Raul Caramizaru: Landscape photographer based in the UK
Starring, Raul Caramizaru: Landscape photographer based in the UK
"The voyage of a lifetime"
From a very young age, Raul felt extremely curious about photography. In his eyes, to have an instrument between the hands that enabled him to immortalize the moments that he and his family spent together traveling was such a reward. As a result, in 2013 Raul bought his first DSLR camera and since that moment, everything changed.
What once was just a hobby, now is a life path. After leaving is home country, Romania, Raul moved to the UK where he has been growing a network in the photography business. His passion, hard work and dedication are taking him closer to his ultimate goal, to become a full time photographer.
Certainly, he has being doing a great job in this regard. That is for sure! His landscape photography, which is the style that Raul enjoys the most, it is extremely catchy! As you are about to discover along this interview, Iceland, Bali, or Scotland, among many other countries, have inspired Raul in a great manner!
Welcome Raul! It is always a pleasure to find young talent in IG, you are certainly delivering some quality content! You posted your first picture in Instagram the 14th of August 2015, so three years ago approximately. Since then your progression as a photographer can be clearly seen in your feed. Where does your passion for travel and photography comes from?
Hello, Alex! First of all, thank you very much for inviting me to be part of this amazing community. My passion for travel started at a young age. Me and my parents used to travel a lot across the country and at 10 years old I had my first holiday abroad, we visited Greece for two weeks. My father had a film camera at that time and he would always let me play with it. During school trips he would let me take the camera and one or two films, so I could capture those beautiful moments. I always enjoyed taking photos tho I never knew what I was doing, I was mainly taking photos of my family and friends. When I got my first point and shoot camera a few years later, I was blown away. “Wait! I can take a photo and see the result instantly? I can take as many as I want and no more trips to the lab to develop the film? Game changer :)”
Somewhere around early 2013 I started getting more serious about photography and I bought my first DSLR camera, a Nikon 3200. I started a small business back home in Romania and I needed a better camera for some client work. Loved it from day one, started watching YouTube tutorials, reading forums, joined a few communities and followed other photographers.
Later that year things have changed a bit and I decided to move to the UK and that was the moment when I got more and more drawn into landscape and travel photography. I didn’t know many people around at that time so photography was my escape on my days off from work. I took advantage of all my free time and dedicated all to photography and travel. I tried all sorts of genres along the way, from street photography to macro, to boring brick wall shots for stock photography but nothing has stuck to me like landscape photography.
As you said, in 2015 I joined the Instagram community but I didn’t post regularly at all, it was more of a behind the scenes account for my travels and landscape photography adventures. I discovered some amazing people through this platform and made new friends along the way. A lot of my inspiration comes from other incredible photographers that I discovered through this amazing community.
You are currently working as a photographer. I can imagine that at the beginning of your career finding clients was difficult. Can you share with us what steps did you follow in order to successfully launch your career as a photographer?
Finding clients is always the difficult part and I believe it’s different for every photographer, depending on your niche. I am not a full-time freelance photographer, though I am working towards it. I am currently working as a photographer for a car dealership. It’s a good job that pays the bills and gives me plenty of time to travel and pursue my passion. On a side I’ve had a few collaborations with different brands, sold a few photos, done a bit of work for some small local businesses but there’s still a long way to go to get to where I want.
Steps to follow? Work, work, work, and never give up! Don’t ever get into photography for the money and don’t quit your job until your freelance work is consistent and is bringing you at least the money you gain at your current job.
In your opinion, why landscape photography can make one feel so good? Would you say that it can be even addictive?
Because everyday can be different, it gives you a sense of achievement when you nail down a composition especially when the weather aligns too. Most of the time it is the adventure that comes with it as you may hike on a mountain for two days and take only 2-3 shots that you are happy with. Plus, when I go through all the photos I see new angles and come up with different ideas, all making me wanna go back and shoot more of that place. I have been always visually inspired, so the more I travel the more I want to explore and see new places.
You are currently based in the UK. However, you had the chance to travel around many countries and capture so many amazing places. What three landscapes would you recommended visiting to our readers?
Tough question! I’d start with Iceland, I absolutely loved Iceland. Was on my list ever since I started doing landscape photography and like everyone said it is any photographer’s dream. I believe that literally almost everywhere you look there’s a photo to be taken. I enjoyed the Snaefellsnes peninsula and the stunning South Coast with its diversity, you have incredible mountains, green fields, wild nature, impressive waterfalls, massive glaciers and so much more. Most of the well known locations are super easy accessible. You’d think you’re in the middle of nowhere but you turn around and there’s a huge car park nearby.
"Of course I can’t forget those awesome cabins literally in the middle of nowhere, with hot showers and all the comfort you need. I was blown away the entire time I was there."
My 2nd favourite it is definitely Nusa Penida, an island close to Bali. Last year, during a 6 months trip around SE Asia we spent one month in Bali, and after visiting some amazing places on the mainland we decided to hop on a 30min boat ride and visit the three islands near Bali: Lembongan, Ceningan, and Penida. Nusa Penida is the biggest one out of the three and has some of the most breathtaking landscapes I have seen. Even though the initial plan was to spend 3 days visiting all three of them we ended up staying there for 10 days. Penida is the biggest one out of the three and probably the most undeveloped. Cheapest way to get around is by scooter/motorbike though it is the toughest one, there are the most bumpiest roads I have ever seen. Roads are not marked, there are barely any signs for locations and Google Maps is way off there. Locals are super friendly so don’t be afraid to smile and say hi, some of them might know a bit of English and they are always willing to help you out.
The best three locations I loved on the Island: Crystal Bay Beach, a nice secluded cove with a white sandy beach and it’s also a great place for snorkelling; the famous Atuh Beach, an absolute stunning place tho very tricky to get there. And the 3rd one is Broken Beach and Angel Bilabong, they are literally next to each other.
And last but not least is Scotland, a place I can’t wait to revisit in a few months. Loved the fact that it is probably the only place left in the UK where wild camping is still permitted. We spent a week there and it was one of the best experiences we had this year, mainly because it was super intense. Sunset and sunrise are both at ridiculous hours during summer time so my recommendation is to hire a camper if you can. It is way more convenient then to pay for accommodation, only to sleep there for 3h per night. My favourite location is definitely The Old Man of Storr, such unique rock formation with some of the best views on Isle of Skye. Again, best time to visit is always at sunrise, there’s hardly anyone around comparing to mid day when it feels like you’re at Disneyland. An experience I will never forget is the trip to Loch Coruisk. We booked a one way ticket to Loch Coruisk then we hiked for a few hours to get to the summit, got bitten by a million midges and hiked back to our cars through the night for about 12km.
As I mentioned before, your progression as a photographer has been remarkable. How did you achieve your current style and what are the three most valuable tips that you can share with us in order to improve our photography?
Style, hmm! Well, this is where you have a lot of work to do, and I personally don’t think I’ve perfected my style yet, but I’m working on it all the time. During the last few years I constantly changed my style, I had to try different things to see what I like the most. One thing I struggled was consistency in my edits, I was a bit all over the place with my colours and I always felt like something is missing. I think the best way to achieve your style is to be you, as cliche as this may
sound, but it’s the truth. It’s good to get inspired by other people’s work but add your own spin. Colour consistency is the most important ingredient when you want to create your style and the way to get there is by trial and error, don’t be afraid to play with the sliders in Lightroom or Photoshop. If I can recommend something is watch Sean Tucker’s video on YouTube titled “How to edit colour and create your own style” he does an amazing job explaining the whole thing. And last but not least, is patience. Be patient, everything comes with time! I know we all want things to happen yesterday, but don’t forget that behind any successful photographer there are many years in the making that nobody knows about.
What is your approach when it comes to planning your trip and finding your ideal locations?
When you love travelling and photography, your list never ends so a good way to start planning is to prioritise. Make a list of locations you want to see and scout the internet to see when is the best time to visit each location, taking in consideration seasonality, transportation cost, and weather conditions.
Here are my tips when comes to finding the best flight deals for example. I use Skyscanner to find a baseline price, then I hop on google.com/flights/explore as sometimes you get deals that don’t show up on Sky Scanner or Kayak or whatever search engine you are using. And the last step, if you go on Wikipedia you can find any budget airline that operates on any airport. So then you go on the airline’s website and see if they have flights departing from any airport near you.
I know, it’s a tedious process, but sometimes you’ll find amazing deals and save a lot of money. If you are flexible it’s also a good idea to look up some of the mistake deals websites like theflightdeal.com or secretflying.com.
When comes to photography I use Instagram’s search function. It’s good to see how each location looks throughout the year. And I use The Photographers Ephemeris to analyse the sun’s position at certain times so that way I can plan and know if a location its better to shoot at sunrise or at sunset. Finding local photographers and asking for advice it is also ideal. Sometimes they might be around and willing to meet and go out and shoot, it’s always good to network and make new friends, but be smart about it and don’t spam people.
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?
Again, a hard choice as every photo is different and represents something different for me but If I was to choose one it will probably be the one I took at Durdle Door a few years back when I started diving into Landscape Photography.
Now, it might not be my best photo and it’s definitely not in line with my style at the moment but I love it. I was at the beginnings of my Landscape Photography and Durdle Door was the first location I photographed in the UK. So not only that I was pleased with the result but it also was my first ever print. Was the first time I felt like I have achieved something with my photography.
What are the three most valuable personal lessons you have learned traveling?
Never give up on your passion and your dreams, dare to experience new things and do what you love, no matter how hard that is. Be you and don’t let others dictate what you should do in life just because they think that’s normal.
Surround yourself with people that share the same interests and passion. I do believe in the quote “you are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with”.
"Give back to the community. There is always someone that needs a bit of help in one form or another and I feel good when someone asks for it and I’m able to help."
Please now imagine for a sec that you have a super power! You can go back in time! What moment would you like to re-experience again?
Though there are probably many moments that I’d like to re-experience, one that comes to mind is a simple one. We spent 3 days at Le Pirate Beach Club on Nusa Ceningan, and it was one of the very few moments when I felt free. Staying in that small beach hut with just a bed and a hammock in front of it, I realised that material things don’t always make me happy but experiences do. Chilling by that small pool or having a beer at the bar, chatting with other travellers from around the world and sharing ideas and travel tips, learning about other cultures, that’s something I will always vividly remember.
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
There are many photographers that I admire and follow on Instagram and it’s hard to say which one inspires me the most. A few ones stuck in my head ever since I started doing landscape photography and joined Instagram, are Gunnar Freyr (@icelandinc_explorer), Donal Boyd (@donalboyd) and Hannes Becker (@hannes_becker). They are all super talented photographers.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
I have a trip to France coming up next month, in August. I am also debating between a week in Iceland in September or a road trip around Europe (mainly Germany, Austria, Switzerland), and hopefully Scotland and Slovenia in the fall season. I am also very excited to shoot the fall season in the Lake District.
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
Love more, care less, and do You!
