photo by Frans Lanting
Sometimes, when asked for technical details of my photographs, I try to evade obvious answers. Not because I have anything to hide, but rather that something inside me rebels against isolating bits of mechanical information from their photographic context. My work stems from a fascination with the natural world and as such it is a learning process. Over the years few subjects have touched me as albatrosses have. I have sought out various species of these great seabirds in remote locations ranging from the Hawaiian Leewards to the Falklands, but those experiences were all preludes to an encounter with the greatest of all--the wandering albatross, a bird of legend, and the source of Coleridge’s classic poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” A lifelong dream came true one blustery day when I was dropped off to camp alone among a colony of wanderers on an island near South Georgia, a forlorn island between Cape Horn and Antarctica.
Wanderers form pair bonds during an elaborate courtship that extends over several seasons. The birds know the moves by instinct from birth, but the perfection that wins a mate takes years of practice. Their ritual is easily disrupted, yet I wanted to get within inches in order to capture the birds’ intimacy as well as the grandeur of their frigid world. Equipped with my widest lens, an 18mm, and my knowledge of their routine, I joined their dance and moved as they did. Wanderer courtship culminates in an ecstatic display when a male stretches his enormous wings, which span up to thirteen feet, to a reticent partner. When that moment came, little separated me from the birds and the wild world beyond. And when asked about the exposure for this image I can honestly state that it took 36 years and 1/30th of a second.
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070527_COEX Good Bye CO2
070527_COEX Good Bye CO2
하늘을 안기 위해 세상에서 가장 큰 새 알바트로스가
거대한 날개를 활짝 펴고 있다.
인간은 하늘을 잠시 거쳐갈 수 있을 뿐이지만
새는 하늘을 오래토록 품을 줄 안다.
거대한 날개를 활짝 펴고 있다.
인간은 하늘을 잠시 거쳐갈 수 있을 뿐이지만
새는 하늘을 오래토록 품을 줄 안다.
코엑스 앞마당에서 이 사진을 처음 본 순간,
깊은 곳에서 끓어오르는 무언가에 넋을 잃고 한참을 서 있었다.
깊은 곳에서 끓어오르는 무언가에 넋을 잃고 한참을 서 있었다.