Giedra Bartas

@mellsva

Photographer based in Lithuania

I am Giedra Bartas, a landscape photographer from Lithuania. I believe I belong to visual creative arts and my life has always been guided by what I see and observe. The endless patterns of colors and shapes from Mother Nature give me a great joy of constant discovery. I love woods and their charming life cycle is a great inspiration to me. You just have to keep your eyes open, be quiet and patient and all the forest’s secrets will unroll naturally to your feet…

"Mellsva project engages the 3 biggest passions of my life - nature, photography and traveling."

To start with, I always knew I was different – a forest child living in a city. I understood animals more than humans and I was spending much more time outdoors than I ever did indoors. Luckily I lived on the edge of the city, next to a forest where I have spent many hours; after school and weekends, all year round and year after year – that was my Pocahontas time. Together with my dog (aka my best buddy), I was learning to read the signs of nature. We were chasing roe deer, reading tracks, rolling on the moss and talking to ravens. That was an amazing, enchanting time. Life has changed a lot since my teens, but longing for the woods has gone nowhere.

"It's not the forest or any other particular place that I miss, it's the way I feel there, in the great outdoors. Connected, peaceful and truly happy."

Giedra Bartas Visual Artist

Besides being in nature, I always liked to write and express myself using words. I wrote a bunch of short forest stories back in my teens, but I have realized that expressing myself through pictures is even easier, more appealing and exact than through words. This is how photography came into my life. Nowadays, flying a drone is my latest passion. I am so amazed by the bird-eye views that I tend to leave my regular camera at home lately. Droning gives me a chance to get back in time, to the days I used to watch ravens and dreamed of having wings. They did soar in the wind so gracefully, so free. And so do I now – not that gracefully and a bit noisy – but I am really happy that experiencing this is possible through my drone.

My task in photography is to unveil the beauty of nature, to catch and show those truly magic, unique and short moments that most people don’t see every day – sunrises in particular.

It’s hard to describe in words an impact of the rising sun on the world, so I shoot it and describe it visually. Even wind stops blowing and the birds stop chirping for a moment – and the new day begins. Misty mornings double the magic; fog transforms the surroundings completely, creating surreal shapes and moods. All of a sudden, mighty mountains appear on flat ground and mighty rivers disappear, and a tiny grove turns into a huge enchanted forest. These are short but breathtaking performances, so different every day.