Winter landscapes – Spain’s North Coast

Easter in Spain can be a bit tricky if you are looking for sunny days and to be able to trust an accurate forecast, particularly if you decide to visit any of the coastal provinces of the north. so That is the situation I saw myself in: Before my Easter holidays I decided to go up north to take landscape pictures of the Cantabrian coastline. Two of the most famous beaches in Spain are located between Asturias and Galicia provinces: As Catedrais beach, which is located concretely in Lugo, and Penarronda beach in Asturias.

Instead of going to the beach and shoot pictures straight away, I decided to study and observe the surroundings in order to find the most interesting spots to get inspired and then create the best compositions.

At the beginning I wanted to shoot landscapes. However my interest got focus in secondary elements: eroded rocks. All these rocks looked like ghosts, so I decided to include them in the pictures as main elements.

After a long walk along the beach I decided to choose the most appropriate prime lens for this project. I had two options: Fujinon XF 16mm R WR or Samyang 12mm. I am in love with the 16mm, it is a wonderful lens that I use for everything: landscapes, some portraits, traveling and street photography too.

However the project required to include the rocks as the principal element in my idea of composition. I had to pick up only one lens as the weather was cloudy and rainy, and it would be a bad idea to change lenses under bad weather conditions. I finally decided to attach to the XT-1 the 12mm to get a wider field to include all the elements.

After four consecutive days waking up at 6am to take pictures at dawn, I had no luck. I wanted and planned to find stunning sunrises creating and decorating with powerful colors the reflection in the water. I waited patiently for the tide to be low, checking the tide times on the internet (otherwise the beach would be inaccessible), however the weather was cloudy, grey, windy and cold.

So what to do? Just move on and try to take different pictures. If you don’t have nice lighting, it doesn’t matter! You have to be ready to deal with different scenarios, that’s why We are photographers. Even if the weather forecast indicates a beautiful and sunny day, it can change quickly, mostly near the coast, where the wind changes its direction constantly, so We have to be able to adapt to any meteorological situation.

Finally these days I’ve been dealing with cold and cloudy days, and I must say, fortunately I had the opportunity to get different views of the landscape I was surrounded by. Cold distancing colors like blue and grey, dark and enigmatic tones, artistic shadows and shapes coated everything around me.

As I was alone in the beach, I had the opportunity to develop my photographic skills. I’ve been shooting with long exposure due to low lighting. I wanted to get special textures in clouds and water, that’s why I used two essential filters: Big Stopper Neutral Density Filter (10 stops) and 0.9 Neutral Density Soft Graduated Filter (3 stops) both from Lee.

Come check out my portrait! You can see more pictures here: www.josecarpin.com

Equipment used in this serie: Fujifilm XT-1 + Samyang 12mm f2.0 + Lee Filters

Biography:
Jose Carpin (Madrid, 1982)

I started photography in 2011, as I left Madrid (Spain) and moved to Cape Town (South Africa) to work. I spent the next three years living, traveling and exploring the southern countries of Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Lesotho and South Africa. Doubtlessly Africa left an unforgettable mark on me, changing my way of feeling and facing life.

The connection and passion with Africa was so intense that, shortly after moving there, I wanted to capture the fascinating universe that was surrounding me. This strong feelings helped me to get started in the art of photography, which has inspired me to understand, respect and preserve mother nature and other cultures.

I move back to Spain in August 2014 after living abroad. Since then I began to take photography more seriously. In this way I have never stopped learning and doing photography.

I’m actually very interested in portrait, documentary and street photography. Therefore I’ve been backpacking Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Nepal the last couple of years, where I’ve had the opportunity to develop my photography skills within these fields. Beside this, I am still very interested in nature photography, but I want to continue developing my skills and learning from the most iconic portrait, documentary and street photographers.

My photographic style is motivated by the effort and desire to reveal and express what my senses feel while I am contemplating the nature, I am interacting with people from other cultures or I am walking on the street, in order to show and explain to the people the value, beauty and secrets of the world. I am not following composition rules or guidelines, I am just trying to do what I feel at any given time.

Jose Carpin

Jose Carpin was born in Madrid, Spain in 1982. He started photography in 2011, as he left Spain and moved to South Africa to work. Since then, He is traveling and exploring the world, looking for the most iconic cultures and unexpected everyday life scenes.
His idea of photography is motivated by the effort and desire to reveal and express what his senses feel while he is walking through the streets of his hometown or traveling to remote places in the world, in order to show to the people the value, beauty and secrets of the world.

josecarpin.com/