Thomas and Daphne
@unoeilsurlemonde
Visual creators based in Belgium
Even on holidays with my parents when I was little I loved leaving by myself to explore, discover or go fishing. For hours I was discovering hidden caves and water streams armed with my kiddle. I never lost this adventurous spirit, but over the years it got covered by the daily grind.
Then, when I was 16, a terrible accidental fire during an evening with friends changed my life. My face, my hands and my torso… I was burnt on several parts of my body. I have been in a coma for one month and had to undergo various surgeries among which a transplant in my chest. Little by little I had to learn to live again. In my bed in the hospital I promised myself that, if I got out of there, I would enjoy life and every little instant of happiness that it would offer me. The physical scars are hardly visible now, but I will never forget the dreadful fire that has made me who I am today.
"What happened has changed my perception for the good, and travel was entirely part of this new philosophy."
"At the age of 18, I met Daphné. A simple story that started out of nowhere and goes on still today, ten years later."
Before photography, it’s travel itself that has always attracted us – especially me. In the beginning Daphné was afraid of traveling; I had to take her hand, guide and convince her until now travel is integrated in our everyday life and she is as adventurous as I am. Everything started with a trip to “paradise” in an all-inclusive hotel in Turkey. Nevertheless, we hated laying down on our deck chair aside of the swimming pool for hours. We were pretty young and full of energy so being around the hotel bored us quickly. We decided to leave the hotel and discover the country on our own. The first day we visited ruines, and we never really went back to the hotel other than to sleep.
"Every day we would go out exploring something different. It was the start of our travel mindset."
"Soon I realized that our moments should be captured and preserved, and so I bought a simple photo camera."
With each trip though I found myself buying better gear and I decided to enroll in a photography course besides my job. My professor was very motivating and he congratulated me often with my work and my photographic eye. Delving further into photography, my main obstacle has become the other people, so to say. Travel and photography have become mundane; everyone travels easily to their preferred destinations, everyone can buy some kind of camera or phone and thus everyone with a bit of technique and talent can decide to enter the world of photography. The challenge is to be original, to stand out of the crowd, to shoot the clichés without being cliché and to find the remote and non-touristic places.
In addition I try to achieve a photo that is different from others, though I feel that this becomes more and more complicated. It is the job of a photographer to achieve a certain level of quality and originality in his or her work. I need to continuously evaluate my work with the aim of amelioration. Using my inspirations, I have to improve, modify and innovate. Photography is a constant change – a cinematic ambiance and a little moody is what I currently like to add to my photos.
"Furthermore, innovation is another crucial point of what I try to reach as artist."
This is an exciting side of art that no artist should overlook. What I do when I’m working in both music and photography is to always try to clear away the “clutter” I have inherited from traditional sources or from other people’s work, and focus on my own process instead – even if I’m finding myself committing a theoretical mistake or if I’m going beyond unknown boundaries. I believe that giving your own imprint in whatever you do as an artist, making you different from everyone else, is the hardest but still the most satisfying part of our job.
"I appreciate the dark and moody touch in a photo because I think that this allows the viewer to be attracted by the mystery that is conveyed with the photograph."
"The shots that provoke the strongest emotions always result to be our favorites and up to today it is one from the northern lights."
We were alone and lost facing this beautiful natural phenomenon. We were in the middle of a fjord when suddenly it exploded above our heads, it was a magic moment forever engraved in our memories. During each travel, the world has offered us incredible moments. However our trip to Tromso, Norway, blew us away. There we encountered the wild reindeers, the song of the whales and the whales themselves, the snowy fjords, the friendliness of the Norwegians… Each day spent in this village allowed us to realize a dream, and especially seeing the spectacle of the northern lights is a memory full of emotion still today even just by hearing its name. Chasing the northern lights is very exciting. You never know if you are going to see them or not, if besides the right weather circumstances, luck is on your side. One evening we had been searching and waiting for hours and it was almost the end of the time period we could possibly see the lights.
"We were about to head back when above us a magical green dance was starting. It was like if we were in a dream or a movie and that what we were seeing wasn’t truly happening. Since this magical trip, we feel particularly attracted to the nordic countries."
What I love about photography, is the moment that I capture the moment. The click on my device which allows me to mark a memory forever. I also really enjoy importing and organizing the photos on my computer in order to observe my work of the day. Speaking about travel specifically, both Daphné and me like this moment that we start to have habits during our trip. Which is mostly after some days, when we know the place we are at and we have acclimatized ourselves. On the contrary, what we particularly hate are the flights, even after so many it is still a source of stress and anxiety.
We all have things we don’t like when traveling, or things that are not particularly affecting us in any way but still annoy us and cause frustration. And then we have these things that should generate happiness within us, but it doesn’t because we are too worried or occupied by things that actually don’t matter or that drains our positive energy.
"By a hard lesson, I learned to focus on the right things to maintain my happiness. To pick up the good vibes, to look at the bright sight."
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