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Lionel Jacquier
@lioneljacquier
Landscape photographer based in Switzerland
Almost every weekend, my parents would take my brother, our dog and me outdoors for some adventures. Living on a farm in Canton du Valais, at the heart of the Swiss Alps, the mountains and the forest have become our favorite playgrounds. In summer we would hike and bring picnic, in winter most of our free time was spent skiing. My parents love traveling, nature and animals and almost every year we departed to discover all that within other European countries. As far as I can remember, I spent my childhood playing outside, enjoying while forgetting everything else and observing nature with open eyes and curiosity. I am very grateful to my parents for providing me and my brother with such an education and sensitivity to the simple pleasures of outdoor living as well as a taste for travel and the discovery of other cultures. It is as if my nomad side is rooted in my DNA.
"As if this exhaustible thirst for discovery of new horizons and adventure is an integral part of my soul, my identity."
During our excursions, my dad used to immortalize our happy moments together and the places we visited with a film camera. After our holiday he would organize a projection of the most beautiful photos in our living room. Although I loved these moments, my passion for photography only started many years later, slowly and shyly it entered my life as a result of my first backpacking trips through Australia and South America without my parents. First I considered it as a tool to document my journeys abroad, a way to keep my memories alive also visibly and tangibly, and to share them with my friends and family.
A few travels later, I began realizing that my photos didn’t do justice to the places I visited, as a result of the gear I used (Sony Cybershot) but also, and mainly, because of my ignorance about the basics of photography. I bought my first reflex camera in 2009 (Canon 450D) and took my first steps into the vast world of photography. I practiced on my next short backpack adventures in Spain, Scotland and Brasil, which became the foundation of an intimate connection between travel and photography. For several years now, the one doesn’t go without the other.
"Yet, photography is not the only reason why I travel. Each trip is an opportunity for me to meet my own inner world and to learn to better listen to my soft inner voice, my intuition."
One of the best periods in my life started in summer 2015, when my request of a sabbatical was approved by my employer. This enabled me to realize a dream I had had for a long time, doing a world trip exploring 12 countries in 12 months. Above all, this sabbatical allowed me to listen to the irrepressible need I felt to depart on an adventure in search of answers to the existential, spiritual and metaphysical questions I had been asking myself. A trip to discover the world and myself. A quest for meaning. I am convinced that this journey has been one of the greatest gifts I could offer my soul during this brief time on Earth. Backpack and long-term trips have this power to open our eyes to our understanding of the world and to better grasp the essentials of life.
"They play a role in accelerating our personal development and I encourage all who have the opportunity to embark on this kind of enriching experience."
"For more than a year, I have been fortunate enough to see new landscapes almost every day."
This journey made me realize the extreme beauty of our planet and I wanted to give something in return for this wonderful gift it was giving me. Photography therefore naturally became for me the tool to express my gratitude. I had the chance to take a lot of photos; my goal was to show people around me, family and friends, the splendor of nature and the inhabitants of the countries visited. Through my photos, I also secretly hope to awake the traveler within people and especially, to provoke the awareness and feeling of responsibility to make them want to better protect our planet. And on top of that, just indirectly remind people of the importance of living their dreams when the opportunities present themselves and not postponing them until tomorrow, a day that sometimes never comes.
"I believe that the constant motivation to realize these goals has allowed me to progress enormously in my photography, pushing me to surpass myself to create something beautiful and inspiring."
Coming back from my trip around the world in summer 2016, I invested in the acquisition of a new, more modern APS-C reflex camera: Canon 80D. Thanks to this new device, I was able to gain in image quality and functionality. I was fortunate to further develop my passion for photography and travel when my employer generously granted me a second sabbatical leave directly after my previous one. During this second year, I had the opportunity to test my Canon 80D during a long stay in Mexico as well as on the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain.
My outlook on the world had changed; once again I had the eyes of the curious young boy marveling at so much beauty everywhere in front of him. I also realized that the notion of travel did not depend only on the distance traveled between the place of residence and that of the place explored, but that it was rather a state of mind, a total openness to the elements that surround us, to develop one’s curiosity, to take a fresh look at known places – it is possible to travel just a few steps from home.
The creation of my Instagram account in 2017 and the purchase of my first full frame reflex, a Canon EOSR, in 2019, have also dramatically influenced my photography skills, potential and creativity which was notable in my work. Becoming a member of the Instagram community was a real turning point and my progression curve has undergone a big boost since then. Instagram is an endless source of inspiration and emulation for me. The photos many talented creators take motivate me to develop my technique and my vision to perfect my work and gradually create my own style. I use the platform a bit like an experimental research and development (R&D) laboratory; I can try out new genres or techniques and see if my followers like it, which helps me move forward.
"I put in a lot of work in my passion besides my regular work as a counseling psychologist for young adolescents in two secondary schools."
I am fortunate to work part time, which gives me plenty of time to go for walks, explore and take photos in and around my region. Today, I hardly go anywhere without one of my cameras. On my way to work, my EOSR is almost always within reach with my RF 24-105 lens or my EF 70-200, ready to capture interesting scenes. My gaze is constantly drawn to the light or looking for compositions. And on weekends, my girlfriend and I leave to explore different places in Valais or other areas in Switzerland to satisfy our common passions of traveling, spending time in nature and photography.
I also go on small solo photo trips which are moments I really appreciate. I get completely caught up in my passion and don’t see the hours passing by. I am lucky enough to live outside the city, very close to nature, in a small chalet at an altitude of 1,100 meters with a breathtaking view of the Alps. On sunny days, I can even see the tip of the Matterhorn summit from our garden. A nice little piece of forest is right next to my house; a forest that I have known since my childhood. I spent many hours there playing with my brother. It is a lively forest composed mainly of conifers and home to many animals: birds, raptors, foxes, squirrels, deer, etc. When I look out of the window in the mornings on my days off and I see fog, my soul is smiling. I know that the combination of fog, sunshine and humidity will give the forest a magical character – perfect to get photos with a special atmosphere telling a story and taking us into a dreamlike universe evoking memories of fairytales from our childhood.
"Photos are to me the equivalent of a diary."
Having a visual memory, I consider each image I take like a digital or paper copy sending my brain and my heart back to a multitude of memories, reviving sounds, smells, and emotions of the moment immortalized. A photo is for me like a visual anchor allowing me to unfold sequences of the film of my life and my travels. I love this ability photography has to freeze unique moments and to share them with people. This is one of the reasons I really enjoy snapshots taken with telephoto and handheld. For these kinds of photos, all you have to do is observe, look into the distance for special light and be ready to click when a magical moment appears. No complicated preparation or planning required! You just have to be there in the moment and open your eyes. I love this style of photography so in my camera bag, my EF 100-400 is always mounted on my APS-C body, making it the equivalent of a 160-640 lens. The perfect weapon for capturing moments like this and sometimes even wild animals that you come across unexpectedly. I practice a simple and instinctive style of photography.
"I try as much as possible to let my intuition guide my steps naturally to the right place, the right composition."
I believe that photography nourishes my explorer spirit as well as my creativity. I need it to keep my balance and to refresh my body and mind. Linking my passion for photography with that of travel and nature allows me to recharge my batteries while creating something beautiful. I really appreciate the meditative aspect that I find in nature, the reconnection to the earth, to the elements, but also to myself. The time that stands still, living the present moment and the emotions I feel in front of a magnificent scene; I try as much as possible to transcribe this through my pictures. Photos that invite contemplation, inner peace. My goal is to try to create a reaction in the observer, to make someone think, to touch someone emotionally and to sharpen one’s curiosity. Using my desire to show the beauty of our planet in all its forms and spread an ecological message, I would like to develop a photography style that tells a story and arouses an emotion. I hope my photos make people want to walk in nature and love it as much as I do. I hope my photos touch their nomadic soul and get them out of their homes. That my photos invite them to introspection and to question themselves about the true meaning of their existence.
"That they can challenge themselves in relation to our way of life which is sometimes so disconnected from nature."
To achieve that I use the photo, the edit and the caption I write along with the image, but there’s lots I can still learn to enhance the effect my photos have. I would especially like to try to develop a more serene and peaceful approach to photography, aside from the technical part. Develop more my intuition rather than staying too much in the mind or in a purely technical and lifeless mastery of photography. However, this has been a challenge so far. How do I make sure that I first fully enjoy the scene, immerse myself in the place, experience it and smell it before unsheathing my camera and shooting wildly? How can I succeed in leaving aside my mind, the desire to achieve a specific result or to respond to an expectation, an idea for a photo visualized in my mind? How can we stop chasing this quest for the perfect photo, which sometimes risks distracting us from the pleasure of simply living in the present moment and fully enjoying the place visited? How can we put aside the fear of missing THE photo that could make us famous?
"I am happy that I managed to keep this balance during my first trips, before photography became a passion as strong as it is today."
Back then, my priority was always to first experience the place myself, in the depths of my being, and then, as a second step, to immortalize the place. Now that my passion for photography is much stronger, it is sometimes difficult for me to maintain this precious balance. It is a real challenge with each new outing in nature or on trips. Maybe the best thing to find back this balance would be to leave my camera in the bag and take fewer pictures, so I can practice to calm down the anxiety of missing out on photo opportunities and trust my intuition, walk, observe, feel the place, become one with it and let my intuition guide me. Much like an ancient tribal hunter, sniffing out a trail and patiently stalking his prey and waiting for the right moment to shoot his one and only arrow. Perhaps this is the style of photography I would like to go for: an image hunter with just a few arrows, rather than today’s modern warrior shooting his bursts of photos in all directions.
Besides that, there are of course lots of technical aspects that I would love to master. I already use long exposure quite often; I love the calm, peaceful and ethereal side that comes from photos taken with this technique. For these types of scenes, I usually use my tripod, ND1000 filter, and circular polarizer filter to reduce reflections on the water surface and emphasize colors. Long exposure always gives a magical effect to an ordinary scene. And right now, I’m trying to improve my focus stacking technique. I like the depth of field that comes from photos taken in portrait orientation with a foreground very close to the lens, flowers for example. I find the result really aesthetic when the photo is clear from the 1st to the last layer. This is not easy to achieve if you ask me, to maintain a nice balance between foreground, midground and background while minimizing the unwanted effects created by the distortion. It’s even more complicated when the wind blows the flowers between shots. And of course wind is present very often in the mountains at sunrise or sunset. In these cases, I can spend hours editing the details of a photo on PS. One of my last photos taken with this technique was with the three yellow flowers in the foreground. I had to spend 3-4 hours on PS to get a satisfactory result. Obviously, it is taking me longer now because I am still in the process of discovering and learning this technique. Fortunately, YouTube is full of free tutorials to walk me through the different stages of the process.
"Astrophotography and wildlife photography are two other aspects that I want to develop more in the future."
I find the photos of the Milky Way with a beautiful landscape in the foreground fascinating. Some of the photos I see on IG literally take me to another dimension. For me, these are very powerful photos that question us about the immensity of the universe, the origin of life, the presence of other forms of life… I love these themes of reflection and these photos also allow us to challenge people in relation to the smallness of human beings and our planet in this vast universe. I still have a long way to go in this style to create images that truly elicit that “wow” effect in the beholder. As for wildlife photography, this genre would be a way of connecting all the elements that are close to my heart at the moment: Total immersion in nature, the adventurous side, the meditative patience of the image hunter, the total connection to the earth and the animal species that inhabit it, ecological sensitivity, a message related to nature protection and species conservation, etc.
"Taking these elements as essentials, I realized that the geographic location or the country ultimately mattered very little."
During my trip around the world, I really felt this feeling of being an inhabitant of the planet and not just of one country. I felt deeply connected to the land and its people in all the places I have set foot. The common points between all these magical places that have marked me is this feeling of smallness of the human being in comparison to the immensity of a scene and the unique nature that is specific to it. Faced with this type of grandiose landscapes, I sometimes felt contrasting feelings of deep loneliness and wholeness, and the reassuring connection to our mother Earth. Landscapes or places that made me come back to the basics, to the feeling of existing, of simply being alive in contact with nature, far from all the hassles and inconsistencies of our society, far from the madness of the cities and the frantic pace imposed by our capitalist system.
"The more I achieve to connect with my subject, my environment, but also with myself and my inner voice, the more I feel that I manage to tell a story and convey emotions."
It is a continuous curve of evolution characterized by practice, travels, reflection and also other people. That is why, as my favorite picture, I would perhaps choose the photo taken of a couple of friends during a walk along the Bisse de Clavau above the town of Sion, the capital of the Canton of Valais, because this photo is full of meaning and possible interpretations. A moment frozen in time inviting the observer to contemplate, to stop for a moment to breathe and observe a magical scene. This photo also evokes the notion of a couple, of involvement, of sharing and of the path taken together towards a better knowledge of oneself and of the other, a path towards inner light in a way. It really tells a story, if you give yourself the time to lose yourself in the photo and in reflections.
"From a personal point of view, this image also made me believe a little more in my potential "talent" as photographer as this is a photo that the Sion Tourist Office decided to buy from me."
It is also the first photo I printed in 60/40 to give to my friends and seeing it hanging on their wall fulfills me with pride. Having people around supporting you or inspiring you is fundamental to thrive, in my opinion. In my journey toward where I am now, connecting with myself has been key for progression. On the other hand, people I have met along the way are indispensable too. During my travels, several meetings with other travelers passionate about photography too have gradually enabled me to improve my work. I particularly learnt a lot from a German friend and talented photographer, Philipp. He is for me like a mentor or a coach on my path as an apprentice photographer. And I am also very grateful to my girlfriend, Ausra, who has helped me believe in myself and continually pushes me to further develop my passion. She was the one who encouraged me to create an Instagram account to share my photos. As already explained before, the discovery of Instagram allowed me to take a big leap forward in this passion. In the very beginning, she created a small board on which she pins small prints of all my photos that have been reposted on Instagram. This board is attached to one of the walls of our chalet and it allows me to remind myself of my little successes every day.
"As Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.”
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