Part 1
THE CALL
When the call of the wild came to me, I wouldn’t have considered myself outdoorsy by any standards.
Actually, in all honesty, I enjoyed many aspects of the city life. But there was something that I started to feel like I was missing out on. I grew up in the North of Sweden, surrounded by nature. My days would often be spent on adventures in the forest foraging and exploring, and thinking of it now: I rarely had a bad day out in the woods as a kid.
Many years later, I was half accidentally given the possibility to return to that lifestyle. I had never planned on moving back to a smaller city (or town, if you can even call it that), but somehow here I was, uprooted and about to be replanted to the kind of a life I’d always subconsciously missed, even though I never quite realised it.
“I had gone from the exhausting busy city bustle to the quiet rustle of the forest. There amongst the whispering pines of the North, things were finally starting to change for me.”
I very vividly remember one particular morning. I went out early for a walk with no real plan or agenda, grabbing my camera with me, a habit I’d picked up from my commercial photography life in the city. The morning sun was shrouded in fog, the mist glided gracefully over a mirror-like lake, and the grass sparkled with dew. I followed the path to the water’s edge. The air was so still it felt magical.
For the first time in a long, long time, when I raised my camera, it was not to please a platform or to satisfy someone else’s agenda, but simply to appreciate and capture what I was feeling in that moment and then maybe share that experience with others through photos.
“I’d venture a little further into the forests each day. The tall pine trees became my friends.”
Even amidst the darkest foggy days, these new tall and handsome friends were my muses and models, their silhouettes contrasting against the dense grey. I vividly remember capturing this towering quietude in a photograph for the first time, hoping others could feel through the picture the same peace that washed over me when standing in that misty forest.
Weeks and months passed, and the forest transformed from a mystery to my sanctuary. I knew every trail like the back of my hand, finding secret spots to catch the sun’s golden descent or feel the thick morning fog’s tickle. I even carved out paths of my own, deepening my relationship with the woods.
Looking at this new environment through the viewfinder of my camera taught me so much—about the forest, about what I need and what I can leave behind, and about the craft of photography, which in its deepest essence is the skill of seeing the world for all it can be.
My camera had become my mentor in this new life of mine and led me back to nature and in many ways, my real nature, ultimately leading me to find a new sense of peace and richness of life. Answering the call of nature was one of the most significant decisions I ever made.
And when I answered the call.
I learned how to see nature for all it could be. You can too.