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The Sleeping Giant #12/30

Collection

Tales of The North

Creator

Hugo Korhonen

Description

I always wanted to visit Kilpisjärvi and photograph the famous Saana (Sána) fell. The fell is historically considered sacred to the Sami people. I find the Sami culture super fascinating. And been obsessing over learning them a lot in the past year. So having this shot of this fell, is special for me. But how did the shot come to be? Let’s go back in time. To 2020. September 2020. Motor sounds. Wheels turned fast on a huonossakunnossa olevalla tiellä. Everyone was looking out of the windows. We get closer to Kilpisjärvi. My dad, my girlfriend at the time, and I. We saw the colours popping everywhere. More and more the more North we get. We all were super excited. We were staying there for a decent time. We had all kinds of plans I was looking forward to. But photographing Saana, was on top of the list. I couldn’t wait to photograph it - but also hike on top of it. But before hiking it - it was time to photograph it first. Alarms rang. Yawning. But no chance to hit the snooze. We all were groggy - but I couldn’t wait to get to the spot. And soon, after having breakfast and coffee, we started the hike. I had seen countless images from this spot we were heading to. And I couldn’t wait to make my own interpretation of the scene. It was something I had waited for years. And step by step we were closer to making this happen. Step by step we got a better view of the majestic fell. It was soon sunrise. And we arrived. The colours were amazing. The lake was mostly still. And the sky… wow. It was exploding with colours as well. So I had to shoot in the other direction first - before shooting towards the fell. I had my first shot of the day - and captured that moment forever. As the sun started to give light to the Saana, I started to take photos of it with an old boat. The boat is very well known on Instagram - and many photographers use it in their compositions. And so I wanted to as well. But after photographing it, I felt something was wrong. I didn’t feel proud of the photograph. So I started to wander around. I wanted something different. Something more unique. I had seen how others framed the fell with orange leaves. I wanted to see if could I try it too - but still make a unique image out of this scene. After hopping from one rock to another, trying to not fall and break my legs, I found good-looking leaves. They framed the fell perfectly. I put my camera in between them. I made sure everything was working. The horizon was aligned. The focus was on the fell. And the leaves weren’t interrupting the scene - but adding to it. Then I gave a look to the fell. And I snapped the shot. Now I had it. But I knew the editing work would do the biggest magic to it - as I had finally developed my own style. I had hated how my photographs looked from the previous 7 months. I asked many photographers better than me for their feedback. It was harsh. But it made my photos 1000 times better. I made my dreamy look to the photograph. And I managed to make it look different from all photographs taken at this known spot. I was so happy. Even though the golden hour had gone by - and we didn’t have special light - I could take advantage of everything the scene offered to us. And enhanced it in the post. It is an extraordinary piece to me. And I’m so happy to present it as the third edition of Tales of The North.