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Alejandro Castro
@alexcstro
Best of the week 16 at #nomadict 2020
I never was the adventurous or outdoorsy kind of guy. And to be honest, until a few years ago I was feeling kind of lost, like as if life had lost all its meaning and purpose for me. I was alive, but not living, you know? I was waking up in the morning just waiting for the day to be over to go to bed, and repeat it all over again. I felt no enjoyment.
"This completely changed in 2018."
The first spark of my passion for photography and adventure was triggered by some YouTube vloggers, who were traveling the world with a group of friends. The fact that they could share their stories and experiences through photos and videos intrigued me and made me pick up my first camera. I also started to follow landscape and travel photographers. One day, scrolling through my Instagram feed, I saw this ad that promoted a photography trip to Greenland with a couple of very skilled photographers.
"I applied and got accepted to join in on the trip. This trip really changed my life."
The disconnection from the internet, social media, and other distractions, allowed me to reconnect more and more with myself and nature. It was the first time in years that I had felt this amazing sense of calmness. I ended up falling in love with that feeling, and that’s the reason why I now try to travel to more remote places in the world, where I can rest from the chaos that modern society can feel like.
Exploring the northernmost part of the world has been the highlight of my life. I was born and raised in a city in Mexico called Mazatlán; where we have incredibly beautiful beaches and warm weather, so going to these places is the complete opposite to what I’m used to. I love the mood that the combination of both landscapes and weather give to me. It doesn’t feel real. Sailing through the fjords in east Greenland, enormous icebergs as big as buildings, and snowy mountains in the distance…
"It is hard to imagine how it is, it’s truly a ‘be there to believe it’ kind of scenery."
I hope that with my photo, the winning shot, and my story, I can give you an idea of how it is. It was nighttime, and we were on the boat’s hot tub (how cool is that?!), when we saw that the moon was perfectly aligning on top of an iceberg with it’s reflection on the water. So we all got out of the hot tub, grabbed our cameras, and shot that frame like crazy. The best part of it was that the moon was on one side of the sky, while the sun was on the opposite side. It felt like we were in a sci-fi movie with 2 suns or 2 moons! Such an amazing memory that still gives me goosebumps!
When I said earlier that the Greenland trip changed my life, I really meant it; it’s not an understatement. After that trip, I felt like I had found purpose again. I had finally found a group of amazing friends that I could go with to travel the world and create not just amazing pictures, but also life lasting memories and friendships. The latter is what most motivates me to go travel and shooting outdoors again and again.
“I never felt as free as the day I decided to take a path I had never taken.”
This quote really defines how I’ve felt this past couple of years. Before I started traveling, I used to live a pretty monotonous life. Wake up, go to work, sleep, repeat. Like I said before, I felt trapped. I felt like my life had this huge void that couldn’t be filled with material stuff. Traveling has expanded my vision. I now know that there’s so much more out there and that it’s fine to do things differently. I feel like I’ve learned so much from the people I’ve met in my travels, that has completely transformed me into the person I am today. This is my vision of life. Just like my photography, I’m always transforming and reinventing myself.
"Every time I come back from my travels, I feel like a completely changed person. This is what excites me the most about traveling, besides the landscapes and nature."
"With personal change, my photography changes as well."
Nature has made me more observant of my surroundings and I feel like my style has changed from shooting wide landscapes to shooting with longer lenses and capturing less of that landscape focusing on one main subject. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to capture mountain ranges and valleys, but sometimes you have to change your perspective and see beyond the big picture. When I’m out shooting, I love looking for shapes and colors that aren’t too obvious. It might be a cloud passing by the peak of a mountain, or ice floating on water making beautiful shapes. Less is more really applies to my photography now.
"Nature is the ultimate artist, and I’m always looking for it’s incredible masterpieces to capture them and share them with my audience."
I hope that through my photos and editing, I can inspire others to take the time to go outside and be excited to experience nature the same way that I do. I really like moody, contrasting photos, which is what you’ll find in my feed. So before editing, I like to make sure I have my settings right on camera, and that I’m properly exposing what I want the photo to look like. Then, while editing, I like to bring the eye’s attention to the center of the frame. This can be achieved with cropping, or using Lightroom’s selective tools. I also like to make my photos look more minimalistic. You can achieve a lot of things with editing software. Editing is key to my work, and it’s one of the most fun parts of photography, in my opinion.
"We all have different perspectives on everything we see, and if I could inspire at least one person to share their perspective with the final result of an edited photo, I would be so happy and pleased."
I know that it can be difficult, especially in the beginning, to share your work. When I first started, I remember feeling really anxious and insecure about sharing my work on social media because I used to compare it to others’ work, and I felt like I was years behind them. I’ve never been the confident guy and I still feel this way sometimes, it’s a challenge to not let this uncertainty rule your life. I’ve overcome this uncertainty by focusing more on I myself instead of comparing my work to others’, and try to differentiate what I do, make my stuff more unique. I guess it’s one of the down sides to social media; comparing ourselves to other people, not only photography-wise. But what we see on social media, is just a glimpse into someone else’s life and we have to remember that.
"No one’s life is perfect, and we should be grateful for the life and the moment that we’re currently living in."
From the start of my passion for photography and travel and during the continuous learning process, both my sister and my mother have had such a huge impact. I can’t be grateful enough towards them for all of their love and support. They’re always encouraging me to pursue my passion, and wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without them. Constantly pushing myself to try new things and embracing failure is a very important lesson I’ve learned these past few years. For the very first time in my life, I’m truly in love with what I’m doing and feel free.
"I feel like I broke the mold of what society intended me to do, and I’m living what I want to live, and honestly, it feels incredibly liberating."
If I could give someone some advice, it would be to pick up a camera, any camera, turn off cell data, and immerse themselves in nature, capturing whatever they want to, and share their experiences and thoughts with others. You never know who you might be inspiring. But one thing is sure… You will inspire yourself.
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