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Sebastian Mittermeier
@sebomittermeier
Landscape photographer based in Austria
Where does my passion for photography and travel come from? To be honest, I couldn’t really tie it down to a single thing. Already as a child I came into contact with photography. Back then, my father always had his SLR camera with him, which filled our photo albums with memories. But I would be lying now if I said that I had already developed a love for photography back then. My interest grew many years later when cameras were also a thing while skateboarding with my buddies and developed into a real passion when I spent a lot of time in nature as an adult. For me it’s just the amazing ability to capture a single moment or a beautiful landscape. The most fun is when I can leave the beaten path and discover new things. I have a similar approach when travelling. I am by far no globetrotter who has been to countless countries, but I would love to experience a lot of them.
"To me it makes perfect sense to keep a good balance between having your roots at home and feeling the urge to get out there and explore."
"Some things have changed for me in the last few years, both professionally and personally."
For example, I noticed that my love for skateboarding was receding more and more into the background and I lost a little bit of interest in it. The fun of it simply disappeared. When I slowly lost interest in skating, it felt kind of weird at first, as I had been doing it for over ten years. But at some point I could be in peace with the fact that it’s ok if old things make place for something new, and skateboarding made place for surfing.
"It's similar with photography. I'm actually an art director by profession and for a long time I thought that this was exactly what I wanted."
However, with time I also found out that the advertising world didn’t inspire me as much as I think it should for it to be my main job. I still love to create visuals, but I realized I’m more oriented towards craftsmanship. That’s exactly the reason why I feel so drawn to photography. Recently I got the opportunity at my job to change my career path and develop myself from being an art director towards being a graphic designer and photographer. I am grateful for the opportunity my boss gave me to get closer to what I truly like and I hope to be able to pursue my passion even more.
"Although I love graphic design, it's not enough for me to sit at a desk and push pixels around."
For me it is also important to get my hands dirty. It doesn’t matter if it’s working in the garden, building things out of wood or giving new life to old furniture together with my girlfriend. Even as a small boy I learned from my parents not to be afraid of trying things out. My dad in particular has practically taught himself everything he can do now and he always tried to pass on his knowledge to me and make me enthusiastic about handicraft work. I must admit that I often had other interests when I was young, but the older I get, the more I appreciate it.
I’m really glad that from my early childhood on I always had the feeling that you can trust in your own abilities, even if you don’t always know what you’re doing. And that it is quite normal that things go wrong sometimes. In the end you learn something from everything and grow. I have exactly this approach in photography. I want to get out of the office and get my hands dirty, creating myself, by going outdoors, trying things out and learn along the process.
"And if it doesn't work, then I am just as much enriched by the experience. Making mistakes is part of the process and it doesn't always have to be perfect the first time."
As I want to develop my photography more in a professional direction, I have recently launched my own website. The whole thing is a combination of portfolio and blog, as I don’t just want to show pictures, but also like to write about them. Having my own website is something I had in mind for a long time, but I still lacked a little bit of drive to actually make it happen. Also because I never really knew how I should do it; most of the time I was simply overwhelmed by the mass of templates and moods I had collected.
"But at the end of 2019 the time had finally come. I had just bought a new camera and the first real shooting. That was the trigger."
I made the first design in Adobe XD, this helped me to get over the fear of the white page and to immerse myself in the topic. Finding the right fonts and colors went relatively fast, because I already had a feeling for what I wanted. For the actual realization I had help from a web designer and when the rough framework was finished, the page had to be filled. There, I got a little stuck. I must honestly admit that I had no plan at all.
Where and how to start? I guess selecting the pictures, although it took a lot of time, was the easiest. I knew which pictures were more important to me and where I could write something interesting about. With the texts I first had to find my own writing style, but now that everything is done I feel comfortable with the final result. Also writing is easier for me now and it is really fun.
"For me, a well-written text brings a picture even more to life and let the viewer dive even deeper."
Of course the photo itself has to fascinate you and be interesting in any kind of way and I do not write texts for all pictures. Nevertheless, sometimes I feel it is necessary because the pictures themselves can’t cover the whole story. The pictures speak for themselves, but the text gives them a whole new depth. And for me that is exactly the added value that you get from it. More depth and therefore a more beautiful experience for those who see my work.
"When traveling, there’s a difference between seeing a country and experiencing it."
When I experience, I have stories to tell, both in written and visually. As I said in the beginning, I am definitely not a globetrotter and there are certainly more than enough people who have seen more of the world than I have. But that’s fine. I don’t think that’s what travel is all about. I don’t see any added value in traveling to as many countries as possible in a short time because you can’t really immerse yourself in a country that way, really get to know it.
"My only trip outside Europe so far was to Morocco, and it was quite a journey."
Full of ups and downs and so many impressions! We visited three very distinct places: Marrakech, Essaouira and Taghazout. We were only in Morocco for two weeks, but because of the great diversity of the three cities it felt more like three different trips. Despite the diversity, they still had one thing in common. The incredible nice people we met. Especially the conversation with Hassan, a fisherman from Essaouira, moved me.
"He just came up to us and took us into his world, explained to us how his everyday life looked like. And you could tell how much joy he found in talking to people."
The contrast between the first impression we got of him and the things behind it was the most inspiring thing for me. One simply doesn’t expect that a rather poor fisherman in Morocco speaks fluent German, has a high school diploma and is actually a trained banker. And although he has a damn hard job, he loves what he does. It confronts you with the unconscious biases you have, which I think is beautiful. And when you have this kind of mirror in front of you, then you automatically start to question your own life and all the little problems of your own modern world. It quickly makes you realize how well we are doing. And how little right we have to complain about anything.
"Being able to visualize such important and impactful moments and to freeze them with a single shot at the right time - that is what photography is all about for me."
I have noticed for myself that especially when people are involved, it gives me unbelievable fun and fulfillment to capture moods and moments. These kind of travels that are meaningful because of what you live and learn, the insights you get about yourself, the people you meet, the laughters you have with either friends or strangers… Adventures that you can live on forever. And through editing I can experience a trip over and over again. I always try to find a look that fits the picture and make the photo more experienceable. I want the viewer to have the feeling of having been there and at the same time to be motivated to go out and experience something. It is important to me not to blindly follow some trend while editing, but to really deal with the respective photo. I think that’s the only way that the pictures in which you have invested your own time really get the attention they deserve.
I have been inspired by many people, like Chris Burkard, Corey Rich, Cristina Mittermeier, Jimmy Chin or Paul Nicklen. Not to forget about Martin Ried and Elli Thor Magnusson. Regardless of all these photographers I don’t know personally, the people in my own environment have of course influenced me and always encouraged me in what I do. And what is even more important, I was also told when something was not that good. Of course, everybody is happy about praise, but if you want to learn something and get ahead I think constructive criticism is even better. I truly believe that it is better to be surrounded by people who tell you their honest opinion and do not spoil you. We all have blind spots, and we are subjective.
"We need others to become aware of certain things in order to become better - not just in photography, but above all as a human being."
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