensor. Next I add some split toning to add more orange/yellow color to the light parts in the sky and because I want a bit more mysterious feel, I add some blue tones to the shadows. At this point I also try the shadow and highlights sliders to get the right feel. I don’t really have a rule for this, but I guess that it’s a matter of taste. If you want to create more drama, dark shadows can add to the effect, emphasizing the light
At this point the picture is almost there where I want to have it, all I do now is some fine tuning. First the horizon is a bit tilted, so I turn it so it’s straight.
I added still some warmth and lifted the foreground colors with a light brush.
As a final touch we add some sharpening, I used to do this in Photoshop or Lightroom but since Google’s NIK Sharpener Pro 3 is free of charge I’ve started to like this plug in more and more.
Our final picture looks like this:
What is your favourite image you have shot recently? Can you describe its creation in regards to location, lighting, composition etc., also your thoughts when creating the image and what it means to you?
“This is one of my favourite places to go. A small nature reserve with lovely small lakes. In the spring time the sun sets right behind the tree line. I really enjoy shooting lakes and jetties. They add great depth to a photo and give you the feeling to jump in the water."
"Also the reflection of a calm and quiet lake has something magical to it. The composition I wanted is the sun setting behind the trees lighting up the sky with color. Again I used the bracketing technique since the dynamic range of this scene was too wide for a single shot. In the end I got the nice colorful shot I was looking for. Of course, when shooting landscapes you cannot predict what kind of photos you go home with. But every weather and light gives it’s own atmosphere. I’d say that a clear blue sky is the most difficult thing to work with.”
A photographer who inspires you?
“Konsta Punkka, A young Finnish guy who makes absolutely beautiful artwork. You should definitely check him out on Instagram."
"Jimmy Mcintyre, someone who shares his vision and knowledge in a great way."
These are just two that came quickly to my mind. I think what is amazing these days is that you can get inspiration from so many different places. There’s Instagram where the type of photography is again very different if you compare it to, for example, with 500px.”
A website and/or blog you visit often?
“Digital Review forum is a great place to read and discuss about photography. I especially enjoy reading up on the news and new rumours of upcoming lenses or cameras”
“500px has also been a big place for inspiration. Although, I noticed that the best way to become popular is to post really extreme edited photos. I got a bit lost in that as well at one point. I guess it is something we all had, over editing photos to the extreme. Then you look at the photos a couple of months later and start to wonder what was wrong with me.” If you could be invisible for one day with your camera...
“I think it would be very cool to do this with wild life. For example getting up real close to a bear or lion, showing their natural environment whilst also capturing all the great details of these stunning creatures.”
Something you’re still learning?
“I think there is always something to learn, in life and in photography. We had a baby boy just three months ago; this is a whole new thing for me to shoot people and moving objects. So learning a lot about auto focusing and also the post processing of people requires a different view.
Then there is no such thing as a perfect shot; there is always something that I think could have been better.” 
What photographic ambitions have you not yet achieved?
“There are two things on my near future wish list: shooting night starry skies and while living in Finland: the auroras. Now we are heading into summer so this will be impossible but definitely next fall/winter, I’ll be wandering around in the dark :)”
What would you like to be doing in 5 years from now?
“In 5 years from now, I hope I can go out into the nature with my then 5 year old son and enjoy the beauty of it together. I hope he will be interested in photography as well, but you never know :) ”
"Always shoot RAW"Your best tips on retouching and some before and after retouching photo results.
1. When shooting always look at your histograms and with the dynamic range of the cameras these days, shadows can be mostly saved, blown out highlights cannot so meter for the highlights and work with the shadows in post. Additionally, always remember to level your shadows carefully, maintaining the natural touch. If you have a sunset, there will always be deep shadows, don’t lift them too much.
2. Be careful with the vibrancy and saturation sliders. We all like to make the colors pop, but there is a limit. In my opinion, post production is about emphasising the atmosphere you were looking for when you were shooting.
3. Always shoot RAW and use bracketing/blending when there’s a big dynamic range (Deep shadows, bright highlights) Your social handles
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One on One featuring traveller and entrepreneur Karley DeCocker and Ben Ulusaraclar New York and Germany based traveller, photographer, social media influencers and ambassadors, the ideal wanderlust couple share their journey around the world, some memories and valuable tips to get you started. Read it all in this exclusive One on One segment Home and ChildhoodKarley grew up spending most of her time outdoors with her family in the countryside of New York State. “Fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, boating and campfires describe my childhood”. Ben liked playing outside with friends going on new adventures mainly trying to stay out of trouble. “I remember running home as quick as I could for my mother’s to-die-for cooking” How did Karley and Ben meet?
Karley and Ben started travelling together since when? “We met in Australia on both of our own first solo trips and bumped into each other twice and kept in touch. We became best friends and our friendship blossomed into a lifelong everlasting romance. You can say we found each other through travel.” How often do you travel?“Permanently, traveling is our lifestyle. We are currently traveling throughout Asia and making our way back to Europe and then to the East coast in America.” What has been the longest travel you have ever done?For Ben it was a 30 hours night train from Stuttgart to Berlin and a flight to New York and a bus to upstate New York. “This wasn’t my most difficult travel but I sure was exhausted once I finally arrived. I will travel any amount of distance to be with my love.” How do you choose the places you want to see?“We usually choose places that we have either been on our travel list or we hear about new places when we are traveling from locals and we “do as the locals do”. We try to travel with as few plans as possible and make our plans as we go. We have seen some of the best places that way."  How many countries have you visited so far49! Your top 7 places so far? (Cities)Melbourne, Bangkok, Penang, Munich, Antwerp, Cairns. “These places we have spent some of our most cherished moments together.” What made you get the travel bug, do you think you are addicted to travelling“We both love exploring new places, which means we have to travel to be somewhere completely new. New food is always fun to try as well as being immersed in a new culture. We are comforted that the world is large place to explore! Karley is working on being able to draw out the entire world by memory.” How do you budget and save for your travels?“Prepare, plan and save… SPEND… REPEAT. Here’s a useful tip, try not to spend money on too many things like objects save your money to spend on experiences.”  What is TimeOutSociety ?“We are connecting people with the world by sharing photos and stories to encourage travel and to take time out of your day to chase your passions in life. If you could live anywhere on this awesome planet, where would you build your dream home?“Hmm that’s a tough one. Melbourne is our favourite city so possibly there!” Are you a travel photographer?Karley: “Yes, Ben started taking photos 5 years ago." Ben: "Karley has been learning since we met and is doing extremely well."  When you photograph places, things or people, what are you trying to capture and reflect?“Our main focus is to show how life looks at each place we go to. Some days we are on a mission to photograph specific things and other days we just walk around and see what happens…some of our best photos have been taken this way.” Did you ever go on a Solo trip? If yes then when, where and how was your experience?“We both travelled to Australia on our own and made friends along the way. Solo trips turn into a not so solo trip if your lucky and you can meet other like minded people who share the same interests as you. We both fell in love with Australia because there are so many travellers looking to make friends and at the same time see and explore the country! Do you make money while traveling?“Our travel funds are prepared before we actually travel." What profession(s) you associate yourself with? And what advice would you give to someone wanting to join the same?“We are social media influencers, entrepreneurs, travel guides, photographers, and ambassadors. We recommend that if you want to do anything start now and start building up your own social media accounts such as Instagram with your own photos, experiences, and hobbies!”  What camera gears do you use“Canon 550D and our phones when we don’t carry our camera with us. Also our little Gopro!” That one factor that you love about travelling, which actually keeps you wanting to travel more?“Meeting new friends is always a huge plus because its another reason to travel more to see them again! We always say “It’s never goodbye it’s see you later”! A Thank You Note for Karley and Ben When I came across your quirky gallery I knew it will be wonderful to have a feature on you. Thank you for sharing your travel stories, tips and experiences. Hope you have a great time in Philippines. Wishing you both all the best. With Best Regards Chris Share this post by pasting this link: http://travellerchris.com/one-on-one-interviews/karley-and-ben-in-one-on-one All Rights Reserved. All Images shown in this post belong to the photographer. Please redirect your queries to the photographer, if you may choose to use these images in any way.
One on One featuring landscape photographer Felix Inden Born and raised for his first 5 years in Costa Da Morte, Galicia, Spain, a professional landscape photographer tells me everything about his photography and passion in life. From a photographic spark in Paris to a dream job with Game of Thrones. Read it all, in my One on One segment with Felix Inden. Home and Childhood “Home for me is where my family is and at the moment that´s Köln (Cologne) in Germany.”  My Town Felix grew in different places during his childhood, born and raised in Spain, he moved to Concepcion, Chile. He tells “I think here it was that my love for nature started to get built, as I travelled a lot through the majestic national parks of South America with my parents in our little VW van.” Although 6 years later he moved back to Germany and has been living in Köln ever since. Getting started, learning curves and genreWife Maria was already into photography long before Felix was. He explains how a boring walk in Paris got him the photography bug; “it was a short trip to Paris with her, I simply got super bored of being walking around with her (taking pictures all the day) and thought: Why don´t I try to learn how to take pictures with her old Pentax Ist Dl? The rest is history...” Felix’s learning curve with photography has been “100% autodidactic” He bought every book about photography and consumed as many tutorials as he could. Meanwhile his passion for landscape photography has been his main genre in photography and he has been doing it for over 5 years now; “I also do a lot of architecture photography as it´s easier to get jobs in that genre, but my heart beats for landscapes”  Arctic Fire How would you describe your photography style?“Tough one!” he exclaims, “I try to let my imagery live, create a kind of emotional reaction to my images” “The viewer should be forced to look at the image for some longer than just the typical fraction of a second. I focus on interesting light moods and on thought out compositions including a foreground, middle ground and background. For this I often break the so called “rule” of photography- the result is all I care for.” Camera Gear
Importance of Post ProductionWhen I asked Felix about the importance of post production in his work, he explained, although he could take pictures without giving much post processing, he also added, how it has made things fun while making an important point about styles; “I love the creative freedom that postproduction gives you nowadays. I also think that processing is important to shape your own style, as nowadays everybody can buy the same gear and learn how to use it- but almost everybody has a unique workflow to deal with those files.”  Before  After Above is a before and after post processing image showing a glimpse of Felix's workflow. Talking about that; What is your workflow like? "My workflow can be summarised as follows: Find a composition, refine the composition and hope for the elements to align. Take the captures and keep thinking about potential flaws that I might have forgotten. When I arrive at my cabin or the place where I sleep, I double backup the files and recharge the used batteries. All my processing get’s done at home on my 2 screens setup and I don´t like to process shots on the road. All I post while out there shooting are behind the scenes images and snaps taken with my phone camera. My processing basically consists of the following steps:
Shooting the Northern LightsTo shoot northern lights, Felix recommends the region of Nordland in Northern Norway, Iceland or Lappland in Finalnd. “Abisko in Sweden is also a great place to photograph this fantastic natural phenomenon.”  Birdy Camera Settings “The settings vary depending on the movement of the northern lights. If it stands still and is pretty weak, you can expose up to 30“- but if the lights get stronger and start to dance, the exposure has to be shorter in order to keep some textures. All this while shooting at an aperture of f2.8 with ISO around 1000-3600 most of the time. What gives you ideas and inspires you to create such great imagery? “Most of the time it´s the surrounding nature or the music that I might be listening to. Also documentaries, movies and books which I read. Game of Thrones has been a constant source of inspiration actually :D “ Your Dream Destination Assignment"Going to one of the places where it´s way too expensive or dangerous to go on my own. Let it be Antartica, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Bhutan, Afghanistan and many other places on this planet where it is just hard to go and take pictures at the moment."  Your Favourite Image and its Creation“Chasing Light is one of my recent favourites. I shot it 3 weeks ago at Utakleiv, one of the greatest beaches of the Lofoten Archipelago in Northern Norway.” Furthermore Felix explains a quirky story about the location and a beautiful composition of the entire scene;  Chasing Light “I didn't just want a colourful sky, but a distinct light show on the mountain in the backdrop called Skolmen. Also I wanted to shoot the exact puddle where I once destroyed a very expensive set of gear, but I wanted to have it with some nice motion blur of the receding waves. So with as many factors that had to align, I was of course super happy that I finally took this image. The composition was pretty straight forward, shot at 14mm trying to find a foreground that kind of “picks up the view” and then pulls it through the image to let it then explore the great and dramatic arctic lightshow.” Industry now and 5 years later...“Oh... the photography industry... It´s a very quickly developing industry with an incredible amount of new players entering the game every day- that makes it move very fast and incredibly fun! In 5 years it will most likely be still developing with the same speed and I can´t predict anything else than that it will still be an amazing industry to be a part of." A photographer who inspires you?“Many photographers inspire me. Actually way to many to name them all here. There have to be named Hans Strand, Ben Horne, Sebastião Salgado, Ragnar Axelsson, August Sander, Theo Boosboom, Stian Klo, Arild Heitmann and many more…” Is there anything you would have done differently during your photographic career?“I think not, I believe that things come together at some point, if you just let them flow. Ok I wouldn't leave my D800 with 14-24 attached standing on the edge of a puddle in the middle of some gale force winds again... that way I learned how easy it is to ruin 5k of gear though, so maybe it was good in the end!”  Essence You have learned the most from?“My parents and from living this life with an open mind and interest in things I don´t know.” Something you’re still learning? “We never stop learning, so I will always be learning something. At the moment I´m learning how it is to be a father- something very fun and exhausting to learn...” What photographic ambitions have you not yet achieved?I am only a little drop of water in the big ocean of photography; so there are many things that I still want to do. Way too much to name them all here! Stay tuned! What would you like to be doing in 5 years from now? “Basically the same thing as I am doing now, combining my family life with being out there in the wind, looking for new memories to bring home” If you could build your dream home anywhere on this planet? “Well that´s easy for me, if I could (and if my wife would think the same way), I would be living in one of the gorgeous little towns of the Lofoten Archipelago in Northern Norway.“ And finally, what advice do you have for somebody who wants to pursue photography?“Believe in yourself, don´t do things only to get recognition, but because it´s your passion. Don´t focus on things that others do, but work on yourself instead. Last not least: be nice and don´t get caught up in criticising others...” Here are some gorgeous photographs by Felix Inden.
Get to know Felix Inden more: Website: www.felixinden.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/felixinden Twitter: www.twitter.com/felixinden Facebook: www.facebook.com/felixindenphotography Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+FelixInden Share this post by pasting this link: http://travellerchris.weebly.com/one-on-one-interviews/1
Hungry for more about travels ? Click here Suggest a Photographer/Traveller to be interviewed next, follow the link on the home page under One on One section. All Rights Reserved. All Images shown in this post belong to the photographer. Please redirect your queries to the photographer, if you may choose to use these images in any way. |
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October 2016
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