I call this photo “The Midsummer Magic” and it was taken in Lake Bohinj in Slovenia last summer, on Midsummer’s Eve. We arrived to the lake a few days before Midsummer and were lucky to get a spot right by the water. During the days, the lake was busy but calmed just before sunset.
We would cook dinner during sunset and watch the waters get still and the fog roll in until it was so thick, you couldn’t see anything at all. It was so magical and inspired me to build this photo around the phenomenon.
The photo:
There’s a saying in Finnish Midsummer mythology that if you look into the water, and on Midsummer night, you’ll see your future spouse. I wanted to visualize this folklore saying with Yoda, my dog.
While I waited for the perfect moment, I took some test photos to find the perfect angle where I would have her and her reflection in a desired composition with the surroundings.
The lens:
To capture this photo, I used the Panasonic Lumix G Leica DG Summilux II 25mm f/1.4 Aspherical Lens together with the Panasonic Lumix G9 body.
The 25mm f/1.4 is my favorite lens for taking outdoor portraits of Yoda, especially where surroundings play an important part in the portrait. This lens delivers high-resolution images with magical soft focus, and due to the wide field of view, I don’t have to be too far from Yoda. This allows me to keep better contact with her and reward her easily in between shots.
I often shoot at f/1.4, especially in settings like this when the sun has already set and it’s getting darker. But the reason for shooting at f/2.0 was to both have Yoda fully in focus, and her reflection in the water.
When photographing with a dog, your plan is always spiced up by the dog… always. And that is what I love about working with Yoda. My original plan was to have her standing in the still water, staring at her reflection while the fog rolls in in the background, all while still leaving the mountain visible. But what often happens is that I fall in love with the other shot I take. Here, with her eyes closed and a blurry reflection, she seems to say, “I don’t want to see my future spouse just yet. I want to be wild and free.”
