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Silvio Pfiffner
@silvio_pfiffner
Photographer based in Switzerland
My three greatest passions in life are music, photography, and videography. While writing my music has been part of my daily life since the age of 15, photography and videography are relatively new hobbies that I started only two years ago. Lately, I have been combining all of them. As a music, sports, and home economics teacher, I have been able to turn my hobbies into my profession, and all my three hobbies have something in common.
"When I look back to where I started compared to where I am now, all I can do is shake my head."
The most significant impact on my passion for music and, therefore, for photography/videography was the suicide of my best friend back when I was 15 years old. At that time, I was too young to know how to deal with something like that and whenever I felt like talking to someone, the words I used just weren’t enough to express what I really felt. So I turned to music to express those emotions for me. I was sure that there was the perfect melody to describe all the feelings I had. Over many years I tried to “hear” that melody to find closure with everything that happened. I don’t know if I ever succeeded in doing so, but it kept me from overthinking, and I was able to create something that helped me cope. And as it turned out later, it also seemed to help many other people too.
When I decided to release my music on Youtube, I was looking for images and videos that might support the songs’ atmosphere. In the first few videos, I just used pictures from the internet, but then I started using my own photos and videos. It wasn’t until 2019 that I started watching Photoshop tutorials on Youtube to learn more. This was also when I bought my camera and started shooting some portraits, but I also liked the idea of going out to shoot landscapes.
"During my hikes, I often found myself thinking of melodies or beats that I thought might sound cool, so I started to record voice memos so I wouldn't forget them."
When I came home from my hikes, I began to recreate those beats and played the melodies on my synthesizers until it started to sound into how I imagined it originally. This process is how a few songs came together that I associated with specific hikes, and with that came the idea of creating a short song to match every adventure. This year’s goal is to film short documentaries about my hikes and create accompanying soundtracks.
In 2009, I went to the Schilthorn, which is quite a famous place in Switzerland, and this was my first time in the Bernese Alps. The conditions were breathtaking, and I couldn’t stop filming the birds and all the mountain peaks that were just high enough to stick out of the clouds. All of a sudden, I got overwhelmed by the emotions I had suppressed for so long. I can’t tell why all those things came up; maybe it was just that metaphoric feeling/ thing of being above the clouds? I don’t know. After that inner emotional breakdown, I didn’t feel the need to go back to the mountains ever again.
Luckily my girlfriend encouraged me to get back out there. She took me to the Oeschinensee, and when I came back home and started editing my photos, I got quite annoyed by the number of people that stepped into the frame. This was the moment I realized how much I loved the creative process of editing an image and I knew that I wanted to go to the mountains more often.
I really like to show the immense size of the mountains compared to humans in my pictures. Therefore, I always try to put a person somewhere in the frame to show the scale. For this to become possible, it’s a good thing to have a friend with you that just runs whenever you say “how cool would it be if someone was standing on that little rock 200 meters from here”. I also like it when the weather is “bad” since the clouds create amazing moods. Although it’s not fun to get wet down to your bones, in an artistic view, it’s one of the more amazing things that can happen. At least to me.
Before I go on a hike, I always check where the sun will be rising and setting and where the Milkyway will be seen since I am also into astrophotography. I’d say sunsets in the mountains are way easier to witness than sunrises. I think that every photographer’s dream is to capture a sunset or sunrise above the clouds. There is just something so heavenly about it that leaves you speechless over and over again. Whenever I go to the mountains, I always try to sleep there and have gotten pretty used to it. The only thing that might keep me awake is the cows doing their cow-stuff, like eating grass all night long or licking my tent.
One of the most surprising moments of my adventures that comes to mind is my third trip to the mountains, where I accidentally found a spot through Google maps that became my number one spot in Switzerland. The ascend was quite long and intense, but then came the moment when I first saw this place with my own eyes, and I was totally in awe.
It was quite windy and cold, and I became sick from the high altitude. I started to question my decision to camp in the mountains all alone, but after I started to feel better, I also was able to see the beauty of this place and realized how all of this was worth it in the end. Looking out at the view, knowing that you are only one of the very few people who know about this place felt quite special and motivated me to keep on searching for new spots that are barely known.
When you take a picture and look at it again on your computer, it always looks different from what you witnessed in the actual moment. To me, the editing process is about recreating that moment how YOU remembered it. There are so many ways to edit a picture and so many different styles and techniques that might work. It’s important to try everything out to find out what works best for you. While in the beginning, all of my good shots were “accidents” or over-edited, I have now become better at composing and editing my images. There’s still a lot of room for improvements, but I think I found my own style.
I love seeing how I have evolved, not only in my photography but also in my music! Music isn’t only therapeutic nowadays; it gives me many possibilities for experimenting, trying out new things, and just being creative. Hopefully, I will be able to release some new things sometime this year!
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