This enchanting winter shot of Vareid beach on the Lofoten Islands captures a moment of unapproachable beauty and desolate tranquillity. Nestled at the foot of an imposing snow-capped mountainside are several red and white buildings, including the distinctive church of Flakstad. They seem almost swallowed up by the looming fog and drifting snow, blown on by a bleak arctic wind.
The colour contrasts are subtle but powerful: the icy blue-green of the rough sea in the foreground is a sharp contrast to the chilly white of snow and mist, and the soft red tones of the houses offer a warm accent in an otherwise unforgiving palette of greys.
The composition emphasises the insignificance of human presence against the overwhelming natural beauty. The mountain rises like a snow-capped giant, jagged and dominant, its summit shrouded in mist - as if heaven and earth are merging here. The picture exudes a poetic melancholy; an image of a community nestled on the edge of the possible, where nature is not just scenery, but protagonist.
Father - Photographer - Engineer - Pizza lover - Springsteen fan - Traveller
I'm Ben - self-taught landscape photographer from Belgium, in search of light and stillness since 2016.
At 45, I took a camera in my hands for the first time. A late start, perhaps, but proof..
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