Landscape and travel photographer Andrei Duman is not interested in retracing well-worn paths. No, quite the opposite. He prides himself in the uniqueness of the worlds he captures with his images, trying to go where no photographer has gone before. His quest for fresh perspectives has taken him to over 70 countries on a Walter Mitty-style exploration of the planet, seeing and doing more than the fictional character even dared to.

Emotion

For Andrei emotion is wrapped up in the presentation of an image that’s new and exciting rather than tried and tired.

“I am always on the lookout for the hard to find, hard to reach, hard to convey in what I am seeing.” Andrei says, ” I show people images of places and people that haven’t been ‘already seen, and already done’ in the hope that I stir up strong emotions by how the world is seen through the lens of my camera.”

Purity of photography as an art form attracted Andrei even from a young age. He loved to see new places and freeze them in time through his simple point and shoot camera. Initially a self-taught enthusiast, he refined his style through trial and error mixing and matching different settings, and reading everything he could find about his equipment .

“It always felt natural to me and for the most part I did it for myself, I never took any classes, and I never had the intention of showing my images to anyone else. It was only when someone stumbled onto some of my pictures by chance and loved them that I realized that I could turn it into something that could support me.”

By the time he came to this realization, Andrei already had a high-ranking job in the corporate world, but leaving all of it behind wasn’t a problem for him. The lure of the unseen had always been much more attractive than the perks of the business world.

Method

Today, Andrei’s method is equal measure preplanned calculation and free-flowing experimentation. He starts with considerable research, finding odd landscape features, or unique people groups that are sufficiently off the beaten path to warrant his investigation. He then invests in the materials and equipment to capture these places and moments as authentically and dramatically as possible. When everything is ready he makes his way to the location.

Once he’s there, however, all bets are off.

“Although I do a great deal of planning for a trip months ahead of time, I prefer to rent a car and simply drive in a direction and see where it takes me. I like the unknown aspect of trying to find the right thing to shoot almost much as the planned one. Some of my best work happens when I don’t get the shot I want and find something even better instead. I enjoy the journey to get to a place that I have always wanted to shoot and the feeling I have  when I finally make it.”

As he’s told the dozens of news organizations that have interviewed him about his travel and art:  “‘I have learned more life lessons from my travels and meeting new people than through any other way and I want to see as much of this planet as I possibly can.”

A few of these lessons include the relationship between wealth an happiness. “I am inspired by people and their resilience in the face of hard situations as well as the natural beauty of the world. When you stay in someone’s home and they have no electricity and no heat, it grounds you and gives you perspective.” Others involve the unique self-discovery that inevitably accompanies serious international travel. “You have to communicate with people who don’t speak your language. You learn how you react when you miss your train or your luggage gets lost. Travel teaches you about the world and how it works, but it also teaches you a great deal about yourself.”

The Final Print

In the midst of all his explorations Andrei is also in the process of opening his own gallery in Southern California.

“It is an exciting time for me with this project as it is something that I have always wanted to do. It is a Westfield Development so one knows that it will be of the highest quality and once complete in Sep 2015, it will be one of the largest malls in the US. The interesting aspect of it is that I have to build out everything from scratch; all I was provided with was a ceiling and a floor so it certainly is more involved than simply moving into an already established spot. The design that we are going with is quite unique, not really sure that it has ever been done before so one has to wait and see how it turns out.”

For Andrei, the most intricate and difficult step in the realization of his photography is the creation of the final print, using ink and substrates to recreate the look, feel, and emotional impact an image had the moment he snapped the photo.

“There is the technique of the photography process, and then there is the process of getting the image ready for printing, and the printing itself,” Andrei says, “Having the right printer who you can work with is crucial to make the necessary tweaks to help achieve your vision of what you want the image to look like.”

Prolab Digital has been fortunate enough to work with Andrei to create cutting edge gallery-grade printing materials and techniques. “Prolab has been very attentive to my requirements and needs. And I’ve always wanted to push the envelope, and I’m confident I’ll be using them 100% for the gallery. They are very attentive to the individual artist and what they need.”

To learn more about the unconventional printing methods we’ve developed for Andrei please contact us at prolabdigital.com/contact-us

Want to see Andrei Duman’s work for yourself?

Check out his upcoming shows at the following galleries:

Annenberg Centre of Photography, LA

You can learn more about Andrei Duman on his website: http://www.andreiduman.com/

Connect with him on social media: https://twitter.com/andrei_duman

Check out Shutterbug Magazine’s feature of him in their April 2015 edition. http://www.shutterbug.com/