by Yvette Depaepe 

Lotte Grønkjær lives in Denmark and has been passionate about photography for more than 12 years. She used an endless amount of time on her hobby and has exploited her family’s patience to the limit. Lotte appreciates immensely all the support she got since a long time on 1x.  She says that without it, she would never have been so caught up with photography and the desire to create images that fill her with joy.  She loves everything that speaks to her and her camera.

Let's listen to what this artist photographer reveals to us in this interview.

'A single heart'

Flowers became my characteristic; always a flower within reach, one on the way, one in full bloom and sometimes also a flower that had seen better days. I try to get a feeling, some kind of life in my photos and sometimes I succeed. You can talk about “lucky shots”, but no “lucky shots” without also being lucky about the look of the flower. I have had a few of them and still after several years I’m still in love with some of them. This one is an example:

'A little touch - monochrome'

I like the minimalistic approach and usually I’m working with just one flower.
Sometimes I also work with two flowers. This example is a single flower that in the end became two:

'Twice the same'

A few more examples with one flower becoming two in the final result:

'Same tulip : front- and back-view'

'First tulips'

Concerning the minimalistic approach I am very satisfied with this one:

'Long stemmed tulip'

 
Often I convert my photos to black and white. I think the impression is more distinctive and expressive when the colours are removed.

'Parrot Tulip'

'Dahlia'

Apart from that I am very found of colours and I enjoy a lot looking at the work of Mandy Disher and her fantastic photos which inspired me for a long the time. Here I have used a light-pad:

'Spring flowers'

When I work in the garden it happens that I get distracted by a beautiful flower or some weed I’ was about to remove.  Then, the work in the garden has to wait until I have fine image which give me satisfaction. Most often, I don’t have the time to make an arrangement and that's why many of my photos are taken handheld.  When I want to work seriously on an arrangement with smaller apertures,  I pick the flower and work with it in my interim studio: a soft box and 4 lamps from IKEA with some very fine 6400K bulbs. I have that little studio since years and it gives me excellent light for my images.   I often use a black background and of course, my tripod.

I'm using Nikon equipment.  I bought my first Nikon camera in 2007 after having photographed with a Ricoh pocket camera for several years. Currently, I have a Nikon D750 which I bought after more or less having worn out my D610, D300 and D40.

Most of the time, there is not a lot of preparation before I shoot apart from looking for the flowers, or buying and selecting the finest in flower shops.  After that it is just waiting until the idea of how to use the flower pops up in my mind.  

But once in a while, there's a little more preparation like for this shot.
I prepared it for a long time. I knew exactly when the demolition should take place. I had checked it out and tried several times till I was ready that day at 12:00 midday.

'Demolition Zone'

I am happy with this image, but the shutter of my D300 broke exactly a few seconds before the building went down.  Happily I had this one ;-)

Some years ago I was travelling around in Tuscany, Italy. I knew there would be a lot of extraordinary photo opportunities, but I hadn’t planned exactly where to go. My husband and I drove out an early morning so I could find some good spots in the beautiful landscapes. I didn’t know where to end or begin, but when we suddenly passed some parked cars we thought perhaps here was a special spot. I recognized the view I had seen made by other photographers. It was kind of a breathtaking and exquisite experience to stand suddenly at the top of a hill looking at a marvellous landscape unrolling in the early morning light. I felt like a newbie and rather amateurish standing with my handheld camera among a large group of photographers looking quite professional. They didn’t pay any attention to me. I made a few captures and we continued our drive. Home again I was happy to see that the experience gave me this photo and it turned out to be very fine:

'Early morning in Tuscany'

The two latter images illustrates my interest also is in other scenes than flowers. I am very fond of architecture too and I have a real passion for symmetry, lines and forms.

'Section of windows'

'Turning Torso'

I find it extremely relaxing and un-stressing to work on my photos and especially when I am sitting at the computer, correcting the photos, removing unwanted spots and painting in the layers.  Moments to forget about time and make thoughts flying away or falling into the right place. The day after my mother died I went to her garden and picked a twig which came out to be this photograph. It comforted me a lot just working on it.

'Still life'

I live in Denmark and studied to become a librarian.  I am working in a culture house in a suburb of Copenhagen. I love travelling and I always have my camera with me when I leave the house.

When processing my photos, I now use Photoshop, ON1 and the Nik Collection. Using Photoshop is recent, earlier I used GIMP.  I wish I got some more time to learn how to use Photoshop in a more professional way but until then I use it in my own way :-)

A lot has changed since I started photographing.  On my photographic journey, the steps were long, tough and steep. That’s why I still work as I have always done; manual mode, manual processing and working a lot with layers.  Processing is pure relaxation to me using my passion to create!

I find it difficult to give advice to photographers, but what really helped me through the years is meeting some talented and good people who shared their knowledge willingly on several social media. They made me understand that with hard work, strong will and last but not least curiosity, it is possible to increase your skills.

To me, 1X is a fabulous place to view amazing photos finding their way to the front-page.

I forgot to mention that one of my favourite flowers are poppies, so here is an example of one of the many I have photographed...  And in my garden there are hundred of them ;-)  

'Morning Poppy'

If I had to choose my very best and favourite image, it would be this one.
It is the only photo I have a print hanging on my wall.

'The Riding Ground Complex'

 
Thank you all for your attention and for reading me :-)