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Gergo Kazsimer
Landscape photographer based in Germany
Since a really young age Gergo felt extremely curious about photography. Today his passion for this art is stronger than ever.
It was along the trips that he and his family made together when Gergo started to train his eye. Instead of capturing family portraits, he spent most of the time searching for little details or interesting things that are normally far from being perceived by the untrained eye.
As time came by, traveling became really important in Gergo’s life. To see and experience new places is something that he really enjoys. This is specially true when it comes to explore the wilderness. When Gergo is surrounded by nature, finding inspiration is really easy, and that can be seen in his photographs.
His artistic style focuses in almost all the aspects of nature. Alpine meadows, forests, lakes, mountains, or wild animals for instance are important characters of his photography. Above all, his art represents extremely well the transition of the seasons. The way he has captured the passing of a year all around Europe adds something really unique to his gallery. A gallery that will continue to grow and inspire people to go outdoors and explore for many more years to come. After all, that is Gergo’s goal: to become a professional photographer and one day make a living doing what he loves the most, to capture beautiful moments of our world.
Welcome Gergo! You have been sharing photos on Instagram for a while now! Actually, your first picture was shared almost 6 years ago! So, I guess that landscape photography has been a passion of yours for a while. Can you summarize for us your journey so far?
Just as many of us, it all started when I was a kid. I was lucky enough to have the chance to travel a lot with my parents.
I believe those were the years that took a huge effect on me. I was always the one with the camera in the hand and I kept clicking at everything, including birds like pigeons, ducks, and even swans sometimes 🙂
It was driving my mother crazy when we got the film developed and out of 36 photos 10 were of some birdie in the far distance, instead of real memories of our family holiday. It still makes me smile when I think about it.
Within my family, I was also the one always pushing to enjoy both sunsets and sunrises on the beach for instance. I also stayed up late to see the midnight sun in Sweden and capture the moment with the tools I had access to at that time.
Besides having a film camera, we also had a 8mm Sony video camera which was a huge thing back in the 90s. I certainly enjoyed it!
In addition, we also had a family friend who was a photographer and I always admired him for what he was doing. I still remember the day when he got his hands on one of the first digital cameras with 1 megapixel sensor and showed it to me. It was a Kodak (if I remember correctly) with a tiny little screen, yet it was such a big deal!
He already passed away long time ago unfortunately, but he was definitely one of the reasons why I got in to photography.
After that, I started to upload my work at stock photography websites. Eventually, one of the biggest tech companies found my work online and licensed one of my captures. This photo by the way became one of the official wallpapers of their phone (iOS8).
"Nowadays my goal is quite simple. I want to make a living out of photography because it is my passion and what I love doing the most."
Why is photography so special to you? Can you describe the feeling?
To me photography is an excellent way of expressing myself. I believe that a nice landscape photo for instance can describe quite well a certain situation, condition, or feeling. It is also a powerful tool to document your life or explain to the viewer something deep of your personality.
Capturing a special moment, editing the photo in my own way, and share it with the community brings me a lot of positive feelings. I also think that my followers enjoy my work, which is something that I really appreciate as well.
You are currently following an “unconventional path”. Becoming a landscape photographer and social media influencer nowadays can be quite difficult, specially considering that competition is high. But, essentially you are following your passion, right? How does that feels?
Oh yes, the competition has become really high recently, so it’s definitely not easy to stand out. But this is my passion as you said, and I would never stop taking photos just because there are some obstacles on the road to success.
I think the most challenging about it is to reach more people with your photographs. If we talk about Instagram (IG is still the best way to show your work to the world in my opinion) most “consumers” only click on something if that is directly shown to them. The majority of people don’t have the time to look around and see what else is out there. So unless your work is put right in front of them by some magical algorithm, you won’t ever be seen.
However, I would not like to spend most of my time figuring out the best way to be recognized by my work. Perhaps I should hire someone who can take care of the marketing side and the business related things. As I see it, I am not really good at it.
On the other hand, it’s always easier to blame something else rather than yourself. It is pretty easy to find excuses when it comes to failure. So what I try to do is to keep on improving my skills in every possible way, and will see how far I get.
Landscape photography can be really hard, both mentally and physically speaking. I got soaked in rain numerous times, I have had my fingers almost frozen, I have lost several lenses in the wild, I have broken filters and remote timers, and waking up really early to capture that image I have in mind is also part of the journey.
"Overall these are the sacrifices that I have to be willing to take. But I have been doing it for many years now because it brings me joy, otherwise I would not do it."
You are based in one of the most dramatic countries in the world. Germany is known for its natural beauty! Do you also believe that your home country has something special?
Actually I grew up in Hungary and I have always wanted to live in the mountains. Me and my family spent a lot of winters in the Alps. Every time we were there I wished to live there.
And now here I am! However, I would not say Germany is so special, because in my opinion every country has its own beauty. But, Germany does has some advantages for someone who is into landscape photography and nature.
For all those travelers visiting Germany really soon, what three places should they definitely check out?
Most of the time I try to recommend something that is not so popular. Königssee, Eibsee and Neuschwanstein are probably the most crowded places in the Bavarian region, but for a reason of course: they are truly amazing!
If you are fine with the tourists, these are the three places for you. But if you want to have a peaceful time and be surrounded by nature, simply don’t go there.
There are so many other pretty spots up in the mountains. Basically, it’s nice everywhere! I would suggest to chose a place and start hiking around. That way it is less likely that you will bump into others and a stunning experience is still guaranteed.
If you want something even more unforgettable, start very early in the morning, this way your chances to capture the best light or to see wildlife will increase as well.
Among your works, do you have any picture that you really like? Which is your favorite photo?
I really like using warmer colors. Although I have many photos with cool tones, the photos I like the most have warmer lights in them. It is for this reason that most of the photos I usually post were taken in Autumn, because I feel more attached to them.
So, as you can imagine now, one of my favorite photos was taken last autumn actually. This one in particular was taken in South Tyrol, a region that really inspires me.
"Every time I look at this photo beautiful memories come to my mind."
I remember perfectly when I was standing at that exact spot on that very warm October day. While the larches were “burning” in a pleasant and positive way, I was thinking on how powerful nature can be. Constantly changing, at this moment nature was preparing for winter. This area is well known among photographers, however this exact shot remains quite unspoiled.
I took another photo a couple of years ago at the top of Zugpitze, which is the highest mountain in Germany. I couldn’t wish for better conditions, the visibility was absolute top, and when the sun finally appeared on the horizon and gently touched the surrounding peaks the scenery was certainly breathtaking! This is an unforgettable moment!
Imagine yourself at the beginning of your professional career as a photographer. What four pieces of advice would you give to yourself?
This is a very good question. I think that my advices in this regard would be the following.
Firstly, if you want to make money with your photos, start your career as early as possible.
Secondly, try different niches, once you find yours, concentrate 100% on it. Sooner or later people will recognize you by just looking at your photos.
Thirdly, people say that it’s the photographer who takes the picture rather that the camera, but I think that is not 100% true. At the beginning you obviously start with whatever camera you have access to and you try to get the most out of it. But if you have the proper tool in your hands, your job becomes so much easier, and the quality of your work so much better. This is essential actually.
When I bought my first full frame DSLR that completely changed everything. So my advice is, if you can, invest in a good camera (you don’t need the most expensive gear of course), it will pay off relatively fast.
My forth advice, which I think is very important, is the following. You should know who to ask for feedback, and you should always remember that the quality of a photo should not be measured in likes.
I think many of us fall into this trap, including myself. I think the best feedback you will ever get would be when someone is willing to pay money for a photo of yours because they want to hang it on the wall, or when a company finds your work good enough to represent their brand. These are great goals that you can set for yourself.
Please now imagine for a sec that you have a super power! You can go back in time! What moment would you like to re-experience again?
I had many amazing moments in the nature that I wish I could re-experience once again. But at the same time I know it would not be the same. This is how we humans work. We tend to focus on good things that happened in the past. So rather than trying to chase something amazing that happened in the past, we should seek for something new that may even surpass our expectations.
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
@chrisburkard; Chris can be a good example for many of us I think, in many ways!
@kpunkka; His photos capturing raw nature are probably the best I have ever seen.
@madebyvadim; His precision when it comes to take a photo as well as his post-processing techniques are mind-blowing.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
Nothing carved in stone yet, but I want to travel more though. I want to see the northern lights finally, which has always been my dream. Hopefully this will happen very soon! And of course my regular weekend adventures in the alps will remain on the agenda. Trips to both South Tyrol and Austria are on the menu, and probably the Swiss Alps as well. There are still many sceneries to be explored!
