Johannes Frank Photographer

About Johannes Frank

About Johannes Frank. I´m a self-taught photographer and probably got my eye for photography after years of training at the gun range as well as hunting. I was born and raised in a small fishing village in the Westfjord peninsula in Iceland and I believe that the mountains, the harsh landscape and weather in which I grew up with has had a big influence on my work. My knowledge of photography comes from reading books, taking a lot of photographs, learning from my mistakes and in the end making an image I´m happy with. My biggest passion in photography is without doubt landscape, and Icelandic horses. I sometimes mix my photography with other things like abandoned houses which have a special kind of beauty to them, they have a story, many of them long lost. I find that black and white gives me the most pleasure and I feel really good when I have shot an image I know will be great in black and white. Although I do also take some color photos but Black and White gives me the freedom I need in many photos to express what I see without color interrupting and it is giving me more graphical viewpoints in a way that color can’t. The image becomes more equal to me. I would say that 80% of the time I choose Black and White over color simply because I find they work better as a B&W image. There is a lot of color in black and white photography. My intention when I am searching for a new photo, can sometimes be an image I have in my mind. Most of the time when I go out looking for images I hope to find some places worth exploring further, holding on to the hope of finding the one image I am aiming for in my mind. I often go again to the same location if I have found that particular place or scenery interesting. I often use long exposure for landscape. By using this special technique, I can slow down certain elements to give the viewer a certain feel. It is like exploring the scenery through three dimensions.

Animals

I began taking images of horses around 2006 when I took an image I call “The Black Stallion”. The Icelandic horse is a fascinating animal and one can take images of it endlessly but the harsh condition this animal has to endure through the harsh Icelandic winters is the most important story I want to tell. I have also studied and shoot images of the Icelandic sheep witch I also find fascinating as a subject to photograph.

Today I live in Hafnarfjördur in Iceland with my beautiful wife Mayya Pigida how is also a photographerhttp://www.mayyapigida.com and our cat Lucas.