My photography: Composition, design and creative storytelling. A personal view with a particular focus and multifaceted perspectives on life.
I am not a Pro. I am just an enthusiast.
It's like I (Nicki) am having a long-distance love affair with photography, heated by times, cooling off when departing, but always present. Fact is it has never been the only love in my life (see background below and About us). But I am delighted to see how it is all coming together now. I am enthusiastic, we are on a mission.
My photography
I love composition and design - and, of course, storytelling and will use this as my base for photography to open hearts and create interest in exploring new horizons – physically or virtually. My photos support my writing and vice versa; both are rooted in the desire to create awareness for the beauty and weirdness of our (underwater) world, introducing species and their habitats as well as destinations, piquing interest in diving and the protection of fragile ecosystems, highlighting connections within these systems as well as to human behaviour. We form nature, yet we are part of it.
Composition, design and storytelling elsewhere
Travel, nature and wildlife photos are integrated into the English as well as the German blog (see entries listed at the bottom of the page). Underwater photography has its own special mission to grow into or me growing into it. I started to set up collections featuring photography on land as well as underwater to which I continuously add more photos:
Background: My love-affair with photography
Photography fascinated me already early on in life. I loved the old black and white photos of my parents and oldest brother and got my first camera when I was nine years old. I mainly remember running after butterflies and harassing my family. Together with my best teenage friend, I explored the possibilities to stage and present ourselves in a different light. However, we didn't even think of sharing the results with others! I joined the photography club in school and learnt how to use a SLR and how to develop pictures in a dark room. Pretty motivated I bought my first SLR camera, an Olympus - second-hand, of course. National geographic and other magazines as well as travel and nature documentaries on TV created a longing to see the world and bring stories home. Travelling and working abroad opened up new horizons and stay one of my inspirations until today, but was also separated me from my love affair for a while (more in My long way to underwater photography).
Only when I had finished my studies and worked at the NGO with the beautiful name WEED (World Economy, Ecology and Development e. V.) I started to take some classes at the Photo Centrum in Berlin Kreuzberg. It felt so good to get back in touch with that part of me and highly motivated I bought my first DSLR camera (Pentax KR1) and managed to integrate some photography into my following NGO work and simply enjoyed playing around and discovering the possibilities of digital photography for myself.
When I started diving in the tropics in 2011 it felt like a whole new universe or maybe another dimension revealed itself (My long way to underwater photography). I followed my heart and used photography to illustrate the stories I was sending home to let family and friends see what our lives looked like on land. To take them with us into our underwater realm I luckily could share Yoeri's beautiful clips.
My photography with focus on composition, design and creative storytelling is also embedded in other parts of the website.
Selection of blog entries
in English as well as in German featuring picture galleries from around the world.
Why we love Statia, Caribbean Netherlands
Some months ago, we started to collect small and big reasons to explain why we love Statia, Caribbean Netherlands, on social media. As slowly but surely these posts get buried deep down in all the newer postings, we decided to bring them back to life on our blog. Hence, we […]
Statia‘s sea turtles 1: Species, sex & individuals
Our first article about Statia’s sea turtles focuses on how to identify turtles, from species via sex to individuals, and how to support science and conservation regarding sea turtles around St. Eustatius (Caribbean Netherlands) and beyond: Turtles are among the favourites of many divers around the world. Before explaining how […]
Living together: Teachings of an Antillean Bullfinch
Observing animals and learning not only about but also from them and finally interacting with one another is what we love most in diving. However, our passion for nature doesn’t end underwater. For starters, we present you with our personal view on the teachings of a Lesser Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla […]
Go places, meet people, do things
What comes to your mind when you hear „go places, meet people, do things“? Possibly, this slogan used by PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) left diving students all over the world way more confused than inspired to continue their diving education. Or is it just our imagination running wild […]
Spring to action: Vom Bild zur Karte mit Affirmation
Da ich es liebe, Karten zu versenden – und zu erhalten – , schaue ich mich immer gerne nach guten alten Postkarten um. Doch viel zu oft finde ich leider nicht, was ich suche, und schreite daher selbst zur Tat. „Spring to action: Vom Bild zur Karte mit Affirmation“ zeigt eine Auswahl […]
Im Bann der Jahreszeiten: Raus, wenn du kannst
Raus, wenn du kannst, hat uns in doppelter Hinsicht durch diesen Winter getragen. Im Bann der Jahreszeiten diente es uns als vage Hoffnung auf eine wohligere Zukunft, doch wichtiger war sicher die nähere Umgebung zu erkunden, damit wir während dieses Wartens nicht durchgedreht sind. Jedenfalls noch nicht. Immer mal wieder […]
Richtig Stimmung unter dem Gefrierpunkt
Gerade liegen die Temperaturen zwar eindeutig über Null, doch der Sturm und Regen lässt unsere Stimmung in ungeahnte Tiefen sinken. Irgendwie schafft es das nasse Regenwetter sogar, dass sich alles kälter anfühlt als mit Eis und Schnee. Vor vier Wochen sah die Welt noch ganz anders aus. Da war richtig […]
Unter Schutz stellen
Auch wenn uns in Wakatobi nach Komodo die geliebten Mantas fehlten und Haie zu seltenen Gästen wurden, denken wir weiterhin voller Liebe und Dankbarkeit an die Vielfalt und das Leben an den Riffen. Korallenriffe sind komplexe Ökosysteme, die wir nicht nur um ihrer selbst Willen unter Schutz stellen sollten. Neben […]
Momentaufnahmen an Land und unter Wasser
Zu Beginn war ich skeptisch, ob ich überhaupt eine Kamera haben wollte. Momentaufnahmen an Land waren schön und gut, aber unter Wasser erschien mir die Kamera, durchaus eine Belastung zu sein. Das Tauchen an sich war so aufregend, es gab so viel zu lernen und zu entdecken. Doch bald stieg […]