Posted on June 12, 2015
update
by Kristel Schneider
Spring time, the season of colors and new life.
For me the time where I focus a lot on flower photography, especially the last couple of weeks I visited my favorite flower ‘hotspots’ in the area
I was happy to see that the wild orchids were doing very good this year, some species came out even too early for me as they were already to damaged to photograph.
Nature is acting pretty unpredictable over the last couple of years and the flora is adapting better to this than our nature flower guides. So it is better to see for yourself and look when
certain species are out or not. Because of the weather (hot, warm, wet, wind) I returned to the flower areas a couple of times to see their blooming status and to have better photography light conditions.
Today I updated my portfolio | Latest Work, to give you a small overview of what I have been photographing lately.
Feel free to have a look at my website
Posted on June 6, 2015
Thanks to modern technology (Skype) I could meet the participants of the summer photo-tour to Auvergne this morning.
A nice mix of photography experience and people, looks like we are going to have lots of fun and photo moments together!
Like to join us in the Auvergne, there is only one spot available. (update: this tour is fully booked!, new dates for 2016 will be published soon)
More info: English – Dutch
Category: Genereal Tagged: Auvergne Photography Workshops, auvergne workshops, Best of Auvergne, foto workshops auvergne, foto workshops Frankrijk, Kristel Schneider Photography, Nature and Landscape Photography, Nature Photography Workshops, Nordic Vision photo tours, Stages Photo en Auvergne, Visions and Nature
Posted on April 21, 2015
Publication in Natuurfotopassie 17
Natuurfotopassie, a Dutch photo magazine published an overview of my work in an 8-page portfolio.
The text was written by René de Vos and features some of my toughts about photography and what made me a nature photographer.
Posted on April 3, 2015
Publication in French Nature Magazine: Nat’Images 31
To photograph trees
by Kristel Schneider
Nat’images, the nature edition of the popular French photo magazine Chasseur d’Image, published an article and image portfolio from me about Tree photography.
The article (written by Kristel Schneider and translated/adapted (French) by F.Rousseau) describes the different approaches in tree photography.
A total of 8 pages is published in the nr. 31 April/May 2015 issue. For those who live in France the issue is now for sale in the kiosks. Upcoming exhibitions ‘ Variations in Trees’
Look for an overview of tree images on Kristels site: portfolio trees
Posted on March 10, 2015
by Kristel Schneider
Col de la Croix Saint-Robert
March 2015
As nature was already showing all signs of Spring I decided to go out and take some last winter images. Considering the warmer temperatures coming up this week I think this will probably be the last change for a nice photo day on snowshoes in my area. Last Friday (6th March 2015) I first drove to my favorite valley, Vallèe de Chaudefour, but I was unlucky, the snow was already very soft so I had to walk to the middle of the valley to get some thicker snow. I decided to walk to the end of the valley on my snowshoes and enjoy the nice weather, great walk but no interesting photo-subjects for me, so the camera did not move the whole morning.
After a long lunch break I drove higher up and saw that the road to Col de la Croix Saint-Robert was still closed for traffic, a good sign!
I put my snowshoes on my camera bag and started walking up the closed road, higher up I could see a nice white open landscape . The weather was a bit too sunny, not what I had in mind for my last winter images of the season, but that is also nature photography, you have to work with what you have, you can’t have it all 😉
Knowing the area a bit without the snow, it was handy for me to have some landmarks and interesting point to photograph. For example a group of lonely trees on a hillside, that looked totally different now as it was surrounded with snow. Unfortunately in front of the trees I saw some elements that would be distracting in my frame, so I decided to put myself flat on the floor to try to get an other angle. I used a snowbank for a ‘new’ foreground and looked for lines in my composition.
Another spot I wanted to visit was a group of birch trees, higher up. These trees are always a nice subject for me to explore. At the spot I noticed, by the many snowshoe tracks, that more people had the idea to walk to Col de la Croix Saint-Robert today. The composition I had in mind with the trees was impossible to do now so I had to be creative. With Puy de l’Angle in the background and just a small group of trees in the front I turned around to avoid the tracks in my frame.
I walked to the Puy de l’Angle, overlooking a great winter scenery, ….nobody around…empty, with only the sound of some happy birds in the air and the cracking snow under my snowshoes.
Although I had hoped for a more exciting light, I had a great time exploring the area with my camera. Later in the afternoon, white stripes and clouds appeared in the blue sky and I had to make a decision, wait for a nice sundown or walk slowly back and be home before it got too dark. Looking at the sky I decided to be reasonable and not get disappointed by a closed sky. I took some last images from the winter scenery and I know that next year I will definitely come back, earlier in the season with hopefully more snow and rougher weather conditions!