A recent cold snap coincided with a morning away from my screen looking after my 9-month old son. He slept as I happily strolled around our neighbourhood enjoying testing the camera on my new iPhone. The results are a big step up from the iPhone 13 mini I was previously using, and the proRAW files in particular were must easier to work with in Lightroom.
The preset is named Tama and I developed it as a lofi, filmic look specifically for iPhone snaps.
I was inspired to get out and take some photos in the crisp evening air of Copenhagen in December. Just days away from the winter solstice, it is dark by 3.30pm, and by 10pm when I took to the streets, it is pitch black. Small groups of locals gathered on benches and corners holding tins of beer, the bars closed as COVID cases shoot up across Denmark. The blanket of grey cloud which has covered the city for the past week reflected the lights of the city creating a ghostly halo across the sky, and Christmas lights sparkled from balconies and windows.
Back at the tail end of 2017 we were awaiting the arrival of our duaghter and found ourselves, for the first time in many years, without a lot of travel on the agenda over the festive period. We filled our time with hygge & celebration, and walks around local forests including Hareskov and Dyrhavn. I enjoyed the opportunity afforded by the faltering sunlight to make a series of photos which captured the mood of a winter forest. Two years on, I look back at these photos and feel the way I did as I walked amongst those trees, bathing in the quiet ambiance of raindrops on foliage, and absorbing that mysterious, ancient woodland energy.
One reason I love the Olympus m43 cameras, specifically the EM5, is the size. I can carry this camera in my bag every day, and should I feel inspired by the light, my surroundings, or simply have some excess creative energy, I can pour that energy into photography without the pressure one feels when specifically dedicating time to the pursuit.
These photographs were made on a 20 minute commute on Copenhagen’s new M3 metro line on a recent rainy November evening. The colour grading is my own Lightroom CC preset, available soon in the store.
