Always looking for quality photos for our page, one day I discover impactful photos of Bocas del Toro, full of color, vibrating but above all capable of fully expressing every moment of life in Bocas.
I went to investigate and found that they are two young Germans Nina and Oliver, who decided after being traveling the world to stop for now in Bocas. So we decided to exchange a small talk and understand from them who they are and what brings them here to Heaven.
Your photos are very intense in colors and images ….where does this “passion” come from?
Nina is a very creative person and has always been fascinated by the thought of being able to ‘freeze’ a moment, a situation or a feeling. For a long time it was just a hobby and was more a fun base without knowing anything of the technical aspect behind the camera. When we started traveling in 2016, we started a travel blog to write about our experiences and to keep friends and family up to date. We have visited many different countries, cultures and landscapes and the desire to capture special moments has finally awakened our interest in taking a closer look at professional photography. With “Oliver’s technical knowledge and Nina’s creativity”, we felt to be an awesome team to push ourselves and teaching us the essentials to step up our image quality.
It was also important to us that in 10 years, when we think back to our big trip and we unpack the photos, we would have a collection of photos in a good quality that triggers emotion and memories rather than having just blurred cell phone pictures.
What drives two talented young people to quit their jobs and travel? Desire to escape, to know the world, to go towards what?
It all started when we went on vacation together for the first time. In 2014 we traveled to Greece for a two weeks vacation and were able to gain an insight into the everyday life of a traveler. We explored a lot of the areas with a rental car and visited different Islands. Every day was unique and different from the previous one and we were stunned how long a day can be if you truly LIVE and fill the hours with things you like to do and what you enjoy to do.
One evening we were sitting on our terrace with a glass of wine and started to ask ourselves: “how is it possible to collect so many memories within this short time frame, each day is valuable, special and joyful, while the rest of the year we are stuck in our routines forgetting days, sometimes months. Looking back everyday seemed like the other, wishing that time passes by faster to finally enjoy the weekend or the next vacation, just to get back to work after it and repeat?”
That was the moment when we realized there is something terribly wrong! That evening we decided that we would start saving money.
Even if at that point we didn’t know exactly for what it will be, but we knew that it will be invested in our freedom and future, and in days that will be unique and memorable. After two years of saving money, everything felt into place – we saved up to much to not do it, we waited for too long to let anybody actually influence us. The reaction of our employers wasn’t important, the situation with our apartment was a minor task. We sold everything, we quit our jobs and started to actually be free. 2016 was the year in which everything changed for us and we loved it, we felt in love with it so much that we stopped making plans like we were used to. Over the time our confidence grew that we can continue this new life. Do what you love and you’ll find success, directly and on a long-term view.
How can we mix Nina’s romanticism with Oliver’s technology? Without taking away the path to your photos?
It didn’t take too long to realize that we can benefit from each other when we want to improve our photography skills. Nina as the creative part has a good eye for the beautiful things and has optimized her editing skills to give expression and character to her pictures.
But that skill alone is not enough to understand and apply the technical knowledge of a camera, which is essential for taking route in a more professional way.
Oliver worked as a programmer and has always been enthusiastic about technology. He also showed great interest in cinematography, storytelling and film editing. All short films that can be seen on our website are created by him.When we started our business in 2017, we pushed ourselves to combine the skills of each other in order to achieve the best results, and the best thing, we really love working together because everyone does exactly what they like the most and we are not forced to do something what we don’t enjoy.
You have seen the realities that are only to speak of it as a destination for many young people and not, Indonesia, Australia, but then you decided to stay in Bocas in Panama.
Tell us briefly about your experience in Bocas and why you decided to stay in Bocas.
We arrived here shortly after our big trip started, we left but never forgot the place. From the first step on the Island we felt something we would describe as coming home. It was very intense somehow and it is still hard to grasp what exactly it was and still is. After continuing to travel for another two years we decided to come back and see if the feeling from the past is still here, and it was. Talking with other people who are living here, we often heard stories of falling in love with the place and never actually leave again. I guess we’re simply one of them.
5 things you love and 5 things you don’t like and why you should visit Bocas.
We love the tropical climate, the community, the beaches, the deep jungle and the wildlife, not much to say about stuff we don’t like. We’re recommending Bocas for all the variety it has to offer, its just a really special place on earth.
What should a traveler not miss in Bocas?
There are just so many must-sees on the archipelago and we have quite a few places we personally love to visit frequently.
One highlight is to grab the bike and go up to bluff beach. We simply love to watch the big waves and take a long walk at the golden sand beach, enjoying the wilderness and the views.
If we are more in the adventure mood, we love to go for a hike on Bastimentos through the jungle to red frog beach and spend our day in one of the beach restaurants, having lunch and a cocktail, go for a swim and a sunbath.
If we want it quick and easy, we take a taxi boat to Carenero, having a cocktail and lunch on the beach and just enjoy the sun, the ocean and the relaxing atmosphere. We can just spent a whole day there!
And that’s just a small selection of great things you can do while staying in Paradise!
Your future plans?
Enjoying every minute and living Life to the fullest! We learned from our past lives back in Germany that life is pretty short if you waste it with things you actually don’t want to do. The best thing that we did so far is to follow our hearts and that’s how we want to keep going in future 🙂 The rest will fall in place anyway, just go with the flow!
Our Covid19 Situation
Well, besides that we were kind of the first ones who got their jobs cut – because who needs promotion or marketing for their hotels when a pandemic is happening? Weddings, engagement and portrait shootings and every other event got canceled, which meant that we quickly had a lot of time. Though we used it to find our way. Oliver went back to his other passion – programming, and he learned a ton about new technologies, efficient web-development and webdesign.
We expected to be one of the first businesses who will be busy again as now is the time to prepare a proper promotion for the coming after Covid19 Season. The competition between tourism areas will be bigger than ever and we are lucky to find more and more businesses who become aware of that.
After our photography break we’re now able to combine all the skills we gained over the years and are prepared for great comeback of Bocas del Toro!
So Bocas business don’t miss the opportunity to work with Nina and Oliver you will not regret at all!
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