In 2015 Markus van Hauten won the Open Panoramic Category of the Sony World Photography Awards, the world's largest photography competition.
Hi Markus, congratulations on winning the Panoramic category in the 2016 Sony World Photography Awards. Tell us more about your winning image
Thank you very much. I took this picture in January whilst on my Iceland trip. We had a wonderful day with nice locations and at the end of the day we decided to shoot the famous Goðafoss. The weather started to get more and more cloudy and the temperature with the wind was nearly zero. We climbed down to the foot of the waterfall and I tried to make a longer exposure time (25sec) in order to get the smooth effect on the water. There was also hardly any spray from the waterfall, so I was a little lucky to get this specific image.
The location is iconic - what advice would you give to other photographers who are looking to capture a unique image of a famous location?
Everything depends on the conditions you find when you arrive there. Cloud, sun, wind, these are all changing and unpredictable. So you have to prepare yourself for any situation and for various things that can happen. Depending on this you can get different results day to you. So my advice is to prepare yourself fully and be ready to adapt to the conditions.
Do you have a photographic philosophy?
I try to represent nature as faithfully as I can; hopefully with my own style mixed in.
