Sometimes I wonder if I’m a little bit agoraphobic. I don’t really have a genuine fear of open spaces but I have noticed that I have a genuine tendency to prefer enclosed spaces – I’m not talking small closets, but wide closed spaces like forests or small lakes. Places like sea shores or big lakes – anything where all you see is a straight horizon – make me a bit uneasy. I just think that it’s unnatural, that’s all. I was born and raised by a lake where the opposing shore with all its forests was always visible. Maybe there’s a kind of security I unconsciously seek, just need to see the other side. Standing by the sea and looking out at the horizon requires faith to believe in the opposing shore but the only thing I seem to believe is what I see.

So it’s easy to explain why I love Sweden so much. There are small forest lakes a-plenty, not to mention the forests themselves. Maybe that’s why I almost take it personally when I see clear-cut forests – my security blanket is gone! My version of agoraphobia is often reflected in my photographs as well. The cynical view – and I never shy away from that – is that I’m just not very good with wideangle lenses so I take my landscapes with longer focal lengths to hide the fact. But the Freudian view is that I have no reason to learn to use wideangle lenses because the wide landscape just simply doesn’t appeal to me, period. I do take the occasional wide shot, but looking at my album, my best work is undoubtedly with the enclosed, intimate scenics. For a while back I toyed with the idea of buying the Sigma 15mm f2.8 diagonal fish-eye lens to help me out of my photographic slump, but now that I got my Canon 300mm f4L, I can’t see any reason to play with extreme wideangles anymore. The telephoto lens has opened up a new world for me where close-ups are possible like never before. Now I feel that I don’t need to re-invent myself anymore – the other side is right here.

The seaside image was taken in 2003 with Canon EOS 5, Tokina 20-35mm f2.8 lens @ wide end. I sold the lens last year.
The forest lake image was taken on Sunday with Canon 20D, 17-85mm @ 76mm (35mm equivalent 122mm). I’m keeping the lens.