Why do we take photographs of nature? It’s an important question and one with many answers as it means many things to different people. With this in mind we asked Andrea Pozzi to speak with us about her image ‘Serendipity’, which won the Breathing Spaces category in Competition 11. Andrea reminds us how nature photography speaks to a powerful side of the human psyche.

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“I had already visited the Yukon Territory before and I fell in love with the great Canadian north. My plan was to come back during the fall to explore new areas and to photograph the incredible colours of the tundra, which are at their best between the end of August and the beginning of September. From Whitehorse I drove along the Alaska Highway first and continued to the Dempster Highway until the town of Inuvik, in the far north of the Northwest Territories. 

Along this never-ending dirt road (736km), the landscape changes a lot and offers incredible views. I took this photograph close to the Tombstone Territorial Park. This valley is crossed by the Blackstone River and is covered by the typical vegetation of the tundra. 

I was amazed by the beauty of the mountain in the background which has almost perfect symmetry. For this reason I decided to emphasise its presence by placing it in centre frame and using the bend of the river to lead the eye through the image. The vegetation in the foreground is characterized by the presence of Epilobium angustifolium which contrasts beautifully with the surrounding autumn yellow.

I waited for the sun to go down below the horizon to get the perfect light for this scene. I called this image 'Serendipity' because I never would have been here if there hadn’t been a change to my trip schedule. As a photographer we study all that an area has to offer to get the best possible shot, but sometimes we can just stumble upon the perfect scene.

Once I spotted this magical place I waited a few days to get an image that could represent the feeling of wilderness, peace and serenity that the landscape transmitted to me. I think one of the greatest satisfactions in landscape and nature photography is to capture something no one else has seen by visiting wonderful untouched places.

These images not only testify to the beauty of nature, they also encourage the irrepressible human need to keep exploring.”

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Start your journey. Enter Competition 12 now.