By Rebecca Horne

Michael Schlegel is happy to sleep alone on a beach, waiting for the perfect confluence of the elements. Describing the patient alchemy that leads to his time exposures, Schlegel explains: ‘These moments often occur at dawn or dusk, in misty weather, or even at night, because light situations without direct sunlight hold more potential…I want the waters to move. I want the clouds to move. And I enjoy being alone in nature. I think the atmosphere in my images is conveyed much better without people in them — the viewer can more easily imagine being in that quite landscape, too.” Indeed.

Michael Schlegel’s starkly refined images offer up the raw materials of life — geological time and weather — in graphic relief. The Black Forest, near Schlegel’s home in southern Germany provided initial inspiration. The next subject for his minimalist vision was Iceland’s southern coast with its volcanic and glacial otherworldliness.

Michael’s images are available as limited edition prints in our store.

Frozen Life XIV © Michael Schlegel

Seljalandsfoss IV © Michael Schlegel

Towards the Atlantic II © Michael Schlegel