Florian Smit documents the harmonious coexistence of plant and pine in an Italian forest, and his quest to find it…
Nature photographer Florian Smit documents the harmonious coexistence of plant and pine in an Italian forest
The name of this series of images is ‘coexistence’. My aim was to show the beautiful harmony between pines and cyclamen in a particularly magical forest.
I was prompted to start this project when Ifound an amateur picture of the forest on the internet. Initially I didn’t know where it was located – the only thing I knew was that it was somewhere in Italy. I saw a lot of potential in the forest, and started researching it further to find out the exact spot. I couldn’t find any photos where the coexistence between the two plants was shown! I’d only come across one very old image of a clean pine forest on the west coast of Italy, so had to guess this was the right spot. I started to collect information about the heyday of these cyclamen that I saw on the first amateur picture.
The best time to shoot cyclamen is around the middle of April. At this time of year, I was already in southern France, photographing birds in the Camargue. The project had gone so well that I had another week left, so I looked at a map and figured out that ‘my’ forest in Italy was around 600km away.
I took a risk by driving all the way from the south of France to the west coast of Italy. Although I arrived at night, I was so excited to find out if this was definitely the right forest. I took my headlamp and made a little walk into the mystic forest. My heart was beating very fast when I saw the first cyclamen flowers between all these pine needles.
Story of the forest
When I am working on a project, I always have some particular shots in mind to tell the story. Most of the images take shape in my mind, but of course there are also those that develop when I am on location. It could be a special light, mood or situation that inspires me to take a picture that was not planned. Because of the forest’s location directly on the west coast of Italy, it catches the very last light illuminating the pine trees.
I always like to use different lenses for a project, in order to show the subject at different angles. I shot this series using my Nikon D750 along with a range of five Nikkor lenses, including the AF-S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8G IF-ED, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G ED VR II and the AF-S Nikkor 400mm 1:2.8E FL ED VR. The 400mm lens is very cool to use for flowers, and just gets more unusual viewpoints. I also love to play with the bokeh and create my own little fairy-tale lands.
For most of the landscape shots here, I was using the Nikon PC-E 24mm. It is very important for me to correct converging lines, especially when shooting trees, for example.
I captured these photos within a period of about six days, and enjoyed creating the series. I always enjoy spending time in nature, but this place was unique. The forest is stunning, and I love to hike through it during the few minutes after sunset, when very soft light touches the trees and it slowly gets darker.
A soft purple light
It’s hard to pick a key image, but my personal favourite from the series is the forest bathed in a pink glow It was taken just a few minutes after sunset and sums up the mystical mood in the forest.
There was just something like a glow on the sky and a very soft purple light illuminating the forest. The picture also shows this beautiful coexistence of pines and cyclamen – which was after all, my goal.
See more of Florian’s work at www.floriansmit.com or meet him on Facebook via www.facebook. com/FlorianSmitPhotography
I captured these photos within a period of about six days, and enjoyed creating the series. I always enjoy spending time in nature, but this place was unique