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Stian van der meeren
@stian.van.der.meeren
Landscape photographer based in Norway
As a teenager, I wandered around in the garden with the camera of my brother, learning the rules of 3D, how to frame and how to make a photo stand out from the crowd. As he didn’t use his camera that much I borrowed it sometimes until I finally bought my own when I was 19, right before my graduation. I didn’t suck up all I was learning about photography as easy as I should, and only a year later my camera was put on the shelf – Was I really going to give up something so easy just because I was busy working?
"Fast forward to 2018, nine years later, I really hit a dark spot in my personal life, both financially and mentally."
Working and socializing, which has always come very easy for me, was now extremely hard and drained every bit of energy I had left. All I did was work, and rest on the couch. I simply hit rock bottom and didn’t see a way out until I saw an Olympus OMD EM-1 MK II camera on sale and I remembered how much joy I had the last time I had a camera in my hand.
"So... I bought a camera I couldn't afford at that time just to be able to get out in nature more and to heal myself. And it resulted in being the best remedy!"
Until this day I thank myself for buying that camera, representing my decision to change my way of life. I said to myself, “remember how good this story is going to be, when you overcome all odds to succeed”. Sometimes rock bottom is the greatest gift, because at rock bottom, change is a must. And when we believe in the story we tell ourselves, a fairytale becomes a biography.
I quickly started picking up from where I left, and very soon people wanted to buy some of my photos I had taken from my hometown. I started out with landscape and street photography, but I have always loved working with people and helping others. So I started to do a little more portraits and when that became a success, I got my first request to take photos at a wedding in 2019, which led to two more requests for that same year, and ofcourse I seized this opportunity! Wedding photography quickly became a true passion for me, which drove me to start my own business here in Norway in January in 2020. I was now self-employed and I remember telling myself, “this year is going to be MINE.” Over 10 weddings were booked – the year started out great with a wedding on February 15th, a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. That’s the day I met my Thea. She had come over all the way from London where she lived at the time to film the wedding of her close friend.
"Luckily, I was the photographer. We clicked instantly as a team, and we had so much fun during that workday."
"If it wasn't for hitting rock bottom, I probably wouldn't have bought a camera, wouldn’t have found myself in nature, nor photograph weddings, and I wouldn't have met the love of my life."
It just shows that even no matter how dark things may seem or don’t see a way out, beauty and joy will once again dominate your life. You really can’t see it right there and then, but patience wins my friend, patience always wins. I have a full time job in retail, and photography takes up all my spare time now. If I’m not out taking photos, I am definitely at home planning and editing. I am blessed that through photography, I am able to connect and work with amazing people from all over Norway and the world. My journeys through Norway with wedding Photography are really amazing. To have someone text you and say they want you to come across Norway to photograph their wedding, is something that is really special to me.
"Landscape photography combines perfectly with my wedding photography."
Driving through Norway you easily get inspired, so Thea and I always have our camera in the front seat, just waiting for that perfect location to stop the car and capture some awesome scenery. The greatest thing about this is that the photos are not planned as we just drive toward the location of the wedding. So we get all kinds of weather and nature, it is always a surprise. This makes it even more special and adventurous.
High, steep mountains, countless beautiful waterfalls, narrow fjord branches, endless forests, roads up and down the hills, clear green glacier waters, powerful rivers breaking through the valleys, cottages in so remote places that you can only be surprised… The first stop was Dovre, a highland national park with a potential of seeing the majestic musk ox! We hiked for about four hours before the fog cleared and 400m away, we spotted a pack of 14 musk oxen! From there we went on to a place called Innerdalen, known as the most beautiful valley in Norway and it truly lives up to that image. What a view you get while driving through that valley! Simply gorgeous! After a 20 min drive, you have to hike for about 30 minutes to the end of the valley to a remote farm where you can camp. The sunset and the view left me without words.
After that we headed to what would be my favourite part of the trip. The Birdmountain on Runde Island, where we went in hopes to find the puffins. We hiked early in the morning to the location to find a good spot, and we waited for about three hours when the first puffins arrived, flying in from the Atlantic! All of a sudden there were thousands of puffins covering the ground and the sky! Thea, who has such a big passion for wildlife photography, got a big smile on her face and twinkles in her eyes which made it double special to me.
The next stop was Odda, where we hiked up to what is called the Troll’s tongue. It was a bit steep at first, but after all a very good trip! We both carried heavy luggage up as we were going to spend the night there. It took us a while to find a place to put the tent as it was very rocky there so we were both very exhausted by the time we could enjoy the views and rest. It was totally worth the effort because we managed to go out and capture some epic footage of this rocky landscape!
"What attracts me to both landscape and wedding photography, is the true beauty of it. Adventure photography holds its own raw beauty."
Everything around it – the drive, the hike, the wonder – fulfills me with a feeling hard to describe. It is the greatest feeling of all to stand at a mountain peak, watch sunset on a beach or be lost in a dense forest, just taking it all in, breath by breath. On the other hand, a wedding is a celebration of two people at the height of their love, sharing the best they have with each other, close friends and family. I love to capture every single emotion, every tear, every speech, and every smile. I really feel the joy and love as I go through wedding photos after a wedding, so I know this is what I’m supposed to do. To be able to be a part of such a beautiful celebration, is something I take great pride in. This is truly my passion and my future career.
"I love to create, and to create everlasting memories from all over Norway and the world, is just amazing in every way."
I have so much to see and experience, and now I’m finally getting there. That I get to do this together with someone I love is truly special. And it is not just with someone I love – I am also creating with my future wife, the mother of our future children and my best friend, and that is something I consider to be unique. Despite we only met in January, I know it. I feel it. I get tears in my eyes just by thinking of how lucky I am to have met such a wonderful human being and we are a great team in any sense. We are so fortunate to share the same passion, for both adventure photography and wedding photography. That means we have a better understanding for each other when it comes to late night editing sessions and so on. We get to share our lives through our deepest passion, we motivate and inspire each other and go into the same direction, which may sound too good to be true – but life is full of wonder and magic just like our world is full of landscapes and natural phenomena that are hard to believe to exist.
"I always surround myself with likeminded people. People who are kind and show empathy. People who want others to succeed, people who support you unconditionally, and people who help you grow."
To be able to thrive you need to have people around who always bring you good energy, who inspire you to be better day by day. A creative process ceases really quickly if you find yourself in an environment that simply doesn’t feel good and blocks your potential, even if at first sight nothing seems to be wrong. I have grown extremely over the past two years and that is because I decided to step out of the shadow and into the sun. Hatred or severe conflict are just extreme reasons to alienate yourself from people – often it’s not like that. It is totally fine to step away if you simply feel that you are not at the right place to be able to tap into your personal and professional potential. It is so important to allow yourself to thrive, to succeed, to smile.
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