Why Pen Densham photographs waves at dusk on a 400mm lens at f/40

A painterly, long-exposure seascape featuring deep amber and golden waves that appear like liquid silk, crested by soft, misty white sea spray tinted with violet hues.

When I profiled Pen Densham's work last December, I noted that the Oscar-nominated filmmaker had developed a radical impressionist approach to photographing nature, but hadn't detailed his specific techniques. Thankfully, he's since got in touch and done exactly that.

What emerges is a methodology that's equal parts technical and philosophical, and more practical than you might expect.