Autumn in Transition by Mai Phuong Duong
Captured during the waning days of autumn in the rugged landscapes of Saxon Switzerland, this photograph masterfully documents the fleeting transition of the season. The photographer utilized a wide aperture to isolate the subject, creating a delicate interplay of light and depth against the backdrop of the Elbe valley. By navigating the challenges of limited daylight and the vast, hilly terrain of the national park, the artist successfully distilled the quiet, melancholic beauty of late November. The image is award-worthy for its evocative atmosphere and the technical precision used to frame the ephemeral essence of a changing landscape.
Dr Martin Raskovsky
Dr. Martín Raskovsky is an eclectic artist with an incomparable and complex aesthetic touch. Dr. Raskovsky's visionary journey and passion for photography was born very early and followed a stimulating and remarkable evolution that has resulted in thought provoking, intellectual and deeply evocative works of art.
Dr. Raskovsky's creative genius is in fact an outstanding innovation to photographic art: after centuries of technical and technological evolution, the progress of the optical instrument that revolutionised our lives seems to deserve a new dimension. Impressionist painters accelerated the gesture of their brush strokes in order to capture the ephemeral and immediate nuances of light, while Dr. Raskovsky carries out the process in reverse: he already owns reality and, with a unique and refined vision, he transforms photography into post-impressionistic masterpieces. Flowing waves and sinuous lines create a sense of movement that vibrates all the nuances of a wild and rampant nature.
Dr. Raskovsky's rich imagination is able to relieve the viewer from the dominant and accepted norms of photographic art and, as a consequence, he opens our minds.
Camera Gear: Nikon
Current Location: United Kingdom
Portfolio: http://martinr-art.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martin.raskovsky.photography/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinraskovsky/
Best Achievements & Exhibitions:
“Chester Art Fair,” 2018, Chester, November 2018
“Windsor Contemporary Art Fair”, Windsor, November 2018
“New Artist Art Fair”, London, September 2018
“Chianciano Biennale”, Italy, August 2018
“Parallax Art Fair”, London, July 2018
“Bath Art Fair”, Bath, May 2018
“Grid Art Fair”, London, May 2018
“Reading Contemporary Art Fair”, Reading, April 2018
“Talented Art Fair”, London, March 2018
“Oxford International Art Fair”, Oxford, February 2018
"Eclectic Gallery" 2017, London, November 2017
“Chester Art Fair” 2017, Chester, November 2017
“Art Baho 2017”, Barcelona, September 2017
"Amsterdam International Art Fair”, Beurs van Berlage - Amsterdam, August 2017
"Art Fair Malaga 17”, Palacio de Ferias y Congresos - Malaga, June-July 2017
“Art Nou Mil·lenni Gallery”, Barcelona 2017
"Chianciano EXPO 2017”, Chianciano Terme, Siena, June-July 2017
“Rossocinabro” - Contemporary Art in Rome , Rome, June 2017
“Royal Arts Prize exhibition”, The Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, May-June 2017
“London Art Biennale 2017”; Chelsea - London, Special Mention of Excellence, March 2017
“Oxford International Art Fair”; Oxford Town Hall, February 2017
“Pay and Display" - Open Exhibition; Centrespace Gallery Bristol, February 2017
“Second Look" - Open Exhibition; Hamilton House Gallery Bristol, February 2017
“The MistletoeBall 2016”; In Aid of Cancer Research UK - The Dorchester Hotel, London, December 2016
"Brick Lane Paint Connection" - Centrespace Gallery - Bristol, September 2016
"My Dreams" - Solo Exhibition; Centrespace Gallery - Bristol, July 2016
"Art in Mind, True Colours"; The Brick Lane Gallery - London, June 2016
"Art in Mind, Revisited"; The Brick Lane Gallery - London, May 2016
"Landscape Rural Vs Urban"; The Brick Lane Gallery - London, February 2016
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Resonance Score Breakdown
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Expert Photography Reviews · 4
The Weight of Falling
The trees do not mourn the loss of their leaves. They simply let go. There is a specific kind of honesty in the way a forest prepares for the long sleep.
Read the reflection →The Quiet Shift
I spent this morning trying to clear out my closet. It is one of those tasks I put off until the air turns crisp and I have no choice but to face the layers I have been hiding away.
Read the reflection →Reviews & Comments
Share your thoughts about this award-winning photograph. Your reviews contribute to the community engagement score.
The f/1.4 aperture collapses the Elbe valley into a blur, forcing the eye toward the primary subject. It’s a risky gamble on depth of field. The spatial tension between the sharp foreground foliage and the obliterated background creates a rigid, vertical fulcrum. I’m genuinely irritated by the lack of anchor in the upper quadrant, yet the frame holds. It doesn’t collapse into sentimentality. The composition demands attention, even if the balance remains precarious.
We look at these fading leaves and we aren’t just seeing nature; we’re watching a life exhale. Mai Phuong Duong didn’t just point a lens at the Elbe valley; she listened to the silence of November. It’s a portrait of a season letting go. I find myself shivering, feeling that sudden, sharp ache of time passing. It’s a photograph that asks to be returned to, because it’s really a conversation about how we all eventually change.
1/1000sec at f/1.4, ISO 400. Using a 50mm prime wide open against a landscape is a gamble that rarely pays off. The depth of field is razor-thin, leaving the Saxon Switzerland terrain largely blurred into oblivion. It’s technically reckless. I’ve spent years analyzing optics, and frankly, the lack of focus across the frame irritates me. You’ve sacrificed the scale of the Elbe valley for a shallow gimmick. It’s a wasted opportunity for such rugged geography.
Before the eye identifies the Elbe valley, a sudden stillness settles in the chest. The shallow depth of field forces a physiological surrender; my pulse slows to match the fading light. It’s a quiet, aching transition. I’ve returned to this frame three times today, and each time, the blur of the Saxon hills feels like a half-remembered dream. It doesn’t just show autumn; it pulls the cold, brittle air of November directly into my lungs.