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Sebastian Frechen
@sebastianfrechen
Landscape photographer based in Germany
My father gave me his old analog SLR when I was 10 years old (in 1993). At that time he also did landscape and travel photography and from him I learned to use the basics of photography such as aperture, exposure and composition. Developing the pictures was of course always the big moment of surprise. That’s what I really miss nowadays, it’s all replaced with modern technology. I entered the world of digital photography in the year 2000 and in 2005 I bought my first digital SLR camera.
That was also the time that I began to combine photography with traveling. I got to know my wife back then who shared this passion for traveling – that’s how my passion for landscape photography arose. We have travelled a lot ever since we met and wanted to explore many parts of the world before having children. Our two daughters obviously have had a huge impact on travel, but we never stopped doing it. We wanted to show our children the world right from the beginning. It is important to us to present the real situation in the respective countries. With that we mean to show the children how the people live, how the living conditions are and what challenges they face, but also to make them aware of what makes the people and culture so special, the historical importance of their traditions and of course of the country in general.
"Each country has its characteristics and uniqueness so there’s a lot to learn while traveling."
With the children we have so far concentrated on exploring countries within Europe, like Norway, Portugal, Scotland or Italy. Basically they have a lot of fun exploring new countries or landscapes. We try to keep our trips always quite informative for the children. In Madeira, for example, we have worked with them very intensively on the subject of whaling and how this has developed over the years. It is very important for us to communicate to our children why it is necessary to protect our nature/world. On many trips you see so many negative examples of how mass tourism simply destroys our nature – we want to sensitize our children to this.
"It is really nice to see that they are really interested in all these topics and also how they deal with them."
Photography is still a hobby and during the travels “only” a by-product. I work full-time in an IT company and have sport as my second big hobby. There was even a time that I didn’t want to put any effort into sharing photos on Instagram and so I took some time off. My goal is to present the results of my hobby to other enthusiastic travelers and to exchange ideas with like-minded people. I don’t want my hobby to feel like an obligation and I want to really enjoy my photos.
Our everyday life at home is very stressful. Be it at work, at school, at sports etc. And of course travelling can also be very stressful, so I want photography to be something that helps me relax and slow down during the trips. That is why I love to shoot especially at sunrise or sunset; to be able to enjoy the peace and quiet alone is a true luxury for us. I just love the silence in nature and to appreciate the sheer beauty with the family. Preferably in the mountains.
"I find it simply impressive how our mountains have been created and how different the landscapes look. Everything that has to do with mountains I find exciting."
In 2018 I did a snowshoe hike from the valley to the Tre Cime in the Dolomites. It was my first time there and I was simply overwhelmed by standing in front of this scenery after the strenuous hike. Another spot that took my breath away is the view from Reinebringen over the fjord of Reine. We had a spectacular sunset and will always remember this view!
Though when traveling with kids, the biggest challenge is certainly to be out and about at sunrise or sunset. Especially in summer you usually have to get out of bed very early and the kids don’t always like that. Of course we always try to find a good balance here and we like to travel with a camper van and tent so we can have our beds close to where we want to be admiring the sunrise. This allows us to experience nature from very close and on our own pace – Scotland and Norway were both very special trips and therefore we are already planning our next tour with the camper van.
"I believe that, as a family, we are very closely connected through our travels."
The aspect of concentrating on the essential and enjoying the little things in life – I think our travels have contributed a lot to this. At the end, travel is not just about seeing a place. It is about understanding a place, connecting with the people, and above all about taking distance from having and doing to focus on being instead. And on being together.
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