crater rim. Even their 17-month-old son
Manuk is named after a dormant volcano
in Indonesia. But judging by the noises of
delight I hear in the background, the
toddler Manuk is very active...
It sounds like he’s following in his
mother’s footsteps?
He’s been to two active volcanoes so far
and we are working on a project around
Europe to climb the highest mountain in
each European country. He has been with
us to over 35 countries so far!
What were you doing in Indonesia?
I was on an assignment to shoot the
active volcanoes in Indonesia and also
photograph the people who live around
them; their customs and beliefs. I love
volcanoes, it’s my speciality in
photography, but I don’t think there is
enough emphasis on the people who live
around the active volcanoes, especially
those with a traditional belief system.
Coming from a natural history
background that’s intriguing to me.
Can you tell me how you became
so fascinated with volcanoes?
It started when I was reading Jules
Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
I had this image in my mind of a volcano
and a bubbling lava lake. Then, when I
was eight years old, my father took me to
Pompeii to see the Vesuvius volcano, but
there I did not see a lava lake and I did
not see lava. You just see the effects of the
volcanic eruption, which blew me away.
Then, when I was 18, I won the biggest
German science competition out of 9000
people, but I wasn’t interested in the fame- I wanted the money! I got 1500 euros
and with this I made a trip around the
world and, of course, during this trip
I went to an active volcano.
Where was this?
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saw one! It wasn’t that easy, it took me a
while, but I was 600 metres away, so it
wasn’t the image I had in mind from Jules
Verne. For that, I needed to go down into
the crater, but I had no idea how to do it.I had no rock climbing skills, I didn’t
know anything about volcanoes – I was
just dreaming. But I realized I could take
small steps to achieve my dream. First,
I started rock climbing, then I started to
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living through photography by doing
photographic expeditions. By coincidence,
at the top of this volcano (Benbow, on the
Vanuatu island of Ambr ym) there was a
National Geographic team. I asked them if
I could join the expedition and I asked if I
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to National Geographic to work as a
photojournalist was through cooking!Are you a good cook then?
You know, I think they took me because
they had nobody else. I was a lousy cook!Volcano photos
are my speciality!
(^02) SMOKING ISLAND
Ambrym Island with a plume of smoke
obscuring the summit of its active peak
Lens Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM at 20mm
Exposure 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO400
(^03) LAVA EXPLOSION
Lava explodes above the Benbow crater.
Scientists expect a major eruption every
50 to 100 years – the last one was in 1951
Lens Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM at 200mm
Exposure 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO800
(^04) STARS, SMOKE AND FIRE
The size of the Benbow crater is put into
perspective by the two climbers standing
on the crater rim at the left of this picture
Lens Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Exposure 30 secs, f/4.5, ISO400
66 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
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