Eyes of a Nomad:
Landscape photographer based in Bali
@eyesofanomad
Starring, Eyes of a Nomad: Landscape and portrait photographer based in Bali
"Immortalizing the light"
Welcome to the green life of change, Bali. In this Island you will find surreal sceneries and the many contrasts of nature all represented beautifully. Nature’s flow will expand your creativity beyond limits. The sunlight entering through the woods will draw poetic shapes, and the characters tenderly cuddle by the light, now will become magical entities of another world.
Emilio, better known as @eyesofanomad has been able to capture the true spirit of one of the most beautiful Island in Indonesia. Emilio’s camera has been capturing the most unique sceneries of Bali for a while now and the way he immortalizes the interaction between the light and his characters is what makes his photography so unique.
I truly wanted to understand his vision of Bali and learn about his photography. There is so much wisdom in every picture he shares, pure visual inspiration! Therefore, I asked him eleven questions and the following was the outcome:
Welcome Emilio! So, you live in Bali now, a dream for many people all around the world! Can you explain to us how it is to live in this beautiful Island? What are the things that impressed you the most about the Island and its people?
My favourite story that I think encapsulates the spirit of Bali, is from when I was driving up to the North of Bali with my driver and friend Putu. We were going somewhere neither of us had been before and wasn’t shown on google maps, so we pulled over to ask for directions. Except that it was 4am in a rural village and there was nobody to be seen. Putu knocks on the door, and within minutes someone has welcomed us in, given us directions and a hand-drawn map and asked if we both wanted a cup of sweet tea. I was overwhelmed with their generosity, but Putu just shrugged … “that’s just the Balinese way” he said.
Navigating Balinese culture isn’t always easy. The traffic is crazy, everything runs on island time and there are plenty of things that we take for granted in western countries (like being able to drink the tap water). But it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. The more time I spend here, the more I fall in love with the Balinese people and culture. They are some of the most kind-hearted and generous people, and being here you can’t help but be reminded about the things that are important in life.
"The island itself is also breathtaking; it has epic terrain, from the desert-like areas to dense jungle to towering active volcanoes"
It’s not all picture-perfect, there are of course issues with rubbish and pollution, as in most developing countries, and there are parts where development for tourism has run a bit rampant and parts of town that feel like a concrete jungle. But part of what makes Bali special is that you can drive the hipster surf town of Canggu and between every fancy boutique or organic cafe there is a traditional rice field or local Warung. Even with the ever-growing number of tourists, you can still head far north and visit villages that have barely changed since the international airport started to bring in the masses.
If you had to choose, what three places in Bali would you recommend visiting to our readers?
The three places I love most in Bali are Danau Tambalingan, a stunning lake that has beautiful temple resting on its shores. The second would most definitely be the Bukit Peninsula, the cliffs at sunset light up with the most spectacular light and the ocean is always crystal clear. Finally, I would have to say the Munduk area, which is about 2 hours North of Ubud, where you find epic waterfalls and lush jungle terrain.
So, I went through most of your IG photos. One of the things that called my attention is that you always write a story below the photo. What motivates you to write such little stories?
Part of what I love about photography is a photo’s ability to capture a moment, or ‘speak a thousand words’ as the saying goes. For me, photography is so much more than a career path, it’s my passion and while I know many people just skim straight past the caption I love being able to share a little story that helps people reading to really visualise that they were there or learn something a little deeper from the photo — whether it’s understanding the context of the shot, or the effort that went into capturing it, or talking about how the photo was taken or edited.
While I do think stories help me further connect with my followers, I see it as more of an outlet for creativity.
Every person is on IG for a different reason. At the end of the day, we all want to share what we do and love. Do you have a deeper goal or something you would like to achieve through Instagram beyond sharing your passion?
This is a great question and is one that I get a lot from those closest to me. For a long time, I kept my photography to myself, doubting if I was ‘good enough’ and assuming parents and friends words of encouragement were biased. It was only when I started photographing students and the experience at my startup, the Institute of Code, and receiving so much encouragement from our students from all over the world that I decided to take the leap and start sharing my passion on Instagram.
Instagram can be a bit of a rollercoaster ride — it’s an incredible platform for finding new opportunities and clients, and there is a real sense of satisfaction from seeing people enjoy and appreciate your work. But at the same time it’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics like how many likes you got or whether your follower count grew. Beyond that, over the past few months it has definitely morphed into something more than just showcasing my photos/passion. I think there is this incredible opportunity with Instagram to have the power of influence, the ability to make a difference with the things that you share.
When the photo I captured of the Mount Agung eruption in Bali recently, went viral, I saw my follower count increase greatly and with all of the big accounts re-sharing it I was getting hundreds of thousands of profile views. This gave me the opportunity and the leverage to do a bit of good with my Instagram — I started a fundraising page and we raised over $3000 to help the families displaced by the eruption. It’s a small thing, but it wouldn’t have been possible without having an online platform.
This is where I think Instagram has the most potential; when you can use the influence you have built and turn it into some good in the world. I believe that if we all do one small act of kindness everyday, the world will be a better place.
If I’m correct, you visited South America! This continent is full of beauty; its people are warm, friendly, and welcoming. And of course, the landscapes are gorgeous! Can you tell us what surprised you the most about South America? What was your first impression?
Mate, South America is insane! There is a belief where your ancestors in another life lived somewhere totally different to you, that’s the connection I feel with South America. I’ve actually been lucky enough to do two big trips over there. The first one was just under two months, which made me fall in love with it, returning three years later to do four months there, thoroughly solidifying my love for the beautiful continent! For those that have never been, all I can say is, GO NOW! The landscape is like something out of a dream, it’s so vast, so big, so liberating. You can stand on top of any big mountain there, and all you want to do is tilt your head back, throw your hands up in the air and scream at the top of your lungs with pure joy! It gives me chills just thinking about my time there and how at the time photography was merely a hobby and how I dream to go back with fresh eyes. And to top it off, the people of South America are so wonderful, the smiles, the warm welcome, the hospitality, everything is just beautiful in so many ways. I’m planning to make my way back this year, hopefully, work with some of the Tourism boards to help spread the beauty and magic that South America has to offer!
You have been sharing amazing portraits for a while now. What do you need to achieve a good portrait photo? Do you need to connect with your ‘subject’ to achieve an extra quality? What makes the difference here?
Thank you! I would say the number one factor in a great portrait is, connection. Brands will often ask me for a breakdown of costs and wonder why I charge almost the same price for a full day shoot as a half day shoot. The answer is that for me, the time shooting and connecting with my subject is second nature to me; it’s what I love to do, its a bonus for me, and for the client it equals beautiful photos.
If I can, ill hang out with the model before we shoot so that we can chat and get to know each other, if we are comfortable with each other, the pictures shine for themselves, that awesome energy is what makes a great photo.
Can you tell us the craziest anecdote that ever happened to you being outdoors?
Well, there is definitely a few situations that are memorable, but probably one that stands out most in my mind is when I was crossing the border between Peru and Bolivia. This was my second crossing at the same border, I remembered the process from the trip three years earlier as being someone chaotic, but this was a whole other story. Our bus arrived at a throb of locals cheering and playing in the street, and we were asked to get off and go through immigration and then head over the hill and into Bolivia. We headed up the hill and found the border blocked by some large trucks, without thinking about the situation we followed a local kid and ducked under the closest truck and found our self in an open area surrounded by trucks, locals perched on top, cheering and having a great time. Looking like the biggest tourists ever with our big packs on our back we continued to follow the kid across the open space and into Bolivia. Just before we ducked under the truck on the other side, we heard everyone start chanting “Toro, Toro”!! It took a moment to sink in what they were saying, and when it did, we ducked under the truck as fast as we could and looked back to see a huge bull making its way into what we quickly worked out was a bullfighting ring. Definitely one of those moments in my travels that I will never forget.
Among your works, which one is your favorite?
My favorite is definitely the landscape shot of the Volcano, Mt. Agung erupting in Bali earlier this year. At the time I figured I would be one of the thousands with the same picture, but turned out I shared the rare sight with only a handful of others. That’s not what makes this special to me, what makes it special is the emotion that it brought to so many, especially locals. It became a symbol of just how scary and beautiful the volcano could be; it also helped bring attention to the little island of Bali from across the globe and the terrifying ramifications that follow an eruption of a Volcano this size.
What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?
I wish I had learnt manual more thoroughly and editing. Taking the full control of the exposure means you have more creativity with your shots, you can play with light in ways that any of the semi-auto controls would never allow with the computer doing its own thing. Editing is so important, sure, sometimes a photo is perfectly exposed, framed and colored, but most of the time it requires a good amount of fine tuning to get the desired result. For a long time I used only Photoshop and I was terrible at it, so my photos suffered. I actually went back and edited some of my past photos again and my god I have improved!
Whose work has influenced you the most?
Hard to say really, I spend a lot of time on instagram just looking at how people have shot certain pictures and think about how they have done the edit. I’ll sometimes try and replicate the shot and edit as practice, it’s not always my style but its good to get in the mind of other photographers! If I had to name two people it would probably be Emmet Sparling for landscape and Kesler Tran, for his fashion and portrait work, its like art.
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
Education. I truly believe that education is key, but not just any education, it needs to be more relevant to our daily lives, teach things like meditation and the importance of mental health, so that we can all live a happier, fuller life.
