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Charly van den Braak
@charly_and_the_world
Landscape photographer based in the Netherlands
When I was in high school many kids went on holidays to the other side of the world while I was enjoying the countries nearby. I had to deal with other things; as a kid I mainly fought against bone cancer. Life is not obvious and we cannot take anything for granted – A fundamental life lesson that I was taught the hard way so early in my life. The smallest thing became the most beautiful. A little lamb jumping in a field of green flowing grass, the first small flowers that start blooming at the start of spring, a rainbow created by sunbeams glistening through a thousand raindrops. The world is beautiful!
Just a few years later cancer knocked on my door again and a new battle started. But now I knew that life was going to be so much better after this crazy adventure. As soon as I recovered and felt good I decided it was time to explore the world. I went on a trip to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) and took a very old camera with me. I was not sure what I did; I just clicked on the button and a picture was made. Due to a very heavy rainfall of a few days while we were on Aruba I decided to start with Instagram. The likes were low but based on hashtags I explored many great photographers. Inspiration all over! That was the moment that I set a goal of learning how to make the most beautiful landscape photographs. Instantly I knew that travelling and photographing was a perfect combination and felt it was my time now to enjoy life and search for every little inch of beauty on this planet.
"My father only encouraged this. He traveled to the most beautiful places on Earth and told me to follow my heart as much as I can."
When he was diagnosed with MSA (a form of Parkinson) 2,5 years ago, I took him on a surprise trip to Milan, Italy and took tons of photos. Photos to turn moments into memories. This trip had a significant impact on my current path. I realized that these moments are not only a picture that last a lifetime, but also memories to remember forever. From now on it was time to travel, step out of my comfort zone, create memories, and capture all these moments!
Meanwhile photography has become such a big part of my life. Everywhere I drive or walk my eyes are screening the area for potential photography locations and compositions. It’s not a choice, it just goes automatically. Visualizing how the location will look like with other weather conditions or in different seasons… Taking a quick snapshot with your phone to pinpoint the location… I bet many photographers recognize this. Besides, checking the weather conditions is almost part of my daily rituals as well. Not to know what I should wear, but to assure myself I won’t miss the perfect conditions to shoot.
The benefits from a small country is that it is easy to travel around even within a very short timeframe. Within approximately 3,5 hours you can get everywhere – as in, you can get from the upper north to the far south. Of course, going all the way is not necessary. We may be a small country without any mountains but we have so much variation in landscapes! In the northern part you have the mudflats. When it’s ebb tide you get so many incredible patterns in the mud, and in summer time when it is warm and the water is not rising too high, the mud is drying which makes you feel like you are in Death Valley, California! And when you travel to the most southern part of the country (South Limburg) you have a little difference in altitudes, resulting in smooth sloping hills. Last spring I drove to a location there to photograph and when I showed one of the photos many people thought I went to Tuscany. So basically you can go from California to Tuscany in just three hours. And everything in between is also beautiful.
"We have many sand dunes, forests (without waterfalls), tulip fields, the coastline and beautiful heather. Every season has its own charm. Oh, and don’t forget our windmills of course!"
So, I use every bit of time to explore in the Netherlands, but if I have some more days I like to travel to neighbouring countries such as Belgium and Germany, and when I have proper holidays I will travel further away. Wherever I go though, my trips are almost always photography related, and characterized by beautiful shots, non-stop learning and valuable memories.
It is always the story that matters. One of the best moments in my life was my Milky Way adventure. Together with @mytruecolours I went on a six day road trip through the Swiss and French Alps. We decided to go wild camping. I know it’s not allowed to camp below the trees in Switzerland so for the first night we booked a bed in a small hut. The second day we went to Stellissee (2,537 m) to capture the most photographed mountain in the world, the Matterhorn. We both had zero experience in camping, zero experience in photographing the Milky Way and maybe did too little preparation. A couple of months before this trip I watched a live stream on Instagram from a friend from Norway who is an amazing landscape and astrophotographer (@Ottofrank) together with Matthew Newman (@Matthewnewmanphotography). They were talking about the Milky Way and how to capture it.
"I wrote down a few tips and with that in my mind I was ready to make my first photo of the Milky Way."
We started our climb fully packed with our camping and photography gear. Can you imagine, two girls, zero experience and a billion kilograms on our back (may sound funny, and it actually was). First we set up our tent next to the Stellisee to make sure we could dive into our tent after we would be done. The sky was so bright that night that you could easily see the Milky way with your eyes. Full of excitement I set up all my gear, checked all the settings, clicked and waited for 20 seconds. THERE IT WAS!! My first try ever!
"I was so happy. It was so beautiful. I took a few more photos but the excitement of the first photo was unbeatable."
Most of the time I already know when I’m in the field how I will edit the photo. I edit my photos in Lightroom and Photoshop and I use the TK panel plugin to select specific parts – the aspects I want to highlight first. If I don’t have a focus, I can edit but it will probably be a mess. What I absolutely love about photography and its community is that it’s a world where you can express yourself in your own way, be creative and learn from others. The Milky Way photo is not perfect at all and after I published it on my Instagram many people within the photography community gave me some tips on how to do it better the next time, which I am thankful for. Still, I’m very happy with the photo. This is a good example that it is not always the end result that counts, but the moment. It’s also not about the comfort around an experience, but the experience and adventure itself. We were frozen despite our perfect camping gear, but waking up and seeing the Matterhorn was the best way to start our day.
"Surviving the freezing cold night and carrying the heavy weight was more than worth it. Mother nature gave us an amazing sunrise! What an adventure."
"If there’s one thing I learnt over time it’s that it is essential to focus on the good, on what you were able to get or to do even if it is not a 100% what you desire."
I think it’s human nature to easily see things we can’t do. But sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves. My short trip to the Black Forest in Germany is a good example. As I have a few limitations with my leg (because of a donor bone that’s in it) I need to be careful. Actually I had never found any limitation exercising photography before so this was finally a passion where I could be whoever I wanted to be and do whatever I wanted to do. Until I saw a specific spot to capture in the Black Forest that I just couldn’t reach. It was way too dangerous and slippery for me. I saw a friend walking to the spot as if it were just a normal road and I felt so sad and weak! From a distance I was looking at the spot and started packing my gear while quietly complaining “why can’t I go there.” I was frustrated, sad and done. As soon as we were back together I decided to be honest about how I felt. While we were talking about it I was looking around and saw SO many beautiful things I was surrounded by that I was wondering what I was complaining about. Sometimes we need to look a bit further away and not concentrate on that one impossible thing which will only get us down. There is so much beauty in nature. In the end I took a photo just 50 meters away from the hotspot and it’s one of my favorite photos from that trip. What I learnt? Make plan B your new plan A. Don’t focus on the impossible and no need to do what every other photographer is doing.
"Instead of saddening yourself, rather value your energy, your wellbeing and your time, and thrive using what lies within your possibilities."
Currently I am applying exactly the same. Sadly I lost my job as a marketing manager due to the pandemic and I decided to not search for a new job but take a sabbatical and turn this into an opportunity to discover what I really want. I think we all want to be a professional photographer but right now that’s too ambitious I think. However, this period of working on my dreams has already brought me so many great things. I could finally launch my photography website. Plus, together with my partner who is also a landscape photographer we began to plan photography trips. For next year we have scheduled two trips: to Madeira and Glencoe, Scotland. Due to the pandemic we are not sure how things will go but this sabbatical gives me much time to make a plan for when the situation improves. And also, I think I will start working as a marketing freelancer besides my photography! So many ambitions!
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