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Karine Peyre
@karine_peyre
Landscape photographer based in France
I grew up in the South of France surrounded by two cultures, Canadian at home and French outside. My mom is Canadian and my dad French, and we traveled on a regular basis between the two countries and continents. My dad is definitely my biggest inspiration and why I have come to love nature so much, wild places untouched by humans.
"He taught me to respect with humility this fragile environment when we were spending the school holidays in the Alps."
He taught me to recognize animal prints on the ground, to name trees and birds. And most importantly, he taught me the art of patience while on the lookout to see animals. One day during the summer holidays, when I was nine years old, he woke me up at 3.00 am and we headed to our next-door national park called Parc des Ecrins and started to hike in the dark, with headlights. We needed to be as high on the mountains as we could before dawn to see them: the Chamois. At night the chamois would go down the mountain to drink and eat the grass. They would then come up again and hide in the rocks during the day. To this day, I remember so clearly the encounter with a mother and her baby so close to us that I saw all the details as the daylight was breaking. Today, when I shot a landscape photo, I know that I’m not alone, these animals are in my photos invisible to the human eye and that’s okay!
My love for wilderness, empty spaces, rugged beauty has definitely shaped my photography. It began when I traveled alone to the Fiji islands to take a three-month break from London, where I was living at that time. This is where I realized that I was living something incredible I needed to share.
Sharing at this time wasn’t a piece of cake; we’re talking about last century’s photo equipment here. This urge to share my adventures was so strong that I regularly printed, scanned, and emailed my photos along the way to a bunch of people! Seeing wasn’t enough – I had to capture it in order to share it.
In the meantime, I spend more time abroad than in France: I lived and worked in 6 countries on 3 continents, moved houses 12 times. The UK, Norway, Malaysia, Singapore, Scotland, and France all introduced me to a new part of myself I hadn’t known.
"I suppose I’m a real Nomadict!"
Norway has fuelled my love for snow. Even though I grew up in the South of France with the Mediterranean sea at my doorstep I’ve always been attracted by the mountains, the northern countries like Norway, and more especially the winter season and the snow. The snowy shots I take are more to me than a capture of a beautiful scene, they are deeply connected to my love for snow. I often joke saying these are my Canadian roots, my heritage. When it starts snowing everyone is like ‘let’s go inside and cozy up!’ and I’ll be like…“I’m out!!!” while putting on my boots and jacket and grabbing my camera. I think it comes down to this blissful feeling brought by the quietness of snow which absorbs sounds.
"Also, the snow tells us with all footprints that we are not alone and the animals see us way before we spot them."
When we moved to South East Asia for my husband’s job, it took me a while to adapt to the tropical climate as well as to the culture so distinct from Scandinavia. We lived in Asia for 5 years (Malaysia and Singapore). This allowed us to travel and discover every single South East Asian country. Traveling with toddlers didn’t give me much time for my photography back then, however, I still remember how special the light was over there. One day, looking at buying a sapphire in Burma, the Burmese seller told me to get one that wasn’t too dark as the light in Asia is special and once back to Europe my gem would look even darker. He was so right!
The other thing I vividly remember from our time in Asia are the smiles and the kindness of the people. The smile of the waitress at this small family-run restaurant on the Inle Lake in Burma; the smile of the monks getting food from the inhabitants at dawn in Luang-Prabang, Lao; the smile of these kids playing with an old football ball in Lombok, Indonesia… I could carry on and on!
However, starting a completely new life every 4 to 5 years holds some challenges, and the words Adaptability and Resilience are certainly part of my DNA. You have to embrace a new culture with its specific codes, make new friends, find a new job (I followed my husband and where his career brought us), understand your new environment, and make it yours rapidly.
With the good things and the challenges of going on expatriate assignments (as a spouse and with children) all over the world, my emotional behavioral pattern over the last 21 years has fluctuated continuously, similar to what is known as the expat life cycle. First, I feel excited about the upcoming move (new exploration!). Once there, I feel depressed because I realize I left my life behind and it hits me. Learning to deal with this takes about four months. Usually, these months lack exploration because I am not in the mood for it. This ends when I manage to really let go of the past, allowing for inspiration to come my way. I feel tenacious and stronger as the exploration phase begins and next, I get back my enthusiasm as I finally ‘see’ and appreciate my environment and I embrace it.
I have been amazed by all the countries we visited in Asia during our time there and I got used to the tropical climate, the light, the way of life… Hence, when a new adventure awaited us in Scotland, we were greeted by a thermal and chromatic shock. Everything was gray; the sky, the cold sea, the buildings… Totally different compared to the colors and the environment I had gotten used to! However, one day, while browsing old books in a library I came across an ancient Scottish-Gaelic proverb which can translate into “there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”. Technically, this was a game-changer.
Scotland taught me so much… Shooting sunrise at Dunnottar Castle on the North East coast of Scotland made me realize that I was totally able to wake up at 3.00 am if needed; A 3-hour drive to capture highland ponies in the snow brought up an extremely well-hidden love of driving in harsh conditions; A single puffin on a cliff made me overcome my fear of heights and vertigo; And mud and wet feet are okay and can often be the price to pay. I even achieved Scottish accent comprehension (except on a late Friday evening)!
"Jokes aside, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that life is what you make of it. So, I decided to turn my life into a photographic journey."
The Little House in the Highlands is a photo taken in Scotland that has been special from the day I took it. I got exactly what I hoped for. It’s a small “bothy” (Scottish name for a refuge/cabin on the hills) barely noticeable from the road that caught my eye on a weekend away in the Highlands. I was hoping for some snow but the hills and the forest were as brown as a plain toast that day. However, it snowed during the night and when I drove back to my little bothy, the vision I got was coming straight from a fairytale. I had found the Hansel & Gretel house dusted with the right amount of icing sugar. I did a point-and-shoot and that’s it.
This photo represents everything I like: A cozy place to warm up and unwind by the fireplace after a terrific hike in the wild yet mesmerizing Scottish highlands. It was a real moment in time as a few hours later the snow on the roof had disappeared. For the edit, the trickiest part was the color of the snow. I like warm tones and I needed to get away from the sometimes blueish snow color. I treat each photo independently and will play around in Lightroom and Photoshop until my instinct tells me to stop. With time my style has evolved to slightly desaturated photos and I always make sure the colors, especially the snow, match my other photos.
The Scottish Highlands and the French Alps had a significant impact on my photography. I’m a very instinctive person and my whole photographic process comes from who I am. My ultimate shot recipe would look like this:
1) Add a strong dose of Wilderness
2) Stir in some rugged beauty
3) Blend with a dash of fully charged batteries equipment
4) Whisk in a pair of waterproof hiking shoes
5) Sprinkle generously with snowflakes
"And here you go! You know the shots are done when it's getting dark and you can’t feel your fingers anymore."
"Some would say I’m a little obsessed but I’ve realized lately that I’ve always seen the world through a lens."
I’m a very contemplative person. I would stop and stare everywhere – and I’m talking big or small things, like 1,000 sheep crossing the road one evening with the Mont Saint Michel in the background or the perfect autumn leaves on a pavement.
As an outdoor lover, moving to Paris after spending five years in the Highlands was a real challenge. I went out of my comfort zone as a landscape photographer and it took me several months to ‘see’ Paris. I have realized while looking back at the shots I took of Paris, that nature is omnipresent. This helped me compose my photos. Nevertheless, I do search to be surrounded by nature completely and we often go on hikes in the Alps with my family and friends. When I am there and out of the city, I would constantly stop and think about my composition while shouting to the group to carry on as I will catch up with them. Catching up means running up the hill with my photo gear on my back 10, 20 times per hike.
I find that photography allows me to truly live and take in the moments. I have strong feelings of the time passing by as well as this urge to share with others what I see. Before I got into photography, a part of me would be frustrated as I couldn’t explain or describe a moment with words; none of the words would be able to let the other know what I had seen or felt. Photography allows me to live the moment in a blissful way, it enables me to contemplate the beauty around me with serenity as I know that afterward, I will be able to save it forever AND tell others with one shot what an outing, a view, a moment, had been like. Being a contemplative person that loves photography has also a downside; so many times I missed a good light opportunity as I was lost in my dreams!
Soon my dreams will continue on the North American continent, and France will be saved in my memories. But wherever I go now or in the future, my motto in life will always be:
"Follow your instinct, Get out there and Capture the moment!"
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