I think I was about five or six years old when I took the old analog camera from my parents. I made so many senseless pictures because I had no idea what I did. I don’t remember if they were angry, but I remember I had to throw all the pictures away.
After that, I was just playing Playstation 1 and doing skateboarding most of the time; I didn’t take pictures anymore until I was about 15 or 16 years old. At that time, we got our first digital camera and I was the only one who knew how it worked. I was 17, I started my apprenticeship and I decided to buy my own camera with my first salary. I have never put it away since then. My passion for travelling came from photography; every time I searched a bit further away for spots to shoot and with each time, I got more motivated to see more from our beautiful world. Even in Germany, my home country, there is a lot left to see: The Castle Eltz, Saxon Switzerland National Park, Jasmund National Park, Berchtesgaden National Park… And much more!
I think you perceive everything more intensively around you if you go somewhere with your camera, because you’re always looking for nicest sceneries or subjects to shoot. Every time I hold the camera in front of me, I calm down and turn off the world around me. It’s just soothing. Landscape photography is what I enjoy most and especially if I am shooting at places where I have never been before. However, as my family and friends know where to find me, and so my camera, I also shoot at events like birthday parties and baptisms, take photos from the children, and so on.
I like to try new things because it forces you to think outside the box, and to boost my photography techniques and knowledge I follow an online course from time to time. What helps a lot though is receiving feedback from others about my photos and watching the work of other great photographers to obtain inspiration.
The obtained inspiration and feedback help a lot when editing a photo; you develop a feeling of what fits with the picture. At the end, I want the photo to have a certain mood which makes that the viewer looks more than a few seconds to it. When I show pictures to others, I observe their reaction and I know when I did something right seeing the expression on their face. When I post on social media, I hope to get the same results. People should get a better feeling after watching my photos, it doesn’t matter if this is happiness, motivation, surprise, or whatever else.
It would be awesome if I can be playing a gig with a band sometimes, while keeping traveling and capturing astonishing landscapes with my camera. It is because of photography that I learned that our world is really, really beautiful. And that besides all the rush in my life, I can find patience and peace when I am in nature.
In this article, Massimo shares seven practical strategies, from embracing atmospheric haze to mastering complementary contrast, that transformed the way I approach golden hour.
Raised on film photography and shaped by years of architectural study at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Christian Stark brings a structural eye and a traveler’s instinct to everything he shoots. Now based in Sweden, he photographs the world from camper van roads across Europe to cold mountain summits in Germany — always with an open mind and often with just one camera.
Mehdi Tadlaoui is a visual storyteller blending cinematic precision with a refined sense of composition and emotion. Shaped by art, film, and a background in 3D and VFX, he uses photography to explore atmosphere and narrative. This foundation guides his fieldwork, where fleeting moments become carefully composed visual stories.
Driven by a desire to witness the world in its rawest states, Sebastian Tan pursues remote landscapes with patience and precision. Blending meticulous planning with resilience, his work transforms fleeting light into immersive fine art. Recognized internationally, Sebastian bridges the wild and familiar, inviting others to see through his lens.
Known for capturing nature’s raw intensity, Filip Breda creates atmospheric landscapes shaped by storm, fire, and light. Winner of the 6th ColorPro Awards for Thunderstorm, his work reflects years of persistence, exploration, and a deep emotional connection to the elements.
Toruń, set along the Vistula River in north-central Poland, is a UNESCO-listed gem where Gothic brick façades glow in the last light of day. Small and unhurried, it’s a city made for slow wandering, and for watching golden hour turn terracotta rooftops into crimson and gold.
