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Nils Leonhardt
Life is a collection of moments. And a photographer is the agent who has the power to capture these situations. In the second he portrays the light the moment is already gone. The mechanism and indeed art of photography aims to interrupt the constant progress of change that is life in order to create long-lasting memories. It always involves subjective judgement about the situation at hand. I am simply an ordinary photographer who is in love with natural light.
Humanity has an unsatisfiable appetite for exploration. And we are able to create tools that take our inadequate bodies further away from the limits. Both cameras and vehicles are instruments that facilitate freedom. My passion for travelling away from the frantic chaos of the cities has enabled me to find a satisfying experience many people can only dream of.
Since I was young, freedom was something that I was pushed to embrace. As we build such a connected world, feeling free gets scarcer every day. I've been close to nature my whole life, but photography really assisted in appreciating things from a fresh perspective. It was learning not only to see but also to breathe, feel, smell and hear differently. Nature itself became a complete aesthetic experience for me thanks to being able to record life in the format of an image.
Doing landscape photography is a humble endeavour that made me look at the environment in a novel way. We all know that nature is massive. But capturing it in a way that even light gets invited inside the scene is a whole different experience. If I was asked to pick one single theme from nature, seascapes would be it. The massive force of the sea striking into the shores makes you feel literally like a mere grain of dust.
Waking up way before dawn has never been a problem for me, and that is quite fundamental for a nature-oriented photographer. Getting up at early hours makes me feel like being ahead of everyone else in the world. The whole process of sort of commuting between my bed and the ocean at times where pretty much everyone else is still sleeping is a powerful relation.
We are surrounded by chaos, but we can record it. And that is the true power of photography. We can record everything in ways that are simply impossible for our eyes. The aspect that moves me the most about shooting seascapes is that I can't predict what will happen in the end. I simply can't. It is beautiful how I can be in control of everything, but the actual photograph. I can be certain of where the sunlight will be coming from, I can measure light, I can frame my scene meticulously. I can even try to control my shivering body, but I can't control how the waves will swirl and crash in front of my camera, and that's what I love most about doing seascape photography.
Here I've selected some of those photos that have made me feel free. I wish I could share with the world the huge joys behind what many consider to be a sacrifice or a luxury. Nature shouldn’t be seen in that way. Beyond the adventurous theme of this selection of images, I’m taking the liberty here of using the power of photography to at least make one single human being more aware of our environment. Many campaigns are now showing us dead creatures and plastic flooding us, and trust me, it is happening. Finding pollution free seascapes is starting to be a problem. And photography is the best tool I have for making others aware of the beauty of our planet.
Every single image that you can see here has a story of its own. And I bet they look quite peaceful in your screens. What I really wish I could share with you is all the huge adrenaline rush I get every time that I'm in front of these cold waters. Photography pushes me into savouring seascapes in an unmatchable way. Photography enables us to remember and to build identity. Let's start taking photography less granted. My memories get more vivid every time I have the opportunity of revisiting these photographs. These are small pieces of my visual treasure; so please, enjoy!
