First, there was dodging and burning. Then, there was Ansel Adams. Then came HDR. And now we have Extreme Landscape Photography and Alexandre Deschaumes. Not only that, but Deschaumes does it the natural way and the hard way, setting out for remote and inaccessible places and bringing back photographs that take on the quality of moody paintings and even dreams.
Deschaumes has two sets of online portfolios, one on SmugMug and the other on 500px. As you will find, a few of the images are like both, moody paintings and dreams.
Check out Opalescent Dream for a very different kind of mood (than the image linked to above); these photographs would have made ideal backdrops for a few scenes of the LOTR movies. This gallery has to be seen for some of the most delicate hues and textures in landscape photography.
Here is a radically different ‘evocation’ of the same subject matter, brilliantly composed. In that same gallery is this spellbinding image of a mountaintop lake which truly defines ‘Extreme Landscape Photography’.
What we find all too easy to do with rivers and stars must be a little complicated where clouds are concerned, i.e. long exposures. Look at these ribbony tendrils Deschaumes has produced while the same technique also yields a more dramatic, minimalist and stark image.
Without any doubt this photographer is a master technician who has his own secrets and creates his own magic, including – of course – via post-processing techniques. At the same time he is an artist in the true sense of the word. That much-bandied word, ‘Vision’, is something that Deschaumes clearly has in spades. Even if you or I made it out to the same godforsaken place, would we have been able to produce this image? Or this one? That’s ‘Vision’.
As strange as it sounds, a few of Deschaumes mountain photographs resemble some of Rembrandt’s portraits with respect to lighting. Here is chiaroscuro effect, montane style. You can see more examples of mountain photos a la Rembrandt, so to speak, on this page.
What has been summarized here is but a drop in the ‘Photobucket’ of a single photographer who has been shooting for only ten years!
Tags: Deschaumes, dream, extreme photography, Landscape Photography, painting
