Welcome to the presentation of the inspiring stories behind the best photographers from this year’s Travel Photography Contest! These exceptional artists have not only captured breathtaking moments from around the globe but have also shared their unique journeys and creative visions with us. From vibrant cityscapes to tranquil landscapes, each winner brings a fresh perspective and a passion for storytelling through their lenses. Join us as we dive into the stories behind the stunning images and celebrate the incredible talent of our contest’s top photographers!
WITOLD ZIOMEK
My name is Witold Ziomek, I am 31 years old and I live in Poland. I became interested in photography at the age of 14 and with many years of breaks it is my main passion in life. So “for real” I have been photographing since 2017 when I spontaneously bought a camera (again) and went on my first trip into nature with a focus on photography. And so for the past 7 years I have been trying to spend every free moment on trips, where I usually sleep in the car, do thousands of kilometers and try to catch the light at sunrises and sunsets. Usually unsuccessfully. Lately, I've also been pretty good at spoiling rental cars.
For many years I had the pressure to go further, to be better and to turn passion into work. Some time ago, I dramatically changed my approach and decided that I'd rather keep my camera to create for passion, not money. Since then, I feel that I have grown dramatically - I got the wind in my wings, started to forgive myself more and just do it because I like it.
You can find me on instagram @witold_ziomek and on my website www.witoldziomek.com.
TURGAY UZER
I want to take you, my reader, to the early 1950s. I was born in Turkey, a country which lies between Asia and Europe and belongs to neither. Photography was all around me while I was growing up: My father was an enthusiastic photographer and as a result my early life is well documented. Those were the days of black and white film photography, of course. Photographs were taken on every occasion, special or not, collectively admired and then lovingly pasted into handsomely bound albums which became the centerpieces of any living room. In the early Sixties, my father's university sent him to Germany for further training, and his first big purchase was a classic Rolleiflex camera -- the kind which you hang around your neck and look down into the viewfinder. He taught me how to operate it -- from putting in the film to choosing the settings. I still have this camera and it works flawlessly, the only challenge being finding a lab to develop the photos these days!
Television (black and white, of course!) was another innovation in our lives. You see, the all-powerful government of the time had decided that television was a luxury that a poor country like Turkey could not afford. I watched German TV voraciously but never with more enthusiasm than when wildlife documentaries were on -- which was all the time. One series stood out among them: Zoologist Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael filmed these in East Africa. Their long film "Die Serengeti Darf Nicht Sterben" ( "The Serengeti Must Not Die") documented wildlife in this most magnificent region of Africa. In its color version, it played to full houses in movie theaters, and you can still find it on YouTube. It is a splendid and yet melancholy souvenir of a vanished word. Fast forward sixty years: Lion populations have collapsed, elephants are an endangered species now and rhinos have disappered. Little did I know that I'd be photographing what is left of this almost-lost world later in life -- but more about that later.
More visits to Africa followed, but these were all hurried and brief, squeezed into my teaching schedule in my university job. Gradually I began to realize what moved me, namely close-up portraits of animals. Wouldn't it be great, I thought, if I could capture the essence of an animal by the way it looked at me? This is a difficult genre of photography because it requires you to get close to the animals -- or if you can't, use lenses with long reach. And a great deal of time and patience. All of which I have now after my retirement!
Initially, I was not driven by any profound thoughts in my photography. I was simply recording memories: Time stood still in those images. Little did I know, however, that I was recording a disappearing world. Just as the world of the Grzimeks has vanished in the last sixty years, our world will vanish in the next sixty years, or even sooner since it is increasingly difficult to keep up with the destruction of wild places and wild life. What's here today may be gone tomorrow! Therefore I am mindful that I am recording memories of wild places and things with each frame. And who knows? Perhaps I can inspire others to conserve the little that is left.
You can see my photos in my Instagram feed, @upgrademeforfree or in my portfolio at www.turgayuzer.com.
ARTURO LOPEZ
My beginnings as a photographer date back to the 90s. I started travelling at first, but my interest in photography came little by little. Nowadays I don't know if I consider myself more of a traveller or a photographer, what I do know is that I can't travel without my camera.
Currently I only work on documentary photography. I travel the world immortalizing customs and peoples that will sonar or later end up disappearing. For me, traveling and photographing has become a way of life, light is always present, it is a way of looking and feeling differently.
For some time I wanted to be like the greats of photography, to have my name mixed with theirs. After many years of travelling, I only aspire to continue being as happy as I am now and enjoy as I do every time I walk through any city in this world with camera in hand.
You can find more about me on my Instagram @arturolopezillana or my website arturoillana.com.
Don't forget to take a look to our other open photo contests for more opportunities to showcase your skills and creativity. Explore them here: www.theartistgallery.art/open-contests.
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