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Blisshunter
@theblisshunter
Best of the week 14 at #nomadict 2020
After years of denial I realized my full time job as a journalist wasn’t as fulfilling as I initially imagined. Trading the small town for a huge bubbly city, being invited to all the exclusive events, talking to the elite…It all sounded so much better in my head. And I did have fun, don’t get me wrong, but it was very short lived. Imagine being surrounded by a constant flow of deadline stress, traffic jams, all-nighters and meaningless smalltalk. I was so busy investigating other people’s lives that I was missing out on my own and mostly: I was desperately missing nature. It’s when I teared up at work staring at my desktop’s beachy screensaver when I decided it was time for a drastic change.
"I’ve packed my bags and moved to Sydney. Shortly after that, my favorite screensaver became my life."
"I’m an utterly curious person. A wild at heart wanderer seeking beauty in the mundane."
I always feel the urge to learn, to grow, to explore new places and to meet new people. It’s always been that way. I prefer to eat out at the local diners, use public transport and hang out with the locals rather than exploring 5 star resorts. It’s so interesting to become part of their mundane life, to observe it from their point of view, even for just a second. One day you’re sitting on a muddy floor in Fiji in the middle of the jungle and the other day you’re baking a pizza in an Italian cook’s tiny apartment. These connections mean the world to me. It’s not necessarily the big events that make your journey spectacular, it’s how you get to spend the little moments in between. I’ll never forget my first Milky Way experience in Australia. I was staying at a massive cattle farm in Queensland with a group of other travelers who are now friends, when suddenly thousands of stars appeared. Being formerly located in Belgium, I wasn’t used to seeing as many stars, due to light pollution.
"We stayed up till morning that night, just gazing at the sky and spoon training each other to stay warm."
Think about it: you leave the comfort of your home to submerge in foreign cultures and unknown traditions. You try new dishes, new outfits, different variations of Fanta… Before you know it, there’s a new you, the you who opened up to new experiences and expended your horizon. This whole process is very exciting to me. If you really want to educate yourself on life, go out there and experience it…from as many different angles possible.
"Capturing these moments is the absolute best; travel transforms me while self-expression gives me purpose."
My fascination for photography has its roots in my childhood, with the ’60 monochrome images hung at my grandparents country house. You know, those cute little ones with the ruffled sides? They still melt my heart! I reckon I’ve spent hours going through my grandparents’ old photo albums staring at people I’ve never met, inhaling the old book smell. Back in the day photographs used to be so artistic and technically on point. There was no Lightroom or Photoshop to correct mistakes. I love that philosophy so much. Nowadays most of us carry a smartphone with auto focus and filters. That’s a different kind of magic, if you ask me.
For the winning shot, I had a pretty natural approach. Pictured is the Devil’s Fork, a mind-blowing formation found in the Namibian Sossusvlei. It was taken during my first helicopter flight, a little bit over a year ago. The heli was open for photographing, so everything shook, except for the camera. I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared to switch out camera lenses as I was during that flight but it’s hence down, one of the most unique sunrises. For the editing part, I didn’t do something very special so it wasn’t too much work. I might have added a tiny bit of contrast to it but I wanted to keep that hazy, dreamy vibe. The most important part of editing is to have fun with it – Forcing it doesn’t work. A very challenging one is to stay authentic. In general people tend to be quite saturated, if not buying presets to recreate certain looks. Nothing against that, but I reckon it’s equally important to find your own style and to fine-tune that.
WINNING PHOTOGRAPH
BEST OF THE WEEK 14
It was also in Namibia that I was confronted with how we, humans, approach nature and the place we take up in this world so egocentrically and irreverently. I have been aware of this for a long time, but travel and photography lead me to situations that leave me thoughtful and with a strong motivation to spread awareness and call for action. Some days during my trips I stayed at a campsite which was protected by a high fence so that no animal could enter the property. The wild creatures however could roam free around the whole area. They were not caged, WE were! This puts so much in perspective. I feel it’s the other way around in our modern, western society. We’re used to shamelessly ‘steal’ so many natural habitats to make OUR lives easier. Do we ever consider the animals? Not so much…
"We still see ourselves as the rulers instead of their protectors. We over-cultivate, we pollute, we make tons of noise."
So much noise even that birds need to raise their own voice each year to adjust to our traffic growth. This saddens me. I hope one day we can all get on the same page by protecting what we got left and gracefully moving ourselves to the background to leave an equal amount of space for nature to roam free with no human intervention.
"Nature gives us everything we need, we should be a lot more kind and recognize its importance."
Nature is also what unceasingly provides me with inspiration. I have days when I can literally get inspired by ANYTHING and days that I can’t find any creative state of mind. It can be super frustrating. It usually means I need a break, and long walks in nature always help. Nature is effortless, that simplicity is inspiring to me. Our planet is so mesmerizing – Beauty is everywhere, if you’re willing to look for it. It’s where my work is mainly focused on: slow living in harmony with nature.
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