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Alina Kondrat
@alinakondrat
"A life of adventures"
In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Mongolia, a nation bordered by China and Russia, is known for vast, rugged expanses and nomadic culture. Approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic and horse culture is still integral.
Horses play a large role in the daily and national life of the Mongols; it is traditionally said that “a Mongol without a horse is like a bird without the wings”. Eagles, as you are about to discover through this interview, are also essential for nomad Mongols.
To appreciate the Mongol you must see him on horseback, and indeed you rarely see him otherwise, for he does not put foot to ground if he can help it.
Our guest, Alina Kondrat (@alinakondrat) had the great pleasure to meet such a unique culture and experience the nomad life in Mongolia. This is just one of Alina’s wonderful experiences, because she had many! Travel and photography have become an essential part of her identity and today she is inspiring thousands of people to go outdoors and explore the beauties of our world.
Her work has caught the attention of big brands, such as Samsung for instance. Give her a camera, and she will tell you an amazing story! In order to understand Alina’s art and dive into her vision of the world I asked her 12 questions. The following was the outcome!
Welcome Alina! A beautiful beach was the main character in your first picture posted in Instagram. You posted this picture the 10th of March 2013. 5 years later you are a true inspiration for many people all over the world! What motivated you to grab the camera and start documenting your travel experiences?
Hi Alex! Thank you for having me! It’s been a long time on Instagram. To be honest I think I started even earlier, but back in the days I deleted some photos with creepy Instagram frames, random topics like ‘hey, I’m watching a volleyball match’ etc. As you see, at the beginning Instagram was for me a place to share random moments of my life rather than pictures which could inspire people to go outside and travel.
Actually, I travel since forever! Most of my family live at least 150km away from my hometown, so since my childhood I have been spending long hours in a car – to visit my family or to explore new regions. At the beginning mostly in Poland, where I was hiking mountains with my parents or simply chilling in the coast. My first trip abroad was to Slovakia, when I was 7 and my main memories in my head are: long lines on the boarder (this time Poland wasn’t in the Schengen Zone) and hikes in mad and rain in Slovakian parts of Tatra Mountains. Around this time my mom was mostly the only one in the family taking pictures, but few years later I took an old camera and I started collecting moments as well.
You have traveled a lot Alina, is there any country that really impressed you?
It’s really hard to tell, because every place is different and has something unique to offer. Of course I couldn’t say that Iceland or New Zealand didn’t impress me – that would be a huge lie! But if I have to choose one location it would be Easter Taiga in Mongolia and The Tsaatan People Village. This community chose to stay in the middle of Taiga, where they’re herding and living of their reindeers. This place is located far away from everything.
If you want to visit the Reindeer community you will have to horse ride for 5 hours. However, in summer it is quite difficult to meet the nomads and most likely you will need to ride a horse for two days! But this experience is totally worth it! It is really inspiring nowadays to see people who live so close to nature, without any type of technology disturbing their life. Although they don’t have much, they are happy with their lives…
We spent together less than two days and I totally fell in love with the people. I would love to go back and experience the lifestyle again for a longer period of time. Getting to know better their traditions or understand how and where they migrate, or get to see the shamanic ceremonies is something I am looking forward to experience.
Another special place for me is Ushguli (Georgia), where one can find the highest inhabited settlements in Europe. When I was there 4 years ago I climbed with locals one of the defensive towers, which are located all around Svaneti. I sat on the roof and I enjoyed the panoramic view of the village and the Caucasus Mountains. That was a very significant moment for me, because for the very first time in my life I saw a mountain (Shkhara) higher than 5,000 meters above the sea level. That was definitely something impressive!
What are the three landscapes you would recommend visiting to all our readers?
That’s not an easy question. It all depends on what you really want to see or shoot, what time of the day you’ll arrive into a specific spot or even if you have enough time to walk around and find some hidden gems! I’m definitely in love with Iceland, Norway and New Zealand. Every corner of these countries amazed me. If I have to choose I would recommend to spend some time in Landmanalaugar, þórsmörk and Stokksnes (Iceland) and simply walk around. Visit Northern Norway, I’m in love with Lofoten and Vesterålen, and also go for some amazing hikes in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park (New Zealand)!
Traveling is getting cheaper and easier everyday. With all your experience, is there any tip or trick that has allowed you to travel more?
I would say that the best you can do is to work hard and don’t give up. There’s no magic trick behind, although I wish it would be! I was working in the film industry, so most of the time I was living from project to project. Because I couldn’t connect the projects to traveling (which is my biggest passion), I decided to try something different. So, I quitted my long term and well paid job and I became a freelancer. Since then I’m trying to find the best solutions to make it work. Now I’m doing small projects, learning new skills, and doing some non-profit activities to experience new things. I think it is important to be smart, choose wisely and take risks from time to time.
If you want to travel a lot and you still don’t have enough projects to do so and sustain such lifestyle, you simply need to save and be smart spending your money. For instance, I am not going to crazy parties, I don’t watch movies in the cinema every Saturday or I don’t eat daily in restaurants. The best thing is that I feel alright with that because I know that instead I will do other awesome activities traveling. It is not easy, but definitely worth it!
In your opinion, what are the basic steps that most people need to take in order to travel more?
I think the biggest mistake is that people tend to wait for the perfect moment in the future instead of making the decision and start traveling right now. You don’t need to start big or travel to a different continent. Try to travel around your hometown, book a cheap flight for a weekend abroad or go hitchhiking. There are so many options right behind the corner. Simply go somewhere and don’t think about it too much!
I’m currently living in Poland, where the economic situation nowadays is not the best (the national minimum wage for instance is approximately €500, which if you compare it with other countries is not much). However, that is not stopping me from traveling! If one really wants to travel, there are many possibilities!
My first big trip was right after my first year at the university. During that summer break I was working in a cafe where I was earning less than €2 per hour! However, after one month I earned enough money to hitchhike for 30 days around Western Europe. It is all about how much you want something. If I was able to travel around Western Europe hitchhiking, one can do exactly the same as well!
Traveling with a low budget can be a great experience, specially if you are with friends. For our trip around Europe we were traveling with heavy backpacks, sleeping in tents, eating cheap food and having a proper shower just once in a while…But, hey! During this time I visited 7 countries, I slept next to the Loch Ness, I went to a jam session in Paris, I traveled in the Hogwarts Express in the Scottish Highlands, I swam in the Geneva Lake and I had a nice evening walk around Salzburg. I learned so much about myself in this trip and I saw so many amazing places, that even if sometimes it wasn’t easy, I would define this period as one of the best times of my life!
Your photography has really special characteristics Alina. I think that the presence of colder tones is really present in your art. Why do you use such colors and tones and how did you achieve your current style?
Thank you so much, although I’m still working on my editing style. Most of the times when I’m going through my old works (it doesn’t matter if it’s a photo or a video) I think that I would have edited the picture differently nowadays, but yeah…that only means that I’m still learning and looking for new “best ways” to develop my own style.
About the cold tones, I honestly think that the weather has much to do in this regard, I have been really unlucky! haha Lately I have noticed that I have huge problems when it comes to edit a sunny photo!
When it comes to editing a photo, most of the times I am just playing around with the settings in Lightroom or searching for the “look” I like the most. I still have so much to learn, but I am progressing!
What is your approach when it comes to planning your trip and finding your ideal locations?
My approach is really similar every time I plan a trip. First I start with a simple search in Google Graphic, Pinterest and occasionally Instagram. Then I search for the chosen spots in Google Maps, where I’m also attaching useful tips, photos and descriptions. There’s always a plan behind every trip, but no matter what, changes will appear.
Back in time I was trying to avoid tourist attractions, I was looking for less known areas. Right now, when I’m going to a place like Lofoten or Iceland, it’s super tough to skip all the beautiful locations, which became tourist attractions. In these cases I’m trying to reach the locations early in the morning or late in the evening.
I’ve noticed that as a photographer it’s good to keep a balance.
"Visit some spots where you know you can take a picture and on the other hand try to stay creative and look for something special, some hidden gems!"
Of course this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be creative while visiting popular spots! There are always new perspectives waiting for us!
In the end, the most important thing is to keep the eyes open, to stop the car whenever I see something interesting, to go on a hike and check some new locations. The second most important thing is to be flexible – many times the weather defines which spots are the best to visit.
There are also places like Mongolia where it’s super difficult to find spots in advance, as long as you don’t speak Mongolian or at least Russian. In this case the best solution is to ask locals.
What are the three most valuable personal lessons you have learned traveling?
In my opinion traveling is the best way to observe. Every day brings something new, i.e., new people, new places, new problems to solve…But that is the best way to learn.
There are many lessons I’ve learned traveling, but the most important ones are to simply enjoy the little things and to be aware of how much we have and how privileged we are. My trips to Mongolia and Georgia showed me the biggest differences in our cultures. The families we visited didn’t have much, they were struggling with some problems. However, they were still happy and they shared everything with us. I’ve noticed that nowadays it’s not really common to be happy just because we’re healthy, able to get up every day, have a caring family, or a place to call “home”. Somehow all these is disappearing in the daily hustle and it has become “an obvious thing” to have. We’re forgetting these simple values. Traveling helps you to see this, to value the moment and to realize what are the important things in life.
Imagine yourself at the beginning of your professional career as a photographer. What four pieces of advice would you give to yourself?
I would say that I’m still at the beginning of my way. But looking backwards I would definitely change few things.
- The most important: don’t waste time thinking about what others may think of your work. In the end it doesn’t really matters as long as it is not constructive. Just do your job.
- Don’t be shy and ask for help if you need it.
- Work more and don’t waste so much time on senseless things.
- Be brave – try to experiment in postproduction.
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
There’s one person who inspired and motivated me the most – @muenchmax. Max had enough patience to practice with me manual settings, to wake me up for sunrises (I’m definitely not a morning person), to show me my mistakes and to enable me to find new perspectives. He is such a talented person and definitely my favorite photographer!
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
We should try to be the best version of ourselves, be good to each other and to nature. Simply treat others in the same way you would like to be treated.
