honorable mention
Henrik Spranz austria
Photo © Henrik Spranz
title
Ballerina
Nick Smith for Outdoor Photography magazine:
"There's something magical about Henrik Spranz's photography. Although deeply rooted in the hyper-real world of natural history and landscape, his work bears none of the hallmarks of scientific illustration or even animal portraiture. His world is a dream-like state of whimsical and wispy perfection, pastel colours and cheeky woodland creatures. In fact, it's fair to say that the Spranz portfolio has more in common with Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen or even the early animated children's movies by Walt Disney, than just about anything else".
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entry description
Almost every year, in early spring, I visit a place in Austria where one of the early bloomers – the dog’s tooth violet (Erythronium dens-canis) – grows. To ensure the best light I get there early, but this means that the blooms of the violets are still closed. To my mind they look even more delicate and special in this state, so in this instance I chose to emphasise their delicate nature with the help of a torchlight to create nice, dreamy bokeh. I always use a relatively wide aperture to achieve soft bokeh, but it makes it hard to get the focus right. To assist me in this task, I use Live View with magnification, and focus manually.about the photographer
Henrik Spranz - software developer in his day job - has been shooting images since 2006. His initial interests lay in travel photography, although these days you'll find him focusing more on the small world and wildlife photography.Nick Smith for Outdoor Photography magazine:
"There's something magical about Henrik Spranz's photography. Although deeply rooted in the hyper-real world of natural history and landscape, his work bears none of the hallmarks of scientific illustration or even animal portraiture. His world is a dream-like state of whimsical and wispy perfection, pastel colours and cheeky woodland creatures. In fact, it's fair to say that the Spranz portfolio has more in common with Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen or even the early animated children's movies by Walt Disney, than just about anything else".
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