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Stephan Thom
@stephanthm
Photographer based in Germany
In this article, we learn about Stephan Thom, a lifestyle, adventure, and travel photographer based in Germany. Through his visual stories, we dive into his most valuable experiences and creative vision and learn how he embraces a harmonious equilibrium in photography and life!
The moment I am at a specific spot and the first rays of sunlight fall on my lens is very special for me. The continuous search for new places and meeting people have become a passion. Documenting special moments in my life and capturing them for posterity is just magical.
Before COVID 19, the focus of my photos was on people /lifestyle. During the pandemic, I discovered my homeland with completely new eyes and so turned my focus to landscape. We spent almost every weekend in nature, got up very early, and developed and continued every day. I learned to deal with different lighting moods and have been photographing with the following motto to this day:
"Try, fail, repeat!"
In almost every free minute I spend time further developing my image processing, planning my feed, looking for spots on Google Earth or Instagram, and taking photos. As for planning my feed, I now take things as they come and only plan my feed roughly, though I like to pay attention to uniform colors and match the moods.
I can’t really describe my image processing myself, as I’m still working on my style at the moment and am trying to develop it further. The main features are in the blue tones and beautiful contrasts. The clarity is often pulled into the negative area so that the images get a soft look. But what is now most important to me – I have not always followed it myself in the past – is that the mood of the pictures is emphasized by the processing and is not falsified. I think the biggest challenge in image editing is finding the balance between editing and over-editing. Here, too, I work completely according to the motto of try, fail, repeat. Only when you learn from mistakes do you get better.
In my opinion, a picture should tell a story that awakens a feeling of freedom and adventure. When selecting some photos to edit and share out of many that I took, I look for the picture which feels best for me and which most closely reflects the emotion and atmosphere of the moment. So when I get these messages, I feel I achieved what I am aiming at with my photography. There are, of course, different ways to attain the same goal, and I encounter new ones as my sources of inspiration change.
I recently returned from a trip to Ireland, so at the moment, I retrieve inspiration from rough landscapes, stormy weather, rugged coasts, and high waves in combination with fog or shy sunlight. I had not seen many pictures from Ireland on Instagram yet, and as I wanted to visit places that were often not showcased, I decided to go there. Through thorough research on the Internet, Google Earth, and contact with locals, I discovered places that were still mostly undiscovered. One of those places was Skellig Michael Island. We planned to visit it, though, unfortunately, the boat trip had already been canceled several times over the days before the day that we had planned to leave. At the moment of our departure, there was heavy rain and meter-high waves so we feared not being able to leave the dock. Fortunately, our boat started and reached the island after about two hours. The rough sea bothered us all, however, after the first steps on the island, the dizziness and nausea disappeared immediately.
EXPLORING
NATURE
The untouched beauty, thousands of birds, and black rocks combined with fog captivated me from the first second. No wonder that Star Wars has been filmed on this island. In total, I took almost 2000 pictures on the island and was intensely happy. The variety of the Irish landscapes surprised me, as well as the number of great pubs and the friendly nature of the people. You can also go kilometers far with great views without seeing one person.
It’s crazy what the world has to offer, and now I am able to see it, to be truly conscious of it. Sometimes I only see a fir tree and imagine how it might look in a wide variety of situations. However, a good tip for each photographer is sometimes to not take the matter too seriously and put the camera aside to enjoy the present moment in nature. Perhaps, this is one of the most valuable capabilities to have nowadays!
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