Sometimes he wishes to work in an office and be back home at 5 p.m. But you want to work National Geographic and the likes or not? Then that’s what it takes to be a landscape photographer. Don’t fear the elements, tough environments and exhausting schedules. True landscape photography is tough and exhausting. Otherwise you better photograph the Eiffel Tower or a beach scene with a shaken, not stirred martini in hand.
How to move around in the wilderness and wait for the light, that’s key to the landscape photography of Swiss Stefan Forster who eight years ago founded his own photography school to teach people the essentials of adventurous landscape photography.
Forster’s photographs are published by the world’s most renowned nature and landscape photography magazines, quite an achievement for a 28-year-old who just does what he loves doing. To capture his unique subjects/objects he’s hiking for weeks through world’s most isolated areas. Sometimes he uses a kayak to discover the coast of Greenland, the alligator swamps in the southern U.S. or the Rock Islands of Palau.
Forster just came back from a month in Southeast Asia. For some shots he absolutely wanted he needed a gas mask — how else you want to descent down from Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen volcano down to its sulfur lake. He recalls strange blue flames that occur when sulfur burns.
To get to the Anak Krakatau volcano he needed several days to gain the trust of a crew of fishermen who brought him to the island volcano for one night. His reward? Glowing lava. “A dream,” says Forster.
(via 20min)
