Christian Hoiberg is a full-time landscape photographer from picturesque Norway. His photography is focused around the outdoors and he prefers to shoot scenes that are wild and dramatic. In addition to his personal website, Christian also maintains CaptureLandscapes.com, where he has published more than 300 articles and tutorials about landscape photography. His works have been featured in various magazines and online publications.
NiSi is happy to interview Christian about the stories behind his works. In this interview, he shows a deep love for nature and kindly shares some of his advice on landscape photography.
Z for Zoe and C for Christian
Z: Hi Christian! Glad to meet you! To get the readers to know you better, could you share us three interesting things about you that you want others to know? Please feel free to talk!
C: Starting with a tough question! I’m not so sure if these three things are really interesting for others but I’ll give it a go:
I spend roughly 100 days per year guiding photography workshops in exciting locations such as Northern Norway, Finland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Dolomites.
One of my favorite things to do is to grab my backpack and walk into the forest without any plan or purpose. Just me, my thoughts and the silence of nature.
I’ve written more than 300 articles about landscape photography for my website CaptureLandscapes.com.
Bonus, I’m currently trying to learn to play the guitar again and realized I really suck. But I’m loving the challenge (and would appreciate any tips and tricks from the readers!)
Deep woods in Northern Spain
With NiSi Landscape polarizer
Z: How and when did you start interested in photography? At what point did you realize that you wanted to become a photographer?
C: My interest in photography has been there since I was a young kid. Back then I used to steal my mother’s camera and run around the area photographing whatever came in front of the lens, be it a flower, tree or person.
After spending a few hours a week working at a local electronics shop when I was 15, I was able to purchase my first DSLR, an Olympus E400. Since that day I’ve been hooked and after another few years of photographing whatever I saw, I started paying more attention to learning how to use the camera properly.
At that time I never even considered doing photography full-time. I just enjoyed it as a hobby and saw it as a nice excuse to get outside and into nature. There was no desire to share my work or try to make money from it. That didn’t come until much later. I kind of stumbled into becoming a photographer full-time after I graduated from university and struggled to get a job. I did a lot of freelance work during that period and at some point I realized that now would be the time to jump into photography with everything I got. Since that point, I’ve kept pursuing a life as a full-time photographer and I couldn’t be happier with what I do!
Lighthouse in Northern Spain
With NiSi polarizer, ND (3 Stops)
Z: What are your Favorite subjects and themes?
C: I love to photograph the Arctic and unwelcoming landscapes. There’s something about the struggle of capturing an image that is extremely rewarding to me. Scenes with mountains are often personal favorites but I enjoy anything wild.
Taken in Greenland
With NiSi ND (10 Stops)
Z: What do you find most challenging about being a photographer?
C: Being a photographer, especially in a relatively early stage, demands a lot of time and sacrifices. My life the past few years have been focused on growing my business and that has definitely had an impact on my social life. Luckily, I have a very supporting girlfriend that encourages me to keep working hard.
Obviously, the financial aspect of being a photographer can be challenging at times. Both traveling and camera equipment can be quite pricy, so you need to be wise with your money.
Taken in Northern Spain
With NiSi Medium GND ,ND (10 Stops)
Z: When did you start using NiSi filters and why?
C: I believe I got my first NiSi filters at the end of 2015. Before that I was content with my LEE filters but after testing a few NiSi products a friend of mine owned, I was positively surprised with the lack of color cast and overall high-quality glass. The switch was a no-brainer and I’m still happy to be using NiSi filters.
Taken in Faroe Islands
With NiSi polarizer, ND (3 Stops)
Z: Which NiSi products do you usually use in your work?
C: Since my Nikon 14-24mm is my most used lens I use the NiSi 14-24mm filter holder and often the adapter to other lenses. My two most used filters are the Medium Graduated ND filter (which I absolutely love) and a 6-stop ND filter.
Taken in Northern Spain
With NiSi Medium GND, ND (6 Stops)
Z: Among all the photos you took with NiSi filters, which one is your favorite? What went into creating it?
C: This is very difficult to answer. I don’t have a specific favorite image and I tend to be quite critical with my own work. The image below is one that I’m quite satisfied with not only because of the incredible sunset but because of the fact that this was our reward after 3 weeks of non-stop rain and bad weather.
I used the NiSi Medium Graduated ND filter to darken the sky and avoid overexposing and a 10-stop ND filter to smoothen the water and create some motion in the slowly moving clouds. A 6-stop ND filter would’ve also smoothened the water but since the clouds were rather slow, it wouldn’t have much effect on them.
Taken in Norway
With NiSi Medium GND, ND (10 Stops)
Z: Could you share us a story about the best or worst day you’ve had while shooting?
C: There are so many great moments that it’s hard to single out only one. I think one of my most memorable moments was my first time photographing the Milky Way. We don’t get the galactic center here in Norway so I hadn’t really seen the Milky Way until I spent a year living in Northern Spain. After doing a long hike in some remote mountains, I stayed the night with the intention of photographing the Milky Way.
I was in awe when seeing just how bright it was on the sky and I spent more time just sitting in the grass staring at the sky than I did with the camera. It was one of those moments where the image isn’t nearly as important as the experience (though I did manage to get a good shot too).
Taken in Northern Spain
Z: Is there any advice you would pass on to new photographers?
C: Don’t do photography for the wrong reasons. Enjoy having it as a hobby and don’t worry too much about making money from it – that’s going to take all the fun away. Besides that, I recommend that you spend some time learning the fundamentals but more importantly get outside as much as possible. The best way to learn is to be out in the field.
A big part of my job is to teach beginning photographers and I’ve got tons of free articles as well as premium courses over at my website CaptureLandscapes.com. You can find almost anything you need to know over there but if you don’t, I’d love to help so don’t hesitate in shooting me an email!
Z: What locations are you looking forward to photographing in the future?
C: I’m going back to Greenland this August so that’s definitely something I’m looking forward too. That’s one of my absolute favorite places to photograph so I can’t wait to get back there and share the experience with a small group.
Before that, I’m spending close to two weeks backpacking and living out of a tent in Northern Norway. It’s going to be a fantastic experience to get away from computers and social media, and just live in the moment amongst massive mountains.
