Storytellers Mission: Wander

By February 11, 2016Missions, Storytellers

Every month we challenge our team of photographers from around the world with a mission. We assign a word or phrase and they show us their visual interpretation.

We were beyond excited to see what our team shared for this month’s  word – “Wander”. Enjoy the full gallery below. ADVENTURE AWAITS.

Wander: Elisa & Max

Wandering in Valensole, Provence.

Wander: Daisy Gilardini

“Late August for grizzly bears in Lake Clark National Park means food is in abundance. The bears know the salmon are returning to their spawning streams. Incoming or outgoing tides are the best time for fishing, and the bears wander along the beach and at the river delta in search of an easy meal.”

Wander: Elisabeth Brentano

“When I look at this photo of Yosemite National Park, it makes me want to spend the rest of my life wandering around this incredible landscape. Can you blame me?”

Wander: Kylie Turley

Esterillos, Costa Rica. PURA vida surf sessions till sundown.

Wander: Kyriakos Kaziras

Polar bear strolling along the Beaufort Sea, pending the arrival of the cold and the formation of sea ice. Alaska, USA.

Wander: Fabio Antenore

“The hike to the Seealpsee usually takes 60 minutes max. The conditions of up to 1 meters of fresh snow however, extended the journey by twice the time. At the top, we were standing in the middle of a snowstorm with gusts of wind of over 100km/h, which rendered our plan of cooking dinner on the gas stove before photographing the Milky Way impossible. We tried to capture two usable exposures in right moments and then decided to head home. It wasn’t the photographically most successful trip, but nevertheless, a beautiful and impressive tour that reminded us of the forces of nature.”

Wander: Bruno Calendini

“The rainy season in Kenya provides light and changing skies that I love. During a walk in the Lewa Downs reserve with a Maasai friend, we were surprised by a brief and violent storm. We sheltered a few minutes, and, from the top of a hill overlooking the valley, we watched it wander away.”

Wander: Michael Teague

“While wandering the streets of San Francisco I found this guy. As he passed me I saw this photo opportunity and ran with it; literally! I walked behind him for a few moments till I finally had the nerve to step up beside him. At this point, he let me know it wasn’t okay to snap his photo. Now, I’m typically not a rude individual, but on this day I had to get this at all costs; and I did. After the fact, I kindly offered him a few bucks that he declined. So this is my interpretation of a wanderer finding the wanderer…”

Wander: Alessandra Meniconzi

“The Kyrgyz horsemen wander over their high mountain pastures below the stunning peak of Muztagh Ata “Ice-Mountain-Father”, right beside the old Silk Road.

The Silk Road, the world’s most prestigious trade route, is a misnomer, for it was actually many roads. Routes which connect the East with the West. A 4000 mile-long network of interconnected roads. What makes the Silk Road so fascinating is that it is connected to names such as conquerors Genghis Khan and  Tamerlane. But above all, to the myth of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who, having left Venice in 1271 towards the Far East, returned only 24 years later. Taken prisoner by the Genoans in 1298, he shared his cell with a narrative writer of romances of chivalry, Rustichello da Pisa,  whom he tells his adventures of people, cultures, costumes, religions and traditions. This is how the book The Travels of Marco Polo was created; the famous book that for centuries inspired fantasy and curiosity in the West.”

Wander: Joseph Roybal

“For me, and in my line of work, nothing excites me more than scouting a new location and getting off the grid. I will formulate a general plan on location ,and from there I follow light and weather and try to live by the motto a great buddy always says, ‘I wonder what is on the other side of that hill/ridge/mountain?’ In the end, it is this spirit to wander that gets us off the beaten path and into the great unknown.”

Wander: Rachid Dahnoun

“Standing at a crossroads offers many possibilities.  There is no better feeling than gazing at the horizon with the freedom to wander wherever you please.”

Wander: Jennifer Moher

Wander: Kristian Bogner

Entering the Unknown

“Here is one of my shots on a recent expedition to summit Vinson Massif, the highest mountain in Antarctica.  We had several days of snow at mid-camp, and the skies opened up the morning of our headwall climb day up to high camp.  We had to move everywhere roped together with our teammates because of crevice dangers, and we used my Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 and 75 AW II bags to access cameras easily on the move and keep my cameras warm with hand warmers inside the bags.”

Wander: Glenn Fajota

“Wander = to travel without a destination in mind. To free your mind.”

Wander: Hunter McRae

“For much of the year, I photograph weddings, portraits and magazine features. My down time in the off-season is spent wandering, gathering images and inspiration from the places I see and people I meet. That inspiration carries over into my work the rest of the year and keeps me passionate about what I do. It’s usually when I wander off the beaten path that I find my favorite images, like this moment in Uganda.”

Wander: Shawn Talbot

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; There is a rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more…” – Lord Byron

Wander: Dave Cheung

“Our frequent travels for work and play allow us to see some amazing places.  If we’ve been commissioned to shoot in a location we don’t know, we always make an effort to drive around and explore the area to get a grip on the light and *feel* of the place.  On this family shoot though, we had to find refuge from strong winds of the beach. Thankfully, we literally wandered into this gorgeous forest, which was the perfect place to shoot this tight-night family as they explored it with us.”

Wander: Craig Pulsifer

“An old woman and dog wander toward a Quechuan village in a mountain pass of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. For those not acclimatized to altitudes between 14,000-25,000 feet above sea level, the Andes mountains offers a literally breathtaking experience. On this assignment, I learned the importance of working with two camera bag systems: 1) a Lowepro roller bag to transport my entire load of gear to location; 2) smaller sport bags to haul a light day’s worth of essential gear around to reduce exertion in the thin air – even still, the experience often left me gasping.”

Wander: Viktoria Haack

“To ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray: to wander over the earth.”

Wander: Sarah Dawson

“As a wedding photographer, even while drifting around the country on vacation, my eye catches unsuspecting couples. This rare and stunning moment still moves me. I caught up with the couple later and confessed my intrusion and gave them this as a remembrance of their time on Angels Summit in Zion National Park.”

Wander: Florian Wagner

“Climbing legend Stefan Glowacz shares his experiences in the Dolomites with nature enthusiasts. The late evening sun dresses up the icy cold, piercing wind the wanderers were exposed to.”

Wander: Erwan Balança

“This image was made in Alaska during a one-month stay. The weather had been bad all day with lots of rain and wind. I was watching the river for several days, but the salmon were slow to arrive, so the bears were rare. But I wanted to stay on site because the scenery is gorgeous, and it inspired me for a beautiful image of atmosphere … the few footprints that I had seen left me hope for a meeting. It was late in the day when I saw this bear. He was very far, and without my binoculars, I would not have seen him. He was walking slowly, then made a little run and stopped. He was probably looking for salmon, but given the few fish, he had little chance to find a meal. I could approach him at about fifty meters, moving up slowly and making regular stops in order not to frighten him. Finally it is the bear that came to me; he was a curious animal and approached a few meters before returning to his run.”

Wander: Gilles Reboisson

“Suspended 600 meters above the ground, in vertical wandering, under a beautiful autumn sunshine in the Vercors.”

Wander: Hugo Pedel

“Wander”…. is all about speed!”

Wander: Andreas Kieling

“A few years ago I wandered along the old political German border with my dog Cleo: 1,430 km in seven weeks. It was probably the most emotional tour that I have ever done in my life. As a 16-year-old, I was shot fleeing from East Germany. Shortly before our destination, the Baltic Sea, a wild rhea attacked Cleo.  Rheas  have been living in Germany for a few years. Originally these aggressive ratites lived in South America.”

Wander: Thilo Brunner

“This shot was created for an editorial special for Focus magazine. We just had a few hours for the cover and the substance of the whole story. We produced the story twice, because the Dolomites are so beautiful, you can´t get enough and stop triggering.”

Wander: Alastair Lee

“I think in photography, particularly landscape and nature, it’s all about wandering, not only to get off the beaten track but by keeping your mind open to what you may find. It’s good to have certain objectives as a starting point, but it’s crucial to adapt to the conditions and surroundings. This is one of my favourite images I’ve ever captured, found whilst wandering about on the local moors. A loose blade of grass had become trapped on a rooted blade and the wind caused this circular pattern to be created in the grains of grit on the flat surface of a drying peat bog.”

Wander: Sim Mainey

“Professional Wanderer isn’t on my business card, but it probably should be. The reason I started riding was to explore; to find out where a trail leads and to see places I hadn’t seen before. Bikes made all this possible. The reason I started taking a camera along was to show other people what I’d found; to maybe inspire them to wander too. I cut my teeth mountain biking in Cumbria, specifically the Ennerdale Valley, shown here. Despite knowing it well, this was the first time I’d ridden this particular trail. A sense of adventure, a curious nature and the constant need to wander means there are always more trails to be ridden and experiences to be shared.”

Wander: Lukasz Warzecha

“Early last year, I was wandering through a remote part of Peru with the only goal to capture some great images and the atmosphere of the place. Cordillera HuayHuash is a very rarely visited part of the country, mainly because of high altitude and poor access, but it was everything I could ever wish for. I think ‘wandering’ is a very important part of the creative process. We need to allow ourselves to be in the moment, away from distractions, in order to concentrate entirely on our creative voice. What could be better for this purpose than being in a beautiful and remote part of the globe with a camera in your hands?”

Wander: Frank Lopez

“Keep wandering until you’re the only tracks in sight. To me, wandering allows my creativity to flow freely; being influenced by places I’ve never seen and experiencing things only imagined in the wildest of dreams. It’s ironic that even though you may get lost in the adventure while wandering, you may actually find your purpose in life.”

Wander: Luke Pearsall

Wander: Ryan Struck

“This is a photo from a camping trip in Vermont I took last summer. We headed north, and our only objective was to explore and see what we could see. I heard rumors of a beautiful swimming hole and quickly went to researching on Instagram and Google. We pulled up just as the sun was disappearing, but that didn’t stop us from jumping in and going for a crisp dip!”

Amanda Pollard

About Amanda Pollard

Amanda Pollard is the WW Communications Manager for Lowepro. She's a drone enthusiast, who not only loves aerial photography but FPV as well. You can usually find her lurking around Lowepro's social media, writing blogs, and trying to find ways to give bags away. You can reach Amanda at apollard@daymen.com

One Comment

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