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James Theo
@jamesxtheo
Best of the week 36 at #nomadict 2020
Photography has been a massive part of my life since I was 16 years old, though I have always been fascinated with art and photography from an early age as my mother is an art teacher. I would go to photography and art exhibitions quite often in London and these visits spurred me on and inspired me to create my own art through the medium of photography. I studied photography at A-level, and then went onto doing a digital photography degree which I graduated from last year. I began my photography journey shooting in London most weekends and being obsessed by architectural photography and symmetry. However, after a while I got a bit bored of this and realised that I needed to get out of London and go much further afield.
"While doing my degree I found my passion for travelling and landscape photography."
Purchasing my first drone which was a Mavic Pro was a game changer and suddenly gave me a buzz to get out of the city and start exploring from new perspectives. I would focus most of my time on this and try to travel as much as possible while also doing my degree assignments. Meanwhile I’ve been to quite a few places, but for me, my favourite place I’ve been to is the sand dunes in Death Valley National Park. I could spend days exploring the vast landscape and endless dunes. I started hiking at 3:30 am for a couple of hours walking deep into the dunes to catch the sunrise and it was definitely one to remember. I waited patiently and as the sun came up it cast some lovely golden light, transforming the landscape. It’s moments like this that make the arly wake up so worth it! After about an hour after the sun came up this place got dangerously hot very quickly (45°C) and I had to walk back to the car park as quickly as I could.
To this day photography is still a big part of my life, even though it is a lot harder to travel right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this hasn’t stopped me from traveling as I recently went to Iceland this August and took advantage of there being very little tourists in a country that is very well known for being extremely busy all year round.
"Iceland blew me away, and the colourful landscape of Landmannalaugar, where I took the winning shot, is completely out of this world!"
We slept in our little tent overnight in the freezing cold at a nearby campsite and set the alarm for 4am to start our early adventure. After about an hour of walking past lava fields and hiking up steep hills, we finally made it and I was left speechless! I had never seen anything like it before and it was like I was in a real-life painting. This was only my first morning in Iceland and I already knew this was going to be one of my favourite places! It’s crazy to think that places like this actually exist on our planet.
WINNING PHOTOGRAPH
BEST OF THE WEEK 36
When I posted this photo on Instagram I was overwhelmed by how well it did. It got over 11,000 likes on my account which is my most liked photo and was featured by some huge travel accounts. I think that it is vital to post examples of my very best images on social media, that quality is more important than quantity, as this will give more value when people view my work. Although I love shooting stunning sunrises and sunsets, I like to make use of unusual weather conditions such as fog or really moody days. I believe this helps my imagery to appear original and stand out from not just being attractive and picturesque.
I believe I have developed my own style and I’ve been told quite a few times that my work is recognisable even without seeing my name attached to it, which I guess is one of the greatest compliments you can get as a photographer. When editing my photos, I try to keep the scene as close as I can as to what I remember it being like from when I was there.
Whether it is outdoors shooting or indoors editing, I love all aspects of travel photography! From the early stages of finding and researching a place to travel to, getting inspiration from books, websites and other photographers on Instagram, to driving and hiking hours for that special magic moment, to getting little to no sleep and sleeping outside in a tent in the freezing cold, to getting home and backing up all the content to then finally editing and finishing off these images from the trip. And not to forget, the people you meet on these trips. I have met a lot of people through Instagram who at first were strangers and are now really good friends of mine and I have been on several trips with. I’m always learning new things and creating amazing memories.
"There is such an energetic vibe when creating together with others as passionate as you about the whole process that comes with one image."
"With experience, it is not only my photography that has improved but also the way I travel."
A couple of years ago I spent a few weeks travelling through a few countries in Europe: Slovenia, Germany and Austria. I went at the height of the summer when it was really sunny and this made it quite difficult to shoot as the light was harsh at most times of the day. I was pretty new to landscape photography and didn’t really take it seriously, so I never really woke up for sunrises as they were so early (4:00am). In addition, we didn’t have a car to travel around in so we had to rely on hiking for hours or public transport which doesn’t run so early in the morning anyway.
I went to all these beautiful places but now looking back at it I wish I had been able to drive so I could capture these places in the best quality of light. However, there’s no doubt that I learnt from this adventure! I will return to these places again in the future and next time I go I know I will be well prepared with a lot more photography experience. Of course it still happens that, afterwards, I feel I should have done something differently to get better results. However, at these moments I try to simply remember the lesson and then focus on what matters the most: having explored new places and created memories that will last my whole lifetime.
"I feel lucky to have travelled to so many incredible places already and I let this emotion prevail over anything else."
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