Visionary Photographer’s Landscapes Are a Love Letter to Nature

May 01, 2025

Kate Garibaldi

The image is split: on the left, a misty, lush green forest with mossy trees; on the right, dramatic, snow-covered mountain peaks are shown in black and white.

Arild Heitmann, born and raised in Northern Norway, may have glacial water running through his veins as his images of nature display a singular vision of one shaped by the very environment itself. Heitmann shares his inspiration and methods for creating his incredible photographs.

Growing up hiking and fishing in the mountains, Heitmann’s father would take him camping from a young age, laying the foundation for his lifelong connection to the outdoors. About 20 years ago, he bought his first camera simply intending to document his adventures. Immediately he was hooked, immersing himself in the craft of photography, reading everything he could to learn how to create compositions that matched his mind’s eye.

Whereas most photographers are drawn to sweeping vistas, Heitmann sees in a more fine art, at times abstract, style finding magic in the lines, textures, and shapes that nature forms as all of its elements combine to form the scene. Like a love letter to nature, Heitman weaves images together as letters into words to create a visual narrative.

Close-up of abstract, wavy patterns and textures in a dark, translucent material, possibly ice or glass, with reflective surfaces and hints of blue and silver tones.

A close-up view of rippled blue ice forming a natural bowl around a pool of clear turquoise water, with textured, wavy ice surfaces reflecting light.

A dense forest scene covered in heavy frost, with twisted branches and trees coated in white ice, creating an intricate, wintry landscape under a pale, cold light.

Frost-covered trees and branches in a dense, wintry forest create a white, icy landscape with a soft, misty atmosphere.

Foggy woodland scene with twisted tree branches covered in moss hanging over a still, dark pond; reflections of the branches create an eerie, mysterious atmosphere.

“I’d say my style is a bit quiet and occasionally a little weird,” he tells PetaPixel.

“I tend to focus on the smaller pieces of a larger landscape, rather than the obvious grand vistas. I’m really drawn to the overlooked, anonymous scenes most people walk past. So maybe my images are less immediate, not the kind that scream for attention. I also love simplicity—often stripping things down to just shapes and structure. It’s like landscape minimalism with a twist of mystery,” Heitmann muses.

With his strong connection to the Norwegian landscape, winter mountain scenes are his specialty. However, his work expands beyond them to the woodlands, glaciers, and coast he grew up with. Instead of seeing these places with the eye of a tourist or someone who is visiting the area for a brief period, he can photograph them at their best, in all seasons, and with the experience and knowledge of having explored them his whole life.

“Winter mountain scenes show up a lot in my work, and I’ve also developed a bit of a thing for woodlands. There’s something about forests that really fires up my creativity—maybe it’s the quiet complexity of them. But overall, I’m chasing emotion more than subject. Like, can I make you feel something? Smell the damp earth in a woodland photo? Hear the silence? That’s what I’m after. Easier said than done, though,” Heitmann describes.

“There are rare moments when everything aligns—you’re completely in the zone, the scene just clicks, and you know as you press the shutter that it’s a keeper. That feeling is gold. But honestly, the biggest reward is just being out there. Being in nature, fully tuned in, all senses awake—it’s a kind of presence most people don’t get to experience often. The camera is just an excuse, really.”

A misty forest with tall trees covered in moss and lush green undergrowth. Sunlight softly illuminates patches of foliage on the forest floor, creating a serene and mysterious atmosphere.

Vertical concrete columns with irregular white patches and dark stains, creating a weathered, abstract pattern. The surface texture is rough, and the columns are closely aligned side by side.

Another important aspect of his style is that he prefers to work in series, seeing compositions of nature as highly connected pieces that form like a puzzle to tell a greater story. Interestingly, he would rather create a series that together is powerful than one single image, preferring to create a symphony than to perform a single note.

“I almost never work with standalone images. I prefer working in series or long-term projects — it gives me space to include the quieter photos, the ones that might not stand strong on their own but really come alive as part of a larger body of work. So I’m always on the lookout for images that ‘fit,'” Heitmann says.

“It’s actually a great way to lower the bar a bit and stop chasing those single, perfect shots. Once I spot something with potential, it’s usually a fairly straightforward process. My editing is very minimal—mostly contrast tweaks and removing distractions. If an image needs too much processing to work, I just move on. If it doesn’t sing naturally, it’s probably not worth saving.”

The downside to that approach is that it’s highly intuitive and relies on him feeling the inspiration and connection between multiple pieces. Sometimes, that inspiration just does not strike, and although he’s out in nature, he does not feel the connection to the scene.

A strong takeaway from this approach is that he is willing to be open to the process as it happens, trusting in his vision and experience to guide him and thinking of times when he returns with an empty memory card as well spent out in nature rather than a waste.

“Sometimes I’m out there, camera ready, conditions are great—but I’m just not connecting with the scene. I don’t force it. I just enjoy being lucky enough to be out in nature. I work very much from a “react to what I see” mindset, so I try not to think of anything as a failed shoot. Worst case? I got some fresh air and didn’t have to answer emails,” the photographed explains.

His approach to gear takes a similar mindset to his overall style, seeing equipment as just a set of tools; he prefers to keep things simple. However, he notes the crucial aspect of knowing your kit inside out. This foundation of fully understanding both his photography equipment as well as how various settings will affect a scene, means that he’s able to act instinctively in the moment.

“I don’t want to be thinking about settings when I’m shooting–I want to change things on instinct, without digging through menus. My go-to setup includes two Fuji GFX cameras—one of them converted for infrared, which I use the most. My lenses are a 32–64mm, a 100–200mm, and a 500mm, which pretty much covers all my needs. I also use ND grads and solid ND filters quite a bit. A solid tripod is a must. That’s about it. Nothing fancy–just the right tools, used often,” he said.

A dramatic black and white photo of a stormy sky over open grassland, with dark, swirling clouds and two bright lightning bolts striking the ground in the distance.

Black and white image of rolling hills and mountains, layered in mist. The foreground features dark, rocky terrain, while the background shows lighter, softer silhouettes of hills receding into the distance.

Abstract black and white image showing swirling, layered patterns resembling marbled sand or stone, with varying shades of gray creating a sense of depth and texture.

Being able to adapt to nature as it happens, changing light and weather, with that instinctive understanding of his gear means that he can focus completely on creating the composition and making choices.

To create his photographs, he uses a bit of a formula in his approach, starting first with the aspect ratio; he selects either square 1:1 or wide 16:9. Within each project, he sticks with that single aspect ratio to create consistency and fluidity between each piece. As structured as that start may seem, the rest is part chaos, part controlled experimentation.

“Once [my aspect ratio] is locked in, the rest is pretty much gut feeling and curiosity. I like experimenting—shooting upside down, weird angles, placing subjects way off balance, especially in square format. It keeps things interesting and might make the viewer pause and ask questions,” he says.

“As for color, I mostly shoot in black and white, especially with infrared. When I do work in color, I stick to very muted, earthy tones. High saturation just doesn’t suit the kind of quiet, anonymous mood I’m going for.”

That mood is especially evident in one of his ongoing infrared series Peaks of the North (shown below), which is one of his most cherished. The images he’s created for it thus far, stripped of color, force the viewer on a journey through the mountain’s forms, sculpted by light and shadow. In many images, the contrasted edge of one mountain becomes the leading line to another, with a layered composition drawing the eye through the textures of peaks cloaked in storm clouds. It’s these very mountains that he grew up with and which are still a key part of his life.

A dramatic black and white photo of a snow-covered mountain ridge, with light and clouds creating striking shadows and highlights across the rugged landscape.

Black and white photo of dramatic, snow-covered mountain peaks with sharp ridges, illuminated by sunlight against a dark sky, creating striking contrasts and deep shadows on the landscape.

Heitmann explains, “I’ve got several ongoing series that I’m quite attached to, but Peaks of the North is one I’m especially proud of. It’s an infrared project I’ve been working on for years, focusing on the dramatic mountain ranges up here in the Arctic. These mountains have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember—they’re wild, jagged, almost hostile in places. But they’re also incredibly beautiful and magnetic. That mix of danger and allure is something I’ve always wanted to capture, and I feel like this series gets pretty close.”

Despite having over 20 years of experience, so much so that he started a photographic tour company to share the special places that he’s found, he still describes himself as a photographer learning. His latest experiment is with analog photography, which he describes as “both humbling and exciting.” he still employs the same mantra of not being afraid to make a mistake.

“I’m sure I’ll mess things up for a while, but that’s part of the fun. I like being a bit uncomfortable — it usually means growth is happening,” Heitmann says.

With his workshop co-leader and self-described partner-in-crime, Stian Klo, he’s spent the last four years collaborating on a project photographing Svalbard entirely in infrared.

“The landscape there is just next-level epic, and we’ve been slowly distilling thousands of images down to a final selection of maybe 100–150. None of them have been published yet, and we both feel it’s the strongest work we’ve done. Can’t wait to share it—through exhibitions and of course, the book itself,” Heitmann says.

Below are three images from the Svalbard book project. This is an exciting debut, as these photos have never been published or shared with the public.

Black and white photo of snow-covered mountain slopes with dramatic ridges and shadows, beneath a dark sky with a single white cloud and streaks of light.

Minimalist black-and-white landscape with smooth, blurred horizontal lines suggesting water or road in the foreground, a distant rocky hill, and snow-covered mountains beneath a cloudy sky in the background.

Snow-covered mountains and ridges cast dramatic shadows under low light, creating a stark contrast between illuminated and dark areas in a rugged, wintry landscape.

With this work, he hopes to inspire everyone to want to get out into the wild and see beyond the everyday.

“Climb that tall waterfall, cross that river and run up that mountain,” he says.

“I am incredibly blessed in being born and raised in one of the most beautiful places on earth; Northern Norway. I am surrounded by nature’s beauty and it is a constant source of inspiration. I hope you find some inspiration in looking at my work and it makes you want to get out in the wild.”

To follow his journey through the mountains, Arild Heitmann shares his work on his website, Instagram, and photography workshops with partner Stian Klo.

Image credits: Photographs by Arild Heitmann