The world is too big to stay in one place! With Sjoerd Bracke (@sjoerdbracke)
The world is too big to stay in one place!
With Sjoerd Bracke (@sjoerdbracke)
Already in my childhood my parents took me to the mountains all around Europe. This was certainly something worth to experience, especially because where I am from, the Netherlands, there are no mountains. When I was twelve years old we traveled to Ecuador, South America. To see and get to know another culture as well as different sceneries was something amazing to be exposed to.
Most importantly, I believe that along that trip I developed the urgency to constantly travel.
Eventually, two years ago I got the chance to travel for 6 months after several trips to Africa and Asia. During this trip I got used to shoot with a camera and I also started to edit my photos. So, traveling was what dragged me into photography. I ended up the trip with a new hobby and ever since I have been trying to improve my skills taking photography more seriously.
Even though I am still busy with my traineeship and it is not the right time for me to pursue a career as an artist, I am really grateful for what photography has brought me so far.
On one hand, now I look and perceive differently my surrounding and I think that over time I have developed my photographic eye. To this day, contemplating in detail the landscapes I encounter along the journey is a joy. Thereby, I push myself everyday to get out of bed early so I can capture the beauty of the world at its best. Without photography I would not have this motivation, which in my opinion is so special. In addition, photography is an excellent way to meet like-minded people.
I really like this quote: “The world is too big to stay in one place”. There is so much our there to see and learn from, but you’ll not do that staying at one place. The following are probably the two most important things I have learned traveling:
(1) Be happy with what you have. After visiting several developing countries you will realize how grateful we have to be in Europe for what we have.
(2) We really need to change our behavior to safe the planet. I am not talking about C02 specifically, poaching in Africa or the pollution contaminating the oceans are two important threats that really more attention in my opinion.
