My Way Into Conservation Storytelling

One of the first things you learn when you engage yourself in starting a business is that you need to find your niche. No matter what kind of business you're planning to establish, you need to have a clear positioning. As a rookie in the world of photography, that was the hardest part for me. There are just too many interesting things to do, right? I mean, I knew I wouldn't want to do weddings or portraits but despite that, nature photography is still a huge playground.

After finishing my master studies, I knew I would like to stick to the field of climate change communication. I was super excited to learn that there are fellow photographers out there who focus on conservation issues and do incredibly inspiring and important work. I was wondering if I could do the same. I'm still wondering but after coming a long way of trial and error and self-doubt, I decided to give it a try. They say the first 1.000 photos you take are crap. I'd rather say, make it the first 10.000. However, there'll come a day when you realize that you're starting to make improvements.

I didn't take the easy way. I didn't buy the newest camera with the fanciest features. I wouldn't have understood them anyway. I bought a 9 year-old second-hand cam and I learned the numbers. I don't have much of any technical skills but I forbid myself to ever use the automatic mode again. And here we are, one and a half year later I'm self-confident enough to launch this website.

The photographs may have become good enough to be published but still, I felt that the heart of my website was missing until I watched a TV documentary on fresh water supply some days ago. It was about the weather changes that we've been facing around the world in recent years, about how dry certain regions have become and how we as humans do or do not react to that. I realized that I've been to nearly all places shown in this documentary and always had the same feeling: what would the future of these places look like if we do not start caring about our relation to water, the basis of our existence?

You'll realize that most of the pictures I collected for this blog post were taken in the southwest of the United States. Like so many others before me, I fell in love with California when I first set a foot onto the Golden State. Probably unlike so many others, I see the future challenges of this region and its people. Being highly dependent on a river that probably won't serve enough water in the years to come, poses problems and I would like to help raise awareness for these problems. I also consider it as a possibility because if water management will be done right in such a dry area, it might serve as a good example for the rest of the world.

So, there it is: my niche. I have absolutely no idea if or how this is gonna work, if anybody will ever read this or if anybody will pay attention to my pitches. I just rely on my believe that if you put your heart into something, it will pay out in the long run.