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The fascinating perspective
of an artist - Special 200k
Nomadict Art Gallery
At Nomadict we have a vision, a passion, and that is to share the invaluable stories of landscape photographers and adventurers. The many photographers and travelers we have met since the foundation of Nomadict in 2017, have been a great source of inspiration for us to create our first printed magazine and today we celebrate a unique moment with six of them.
Below you will find 6 special prints captured by 6 photographers we have felt truly inspired by during the past years. Each of the prints presented, by the way, is part of Nomadict’s 200k GIVEAWAY. We would like to invite you to participate and be part of this special moment as well!
We will now introduce you to the photographers and the 6 prints carefully selected for the GIVEAWAY. Get ready to be inspired by their unique pieces of art as we discover their artistic perspective!
I took this image on our trip to the Faroe Islands in August 2020. This destination was on my bucket list for a long time, but honestly, I never thought about spending there almost three weeks. The Faroe Islands was one of the few destinations we could travel to during the pandemic, so only at the last minute, we decided to use all our holidays and just take it slowly. And I am so glad we did! Faroe Island may seem small on the map, but they are so raw, unspoiled and indescribably beautiful, that you really don’t know in which direction to look.
We had plenty of time to visit almost every corner of the Islands and came back to the same places multiple times to explore them from different perspectives. Nevertheless, I must admit that I usually don’t travel to take a specific photo. I travel for the experiences, they are much more valuable for me than photos. I just have my camera with me when those precious moments are coming along, and that is exactly what happened with this photo.
We were hiking the same route for the third time. We already knew it by heart, so we could just admire the moments with full attention. The clouds that day were hovering over the landscapes quite low. At some point, they started to move upwards, slowly, and some small sun rays were breaking through. What caught my eyes here were those impressive layers of the mountain on the opposite island. I took my telelens and was zooming in and out for a bit to try to find the best composition. Then suddenly, that little boat appeared from nowhere, illustrating perfectly the true scale of the place.
"That happens to be my favorite type of composition; an isolated little object with a massive nature element in the background."
The camera is the tool to capture the scene, but it doesn’t know what you feel at that moment or what you want to convey with the photo. It’s the eye that sees, the heart that feels and the brain that interprets and creates the final image. It is that image that I try to reproduce when editing my photos.
I feel that I have a strong eye for color and a strong sense of esthetics. I wanted to leave it as natural as possible and simply bring out a bit more all the good of the photo. At the same time, I wanted to be consistent and stay true to my style which consists of a slightly dark, moody look and desaturated blue tones. Here, I added some contrast and clarity and brought up shadows to distinguish the layers even more. I desaturated the blue color of the water, so the green mountains would really pop. Then, I set up blue tones both in shadows and highlights. Finally, I added up some radial and graduated filters with lower exposure to bring more focus into the little boat.
If there’s one thing I learned from this photo, it is that there is no point in chasing that perfect photo. A photo that you’ve created in your mind long before your trip. Having huge expectations beforehand would often lead to disappointment and therefore, decreasing the joy you can potentially obtain from the actual experience.
Often, it is better to enjoy the precious moments and contemplate what unfolds in front of your eyes in the very present. Only that, can be your perfect photo.
The photo was taken on the Black Sand Beach at Vik village in Iceland. We reached the place after a pretty heavy rain, but that didn’t affect our good mood – it was the first time we would step on a black sand beach!
After the rain, the weather changed quite fast. As dark as it had been before, as colorful it was during sunset. The sky was on set fire and we didn’t expect to witness that at all in Iceland. It seemed too good to be true; experiencing a fiery sunset in the land of Ice and Fire, in winter. The light was so bright that the horizon was almost vanishing. Without thinking, I ran to the spot on the beach from where I wanted to take the picture. I am a sunset addict, so I felt pretty lucky!
"The mood played the most important role in this scene, and of course the people walking on the beach as they create perspective and help convey the scale of the scenery."
Then, if you focus a bit more on the shapes of the elements within the photo, you might notice that there are two triangles, almost similar. One is made of the mountain on the back and the other one of the ocean. It was the first thing that caught my eye when I was shooting.
In cases like this one, where nature and mood is on your side, there isn’t much to change or add in the post-processing. The scenery was totally on fire and I simply added a little bit of contrast in order to increase the difference between the light and the dark (almost my whole feed is based on this “contrast”).
I really believe in balance, and that it can be created even if you think it can’t be found. Balance is the darkness against the light, the fiery sunset in an icy country in winter, the natural shapes and structures contrasting against each other… Balance is a need. In nature, and within ourselves. And photography for me is a beautiful way to capture and showcase the balance we can find in nature, while maintaining a healthy balance in my own life.
It was in the midst of December that this photo was taken. I had been observing the weather forecast closely to find a perfect moment to shoot in ULM, above the mountain. Days without wind and it being not too cold in December are rare in Bretagne, but this day, I was lucky.
I woke up really early to be there before sunrise. I had marked the spot on Google Maps already as I had never been to this exact spot. I arrived without any issues and got even luckier: the meanders were filled with water, which allowed me to get the reflection of the beautiful monastery on the water.
"Mont Saint Michel is one of the most visited monuments in France and once you visit it yourself, you will understand why."
It’s simply majestic, from whichever angle you are looking at it. For this photo, I chose a composition in which I tried to align the island with the meanders and have it clearly reflected on the water. A little less planned, the sheep joined the photo as well and the light was soft and slightly orange which gave it a dreamy and magical touch. Everything seemed to come perfectly together so I could take a good shot!
I enjoyed bringing out these beautiful colors when editing. Though when I edit my photos, I always start first with cropping them into a format for social media since that is where I post most of my photos. Then, I straighten if necessary and correct the white balance, after which comes the most interesting part, the color editing!
I have long looked for a style that suits me and I finally believe I have found it (or at least come closer to it). I love the warm, slightly softened and smooth colors which I achieved by lowering the contrast while removing some clarity and desaturated greens. In between the management of curves and colors, I spend quite some time looking for the rendering I want, so for me it is the most important step during my treatment! For my edits and photography in general, I take a lot of inspiration from @shortstache, one of my favorite artists and Instagram accounts to follow!
With this photo, I was able to show myself and others that even if a photo is taken on the same spot, it will always be different. The weather conditions, the artistic eye of the photographer, and the vibe attached, differs from person to person, from day to day.
The photo also reminded me – again – of the beauty of my home country, its rich culture and its photogenicity. Come over and visit France!
We were at Kimolos Island, a beautiful location at the Cyclades. With the seven of us we were filming a little documentary about the island and had planned our trip around that aim.
Across Kimolos, there is this small island called Polyaigos where you can only get to by small boats. To our surprise and disappointment, the cost of taking the boat was really high and out of our production budget, and so we thought we weren’t going to get to Polyaigos.
Suddenly, a local approached us. He told us he had heard our conversation and offered to take us to Polyaigos – a moment of pure happiness! The next morning we began our journey before sunrise. Once we got there, two of us would dive to explore the underwater treasures of the location while I would be flying the drone to discover it from above.
"Our time was limited and we had to ensure that we obtained both aerial and underwater footage."
As I was flying, I was fascinated by the diversity of blue tones and I wanted to capture a clean and abstract shot with the two divers in the frame. That’s probably coming from my architecture background. Less is more, my professors used to say. At the moment I pressed the shutter and heard it’s satisfying click sound, I screamed at the rest of the crew on the boat that this was one of my favorite drone shots so far!
I love this shot because of its simplicity: Two divers being one subject and two different tones of blue dividing one world. This is why I called it “Between Two Worlds” – the first thought that came to my mind when I saw this photo on the screen of my phone. For me, this photo represents the current situation we are living globally and life in general. There’s a transition from light to dark, and even though the divers have entered the darkness, they keep moving. They continue their journey with hope and determination to find the light again – because things will get better.
"I wanted to create an edit that would feel real so that it could last in time."
Especially, I wanted to create a clear difference between dark and light tones of blue, although it was pretty clear from the beginning. I desaturated a little bit of the blues and added contrast locally to make certain details pop. These are the general steps that I took for this edit:
1) Basic adjustments to ensure the exposure is on the right level
2) HSL adjustments in the blue tones to get them where I want
3) Sharpness & Denoise + Reduced Clarity to create a more dreamy look
4) Adjustment brush to make some details pop
The addition of the reefs help make this shot even more photogenic – I wanted these reefs to be prominent as it adds another dimension to the shot. Polyaigos has beautiful clear waters, which is why we can easily see the reefs that lay about 20-30 meters underneath the surface of the sea. This in combination with the different tones of blue creates beautiful scenery which is rare on many other islands.
Regardless of the edit, a photo is a memory frozen in time that will always live with the creator. I have this photo printed and hanging on my wall. “Between Two Worlds” is a photo that reminds me to always look at the bright side of life and to keep going, even when I am finding myself in darkness.
The photo also reminds me of this kind man that offered to take us from Kimolos to Polyaigos without asking anything in return. That is Greek hospitality!
I love to wake up really early and go out when it’s still night. I love to observe and appreciate the world waking up. And I took this photo on one of these usual early morning walks in a forest, just a few kilometers away from my home.
Especially after a long week of work, most of the time in a relatively chaotic and noisy environment, being out there alone in a territory untouched by humans and surrounded by those almost unrealistic soft sounds, helps me to detach myself for a moment. Take distance, mentally and physically, from that crazy daily race we have in our life, lower the heart rate, and get my creativity restored and my mind fully focused on what’s my artistic goal.
That day, I was listening to a song by David Gilmour, Murder:
“What was it brought you out, here in the dark?
Was it your only way of making your mark?
Did you get rid of all the voices in your head?
Do you now miss them and the things that they said?”
It totally suited my mental status of that moment as my mind was being bombarded by deep and hard-to-reply questions about my life and my weird way to react in front of relationship issues with other people. So, the phrase “Did you get rid of all the voices in your head?” touched me and became the caption of the photo. I’m also a big Pink Floyd fan. I listen to their songs every day so it happens quite often that I steal part of their amazing lyrics and use that as a caption for my photos.
As I’m mainly a musician, there’s always a parallel thought going on in my mind when I’m taking a photo. I always try to find a sonic combination to what I’m seeing and if I can’t find one then I’ll eventually make it by myself in the studio.
At the moment of the photo, I was sitting on the bank of the river, my microphone in place ready for some field recordings. I was enjoying the moment drinking a cup of coffee and then that scene appeared in front of my eyes. The simplicity of the scene was counterbalancing my tortuous feelings, driving me into a comfortable and pleasant mental status.
Once I arrived back in the studio, I didn’t need to tweak too much during the editing process. A few steps such as darkening the sky to give my usual dark bluish tone and enhancing the moonlight and texture were the main adjustments I made. Sometimes you don’t want to overdo it on the post-processing side, especially when you have a simple shot like this one.
"It’s simplicity that we sometimes really need to find peace. That is exactly what this photo taught me and helped me remember."
Sometimes, when you feel suffocated by chaotic and worrying thoughts, taking a step back, focusing on simple things and giving some air to your brain really helps to get a clear and overall vision of what’s going on in that moment. It’s from this point that you can then take the best choices and so to get out of that stalemate situation.
I’ve always loved Simplicity and art deco style photography so when driving in Norway I was always hunting for this style of photos. One day, we drove through a tunnel and on the other side there was this big lake with a huge mountain behind it. On the lake I saw this lonely boat floating on the calm water, and immediately I knew that this was my opportunity to take the picture I was hunting for.
It was the simplicity that called my attention. There was only this one boat. First I tried to capture it together with the mountain behind, but it was already too much in my opinion. Then, I flew my drone up in the air, above the boat, so you could see nothing more but the boat floating in the water.
"I had to take quite some photos until I found the right composition."
Finding the right angle with a camera or drone for pictures like this is still challenging for me so I can say this was a great exercise that left me with a satisfied feeling. At the end, this shot (see print) and composition was the one I enjoyed most at the end of the session.
In my opinion, the photo was almost ready at the moment I pressed the shutter. It didn’t need much editing; I just brightened the boat because the weather was very cloudy and moody. It feels really good to get this kind of photo where you don’t have to do much post-processing. It’s like finding a rare Pokemon.
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