Otherworldly Landscapes
Learn with Willem Douven from VSCO
Willem Douven lives in the Flemish part of Belgium, where he works at a primary school teaching moral education. Over the past year, much of his free time was spent taking photos, largely because of his project documenting earth and water at a nearby sand and pebble reclamation site.
When he showed his images to his friends and family, they exclaimed, “What planet are these photos from?!” Their reaction to the alien-like appearance of the landscape prompted him to title the series Extraterrestre.
To learn about documenting nature in a unique way, dig into how Willem created these abstract, unearthly photos.
Choose a personal project
When deciding what to photograph, Willem takes two things into account. First, he looks for a subject that is accessible. “I always try to look for beauty and interesting things to photograph not too far from home,” he explains. Willem first caught a glimpse of the sandpits from a nearby highway, prompting him to look up directions on Google Earth.
Second, he must feel a strong interest in a subject in order to pursue documenting it. From the start, the colors of the sandpits piqued his curiosity. He remembers feeling overwhelmed by the mood, colors, and atmosphere on his first visit. “I think it is really important that you love being where you are or with who you are while shooting photos. Otherwise, a project doesn’t succeed. Don’t start a project on basketball if you like soccer more.” Choose the subject you’re most passionate about.
Become familiar with your subject
Willem has been to the sandpits many times and continues to document the changing landscape. “Going back to the same place over and over again makes you know the place better and better,” he says. When photographing something on a recurring basis, he advises, “Don’t hurry. Take pauses to sit down and feel the environment. Look more than you shoot. Take your time framing so no cropping is needed afterwards. Don’t worry if the light is gone, experiment with flash or come back later.”
By returning to the same scene time and again, Willem has learned what the location looks like from particular vantage points, at different times of the day, and under various weather conditions. “In this project, these subtle changes in the environment make a lot of difference. For example, whether it was windy affected if the water was still enough to capture reflections, and the sand photographs differently depending if it is dry or wet.”
Make distinctive photos
Willem noticed interesting textures in the sand and thought the many colors of the land at times looked unreal, more like a painting. Rather than document the sandpits as a traditional landscape photographer would, Willem used methods that amplified an otherworldly look. “I often chose not to include a point of reference, like a tree or the horizon,” he shares. “A little stone can look like a huge rock that way.”
He also experimented with flipping images sideways or turning a photo upside down. “I tried to do this in a way that still looked natural. Often when you can see shadows, your brain tells you it isn’t right because you instinctively know where the sun is and realize the photo is upside down, but if the composition is right, and you don’t see hard shadows, the image can work in every direction.”
original article was published at VSCOX journals, read it here.
