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Daniel Vayman
@photoadventures.ch
Landscape photographer based in Switzerland
My passion for photography slowly sneaked into my life when I was living in Israel, around the age of 13 or so. Since then, looking back now that I’m 41, I always remember having some sort of camera with me. First it was a very basic film camera, and then the mobile phones with cameras started coming out. I guess that my interest in photography also grew due to the experience of living in different countries. I was born in Riga, then my family moved to Moscow and after that we emigrated to Israel. Later, I went on to study music in London, Germany and finally Switzerland. And besides all these moves I did several concert travels in between (I am a professional pianist), as well as work on some cruise ships that took me over five continents.
"How can I come back from these trips without a photographic story of where I’ve been?!"
Because of all these travels I learnt how colourful, interesting, exciting and amazing our world is. People, customs, traditions, food, humour, landscapes and more. I was always interested in languages and the history of countries so before going to a new country I’d always look at the common words to be able to speak with them and I’d look up some information about the country itself. Also I would always talk to locals, being genuinely interested and respecting their culture and home and sharing stories about my own.
"Currently my home is Switzerland. It is a country that you either fall in love with and want to stay, or you just go to enjoy the nature and leave."
For me it was the first. Switzerland is very photogenic. It has mountains, lakes, and is definitely not flat, which was very important for me. I like the culture, the history, the language and find it all fascinating. It is also a country that immensely helped me personally and professionally.
Around 6 years ago I decided not to pursue further a solo career as a pianist. As with many fields in arts, it has become largely a “consumption only” industry and this pushed me away from it as I never wanted to become a “product” myself. I do teach piano at a conservatory in my city and I play chamber music as well; the difference is that I can decide which concerts to play and with whom. This way I started to enjoy again the moments I’m on the stage.
"Meanwhile, over the last 6 years that I’ve stopped focussing on my career as a pianist, photography has become a second profession."
Right now I’m just about to start my own Newborn Photography Studio in Zug. Besides, I keep doing landscape and nature photography as I enjoy the outdoors too much to spend all my shooting hours in the studio.
Photography is an art, and in art perfection doesn’t exist – which is why there are endless possibilities. The moment you think your work is perfect, that’s where you start to stagnate and devolve. I’m always searching for different or new techniques to photograph a landscape or an object/subject. I’m striving to improve, whether it is based on an advise of a colleague of mine, a feedback from someone, an online resource, or myself and previous work… I check my photos from last year 2–3 years ago and compare my own abilities.
"I’m looking at what mistakes I made and sometimes try to reprocess an old photo with my knowledge of today."
Online resources have been a great help to ameliorate throughout my journey in general. I think that it’s very important to develop yourself in any skill not by trying to copy what others do, but by analyzing how they did it and see what you can build on top of that.
I truly believe that my attitude and willingness to learn brought me to where I am now. I also think that I shouldn’t keep it for myself if I can help others grow too. If you are to organize anything as a guide or a “teacher”, you first must be confident that you can “give” the best of yourself and your knowledge.
"But the main question when organizing workshops or any other form of teaching is: “Do I just want to earn or I want to teach?”
I love teaching as it gives me great pleasure when I can help people achieve their goals. I also believe that it is almost impossible to properly teach a group of more than three or four people. It becomes very impersonal and everyone will feel rushed from location to location. I wanted to offer something more exclusive and personal.
My first and biggest trip on my own without a plan at all was to Iceland in 2017. What better place to improve yourself than in the land of fire and ice and unpredictable weather patterns? It took me nearly two years and at least five to six visits to come up with possible routes, locations and knowledge of how the country works. Especially in a country where you don’t know anyone you have to try out different lodging, car rentals, locations – apart from the touristic spots – and you’ve to thoroughly think through how the workshop is going to be. It is a lot of work but at the same time it is great fun.
"Once I felt confident enough, I organized my first workshop in 2019 and took a group of two people."
My future vision is to expand the workshops to Armenia which is another fascinating country. Some local weekend workshops is also something I’m considering and might develop in the near future. As I have a little daughter at home that will be turning 2 y/o in May, I think that I’ll keep these two big workshops for now as I don’t want to miss out on anything with her growing up.
In my workshop I try to not only teach techniques, but also to help them develop their own vision, to stay close to themselves and make them think about their personal goals with photography. Personally, I intend to recreate the scene I’ve seen as much possible. I believe many photographers say the same and still many people who are looking at the post-processed photo may say: “This can’t be real.” Let’s not forget that we all see things in a different way, with different eyes. What I mean when I say this, is that I want the result to be as close as possible to what I saw at the moment of shooting, which is influenced by my imagination, my interpretation, and my feelings.
"I want to try to transmit to my public the emotions and thoughts that I had at the time of taking that photo. “Reality” is subjective, and someone else’s reality will never be yours."
"My ultimate goal is to provoke interest in my photography, to have an emotional connection with my photos and to make them feel intrigued by my personal way of seeing things."
I believe that in today’s world of everyone wanting to “become” an influencer, it is very important to try and stand up for what you believe in, be unique, be original, be different. To be an influencer is to influence people around you through your true being and creating. Instead, many people “influence” only by what they think sells and what people want to see. In that case, isn’t it the general public who’s the real influencer? I want people to stop and think when they see something they really like, that moves them or touches them. Something that is created based on genuity and that they truly like and not because it is what’s considered to be good by everybody else.
"Of course I have learnt this over the years; every time I found out something new about photography and myself. And the connection between these."
As my first contact with photography was in fact Astrophotography. The first thing I discovered about myself is how little time I was actually spending outside in the mountains/nature and how not many of us take the time to enjoy the night sky. It’s fascinating, and recharging. I could spend all night long photographing and the time would just fly by in an instant. Also, I realized how much genuine interest I have for photography and how much I really wanted to learn more and more about it.
"Since I’m 4 I’ve been learning the piano, but somewhere it never felt like it was 100% my own choice."
Photography was always in the background but once I started to pursue it seriously I realized how much photography is my own choice. I’ve developed myself, starting from dreaming to taking the first steps and setting clear goals of what I wanted with photography. I’ve become more disciplined about planning, photographing and post processing. And now I am building up my own business. I’ve spent countless hours enthusiastically looking for educational material and then having fun learning it, something I can’t really say about countless hours of happy practice on the Piano. Don’t get me wrong, a life without music would be like a photographer without camera for me, but to go from one career and try another one around the age of 40 says something.
"It’s a result of personal growth and a professional development on its own at the same time, and it is a career that I myself truly chose to pursue."
A final thought that I would love to share and I think we should all mindfully think of at some point is: Whether your interest is photography or any other art, hobby or passion that you find fascinating – try it, learn it, see if you can become what you imagine becoming. Yes, it involves risks and there is no insurance against not succeeding. But, if you can allow yourself this risk – go for it. We get so caught up in our daily fast paced lives. Making money has become the central goal for many, but at the end, when our individual journeys on this planet finish, how much of this money can we take with us? Instead though, how many emotions and experiences that we have had, have changed our lives and that of others? I don’t mean to say “quit your main job right now”…
"I’m just trying to say that you shouldn’t be scared to take risks, to develop. To try doing something in other fields you have always been interested in. In a few years you will regret you didn’t try it today."
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