Forest in the mist

by ReBlick

Thick mist drifts through the mountain forest, causing the landscape to disappear layer by layer. In the foreground, the dark spruce trees are still clearly visible, whilst the trees behind them gradually lose their contours and eventually merge almost completely with the mist. It is precisely these kinds of changes that interest me in landscape photography. Fog reduces what is actually a dense forest to just a few shapes and shades. What normally appears solid and heavy suddenly takes on depth and lightness. For a brief moment, the landscape consists less of a specific place than of different levels of visibility.

In this photograph, the dark clusters of trees in the foreground form the fixed point of reference. Behind them, the structures become increasingly lighter and more indistinct, until the mist takes over a large part of the image. The almost monochrome colour scheme further emphasises this reduction.

As a wall hanging, the photograph has a calm and understated quality, yet at the same time possesses a clear presence thanks to the dark silhouettes. The reduced palette of dark green, grey and white harmonises particularly well with natural materials and simple, understated interiors.