Luminous Landscape Forum
Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: Ken Tanaka on March 30, 2015, 12:57:04 pm
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Michele: I had to log-in here at LL (first time in a dog's age) to compliment your photography from your Antarctic trip. Frankly I find most Antarctic photography to be static, unimaginative, uninsightful, and, with the region becoming increasingly accessible to amateur photographers, cliché. The best work from this region (or ANY region, for that matter) tells viewers much, much more than what an iceberg looks like; it tells viewers what icebergs FEEL like.
Your Antarctic work reaches higher than 90% of the work I've seen. You list no formal visual training in your biography so you must have a rather natural talent for composing gesture, tension, spacial management, and simple proportions into a photo frame. (And I love that lecturing tour-guide penguin!) Well done Ms. Sons, well done indeed!
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+1 Well done indeed!
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Well Ken I second (and third) your opinion.
But do you know what - I was moved much more by Michele's wonderful, as spoken almost, writing.
I am so in awe of a fellow Brit. who not only has a wonderful eye for an image but also has such a fundamentally and emotionally connected way of writing.
This is the best article - IMO - I have read and viewed on Antarctica - full stop!
Well done.
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"I was moved much more by Michele's wonderful, as spoken almost, writing."
Yes, excellent point, David. Her narrative of the freshness of such a personally overwhelming experience hit home with me, too, and was strongly complementary to her images.
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I must agree. The writing and photographs are both so beautifully honest and deeply felt.
Thanks for sharing your adventure with us, Michele.
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Hello Eric, Ken, David, & Kevin.
Thanks to each of you for your very kind words and compliments. My entire Antarctic experience, from finding out about winning the trip, to being there, to having this article published, has been hugely positive, personally and professionally significant, and certainly humbling. I am a fortunate person, indeed, to have been given so much - in terms of the immediate experience and also in terms of the future opportunity. And so I am working hard at growing and making the most of it all. I believe I have already overused the word grateful, but grateful I am. Deeply!! LuLa is unique and is truly doing incredible things for young photographers (young in terms of experience rather than age, haha, speaking for myself)...
Great to hear that the writing sounds like the spoken word, as that was my intent. I like to keep things real ;) Also wonderful to hear my images are evoking the coveted emotional response, too!! Reading this thread certainly put a very big grin on my face this afternoon!
Michele
www.michelesonsphotography.com
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Oh - and I forgot to add that I had two wonderful editors who helped me with this article. I'm not a natural writer, and so I couldn't have done it without their help! Derek von Briesen, my longtime mentor, and Sam Krisch, my friend. Both incredibly talented photographers and writers who were generous with their time and advice...
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Great article and her view of Antarctica and it's awesomeness mirrors my own.
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I am deeply touched by Michele's work, I see a lot of thought given to the images, composition and selection. I love the moon behind the gentle curve of the snow, very sensual. I recommend a visit to Michele's web site.
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I also enjoyed the article and the pictures very much, but what's the story of the figure in the dress? She (is it a selfie?) must have been freezing, but the result is intriguing and had me thinking of 19th century Romantic works (eg Friedrich's Wanderer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog)) .
John
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Many thanks, Rusty, EJ, and John, appreciate the positive feedback!
John - the image you ask about is the latest in an expressive series I have been working on. The Feminine Landscape depicts women (usually me but not always) in dramatic natural settings as an exploration of my own experience of place. It's a fun way to combine my love of both landscape and portrait photography... I usually try to shoot these at every location I travel to for landscape work, so they are also a sort of personal record of my travels... Naturally, I had to do one in Antarctica. This one is inspired by a Yeats piece, The Collar-Bone of a Hare. Yeats is a regular source of inspiration for me.
Yes, it was cold! But it was colder about 30 minutes after this shot when I went for a polar plunge ;)
Michele
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I concur with the others. Fresh and enthusiastic approach.
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+1 on the photos and the article -- very enjoyable and impressive!
The right person clearly won the tour spot!
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Very nice images, Michele. Lovely images on your website as well.
All the best from a fellow SW Virginian (Radford)...
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I just saw them today, and I have to say, your work is among the very best from Antarctica I have ever seen.
Kudos!
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Many thanks Matthew, QuintaQuad, DogFriendly, and Paulo. Really appreciate all the incredible compliments!