ESTONIA 58°22’40.8”N 26°43’44.4”E
JULIA ASTOK
“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost”
my love for photography and nature began at a very young age. I am from a small country, Estonia, which is surrounded by thick forests, ever-lasting rivers and breathtaking bogs. I used to spend much of my time in the forest at my grandma’s, with my cousin Sofi. I think this was the moment I truly learnt all about nature’s wonders and, most importantly, I learnt how to see and notice the beauty given to us by Mother Earth. I still remember how I just couldn’t stop looking at the snow which was all sparkling – the magic that brought true life. Sofi and I were inseparable, we lived in a crazy imaginative world and we loved going around in bare feet, feeling the ground beneath us. We swam in the rivers and climbed trees to such heights that our parents would have probably fainted if they had seen us. We befriended forest elves, and wished we could grow wings, so that we could see the forest from above. Fast forward, and my love for nature only grew and I couldn’t leave behind the fantasy world of my youth. I was 10 when I was given my first camera. I can’t even begin to describe how overjoyed I was – finally I had the tool to capture what I imagined. It was as if I was mute before and now I could finally speak. Sofi and I were older now, but we continued to find adventures in nature and of course, she became my very first model. We created together, bringing props for the wild stories we had in our heads and developing a joint style. We were always shooting in nature, no matter what happened in the rest of the world. The craziest shoot we had was when it was -20 °C outside and Sofi posed barefoot. It was at this precise moment, that I learned that to create something other-worldly, one must be ready to reach beyond your comfort zone. Shooting in nature is always challenging and you can never control the weather, you just need to surrender and learn how to work with what nature offers you. Respect nature and be grateful that it does so much for you. I knew I wanted to pursue photography professionally and since I loved to direct my shoots artistically, I immediately thought of fashion photography. I was very naive back then and didn’t really know what fashion photography really entailed. If I think about it now, it wasn’t a very logical choice for someone who is just crazy about nature. But my young self believed that she could portray fashion and stories in nature and speak in pictures instead of words. She wasn’t completely wrong, but most definitely things are not that simple.
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MOTHER VOLUME ONE
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