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"Everyone said digital cameras weren't suitable for photographing the aurora, but I achieved excellent results even when shooting in arctic conditions."
The photograph entitled "Aurora borealis" shown here (top) was taken in Alaska using the E-1. In February, when the temperature drops as low as -30℃, I managed to capture this shot of a very unusual vortex-shaped aurora. It's often said that digital cameras don't perform well in cold conditions, and that they are particularly unsuitable for taking shots of the aurora due to the long exposure times required. Nevertheless, I found they do a great job if you actually give them a try.
Of course it's not easy to shoot in -30℃ conditions, but problems can be overcome if you're well prepared. For example, you can keep the camera warm by leaving it in your car or protecting it with cold weather gear, and taking it out just before shooting - the camera stays warm enough to work with for about 30 minutes. Or you can use two cameras and rotate between them. As for exposure times, I find that rather then being inferior to film cameras, digital cameras set to the same sensitivity can capture images in less time than film cameras. After shooting, the results may sometimes appear to be brighter in the LCD monitor than the actual scene shot, but digital imaging lets you adjust brightness and other parameters later. This is a real advantage.
The other two photographs shown here, "Mount Tateyama above the clouds" and "Snow flowers," were also taken with the E-1. In cold locations you usually have to take steps to prevent condensation, but the E-1's moisture-resistant construction makes this unnecessary. I'd always thought that rain posed a problem for hi-tech cameras, but the heavy-duty E-1 delivers the reliability nature photographers demand.
I simply want to present nature as it is. Nothing makes me happier than showing other people something that moved me, and having them experience the same emotion. For me, photographs are a means of sharing emotional experiences with others.
Looking back, I don't think I would have become a photographer if I hadn't gone to Alaska. As a lover of both nature and photography, I suppose it was inevitable that I was drawn to such a region, a place that profoundly changed my life. From now on, I'd like to continue conveying my thoughts and impressions while expanding my sphere of activities to include Japan.
Editor's Note
"Standing all alone in the midst of nature, in all its glory, somehow makes one feel naked and humbled," says Yanagi. Like the sense of immense scale embodied in his photographs, I found him to be a very natural, generous-hearted person. He told me that having experienced the wonder of nature worldwide, he aims to focus on other themes such as the world of nature in Japan as viewed from a global perspective, as well as the people and ambience of the region. We look forward to seeing more of his outstanding works in the future.
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