Albert Dros is a Global Imaging Ambassador for Sony Netherlands. He works on projects ranging from pure landscape to artistic abstraction, in which he attempts to push the boundaries of photography. He has worked for companies such as Time, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, National Geographic and many more.
Here he explains his love of the seasons and showcases some of the varying shots he has been able to get throughout the year.
Text by Albert Dros
With the year coming to a close, I’d like to dedicate this article to the joy of photographing the different seasons. As a landscape photographer, I never run out of things to photograph, even in my home country. Things look different all year around. I often visit the same location multiple times in a year. A winter landscape looks totally different than at the same location in the summer. Different weather and different conditions within the changing seasons always offer a wide variety of different photos, even at the same spot!
Below is a location five minutes from my house in the Netherlands to help illustrate this:
I like to visualise how certain locations that I already know look during different seasons and conditions, so even If I shoot the same location multiple times I always get a different shot. It keeps things interesting and keeps me motivated. Here’s another example below. A misty summer sunrise in Val di Funes, Italy, versus a colourful autumn sunset at the exact same spot. A completely different atmosphere but each has its own charms.
In my own country, there are certain areas I keep photographing throughout the year. We have some beautiful open areas with trees and vegetation that look completely different throughout the year, with the highlights being in August, when the colours turn purple for several weeks. The images below are from an area about 15 minutes drive from my house, photographed in August which is super colourful, versus a completely different approach in the cold of winter.
The landscape looks completely different with a great contrast between colour and monotone. Although very different, again, each set of images will have their own charms and I never get bored. I keep going to the same places looking for something new.
But even on the same day, conditions can change drastically at the same location. Think daytime vs. night time shots for example. I Always try to visualise how a scene would look in a different kind of light
Below are two images of the famous Kirkjufell in Iceland taken on the same day in Autumn.
Seasons are different all over the world. With winter approaching in my own country and snow being very rare, I look forward to some very cold days with beautiful winter conditions. If I don’t want to shoot wintery images, I travel to a different part of the world to photograph a different season. That’s the beauty of landscape photography. There is so much to photograph, both at home and outside of your own country. Different seasons, different conditions (even daily) offer so many opportunities. You'll never run out of things to shoot!
