Niklas Siemens:
Thrilling adventures exploring India
@sieklas
Starring, Niklas Siemens: landscape and travel photographer based in Austria
From Vienna to Innsbruck, Austria features nature that can’t be seen anywhere else on the planet. Snow covered mountains, marquise lakes, and endless forests are part of Austria’s glamour! Nevertheless, for Niklas, nothing compares to India!
Niklas Siemens, better known in Instagram as @sieklas, is an austrian young talented photographer and videographer who certainly knows quite a bit about Austria’s hidden treasures. As a local, Niklas had the opportunity to explore some of the most beautiful landscapes in his home country and eventually he felt in love with the mountains, nature, and the feeling of self-exploration and discovery.
Although he is still really young, photography and social media have allowed him to experience a great amount of unique moments. Traveling around India is and it will be one of his highlights. The land of mystery and diversity was a tipping point for Niklas.
Today, Niklas is all-in for an industry that enjoys and celebrates his creativity and originality. In order to understand who is Niklas as a photographer and as a traveler I asked him 13 questions. The following was the outcome!
Welcome Niklas! One of your first pictures on Instagram was published more than 4 years ago, the 21st of June 2013. Back then you were posting already travel pictures but your progression as a landscape photographer has been remarkable! Can you summarize for us your journey so far?
Hey Alex, thanks for having me here! So, when I first started using Instagram I posted images taken with my phone. I used to share pictures from my home country and also from travels I did with my parents during school holidays.
I experimented a lot at the beginning. Besides capturing travel photography, I spent some time studying architecture, long exposure methods as well as digital art. Actually, I found my way into photography digitalizing the photos that my parents captured along a world trip in 1993 and 1994 (I posted some of these photos on Instagram by the way).
On the other hand, taking filming classes in high school also helped me a lot, back then I got to know about cameras and photography in general.
Eventually I got my first DSLR camera which I used a lot on my free time to capture the surrounding areas as well as the mountains nearby in my home country, Austria.
I learned a lot by doing and in the meantime I found out that hiking and being outdoors surrounded by nature was actually pretty satisfying. On every adventure I made, my camera was always with me, regardless of the place I visited.
Today I am more than happy to do photography and film making for a living working for tourism companies and other kind of brands. It may sound crazy, but I have never experienced the 9 to 5 life. I decided to pursue my passion after high school and since then I never looked back!
From all the amazing countries you have been to, what country impressed you the most?
When traveling I am always keeping my eyes wide open trying to understand and learn from all the different cultures I encounter along the way. I love talking to people and listening to their stories, it is the best way to learn!
In India I had many of those special moments / local experiences. From getting invited by a priest to their Himalayan mountain village for chai, to having to cross a river with a self built cable car to reach the other edge, to drive around in a 4×4 on the beach with the lifeguards from Goa…
Overall, what I liked the most about India was the Himalayan region. Reaching remote places up in the mountains (above 4,000 meters) was something worth experiencing. It was really nice as well to see their lifestyle and how they enjoy the little things. They even prepared some home made meals on the mountains, although they weren’t really elaborated though. I had to choose between omelette or spicy Maggi noodles 🙂
"I definitely recommend this type of experiences if you enjoy the silence and calm places, it is a good way of escaping from the big city life and the mass tourism"
You have been working on your photography and developing your own style for a while now. What are the three most important tricks that allowed you to reach your current level?
Just go out, shoot and keep practicing is my number one tip. Just try new things and use the manual mode of your camera to improve. But keep in mind that progress doesn’t happen overnight. You have to work hard every day.
Another important factor is patience, you need to take your time for the perfect photo. For example, I mostly shoot during the golden and blue hours of the day (around sunrise and sunset) and when I find a spot I try out different angles, lenses and settings until I am satisfied. As I am very picky with my photos, sometimes I end up with just a handful of captures which I really like from an entire session. I try to do a lot of variations from the same subject.
Trick number three is surround yourself with likeminded people and help each other out, everyone can learn from the other. You learn faster collaborating, doing things together.
On the other hand, you are also an excellent videographer! I really like the fact that one can learn more about you and your trips by visiting your YouTube Channel. Overall, do you think that using YouTube is a good strategy to reach a broader audience and further explain your journey to your followers?
Well, actually I am not a vlogging/ talking into the camera kind of guy. I use my YouTube channel to tell stories with moving images in a cinematic style. It is a great way to show people additional content from photos they see on my Instagram and from scenes they haven’t seen before. They can just dive deeper into my journeys to feel as if they were there on their own by adding ambient sounds and an authentic inspiring mood.
Photography can be an excellent tool to capture unique moments and experiences. That is what makes this art so beautiful. You shared so many nice experiences in Instagram! What is your approach when it comes to find and create those little magical moments?
I always try to find new places and hidden gems and add in layers to give the image a certain depth. This can be done by using plants as an unsharp foreground object for example while having a lake in the mid and a mountain range in the background. When shooting a well know place I try to get a different perspective from close to the ground or from high up in the air.
Always try to keep it authentic, do not just take a tent with you to make camping photos and then not even sleep in it. As I already mentioned, light is an important factor. I really love golden light to illuminate my photos. I have several weather apps and planning tools including PhotoPills and Fotocast which allow me to know where the sun will exactly rise or if I will be able to see the milky way when traveling to a certain place on a specific date, for instance.
You have been traveling for years now! How do you sustain a life full of travels? Is there any trick or tip you can share with us?
Instagram and social media in general have been really important in this regard. Sharing my work on Instagram has been an excellent way to showcase my portfolio in the first place. This allowed me to reach directly or indirectly other businesses in the industry. Eventually, while I was creating my own portfolio brands started to reach out to collaborate. They were tour operators and tourism boards for instance. So, many of my trips have been sponsored by these type of organizations. However, sometimes if I really want to visit a country I just do it by myself but I always try to have some “branded gear” with me to make money from shooting for a brand. It can be something like a backpack or an outdoor jacket for instance.
Having a portfolio allowed me to start making money through photography and videography, creating content for companies and also sharing those collaborations in my own Instagram. Besides that, one can actually make money selling prints, stock imagery and presets. Overall these are the things that have worked for me.
Also, off season trips are cheaper! If you are lucky enough to have a flexible life, then I extremely recommend using this strategy.
What is your approach when it comes to planning your trip and finding your ideal locations?
Instagram is a good place to start with. I am constantly saving images from other creatives for all those places I am traveling to. I often connect with locals, as they know less touristic places which are yet beautiful.
Lonely planet is very helpful sometimes to find inspiration, but googling about a destination gives you a lot of information as well. Generally speaking, when I arrive to a new destination, I always try to have a check list in my head with all those places I want to capture. However, I don’t plan every step of my journey and I just take the path as it comes. I think this is a good approach to really enjoy the trip and find sceneries that I haven’t seen so far.
It is also important to me to be as flexible as possible. Camping and sleeping in cars is what I do in order to get the perfect photo sometimes (while also saving money!).
There are many landscape photographers sharing real value in terms of visual content as well as written content in Instagram. Yet, they are not able to grow as “influencers”. What are the three strategies that in your opinion allowed you to grow in Instagram?
Nowadays it is complicated to grow in Instagram. Competition is high, however, if you have something unique to share with the world then it is possible to achieve a sustained growth. There are some basics, engage with your audience and other creatives. Networking is really important! But don’t contact only “normal users”, go one step ahead and reach out for companies operating in the same industry. If you are traveling to a specific city, you can do research and contact some hotels for instance. Many times hotels need visual content and you can feel the gap. It is also important to learn how to approach companies.
"Ultimately, working with companies will open you many doors in both your professional life and your social media presence"
Overall, photography is like any other sector. First you have to earn the position, and then opportunities and growth will come along.
From “regular” Instagram user to “influencer”. What is the one thing that people don’t see along this process?
All the hustle and effort, the work behind all of it is what people don’t see. They only see the finished product. Behind each photo there is a lot of time spent creating it!
As a photographer, I am sure that you feel attached to all your photos. All your pictures represent unique moments of your life. However, among your works, do you have any picture that you really like? Which is your favorite photo?
As a photographer I frame and freeze moments, when going through my archive each image tells me a story associated with a feeling or an experience I had.
The best photos are still the ones that are hard to get. Hiking up a mountain for 6 hours in a remote national park and going back home with one of the best photos I ever captured is certainly a reward.
One of my favorite images is actually already quite old, I captured it in October of 2015 while doing air to air shots of a Cessna plane out of a helicopter above Salzburg lake district in Austria.
"It was my first time on a helicopter and the experience could not have been any better. Contemplating from high above the colorful Austrian mountains and lakes during fall was just a one of a kind experience"
What is the most beautiful thing that “traveling” has allowed you to do?
To visit some of the most amazing places while learning about other cultures and traditions is something traveling has allowed me to do. I see the world different now. Every journey teaches me something new!
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
Of course there are: Chris Burkard with his out-of-this-world outdoor photos, Alex Strohl as the master of authentic adventure content and Hannes Becker for super clean photography showing the beauty of planet earth. These three are just a few that inspire me, they are all specialists in their niche and inspire me with their jaw-dropping work day after day.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
A lot of great projects happening in the following months: I will be in Finland and on the Faroe Islands in May, I have planned a road trip around Iceland the whole month of June and I will be sailing around the Croatian islands down to Montenegro in summer, besides exploring the mountains of Albania!
