Ruska by Antonio Fernandez
In September we decided to photograph the autumn season in the north of Finland. The colours at that time of the year are awesome and last for just a few days at their best. This landscape is called “Ruska” by people in Finland.
The day before we had gone up to the top of the mountain to take some pictures at the sunset. On our way back it started to snow and luckily it kept on snowing all night long. The following day, we got up early and drove to the base of the mountain. We started to go up again surrounded by snow. When we reached the top we were amazed by the beautiful valley we had opposite us: it seemed like a white canvas full of colourful brush-strokes. Undoubtedly we had been very lucky, an amazing and natural watercolor painting was waiting for us.
It was the perfect moment to look for different compositions and perspectives. I got many diverse shots: pictures with many more trees, a range of mountains under a white sky, but I chose this image because it was a closer frame and the perfect abstract image of the extraordinary beauty that surrounded us. The shot was taken with my 80-400 mm lens and I rather wanted to show a simpler detail of the valley full of colourfulbrush-strokes. This is a picture that could make us wonder what it is and what is happening and at the same time let us imagine the beauty of that vanishing instant.
The post processing was very simple. I did it with Capture NX-D, I slightly modified the level curves to gain contrast and also the colour temperature as my main objective was to reflect that feeling of colourful brush-strokes over a very clear and white canvas.
I think I was right when I chose that natural detail in a very wide landscape and I´m very satisfied with the result. It shows my evolution in my continuous process of nature photography learning where I always try to capture simple images that make the observer wonder or ask themselves about the nearby landscape.
