Distant Mountains

[Antonio Correia]

Distant Mountains is a project of 22 images I have made when traveling on the roads of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
BBC Travel classified the road among one of the 10th most dangerous in the planet but we have been there without any problem. Our driver was a clever man...
Some months before departure, I thought I would like to some of the planned landscapes with the long lens.

I was aware that this option would oblige / make me have a different perspective / look of the scenes forcing me to look far away, to see differently. Also it would be necessary to find a safe distant shooting position from which to stage such long telephoto shots and include the spread of scenery that make ther vision so impressive to the traveler.

Now it was the occasion to do so. It was a privilege to be able to travel to this rather dangerous region where political turmoil may happen any time but also where I was able to enjoy such magnificent scenarios. The region and the people living in are also in danger with the climate change. As we all are!

Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 25 mm






Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 35 mm






Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 27 mm







Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 28 mm








Above, Canon 20D; lens - 70-200 at 115 mm






Above, Canon 20D; lens - 70-200 at 115 mm

For the entire series, visit the collection here


In October an exposition will be held in Setúbal, Portugal. You are all invited.



This set of shots is so pristine, bold and vicious, showing the massive power of the planets sculpted crust. I am so surprised that the shots are not marred by veiling haze. The telephoto shots came out well too.

I am so impressed with your single-minded tenacity and bravery. Glad you came back safely. Can you add a map?

Presumably, you entered from India?

Asher

[Nicolas Claris]

Hi Antonio
As you may have noticed in the past, I'm not a fan of B&W images, but here, I have to salute with hat and knee down.
Beautiful, great work on the gradients! Also a good idea to shoot with long focal, very punchy!
What lens did you use?

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Nicolas for your supportive comment.


Let me make a correction. Just the last two images were able to be made with the 70-200 and the others are now annotated with the focal length used in each case.

I was trying to use the 70-200 as often as I could but sometimes, it it just turned out to require the 24-70!

I'd guess I need a helicopter or climbing team to get all the shots at tele distance. Still, I'm happy to have done as well as I did!

[Bill McCarthy]

Antonio,
Your images are stunning, gorgeously composed and fantastically lyrical. I looked at the additional images and all were a visual feast.

Bill

[Asher Kelman]

Antonio,

I must admit such impressive scenes take me aback to come from a photographer who for years has perfected his art of intimate formal portraiture and relaxed social visits to the workplaces of artisans. Still, it must be that the discipline of the former portrait studio work has been projected in your new open air studio. Your imagination gets to coincide with such vast complexity of mountain ranges.

........and all this majesty appears to trust you!

Asher

[Wolfgang Plattner]

Hi Antonio,

sad to say, but to me these are tremendous impressions of the sky and the clouds.
They are so dominant in these photos, I have trouble to recognize the mountains.

[Nicolas Claris]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Plattner

Hi Antonio,

sad to say, but to me these are tremendous impressions of the sky and the clouds.
They are so dominant in these photos, I have trouble to recognize the mountains.

Wolfgang,
I do not have this feeling, maybe because Antonio's work does bring us right in between (sky and the clouds)?
I take it as a whole. Just like in a seascape, sea and sky are melted and make a world…

[Antonio Correia]

Originally Posted by Bill McCarthy

Antonio, Your images are stunning, gorgeously composed and fantastically lyrical. I looked at the additional images and all were a visual feast. Bill

Thank you Bill for your fantastic words !

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

Antonio, I must admit such impressive scenes take me aback to come from a photographer who for years has perfected his art of intimate formal portraiture and relaxed social visits to the workplaces of artisans. Still, it must be that the discipline of the former portrait studio work has been projected in your new open air studio. Your imagination gets to coincide with such vast complexity of mountain ranges.
........and all this majesty appears to trust you! Asher

And again Asher, thank you for your great statement.
-
Let me add some comments please.
When I was working on this project, here at home, I began by making all photographs in black and white. Carefully and as far as I can remember, I made them all in two or three days in a row.

When I was published in LensWork issue 110 - what made me very happy - I realized that images in duotone look better and are more pleasant to look at.
Then, I have changed all the images (already on line) from B&W to duotone. And they all look very well as they did before mind you, but are more interesting and appealing now. I printed some and I was happy. Still am.

All images in B&W were coherent in terms of tonalities as I was careful when working on them. Then, when I applied the duotone straightly, the result was much the same and very well balanced.
I do have one or another a bit different from the other if you pay a close and attentive look.

I was aware of this problem when I realized that the differences were great when the procedure was applied on some other images, returning bad or poor results.

I have not yet solved the problem but I do have a strategy theses days to overcome it and it goes like this:
I start from one image as template and then I try to balance the other one with the same look. I think this is the way to go because I am going to keep growing the Work project and I am supposed to apply the duotone to images I have not yet made.
Now there is Work II with only duotoned images.

Other projects are and will be in duotone as long I like it !

The eyes will be my guide. After all "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" (Plato) or "Le compas du photographe ne peut être que dans son œil" (Henri Cartier Bresson) or even ""Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them" (David Hume). But enough quotations.
-
As I told before, I am going to make an exposition here, in September. I will have 6 images of these. They are all printed now and ready to be sent for framing. I do like them. They look good in spite of being only A3+ size which is the largest size my printer does.

Thank you for your attention !

[Bill McCarthy]

Originally Posted by Antonio Correia

Thank you Bill for your fantastic words !



And again Asher, thank you for your great statement.
-
Let me add some comments please.
When I was working on this project, here at home, I began by making all photographs in black and white. Carefully and as far as I can remember, I made them all in two or three days in a row.

When I was published in LensWork issue 110 - what made me very happy - I realized that images in duotone look better and are more pleasant to look at.
Then, I have changed all the images (already on line) from B&W to duotone. And they all look very well as they did before mind you, but are more interesting and appealing now. I printed some and I was happy. Still am.

All images in B&W were coherent in terms of tonalities as I was careful when working on them. Then, when I applied the duotone straightly, the result was much the same and very well balanced.
I do have one or another a bit different from the other if you pay a close and attentive look.

I was aware of this problem when I realized that the differences were great when the procedure was applied on some other images, returning bad or poor results.

I have not yet solved the problem but I do have a strategy theses days to overcome it and it goes like this:
I start from one image as template and then I try to balance the other one with the same look. I think this is the way to go because I am going to keep growing the Work project and I am supposed to apply the duotone to images I have not yet made.
Now there is Work II with only duotoned images.

Other projects are and will be in duotone as long I like it !

The eyes will be my guide. After all "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" (Plato) or "Le compas du photographe ne peut être que dans son œil" (Henri Cartier Bresson) or even ""Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them" (David Hume). But enough quotations.
-
As I told before, I am going to make an exposition here, in September. I will have 6 images of these. They are all printed now and ready to be sent for framing. I do like them. They look good in spite of being only A3+ size which is the largest size my printer does.

Thank you for your attention !

Antonio,
Thanks for the detail regarding your use of duotones, it has been many years (before I worked with computers) that I worked with duotones. I assume you are working in photoshop, but wonder what two colors you are building with. Can you expand on the issue of consistency a bit more? You do a beautiful job. I like that your selection of color has not changed my perception of the images as black and white.
Bill

[Jim Dockery]

António, beautiful work - I love the conversions.

[Murray Foote]

Wonderful series and great images, Antonio. Best of luck with the exhibition (which is probably happening now)

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Jim and Murray for the kind words.

In fact, I had to postpone the exhibition to December...

[Michael Ritter]

I love you pics, stunning landscapes and sharpness. B&W makes them very dramatic.

[Antonio Correia]

Originally Posted by Michael Ritter

I love you pics, stunning landscapes and sharpness. B&W makes them very dramatic.

I am glad you liked them Michael !

Thank you for commenting !

[Avraham Chanan]

Wow! I never ever seen such photographs!

These are an inspiration for the beginners and I like them!

Avraham

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Avraham !

[Jane Cooper]

Wow!!Soo fascinating, I love it) B/W photos have their own specific magic

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Jane !
Nice of you to say so.

[Diana Welch]

Hi Antonio, I'm a new member of this forum. As I was browsing some posted pictures, I saw your photos of mountains (which you posted last June 2014) and it blew me away. I should sway that you did a great job taking those photos. I want to quote it but I can't find the quote button. Can you help me please?

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Diana Welch

Hi Antonio, I'm a new member of this forum. As I was browsing some posted pictures, I saw your photos of mountains (which you posted last June 2014) and it blew me away. I should sway that you did a great job taking those photos. I want to quote it but I can't find the quote button. Can you help me please?

Diana,

Welcome!

There are 3 buttons on the right side of each post. The center one is "Quote"

And yes, you have excellent taste. Antonio is a fine photographer and he has an amazing secret, his fabulous wife is every bit as special!

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 25 mm





Above, Canon 5D; lens - 24-70 at 27 mm

I posted your two favorites, Diana!

🌺

Asher

[Roshni Patel]

Hi Antonio,

I must say that you have managed to shot this pictures amazingly with great mountain colors in the image. Great Work!

Здравствуйте
Тут все написано подробно
аварийное открытие дверей машины

[Asher Kelman]

Antonio,

I just went on a superb and unendable journey amongst your major series of work photographic portraits in social context.

This is MAJOR WORK!

Please start to post in a new thread. It's remarkable in the variety of subjects and social circumstances as well as the consistency of tonality ranges and technique, making all one family of man!

To everyone here, I can unreservedly commend this collection to you as worthy of your attention and time. It can serve as entertainment, distraction from loss, a start of introspection on the values we hold and privilege we possess and an inspiration to be a better person. In addition, just pick a few and bookmark them and think of these as gifts for folk who are really special and dear to you.

Asher

[Antonio Correia]

@ Patel - Thank you Patel for the kind words.
@ Andreyzes - Oh yes, some details are in these images. They suffer a bit for being on the web. In print they are better. Thank you for your comment.
@ Asher, I will try a new thread right away, Sir !
But no Asher. It already exists here. I just will keep going...

[Christine Rose]

Beautiful.... Great Work....