Travels through volcanoes by Marc Haldemann

Marc Haldemann is a travel photographer and a designer from Switzerland. His vision of the landscape transforms real places into abstraction. He agrees answering to a small interview about his work and his relation to volcanoes.

First, can you tell me a little more about you?
I am a Designer and Photographer from Switzerland, born in the countryside and now living and working in Zurich. Actually I am a graduated product designer working in the field of interior design. I came to photography through my fascination in space, proportion, forms and structures.

What camera do you use?
I am using a Sony Alpha 900 DSRL Camera with 24-105 and 75-300 lenses.

Since when do you make travel/landscapes shots?
In my early youth I used to capture moments and places I discovered on my holiday trips with my parents. When I was older I started doing my own trips and travels to foreign places and tried to document them. In the course of time I developed a more aesthetic view on the landscape’s forms and structures, which goes far beyond a documentary claim.

What are you looking for in your pictures?
I try to compose the elements given by the environment on site, to form a coherent overall picture. It‘s not about documenting a specific place but more about the structures and colours of nature. More like an abstract painting. My work shows timeless excerpts from landscapes that seem to be detached from their actual location.

What’s your relationship to volcanoes? You’ve a best memory relating to volcano shooting?
I really like mountains created by volcanos. The more hostile to life a place seems to be the better I like the landscape. That‘s why I really love to shoot in places like Iceland or the Altiplano region in Southamerica. These places couldn‘t be more different but both look like as if they were just created by volcanoes yesterday.