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Corinna and Marcus
@kveikjan
Best of the week 6 at #nomadict 2020
Our photography and travel journey started very differently. While Corinna kind of inherited the love for both, Marcus found it because of his band. And because of Corinna. Marcus: “I never actually traveled as a child because we had little money. Instead, I spent time with friends in the woods because we had more than enough of them at home. I went on holidays a few times later on, but I wouldn’t call it travel. The passion for travel came much later and actually had two triggers. First, traveling was the essence of a balanced life for Corinna and I was drawn into it. And secondly, I played for years in a band with whom I toured around Europe. So I got to know many great people from all over the world and close friendships have developed with several of them. In addition, I wanted more than just enjoy single days in a city or country and not travel every day to a new spot like with the band. Today I can no longer imagine how it is not to travel. Just like traveling, my passion for photography has only gradually grown within me. I used to try analog concert photography and I failed. But I was always fascinated by other photographers and wanted to have beautiful photos of my adventures that I could look at later and reminisce about.”
"Only after we broke up the band I had the energy and the time to really deal with photography. Corinna showed me the basics and I taught myself everything else through tutorials or friends also into photography.”
Corinna learned these basics of photography already as a little girl. Corinna: “My father has been taking slides since I can remember and I was always fascinated by them. I loved our evenings when we looked at the photos from our trips and reminisced. After the analog camera he got a digital camera and I tried it more often. In my childhood I took masses of photos with disposable cameras that I brought with me on camping holidays or school trips. I wanted to keep every memory so I could always put myself in the situation later. When I was 16, I bought my first DSLR camera from my savings and started taking pictures of landscapes and friends. I have the love for traveling especially from my grandparents. They sent postcards from all sorts of destinations, from the Fijis to China and Hawaii.”
In the course of our relationship, this has become our common hobby and we complement each other perfectly. Each of us does things a little differently and this brings us to our best photos. It is a great gift to find someone with whom you not only harmonize perfectly in everyday life, but who also loves traveling and then also love the same regions. If you find that, you are a winner of the lottery. Of course it is different to travel alone and it can be very beautiful, but even before we knew each other we preferred to travel with friends rather than alone. We complement each other when traveling, as well as when taking pictures. Corinna is an absolute nerd when it comes to travel planning and finding unknown places and you can rely on that. Marcus gives a free hand, we coordinate fixed points together and then decide where we are going. Usually we are on the road in the camper a lot, so there are two of us including our dog in a small space.
"Understanding each other, mutual freedom and good food are important points to be balanced in such a situation."
But what could be nicer to wake up in nature, with a view of the mountains and one step to the lake? It makes up for everything and purifies the soul. Travel broadens our horizons, our understanding of others and opens our mind, every trip a little more, to see the world from a new angle every time again.
Sharing this with people you love, whether partners or close friends, is the best thing for us. To create memories that you can live on for a long time, especially in stressful times or when everyday life takes up too much again. And when we lie in bed in our apartment in the evening and cherish memories that bring us back to the feeling of breathing in the fresh breeze at Byron Bay, or to that moment of the photo that won the contest. We are very happy that this shot won because this day was special. Actually the whole trip was special for us. Three good friends from Australia came to Iceland to visit us and we showed them the island and our favorite places. We had the best conditions, drove through the highlands and were simply fascinated by this barren landscape. When we got to the waterfall, we were completely alone.
"We had breakfast with a view of the waterfall and the sound of the forces of nature. But not only the moment and the scenery were perfect, it was also the day when our buddy made a proposal to his girlfriend, right there."
"So photography can provoke the feeling we had on indescribable moments like these."
Since we are not a full-time traveler, most of our life is everyday life. We both study our master’s degree in leadership in service companies, which builds on the bachelor’s degree in city and regional management. The last period has been quite stressful, because we did our last exams, worked a lot to pay for our trips and new equipment, have been preparing our thesis and in addition we are also volunteers, with body and soul, for a self-governing youth center and have other hobbies. Sometimes traveling or taking pictures comes a bit short, but we always notice that this is our compensation. After the last 2 busy months we were able to get involved again and immediately had new ideas, visions and a lot of motivation. When we can’t go far because of busy times, we take each opportunity to go on short trips or trips in the surrounding area. You can also find beautiful places on the doorstep and a lot of things have to do with good light. The lake around the corner can look magical when the sun bathes the water, having a golden tone, and a little fog rises.
"We have to start seeing the little things and not let us pull down by not being able to travel far or not living by the sea or near the mountains."
In 2020, our life will change from student life to working life after we graduate. We used the free time in our studies efficiently to travel and fulfill our passion. At the beginning of January we started our own business with Kveikjan and want to expand the business this year. Nevertheless, we have to find a balance between an actual job and photography. Despite all of this, this will not dampen our love for travel and photography, on the contrary – we are excited about what will come. Photography has brought us so much so far…
"What we realized soon in the beginning, is that we are more creative than we initially thought."
Photography brings out our creativity and the feeling of colors and shapes. We keep developing and are never finished because you never stop learning. Photography and our jobs constantly challenge us, we have to constantly rethink, deal with both frustration and excitiness and find the balance between everyday life and our passion. We always challenge ourselves because we keep sucking up tutorials or new forms of working like a sponge which allows us to continuously learn and improve at a rather quick pace despite the many activities we have to manage at the same time. Through photography and the jobs that come with it, we have learned to manage our time, brainstorm ideas quickly and effectively and still not lose sight of the essentials and feelings.
"Not to forget, we learned not to compare ourselves to others in a negative manner."
In the globalized, networked world, we are fueled to compare ourselves to others. But everyone has a talent or is passionate about something, you just have to find out. At the beginning we were also guided by the idea that others are better or more talented. However, what you sometimes forget is that they went through the same process. They also had role models who they compared themselves with and who they emulated. It was a learning process for us to find out that one has an eye for perspectives and another for the image structure. It’s a learning process, not to compare yourself with others – at least not as a competition, but as a teaching. Everyone has a different perspective and the nice thing is, art is subjective – not everyone has to like it. Travel and photography have shown us that sometimes you have to be patient to get a certain result. In landscape photography in particular, you are very dependent on the weather and moods.
"To have the perfect conditions or to take a picture of what you had in your head are sometimes tens of attempts, many trips and a lot of patience."
Even though the picture and the conditions are important, enjoying the moment itself and being there consciously might even be more important. Because at the end, we want to reproduce the mood that we had at the moment. We want the viewer to be able to dive into the moment and feel how it must have felt. The earth and its nature is a unique spectacle of colors, shapes and moods. No place is like another and everyone feels the place completely different for themselves. If we can get the viewer to dive into our emotional world and understand how we felt, we have done everything right. We want people to feel inspired and start the day with a good vibe. The best feeling is when you get beautiful personal messages, how inspiring the photos are and what they do to other people. In addition, the sustainable aspect is important to us.
"If we get to raise awareness among other people of how beautiful and worth protecting the earth and fragile nature is, then it is the most beautiful gift we can be given."
"Photography has played an important role in the development of our awareness, of how we see the world and how we deal with things."
But not solely photography. Our studies and travels formed part of how we see and experience the world as we do now. But the major contribution of photography is that we see nature in more detail, take different perspectives and appreciate little things. We deal more with our environment, got to know some of our closest friends through photography and got in contact with other photographers and locals. We have always loved to travel, but combining photography with it, capturing memories and dealing in a different way with the destinations and the environments have only made the whole experience much more intense and wonderful.
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