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Roman Kägi
@kaegiroam
Best of the week 24 at #nomadict 2020
My name is Roman Kägi and I am a landscape and wildlife photographer based in Switzerland. During my childhood I spent my holidays in the Swiss mountains because we couldn’t really afford to travel far away. Meanwhile I was dreaming to travel the world, to see all the countries I heard and read about. So as soon as I earned my own money I tried to save as much as I could and when I had enough, I travelled. I always liked making videos and taking photos on my trips but it grew into a passion after I bought my first GoPro in 2014. It became stronger when I finally bought my first camera and drone in 2017 for my trip to Costa Rica. Since then photography became a tool for me to express how I see the world and capture my travels. I still have this dream to travel the world, but I also learned to appreciate my beautiful and diverse home country.
"I really consider myself lucky to live here in Switzerland and I try to explore it as much as I can."
"I remember the day when I took the winning shot very good."
In the morning I decided that I needed some fresh mountain air to clean my head. I packed my camera and tent and took the train to Grindelwald, Switzerland. That evening the sunset wasn’t really special so I tried to get some sleep to wake up early for sunrise, but it was a very cold night and I almost couldn’t close an eye. Despite, the morning was very lovely. I spent most of the sunrise down at the lake but then decided to go up the path a little bit more to get a different angle of the scenery. As soon as I realized that the good light was going to disappear soon, I decided to run up. Out of breath, I found the perfect spot, took out my drone and searched for the best composition. I remember exactly how I screamed “woohoo!” when I took the shot because it looked massive and I was very happy. After that I enjoyed my breakfast brought from home and the beautiful view.
WINNING PHOTOGRAPH
BEST OF THE WEEK 24
Leaving Switzerland and going abroad again, for many years my big dream was to travel to Africa. I think I have lived with this dream since I watched The Lion King; I wanted to see lions and all the other animals in their natural habitat. I’m especially obsessed with lions, I even have a tattoo. So during the last year of my studies I asked myself where I should travel after I would have finished and my heart clearly said: Africa. So I booked a plane ticket to Cape Town and travelled through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho.
My whole life I had a special love for animals (besides my obsession for lions). I guess I got that from my mother because she has the same. I love capturing wildlife because it’s a very challenging field of photography. It requires a lot of patience, knowledge of the animal behavior and you need to be at the right place at the right time. You don’t have control over the subject, so you have to make the best of what is available at that exact moment. Last but not least the adrenaline rush. It’s an incredible feeling when your eyes cross the ones of a predator or a big elephant and one short moment feels like an eternity. Elephants are one of my favorite subject to photograph because they are incredible and very interesting photogenic animals.
"I could observe them all day long. And to be honest, I guess they are the real kings of the savannah!"
"Africa has inspired me in many ways, not only for my photography. During this long trip through the south of Africa I had a lot of time to reflect about life and to think about my future."
After finishing my Bachelor’s degree in business law, the ‘right’ thing to do would be to enroll in a Master’s degree, graduate, and become a lawyer. But I realized that it was not what I wanted to do. During my travels I’ve got to know so many good people and have met many locals who welcomed me into their homes, showed me around and shared their culture with me. Their attitude to life is simply inspiring and helped me to see what’s important in life. I learned to appreciate the little things again and to be thankful for all I have. I’ve been to places where people don’t have fluent water or electricity. I’ve seen children playing football between power cables and burning waste. Things like these gave me a lot to think about.
"When you travel, your whole routine and all expectations of what you are supposed to be, do or have in certain situations or at certain points of your life are vanished."
The day I celebrated my birthday in the Namib Desert I woke up at 4 am, went out my tent and walked under a thousand stars and the milky way to the toilet. Then, we drove to the Dune 45 and enjoyed the sunrise. After the sun had risen, we ran down the dune and enjoyed a lovely breakfast between the dunes. Later that morning, we visited the Dead Vlei and had a tour with a guy who lived in the desert for almost 40 years. He told us some awesome stories and how he survived in the desert. We ended that day with a little party with good Namibian beer and South African wine – again under the stars. These are the moments I am living for. They are providing me with so much more than any standardized routine or socially expected actions. And it may sound cheesy, but I had a very long conversation with an elderly woman in a retirement home where I did my civil service.
"She told me all the things she regrets in her life and gave me the simple advice to follow my heart and do what I enjoy doing. So that’s what I want to do and right now I am taking steps to get where I want."
"Photography is my meditation."
We live in a fast moving world and while photographing, I can fade out everything outside and concentrate only on the moment. My goal with my landscape photography is therefore that the viewer of my pictures forgets everything around him for a moment – even if it is only a short one – and can enjoy the present moment as well. My goal with my wildlife photography is to show the connection I shared with the subject and to transfer it into a visual connection between the viewer and the animal. I would also like to draw attention to the fact that many animals are suffering and threatened with extinction because of us humans, and how we can prevent this and protect the animals. They have as much right to live on this planet as we do.
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