DelawareScene: Expressing Mood and Capturing the Essence by Franka Gabler

Expressing Mood and Capturing the Essence by Franka Gabler

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 @ 6:30 pm

It is not enough to just correctly expose and compose. To resonate with the viewer, a successful photograph needs to tell a story. Also, to connect with a viewer, a photograph needs to evoke emotions – by telling a little bit more about the place than just being a mere record of the place.

It is important to be able to recognize the essence and the potential of the scene and find out what speaks to us before we decide how to interpret it and which aspects to emphasize. Some scenes would best tell the story if we emphasize the dark side. Other scenes might better tell the story if we emphasize vibrancy and lightness. The emotional impact of a landscape photograph is usually achieved by capturing the essence of the scene, often by depicting and conveying a mood – and there are many ways to convey a mood. The presentation will analyze several essential components that contribute to expressing and conveying mood such as choice of light, color, contrast, weather, and/or shutter speed exposure.

Bio:

Franka Gabler is a native of Croatia, Franka moved to California in the late 1990s and fell in love with the Sierra Nevada, after her first backpacking trip. The magnificence of Yosemite and California landscapes inspired her to become a landscape photographer.

For many years, she has been drawing her inspiration from subtle, moody, often intimate landscapes - compositions somewhere between abstract and the wider view, beyond mere documentation of a particular location. Her approach is to capture the essence of the place – often by isolating a smaller scene from a larger vista or an iconic view. Expressing mood and capturing the essence is what she strives for in her photography. The light and atmosphere portrayed in her photographs often result in sentimental impact and ethereal feeling. She often photographs in misty and foggy conditions which helps with simplifying her compositions by concealing distracting elements and leaving only the essence.

Franka’s photographs have been recognized internationally. In 2022 she was the overall winner of the Landscape Photography World Awards. In 2021, her photograph received a 1st place award for the “Intimate and Abstract” category of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, and in 2023, she was recognized as a highly commended Photographer of the Year. Her black & white portfolio “Expressive Yosemite” is published in Issue No. 159 of the LensWork Photography Magazine.

Franka lives in the Sierra foothills, in the small mountain town of Coarsegold, not far from Yosemite National Park.

Website: http://www.frankagabler.com