Fave Photographer of the Month Dec ’13

Way to Paradise by
Kilian Schönberger

 The landscape photography style takes our fave of the month once again and, it will probably dominate these posts more often than not.

Ladies and gentlemen, this month’s fave is Kilian Schönberger

Landscape photography astounds me. I feel it’s a different league of it’s own. Different skill sets; different awareness; just different, in a good way of course. It makes me appreciate and respect it much more.

Just by looking at a good landscape shot, you can see the patience of the photographer, waiting hours for the right moment when the sun hits the surface of the tree. The awareness needed must be great, one is reliant on nature and dependent on the weather. Elements that can not be controlled. Thus much research is undertaken before each shoot.

Kilian is one of those masters. He searches those remote, gems of locations. He waits for the clouds to part at the right moment. He watches until that stream of sunlight shines through the gaps and then, snap. His work is so dreamlike, it pulls you in and you find yourself in a story. Not one which you are creating in your head but one which is being told to you by the photo. The colours are rich, vibrant and mesmerising. The depth of field just sucks you in, making sure that you are lost from the outside world. The composition, completes the hat-trick and produces a perfectly, breathtaking product.

Make sure to check out more of Kilian’s work at his website or his 500px profile and of course, jump on over to his Facebook Page and show him some love. You will not be disappointed, try and keep track of how many times you say “wow”.

We were lucky enough to ask Kilian our 3 questions, and he was kind enough to give us some very comprehensive answers.

Love your work Kilian. If you’re ever in Stockholm, beers on us.

1. If you could shoot anyone or any place, who or where would you choose?

I have several favorite places around the world I would like to shoot one day. Most of them are in rather remote mountainous areas. My favorite mountains are the Torres del Paine in Chile. The grandeur of these rock towers are beyond words.

2. We have a saying at 36Moments, “It’s not about the camera man, it’s about the Cameraman” … Do you agree?

I agree – a camera is just a tool. It’s worthless without anyone who knows to use it in the right spot at the right time. Getting the feel for recognizing those promising combinations of time and space is one of the most important lessons to learn in photograhy.

3. What preparation do you do before a shoot? Do you picture certain shots in your head beforehand or just go-with-the-flow?

As a landscape photographer I have always a bunch of locations in my mind when heading to a certain area. But that’s just about the basics like some compositions ideas and so on. Being dependent on outside influences, like weather or light, means that you can’t control the conditions. Weather forecasts are quite good nowadays but a mere little cloud at the wrong place can wreak havoc with your photographic plans.

Forest Sanctuary by
Kilian Schönberger

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