Behind the lens

Nicola Odemann: Restlessness and Wanderlust


Age?

23

Where are you based?

I’m based in Germany and switch between Muenster and Bad Toelz in Germany

How do you make a living?

I’m still in uni to become a teacher. I fund my travels with vacation jobs or by selling some photos from time to time.

What camera do you use?

Nikon F65

How has travel made an impact on your life?

It made me so restless. It has become almost impossible for me to stay at one place for too long. I always want to go out and explore new places and cultures.

What is your relationship to travel/adventure, and what does it mean to you?

There’s just this wanderlust inside of me that always makes me want to go to somewhere new. I love mountains and nature and wild places, so I try to travel to places with great natural wonders and diversity. For me there’s nothing better than exploring new places or hiking mountains together with close friends or family.


Thakgil

This was my favorite day from my first trip to Iceland. By exploring the surrounding mountains of Thakgil we seemed to abandon our own world step after step and entered a whole new world where we had to learn about earthly dimension and human significance all over again.

Laugavegur

My sister and I hiked the Laugavegur trail in Iceland this year and this view showed up on the second day of our trek. It was such a magical moment to stand on that hilltop and to look down on the land where our path would lead through for the next couple of days. Somehow this mountain embodied all our expectations and longings and hiking towards it was absolute bliss.

Nusa Penida

When I lived in Bali for a few months, some of my favorite moments were spent on its small neighboring island called Nusa Penida. We were invited to take part in holy ceremonies in a temple within a mountain, were saved by friendly strangers when our motorbikes broke down in the middle of nowhere and discovered secret beaches and bays like this one.

Kerlingarfjöll

After we had driven for hours through the deserted Kjölur route in Iceland, we finally reached Kerlingarfjöll. Ever since I first saw a photo of it before we started our trip, I had been daydreaming about this place. But seeing it for real was better than any fantasy can ever be. We hiked through steaming mountain slopes, bathed in hot springs and watched as Northern Lights danced above our heads at night. 

Hikers Kerlingarfjöll

Although Kerlingarfjöll seems like an oasis of the waste Icelandic highland today, it was seen as a hideaway for criminals for a long time and therefore avoided by most people. The first explorer reached those mountains in the middle of the 19th century only and it wasn’t until the 1940s that this mountain range was truly explored.

Sunset

I’ll never get tired or used to the wonder of sunsets. There’s simply no better way to welcome the magic of the night than by embracing the explosion of the sky at dusk that covers the surrounding world in red and orange tones.

Hawaii

Hawaii was so special. I mean, we do have beautiful beaches here in Europe as well but there is something about those islands that made us so incredibly relaxed. Roadtripping and becoming a small part of that life even if for a limited time only, did evoke feelings of independence and detachedness that we’ve never felt before.

Llama

Last summer in South Tyrol we had already hiked for eight hours when we saw a storm coming in, so we hurried to reach a small mountain hut that we knew must be nearby. They keep all of those different animals there and this llama welcomed us shortly before we reached the hut just in time before rain started to pour in.

Karwendel

I love to travel but the thing I love most about traveling is coming back to this place. What a beautiful feeling to call these mountains home and to know that despite everything that might change throughout life, these mountains won’t.

South Tyrol

My family has been spending each summer at this particular mountain range in South Tyrol since I can remember and each year I’m surprised by its beauty once again. There is no better way to feel free than to be alone on top of a mountain with a wild valley beneath you and not a single body around you.


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