Marco Ritter
@__marcoritter__
Photographer based in Switzerland
I became a photographer by coincidence, similar to the way the photos are taken during my trips. For many years, it’s the moment and circumstances that have led me to where I am now, and it’s simply being really present on my adventures that lead to my photographs nowadays.
I grew up with nature and sports from the very beginning. I have been spending every free minute being outside just for having fun and not caring about anything except being there. My father loved to go hiking into the mountains together with his close friend Engelbert and me. We also went to Engelbert’s home on a regular basis, which was always fun. But to be honest, I loved to visit him mainly to browse through all his books. His bookshelf was huge.
"There were books for children, but I had only been interested in the ones about mountains - having tons of stunning photos in them."
I knew about photography as my mom was taking pictures with her red-colored pocket camera every holiday. Sadly, I was never allowed to use it. This lasted until my teenage years, where she then finally gave it to me as a present. It had been my first companion for two years, mainly for taking trick shots during my inline skate phase. And then, strangely enough, photography stopped being part of my life – for 10 years. Back in those days, I had a passion for doing various kinds of professional sports like football, tennis, mountain biking, skiing, and so forth. I still enjoyed photography, but it wasn’t more than buying impressive photos and posters to decorate my home.
"After the “break” it took several more trials with pocket cameras before I ended up really shooting again."
Although I bought good cameras, I was lazy and just brought as little luggage as possible for my sports exercises, so my mobile phone sufficed and the pocket camera was left at home. Five years later, I used the third self-acquired pocket camera for the very first time. People started to compliment me on my photos taken during various mountain bike routes and ski tours, around 2017. From that year, every time I bought a new pocket camera, I wished for a professional camera instead.
However, this phase was interrupted heavily. My life collapsed within a few days throwing me into a dark hole with no way back. After several blows of fate within a very short timeframe I ended up being treated in a clinic with a heavy depression. Life had no meaning anymore and it was hard to get hold on even a tiny bit of positivity. But then, out of nowhere, coincidence brought me to photography again. I saw a talented mountain photographer on Instagram and I was so flashed by his pictures that it motivated me enough to go out into the mountains, turning trips into adventures again, and catching the most precious moments with my mobile phone.
"Luckily, I had the most stunning mountains during my clinic stay in front of my nose."
Another coincidence later, I got the chance to take a few photos with a professional camera. I went on a date two years ago – hiking in the mountains. To my surprise, she had a camera with her. I begged her to just take a few photos with it and I captured my first starburst in the twilight sky catching a mountain cross in front of a vast mountain landscape: stunning.
"That was a great step to my comeback, but the real turnover was getting unemployed in early 2020 after having spent four years doing a job that didn’t fulfill me."
That’s when I decided to make my dream come true and bought myself my first professional second-hand camera. From that day on, magic moments accompanied me everywhere I went and I was always ready to catch it with the camera.
The professional photographer Roland, who had sold me the camera, also taught me how to edit my photos. It turned out that I have a feeling for it because the practices reminded me of when I studied audio engineering. Back then I could feel “colors” in the audio streams and the techniques working with photos are not far away from working with audio, considering for example dynamics, depth, mixing, joining, etc. Or to stay really close to the very foundation of either music and photography: to mix technology with creativity.
"I experienced the same fun editing photos as taking the pictures and have been learning about it a lot since then."
I bought a book about the soul of the camera and the role of the photographer. There is not really the one place or the one photo, there is not the perfect moment. There are moments everywhere. All my trips start somewhat planned but usually I change course for whatever reason and that’s where the adventure begins and where magic moments happen.
"You just have to be ready to combine the scene, the feelings, the fun, and the beauty of the moment altogether."
Since last year my new way of life has facilitated me to turn my hobby and passion step by step into my profession. So for the future, I am working towards one big dream: I want to go on a trip in a rural environment so vast that it seems never ending, having all the time it takes to experience the area no matter whether it’s weeks or months. It might be the Antarctic, Patagonia, Himalaya, Norway, or one of the many other options, but as with everything, it will happen when it needs to happen, magic moments happen continuously and my intuition takes me there, where they are, when it’s my turn.
"There is a big chance that, for whatever reason, I will change course to be at the right time at the right place with the right angle to let me share the magic with you."
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