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I did a gap year in Australia after finishing high school and worked and traveled through the country for 8 months. Shortly before the trip, I bought my first entry-level camera, an old Canon EOS 700D with a cheap lens. I was deeply into long exposures and night photography during that time and I exactly remember that moment standing in the Pinnacle Desert in Western Australia at 1 am thinking, this is it! This is what I want to do
And that is basically what I did during my following studies, where I had 2 months off each year and was able to travel to a lot of different countries during the semester break. The decision on becoming a full-time freelancer was made in December 2019. Back then, I was torn between starting at a travel startup in Berlin or doing freelancing. I had a job interview at the company and it went really well, but they would not give me as much freedom in my own workflow as I would have expected.
The winning shot was taken at King Kong Hill – the pretty famous viewpoint with an outlook on Mount Bromo in Java, Indonesia. I remember that moment to be funny, as it turned out that I forgot my last pair of shoes in the hostel a day before and there was a 5-hour bus ride between me and them. I was ready to hike up the sandy hill in flip-flops when a guy who I met on the bus offered me to borrow his shoes, which came in pretty handy cause we had to start the hike in pitch-black darkness.
While trying to take my photos and find a composition, I learned that securing a spot at a popular location definitely is key when relying on a tripod and getting the angle you would like to shoot. As there were a lot of people on that hill I could barely move, but after some scrambling up the hill, I found a spot that came close to what I was looking for.
I tried to capture the magnitude of the scene, which looked straight out of Jurassic Park. I also decided to include a little bit of the yellow grass in the foreground to make it clear that this was not shot with a drone and to give a better feeling of depth. When editing the photo, I tried to go for a soft and glowy look to add a dreamy feeling. I also enhanced the smoke coming out of the volcano, because that was one of the main parts of the shot that made it feel alive and tell a story.
For me, photography is about catching a feeling. It’s about storytelling. It’s about creating an emotional state inside the observer’s mind stronger than words could ever achieve. And that’s what continues to drive me in my photography.
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Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Chris first honed his craft as a concert photographer in Toronto before his love for travel led him to explore over 30 countries. Now based in Miami, he focuses on capturing the essence of places through intentional composition, immersive color, and a deep connection to his surroundings, creating images that transport viewers into the moment.
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