STORY BEHIND THE STILL
Barbara Seiberl-Stark recalls how she had just seconds to capture a beautiful landscape in the perfect light
PHOTOGRAPHER: barbara Seiberl-Stark WEBSITE: instagram.com/ibins13, 500px.com/barbaraseiberl-stark LOCATION: bavaria, Germany TYPE OF COMMISSION: Personal SHOT DETAILS: Fuji X-t2, Fujinon 55-200mm at 77.9mm, f7.1, 1/250, iSo 200
ABOUT THE SHOT: Some images can be planned to the smallest detail and still fail to materialise. Others simply present themselves unexpectedly and it is up to the photographer to recognise and correctly capture the opportunity. Barbara had this experience with this image, taken at Christmas on a family holiday, at Lake Eibsee near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
“I was hiking around the lake and about to finish the ‘round path’, when I turned back and noticed that one of the small islands was beautifully illuminated by the sun,” explains Barbara. “In combination with the snow-capped trees and the nearly perfect reflection, I immediately had this picture in my mind.”
When a stunning shot presents itself it is easy for the photographer to capture a ‘safe’ shot – an image that ensures at least one usable photograph of the event, but with little creativity. Barbara looked more closely at this scene to find a more original composition.
“Lake Eibsee is a very well-known place among landscape photographers, but most of the pictures I know are taken from the opposite side with Mt. Zugspitze in the background. Those views are awesome (and of course I made a lot of ‘classical’ shots too), but for me it’s always a benefit to find perspectives that are not so popular,” she says. “For me that’s something very unique and I really like that if you don’t know the location well, you can’t say from where I have captured the scene.”
The biggest challenge for Barbara was therefore blending speed of work with artistic input. “I was very lucky, because a few seconds after my shots the light disappeared, and if I hadn’t had the right lens on my camera maybe I would have missed it. I had to be fast enough to capture that perfect moment.”