Interview with Sergio Lanza

Hi Sergio! Tell us about yourself in two sentences - who are you?

I am a professional landscape, travel and fine art photographer from Santander in the north of Spain. I have been a full time photographer since 2015, and have been published by companies such as National Geographic, Microsoft, Condé Nast Traveler, Expedia, Marriott Hotels or Backpacker magazine. I also offer photography trips and workshops to some of the most spectacular destinations on Earth, such as the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, New Zealand, Iceland or Tuscany, in collaboration with one of the largest travel companies in Spain.

QWhat's the weirdest situation you've found yourself in while taking a photograph?

AI could give many examples. For example, I remember photographing the Vermilion Lakes area, outside Banff town in Banff National Park, just minutes after sunrise, when suddenly noticed a huge grizzly bear was approaching a hundred meters away. Its approach was very slow, but finally I had to take my gear and jump into the car, just in case.

QWhat do you shoot on? What's your favourite set up?

AI am mostly focused on landscape and nature photography, so I spend most of my time shooting landscapes, being passionate about alpine, mountain and natural scenes in particular. I love photographing lakes scenes. I also enjoy photographing seascapes, beaches and rocky coast locations. Apart from that, I also really like night photography and capturing cityscapes.

My favourite moments for photography are sunrises and sunsets, and the hours before and after them. In those moments, you get the most beautiful light for landscape photography, and sometimes you are lucky enough to capture amazing scenes. For this, I use a full frame DSLR, and my main lenses are wide angle ones, 14-24 or 16-35 mm, depending on the system (I have been using both Canon and Nikon in the last years), and a 24-70 mm zoom. I also use a sturdy tripod with a good ball head for almost all my photos, and also neutral density and graduated neutral density filters, almost mandatory for shooting landscape images.

QWhat's your number one tip for an aspiring photographer?

AI would advise aspiring photographers to work as hard as possible, and to believe in your work. Being a full time photographer is not an easy thing nowadays, due to the number of good amateur and semiprofessional photographers. I believe that landscape and travel photography is even more difficult, but if your images are good and you work hard, your dream can come true.