In this article, photographer Philipp shares how time, clarity, and consistency have shaped his evolving relationship with nature photography. Drawn ever further north, he writes about embracing uncertainty, working with restraint, and finding beauty even when plans fall apart — including the unlikely story behind his Best of the Week–winning image.
It has been a while since our last article, and reflecting back, I am happy to realize that with time, my approach to photographing nature and animals has become much clearer. I know exactly what I want, and just as importantly, what I don’t want.
That clarity has been incredibly valuable. It allows me to plan my trips and my images in a much more targeted way.
However, being out in nature means you can never really plan a photo – uncertainty is part of the creative process, always. I found myself increasingly drawn to the north, to rugged, lonely landscapes, and I dare to say that uncertainty is even higher in these kinds of areas.
To manage uncertainty, I learned that the most important thing is not to have expectations that are too high. At the same time, when you’re in a place as spectacular as the Faroe Islands, for example, it almost doesn’t matter what the weather or conditions are like. The landscape is so spectacular that you’ll always come away with strong images in one way or another.
The photo that won Best of the Week 43, 2025, was also taken in a place far north: Scandinavia. The story behind the image is a great example of how bad luck sometimes brings something good.
On the first day of the trip, my camera had an error – a shutter defect. After a week, my girlfriend’s backup camera also had an error. Then the car’s generator died. I’ve never had such a run of bad luck.
Luckily, I still had my drone and wonderful weather conditions: It was cold, foggy, and there was this endless forest in Sweden. In the morning, I flew my drone and took this shot of the forest, which then won the Best of the Week. I’m not sure if I would have flown the drone that morning if I’d had my camera available, so maybe I needed this bad luck for a reason!
I usually approach the editing of an image by trying both a warmer and a colder edit. In this case, I really liked the warm light. I also chose a very narrow image crop. I found it exciting when the horizon was not visible. As usual, I try to darken the foreground a little and lighten the direction from which the light is coming. Overall, it wasn’t necessary to invest a lot of detail work in this image. It was just so perfect that morning.
I am very consistent in my look and in what I photograph. A uniform look and aesthetic are the highest priority in my work. I try out different motifs and editing techniques to create a homogeneous overall picture in my gallery. That means that my feed is not particularly up to date; it often takes several months before I’m ready to post the photos from my last trip. But I’m happy with that. In my opinion, a picture has to develop, mature. I want to try out different edits to find out which one is best.
This is also important to me because you develop yourself by doing and creating. Improving yourself goes hand in hand with a lot of practice. Only those who train and practise constantly will get better. Therefore, continuous work or projects, whether it is for clients or for yourself, is crucial.
At the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on myself with goals and timelines. Things happen, or they don’t. I go with the flow, let myself be inspired. I want to be creative when I feel like it. All without stress or urgency. I want to experience beautiful moments and places. A smart balance between work and leisure is important. That’s perhaps the strategy behind it: creating enough free space to travel and be creative.
In this article, photographer Philipp shares how time, clarity, and consistency have shaped his evolving relationship with nature photography. Drawn ever further north, he writes about embracing uncertainty, working with restraint, and finding beauty even when plans fall apart — including the unlikely story behind his Best of the Week–winning image.
Tom shares the journey behind his winning photography, from a passion for exploration and remote places to field lessons, composition choices, and color grading.
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