Dimitri Siegrist

@dimitr

Mountaineer and urban alpinist based in Swiss

I grew up with travelling. My Family always travelled a lot and I liked it, so when I got the age I could go alone with my friends I started doing smaller trips with them. I have always been a big fan of mountains, so most of the time we went to mountainous places. Being that high just gives me an amazing feeling; the challenge to get up and the unique view as a reward once you reach the top. It’s exactly this unique view that convinced me to buy a drone four years ago (Phantom Standard): The perspectives it offers are impressive and I love to share these. I got more and more into photography, so I decided to buy my first camera one year after that.

Meanwhile, I had met a colleague at school who mainly traveled to see and climb skyscrapers. As I love heights and exploring, you can already imagine what happened… I accompanied him once to experiment what was called ‘rooftopping’, and now I have already reached many rooftops spread over a variety of countries in Europe.

It is so exciting to find out how to get to the roofs, to create tactics and investigate the building beforehand to know where the cameras and staircases are, how the doors are secured, etc. Once we got caught and sometimes we have to run away, but that’s usually once mission is already completed. Not long ago, we climbed to the rooftop of an office tower. There were many obstacles, but after five hours we reached the top. People from outside who’d seen us called the police and our friends down the building had informed us.

"As we were dressed up with a suit as well, nobody noticed us leaving the building together with the crowd of the bank personnel who were leaving to go home."

Even though I am still at school, rooftopping, travelling and alpinism are a big part of my life. I go whenever I can and I like to document these activities with photographs. Mountaineering and rooftopping give me somehow the same feeling; I love the adrenaline and the amazing perspective, having the world on your feed and feeling the wind blowing strongly around you.

"It’s very important for me to stay creative and to not fall into a routine."

Searching for different locations – high mountains or unique rooftop structures, applying different compositions and trying out things in Photoshop help me to keep evolving this creativity. Asking feedback from others is useful as well, I always want to know what others think, I see it as a source for inspiration and creativity and it helps me to keep improving.

I am not sure yet how I want to include photography in my future career. Soon I have to choose what to do and I am doubting between going to Art School or studying Marketing. Whatever I choose, I want to do something with my creativity and keep creating visual content.

"I certainly know what is my passion, and it would be great if it can be part of my daily life in the future."
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