Fotospeed Blog: International Women’s Day

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day is one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women's achievements. When celebrated for the first time in 2011, the main aim was to campaign for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. Nowadays we have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. Therefore nowadays this day is a celebration of women's achievements in all areas of our lives.

This year, the good people in Fotospeed, a fine art print paper manufacturers, decided to join the celebration and used this opportunity to ask how some of the women photographers got into photography and why they decided to print. I was delighted to be included together with some other great talents. If you would like to read the whole article, please follow this link.

Here is my small part:

How did you get into photography?

I have always been an outside person and have had a deep passion for the beauty of the natural world. When I got my first camera in my teens, I realised that I can express how I feel through photography much more eloquently. Since then I started my quest for capturing the beauty that I find even in most ordinary places and subjects. On my journey I have tried different avenues, such as portrait and wedding photography, but all my detours led me back to my love of landscape photography. That's where I belong and that's where I am at my happiest. I strive to capture the atmosphere, feeling, and sheer wonderment that our natural world can evoke within us, always searching for those fleeting moments of magic that transform it into something extraordinary.

What is it that you love about photography?

With time I realised that photography for me is not just about pressing the shutter. Not even capturing what I see. It is more about expressing my feelings and experiencing the moments that I find myself in. It is about being truly present in those moments and appreciating them for what they are, even if they are seemingly ordinary. Discovering beauty in unexpected places brings me an incredible joy. Photography became an inseparable part of my life, like walking and enjoying being in the outside world. It makes me feel grateful for every day of my life. Someone expressed it even more adequately: "Photography is a love affair with life."

Why did you decide to print?

Before the digital revolution we were not able to see the final photograph until it was developed. Waiting and anticipation were a part of the ritual of photograph taking. It was magical to see the picture slowly appear in front of your eyes. We lost that magic a long time ago. Nowadays we take more photographs than ever before, but do we ever truly look at them? They are almost invisible, like ghosts. They are just a number of pixels, a combination of 0s and 1s sitting on our hard drives, waiting for us to come back and look for them. However, how often do we look through our archives just to find one or two of our favourites? Printing digital images is as close to the magic of developing a film as it can be. As soon as the print comes out of the printer and you can hold it in your hands it becomes real, tangible. Something that you can touch and experience. Something that you want to keep going back to. As Ansel Adams said: “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance.” The composer's score would never come alive without those who perform it.

What paper is your favourite to print on?

I have tried several different types of paper and eventually found the one that I feel really does justice to any types of photographs that I like to take. It is Fotospeed NST Bright White 315 Signature Paper. The quality of the prints is superb. The matte surface eliminates any reflections that could potentially distract from viewing the print. Its subtle texture creates a beautiful, almost painting-like effect. It lends itself to soft pastel colours which I love. However, it is perfect for black and white photographs as well. It preserves all the details in shadows and highlights and the details are crisp and clear. As its name suggests, it is pure white and so there is no colour cast that would even slightly change the way the final print looks.

Just Before The Dawn

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