24 INTERVIEW
Elia Locardi discusses his love of capturing the natural world
Travel photographer Elia Locardi tells us about his inspiring career journey
Professional travel PHOTOGRAPHER Elia Locardi (ELIALOCARDI.COM) spends his time travelling around the globe, capturing its many facets, faces and fundamental beauties. He also loves sharing his adventures and educating others. In this revealing interview, he discusses his career to date, picks out some favourite photos and provides some tips.
HOW DID YOUR INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL FIRST BEGIN?
My interest in photography goes back to my years in college when I studied visual effects and motion graphics. Photography was always a part of the core elements I’d use in post-production, but it wasn’t until ten years later in 2008-2009 that I decided to pursue it as a potential career.
It was interesting that for ten years before I really decided to pick up a camera, I had already spent so much time in the post-production industry and had been using Adobe Photoshop since 1999. Since I had already spent so much time on the digital side of things – the image editing, compositing, colour correction, design and animation – marrying the traditional in-camera techniques to the post-processing was a natural process and it came together very quickly in my career. It wasn’t long before I was able to create a unique look in my images.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY, SPECIFICALLY?
Thinking back, I would say that a large catalyst for my desire to specialise in travel was the fact that I had little to no travel experience. This was due to my previous career as an animator. For ten years, I worked 80-hour weeks and had no time for any vacations. On top of that, my wife and I got caught up in the financial collapse and housing market crash of 2008 and to make a long story short, we lost almost everything.
Healing from that took time, and part of that healing process was really evaluating our lives, determining what we cared about most, and establishing new priorities. Are we doing these things because we want to, or because we need to? Ultimately, we made the decision to follow our hearts and do our best to explore the beautiful world around us. Bringing a camera along seemed like the best way to stay creative. Ten years ago, I never would’ve expected that photography would take me to more than 65 countries.
Another reason I’m so attracted to travel photography is because I love trying to capture the pure essence of a place, and create an emotional connection between the physical location and the resulting image. In order to do this, I spend a lot of time in each location trying to discover what makes it most unique and how to communicate it. I use different targeted times of day along with strong compositions, weather elements, and various in-camera techniques while I’m out in the field. Then, in post-processing, I balance all of those elements together.
WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCES OF TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY?
One of my favourite experiences was back in 2009 when I first visited Meteora in Central Greece. The beauty of the spires and ancient monasteries there just blew me away. We were on such a limited budget back then though that we could only afford to stay there for four days, all the while limiting our meals to only the absolute necessities. This basically meant that my wife and I survived on the free breakfast and bread for nearly the entire trip. When shooting at the monasteries, I remember that there were so many stray cats begging for food that I ended up sharing my bread with them and staying really hungry myself. I didn’t mind though because they kept me company throughout the days there. It may seem funny, but we reminisce now about those days and how we found a way to follow this new passion for travel even with such limited resources.
In 2009 and 2010 I was really just getting started; they were really warm-up years for 2011. Flying more than 220,000 miles, 2011 was the first major year for me in terms of travel and it really taught me how to be comfortable with a life spent constantly in-transit. Moreover – while still on a tight budget – I learned how to maximise my effectiveness of getting from point A to point B with the most costefficient methods possible. Most of my memories that year involve taking public transportation or walking miles to each location to avoid the high prices of taxi fares.
I remember specifically one time that my wife and I were in Seoul, South Korea and we had been going back and forth from our Airbnb to the rainbow bridge using a complex method of three subway changes followed by a long walk. On the third night, we were so tired that we decided to order a rare taxi. As it turned out, the taxi ride back was cheaper and only took minutes rather than hours. We had a good laugh about it.
By far one of the most pivotal moments, and one that will always stick out to me, was the summer of 2011 when my wife and I were having coffee in Stockholm, Sweden and we made the decision to sell all of our possessions, abandon our home base, set out to travel full-time and become 100 per cent location independent. It was like being electrocuted, and that singular decision influenced the next series of years so profoundly that I’ll always remember it.
Becoming location independent took months of planning but in March of
2012, beginning with a one-way trip from Melbourne, Florida to Sydney, Australia, we spent the next five years travelling the world non-stop, never calling a single place home.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE/DEFINE YOUR STYLE?
I would describe my photography style as bold, vivid, and full of colour, texture, and emotion, precise but not surgical, meaning that it has a level of technical quality without being overly technical. While I can push the boundaries far both in-camera and in post-processing, I always want to make sure the core of each photograph (and each location) has some soul.
When I began working on my portfolio ten years ago, I made it a point to focus on quality rather than quantity. And as a result, I spend a lot of time thoroughly scouting each location and carefully positioning myself in order to capture the best composition I can manage.
Then, it really comes down to the weather – the vividness of the sunrise, or the sky drama in the clouds during blue hour. After I set my location, I’ll spend as much time as it takes to get the shot I have in mind. Sometimes this can be hours, and sometimes this can literally take multiple
visits over the course of a few years. Capturing the fog in Dubai is one of the most clear examples of how much time I’ll spend trying to capture something specific. My panoramic photo, ‘Tempest,’ was the result of six years of different visits to the city during the fog season.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE AND WHY?
For the past few years, I’ve been working almost exclusively with Fujifilm cameras and lenses and have been extremely pleased with the consistent quality and durability of their systems. It’s varied over the years of course, as the technology is constantly changing these days. My primary camera right now is the GFX 50S, which is an extremely powerful camera both in the field and also in post-processing due to the incredible resolution of the RAW files. It’s also 100 per cent weather sealed, meaning I can take it to locations with harsh and subzero conditions, and with the extra quality and resolution of a medium-format camera system, I can easily scale and reproduce large-format, fine art gallery-style prints.
My lens collection for the GFX 50S is rather limited since I mostly use it for landscape and cityscape photography. This means my main two go-to lenses are the GF 23mm f4 (which is the equivalent of 18mm in 35mm format) and the GF 32-64mm f4 (equivalent of 25-51mm in 35mm format). Occasionally, for telephoto shots where I don’t need a variable zoom, I’ll also use the GF 250mm f4 (197.5mm in 35mm format).
For all the other times I require either a faster frame rate, autofocus, wider range of lens options, or simply just a more compact and agile system, my secondary camera is the Fujifilm X-T3. This is also the camera that I use most for video production work because it supports ultra-high-quality 4K. On the lens side of the X Series, I own nearly every variable focal length between 12 and 1,000mm, if I use one of the teleconverters to increase my telephoto range.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR LOCATIONS?
Well, how I research my locations has definitely evolved with time as technology and social media has progressed. Early on, it was a combination of searching Google Earth and then doing searches about the specific areas. At the time, the only real community for photographers was Flickr, and between that resource of images along with Google searches, it was fairly easy to recognise whether or not an area had potential. The issue was that if it was a relatively unexplored area, it was difficult to find high-quality examples of images.
Now, with the onset of modern social media like Instagram, the data connectivity of the planet, and the ease of entry into photography – since nearly everyone has a high-quality camera in the form of a smartphone – it seems like every day we’re seeing millions of photographs from even the most remote locations being shared.
You no longer have to make a huge effort to find beautiful destinations to photograph. These days it seems like new locations have a tendency to find us.
While technology will continue to change the way we consume and search for images, one of my core methods for researching and finding my locations has always remained the same. And that’s connecting with local people and friends who can help guide me to locations that are off the tourist map. Thankfully, over the years I’ve been able to create wonderful relationships with photographers all over the world. I can always count on my friends to help with some local advice on where to visit in nearly every country in the world.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT IMAGE, IN YOUR VIEW?
You’re scrolling top speed through your Instagram feed and suddenly you notice an
image and stop on it – often scrolling back up in order to find it again. What grabbed your attention? Was it the colours, the location, the season? What was it about the image that gave you pause? This is the question I ask myself when I’m releasing new portfolio work: “What about this image makes it unique?”
Uniqueness in location-based travel and landscape photography often comes down to capturing extraordinary conditions. Take Florence, Italy for example, there’s an iconic view of the city from Piazzale Michelangelo where hundreds of people gather each evening for sunset. Aside from shooting more wide or telephoto, there aren’t that many different ways to create something unique without the assistance of dramatic or beautiful weather.
Though this requires a lot of patience and often multiple tries, capturing rare weather above the scene itself can make all of the difference. Personally, I shot from that location a dozen times over the course of four years before I was able to capture a lightning storm over the city, and in my opinion, it was certainly well worth the wait.
WHAT COMMON MISTAKES NEED TO BE AVOIDED?
When you only create images that you think your audience will enjoy, it’s usually at the expense of your own artistic vision. I truly believe that if you share what you love to create, then you’ll attract the right audience to your work.
This brings up the most important element of building a portfolio, and that’s making sure to publish quality over quantity. I would rather see ten amazing images that take my breath away than 100 images that are just mediocre. This is especially important in our digital world where no matter what the quantity, the best-quality images always seem to make it to the top of the pile.
On a more technical side, make sure to rely more on your artistic vision than the gear you are using.
SOME PHOTOGRAPHERS PREFER TO BE QUITE SECRETIVE – YOU LIKE TO EDUCATE AND TEACH. WHY SO?
I spent four years as a college professor teaching visual effects and motion graphics. In each one of my classes, my goal was to ready students for the real-world industry. I did this by teaching them everything I knew about it and making an effort to spark their own creativity to come up with new looks and new techniques. This is something I did selflessly while I watched other professors hide certain knowledge from others. At the time, I decided that it was because they must have a fear of their students surpassing them, or replacing them in the workplace. I think this is a huge mistake and it’s something that has always frustrated me.
I prefer to share everything that I know so that others can use my techniques and hopefully become successful by doing so. It started in my college classrooms and it continues with my online education. With my Photographing The World video series that I produced with Fstoppers.com,I teach my entire workflow from start to finish, both in the field and in postprocessing. I don’t hold anything back and I share every technique I use. In addition, I give away every single RAW file along with the final Photoshop PSD files so students can see and recreate every step along the way.
Photographing The World is really a culmination of my years as a college professor and the ability to create real lesson plans combined with my experience as a working photographer. It’s my goal
to give students every possible way to succeed by learning my real-world techniques and workflow.
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME?
For the style of photography that I specialise in, the right times of day really focus around sunrise, sunset, the blue hours, and later twilight depending on whether
I’m trying to capture stars, the milky way or the northern lights. While those would be the right times, it’s very difficult to predict the weather and if the elements will be cooperative. That really requires the additional element of luck.
A bit of research also needs to go into finding the right place before you can focus on the right time. After the research phase, this really comes down to scouting a location thoroughly before settling on the absolute right shooting perspective.
The more time you can spend scouting a location, the more likely you are to find the right vantage point to capture.
Aside from time of day and weather conditions, we also have some control over the image by focusing on specific seasons. Seasons not only have an impact on the weather but they can dramatically
transform a landscape. Some landscapes look better covered in snow while some look their best with a bed of summer flowers in the foreground. Seasons can also help ensure being in the right place at the right time, but no matter the preparation, we must always also count on a bit of luck as well.
WHAT SORT OF EDITING/PROCESSING DO YOU USE?
It all begins in Adobe Lightroom with RAW file adjustment. This is where we balance the highlights and shadows while selectively fine-tuning contrast, colours, saturation, and vibrance. Often times, we can solve all of the post-processing without ever leaving Lightroom, but for additional editing, layering, clean-up, as well as more advanced masking, I’m most often moving into Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop can seem intimidating when first getting started with postprocessing, but in [my video series]
Photographing The World, I break it down step by step with easy-to-follow instructions. After a bit of practice, we quickly discover that Photoshop gives us the ability to work with multiple layers and masks in order to create truly unique styles of photography. It also gives us the ability to remove distracting objects or correct different elements that would otherwise ruin a scene entirely.
Another technique I’m well known for is something I call blending different moments in time. This is a process where I combine different times of day together into a single photograph, and it allows me to encapsulate an entire memory of a location. Most often this is using the natural light from a sky and a vivid sunset, and combining that with the artificial lights of a city during blue hour.