About

 

This website is mainly a landscape photography blog dedicated to capturing the beauty of the nature that surrounds us. It's administered and run by two landscape photographers - Otakar Hevler and Marek Potoma (scroll down for more).

We use both, traditional film and digital methods to communicate what we experience outdoors. The highlights of our photography expeditions are foggy, chilly and cloudy mornings, when all sane people are still sleeping soundly in their warm beds. We publish our landscape photography blog here, sharing some background and practical informations.

 

Marek Potoma (40)

I was born in 1974 in Poprad, Slovakia. Currently living in Prague, Czech Republic. Having grown up in beautiful area of High Tatras, I carry the passion for nature and outdoors that I actually started to appreciate much more once I was gone from home for good. Hence I now love returning to where I belong as well as exploring new places, together with my camera. It opens up a window out of my ordinary world. It helps me remember and worship our past and future. It allows me to remain in talks with the running time…

I have no formal education in photography but have been seriously studying and practicing for more than 10 years. It is being an exciting period of discovering the essence of creating images, understanding scenes, subjects, light, composition, equipment and techniques, in constant search for the best way to express myself. I'm not done yet and will hardly ever be. I'm continuously striving to improve my craft and discover different ways of conveying experiences. As I'm purely focused on landscape photography, I do not mind to work very slowly and actually feel honored to be able to extensively use both methods of capturing photographs - film and digital. In most cases, a transparency film responds to what I would like to communicate in a more accurate manner than digital but I have been through many situations when the latter was essential, too.

Lately, I give myself even more time on location via trying to master a technical camera. With the dark cloth over my head looking at reversed projection of a scenery on the groundglass, I feel for a moment like I landed on a remote planet where time and space plays no role. This way, the enjoyment of the process of making images gets endless.

For those interested, this is the equipment I'm currently using:

  • Linhof Techno + Schneider APO Digitar XL 5.6/47mm, Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 5.6/90mm
  • Hasselblad H1 + Hasselblad HC 3.5/35mm, HC 2.8/80mm, HC 4/210mm
  • Phase One IQ140 digital back
  • Nikon D700 + Nikon 14-24mm, 1.4/85mm, 2.8/80-200mm
  • Sony NEX-5n + Sony E 2.8/16mm, Sony E 3.5-5.6/18-55mm
  • Tripod Gitzo GT 3541 + Arca-Swiss Monoball Z
  • Lee ND Graduated 0.9, 0.6, 0.3 Hard, Lee ND Graduated 0.45 Soft, Lee Big Stopper
  • Singh-Ray Reversed ND Graduated 0.9, Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer

 

Otakar Hevler (40)

As most photographers used to say about their professional beginnings, also my interest for photography emerged when I was a little boy and was only a small hobby for many years. However, this hobby has turned into a passion over the last few years as I continue to learn and grow as a photographer. I have found the best inspiration for my photographs is the nature around us and I am very impressed by all the different forms, shapes and atmospheres which nature can take. Therefore, I prefer to see it mostly in the tones of black and white.  Most of my friends do not understand why I am going out when the weather conditions are so miserable,  and why I am always complaining when the perfect sunny day is pleasing all of them. I hope you can find the answer in my photographs.

There is more information regarding my equipment in our blog, so now only very briefly. Currently, I am using exclusively analog equipment, like Mamiya RB 67, Ebony SW 45 and Contax 645 together with fantastic Kodak T-Max black and white films. All  my photograph showen here are printed in traditional darkroom on fine art baryte papers with different finish. Of course I do not have to mention solid tripod and wide selection of different Lee filters, including the best filter ever made: Lee Big Stopper - 10 stop ND filter.

One of the last things I would like to emphasize here is the fact that displayed photographs do not reflect the accurate image of our world, but represent my own personal interpretation of the places and things around us. I always search for the magic moments, which happening in the early mornings, late afternoons or during the night and impart the unforgettable atmosphere to our unique landscape.

I hope you enjoy mine and Marek’s photographs and feel a little bit of the atmosphere of more or less distant places we have visited on our journeys.