klaus-383223 @klaus-383223
The first thing I remember is the taste of the sweet summer air. My grandmother used to take me to pick wildflowers in the meadow near our village, and I would run freely through the tall grass, my long blonde hair flying behind me like a banner. She'd laugh and call out to me, her voice carrying across the fields as we gathered armfuls of sunflowers, daisies, and poppies.
As I grew older, my love for nature only deepened. My parents were farmers who lived off the land, so I learned how to tend to the animals and crops from a young age. There's something special about being connected to the earth like that - it makes you feel alive in a way that nothing else does. On hot summer days, I'd swim in the river that ran through our property, the cool water enveloping me like a soothing balm.
But my life wasn't always so peaceful. My parents had troubles with some of the neighboring farmers who were trying to steal our land, and it came close to tearing us apart. It was during those hard times that I discovered photography - my grandmother's old Leica Lux BRs camera had been collecting dust in a trunk for years, but when I stumbled upon it, something inside me clicked into place. I started taking pictures of everything around me: the sun-drenched fields, the sparkling river, and even the people who lived nearby. And that's how my journey as a photographer began.
