Marian Mertez
@marian.mertez
Best of the week 13 at #nomadict 2021
I bought my first camera during my semester abroad in Australia. After the semester, I went on a trip to make the most out of my time in this country. I wanted to capture a lot of things photographically and quickly realized that I was actually taking pictures all day. It just felt natural and was mostly very spontaneous.
Over time, I have been to many very beautiful places on our planet because of photography. So I can definitely say that photography has contributed a lot to my enjoyment of traveling; I am always intrigued by landscapes and cultures and capturing them only intensifies this.
"For this reason alone, I am very grateful to photography. I think this passion came onto my path because it somehow had to."
Many experiences and meetings took place along this path and each of them are an incredible treasure and contribution to how my life has evolved. For example, in August 2019, I went to a beautiful place near Garmisch-Partenkirchen for sunset. When I arrived, two other photographers were already there. As is often the case, sooner or later, we started talking. And at some point we were more focused on our conversation than on taking pictures. This shows what interesting people you can meet and places you can discover when you are simply out and about at different times than “non-photographers”.
"Even though each photographer brings in their own background, vision and culture, photography is the connecting factor."
With every place, and every encounter, new lessons are learned. The day I took the winning shot was no exception and has become a memory that I remind myself of more and more regularly.
We went to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo; a relaxed hiking day with a lot of sunshine. For sunset, we had thought about taking the path to this striking spot. As we were heading there, it got windier and the wind swept over a rocky outcrop. I therefore quickly abandoned my original plan to launch the drone as well. When we arrived, the last rays of sunlight of the day were already falling on the rock massif. I love these moments when the beautiful orange sunlight bathes everything in great colours.
There were three of us and so we all split up a bit, one went to the front of the hilltop, another friend tried to find other perspectives on the panorama. I always find it great when I can integrate people into my shots. In my opinion, photographs become a bit more personal that way and you can identify with them more.
As we were running a bit late, I didn’t think too much about settings and post processing when I was shooting at Tre Cime. It had to be done relatively quickly and in addition, the heavy wind made communication difficult. So I tried to put as much emphasis as possible on composition and to press the shutter at the moment the sun’s rays illuminated the mountain peaks the most.
"It was definitely a lot of fun to be able to express myself creatively here."
The editing process after shoots is definitely still part of that creative expression and therefore very important to me. It adds this indispensable individual touch. Apart from that, it’s just a lot of fun. Somehow I don’t seem to lose the desire to edit. It doesn’t matter if I edit 1 or 1000 pictures.
The possibilities that post-processing gives us these days are simply staggering. It definitely happens from time to time that a good post-processing more or less “saves” a shot.
In my editing, it is important for me to obtain a balance between the uniform style of my photographs and the individuality of each picture. In other words, I want my style to be recognizable, but at the same time it is important to me that the unique characteristics of each image are also shown to their best advantage.
Therefore, I usually always start my processing with the same preset. In super rare cases, I am already satisfied with the result. Most of the time, however, I change a few settings until the picture is just right in my opinion.
Even though many beautiful places on this earth have become hype spots as a result of social media, I always try to remember the uniqueness of the place when I am there, and add this feeling to my photos. So the lesson that I was reminded of again this day is: “The power lies in tranquillity”. I consciously took time to enjoy the moment and let the landscape take its effect on me.
Nevertheless, this can be applied to so many things. We should not take things so much for granted.
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