TO TRAVEL IS TO LIVE
‘The most dangerous worldviews are the worldviews of those who have never viewed the world.’
~Alexander von Humboldt~
I very much enjoy photographing locally, but my passion for landscape photography was only serously kindled during a vacation in the Swiss Alps in 2009. Before I had dabbled in several photographic genres without ever really committing to something. After returning from Switzerland and browsing through my photos I was finally inspired to really learn this craft and to explore every nuance of it.
I am not a travel photographer. I believe that the best and most rewarding photography can only be created in areas that one is intimately familiar with. With foreign regions that kind of familiarity can only be gained after numerous visits for which I simply lack the time and finances. However travel photography can have its own rewards…
Sometimes it is unavoidable to feel that I have exhausted all local image possibilities and I become uninspired and unmotivated. Researching and planning for a travel location is the one thing that has always dragged me out of this rut and filled me with new curiosity and wonder. Exploring the unknown places with my camera enables me to develope a much deeper relationship with it, because I actively try to go beyond the obvious snapshot and find out what really attracts me and what makes a place special. Each journey has provided me with several months worth of photos to edit and compile and often with new ideas to try at home.
I also return with treasured memories, experiences and stories. Traveling is a means to escape from the monotony of everyday life and to broaden one’s horizon. If you travel with an open mind and try to learn about the culture and traditions of the foreign country most stereotypes and biases will dissolve. By leaving the comfort zone of your home and everything that is familiar you end up facing your own limitations and fears. Sometimes you will even be able to overcome them and thereby learn something about yourself.
Finally after being on the road for two or three weeks I look forward to returning home and apply what I have learned about photography and what has inspired me on the local landscapes again.
‘Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.’
~Miriam Beard~
