There Was Still Some Light

• Prize
  Bronze in Special Categories/Night Photography
• Photographer
  Christopher Berwing
• Photo Date
  2024

Shot during the Arctic winter in Northern Norway, these two images reflect on the tension between natural stillness and artificial intervention. A bare tree and the skeletal remains of umbel plants are isolated through the use of flash, revealing a constructed presence within a subdued and indifferent landscape. Although it is daytime, the polar night conceals the sun and is flattening perception. Rather than illuminating, the artificial light defines. These forms, both fragile and resilient, become protagonists in a moment suspended between documentation and fiction.

In Berlin, growing up in his father’s darkroom — where most kids saw daylight, Christopher saw red lights — he developed a natural curiosity for photography. Today, Christopher is a Basel-based photographer, works on both local and international projects, focusing on documentary photography with a growing interest in experimental techniques.