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Benjamin Berthold
@benjamin.berthold
Landscape photographer based in Germany
In my early thirties I discovered my interest in photography, as well as my passion for traveling. So quite late and, to be honest, more by accident then by choice. I have relatives in Canada and wanted to have a proper camera to take pictures when visiting them. Not knowing what I was doing I bought a used Canon 400d and started to take shots for fun. Somehow I ended up always using the manual mode, I guess it was set on manual and I never changed it.
"The interest in photography was boosted when visiting my sister while she was staying in Sydney for a year."
Being that close to New Zealand, I decided to go. And that is where it all started. That first time visiting New Zealand, during a one week race across the North Island, I had this moment of feeling strongly connected to the land. It felt like home, while being in one of the most distant countries from my home, Germany. It was a very impactful moment; I came back to New Zealand three times and this feeling continues to appear every time I find myself overlooking its scenery.
"Later on, I started to play drums professionally and simultaneously got into a very challenging job."
Playing music at that level means lots of exercising and learning songs, and the job I had aside was characterized by stress. It was invading my free time and above all hitting hard on my mood. I was lacking a creative outlet, a way to absorb stress, reflect and reconnect with myself. Photography gave me all of that. I decided to quit the stressful job, become a semi pro drummer and went to travel for six month in 2018/19 while photographing everything along the way.
"Photography awakens the explorer within me and also opens my senses to my surroundings."
Wherever I go to take pictures, it always pushes me to go further and releases energy to go the extra mile and discover beautiful places, while giving me peace of mind. Traveling itself taught me numerous valuable lessons, mostly through encounters with others that got me thinking and reflecting. From being invited for dinner by total strangers after just five minutes of conversation to getting help out of nowhere while stuck in the mud with my car. But I was most affected by what I experienced and saw in Vietnam. It taught me to stay positive, celebrate life, enjoy and honor little things no matter how much/less you have and how hard life hits you.
In that sense, traveling, especially my latest travels, have made a big contribution to my personal development. Feeling the special vibe in each new place, communicating with all kinds of people, noticing how you are treated by them, observing how they deal with challenges and all the other experiences… I try to reflect on them, be aware of what it means to me, carry all of them with me and make them count in my everyday life. In terms of developing my art, I can’t say much more than I hardly remember a single day not having my camera in my hand during my trips. I have evolved gradually by my curiosity and wonder for what I was seeing and by the desire to capture all of it.
I developed and I’m still developing my style via learning by doing and a lot of YouTube tutorials. Obtaining results comes from a lot of trial and error and depends much less on gear. Most of the travel and landscape photos you see on my profile were shot with a Canon 600D and a variety of second hand lenses. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy to have a great full frame camera now, but I think that knowing how to do things in terms of technique and feeling, is more important than to have fancy equipment. You can have any tools at your disposal, but if you don’t know how to apply them you won’t be able to achieve the desired result. And in addition to that, if you know how to apply them but you are not truly enjoying it, the result will be there but it won’t be sparkling, as your eyes should be doing when you are talking about something you are passionate about.
When it comes to editing, my approach is to edit the way I saw the scenery when I captured it. That gives me creative freedom but also prevents me from over editing my images, which still happens every now and then. I try to find my own style, my own combinations for how to use light, contrasts, colors, compositions… I don’t want to do it like everyone else, which is pretty hard sometimes when using apps like Instagram and see great photographers creating amazing visual content. But it’s worth trying and will bring you to new paths and exciting experiences.
Challenging projects, situations and encounters usually leads to development. On the contrary, simply following not that much. This means that you have to go through discomfort, anxiety and uncertainty to grow. But in order to turn those experiences into growth you need to reflect on it, take your time to analyze the situation, your thoughts/actions and how you want to deal with it next time. For me, that’s the best thing about photography, or art in general; you are never done.
"There’s always more to learn and if it’s not to do something better, it is to do something different."
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