From the peaks of the Canadian Rockies to the isolation of the Antarctic tundra, Adventure Photographer Paul Zizka explores the world through photographs. We talk photography, exploration and waiting years for one photograph. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Kinds of Cheese.

Interview with Paul Zizka

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, photography, places, images, photographer, photos, mountains, moments, antarctica, avalanche, shot, move, Greenland

SPEAKERS

Nick VinZant – Profoundly Pointless Host

Paul Zizka – Paul Zizka Photography

Nick VinZant  00:13

Hello everyone welcome to Profoundly Pointless my name is Nick coming up in this episode, we're gonna go on an artistic photographic journey to all seven continents, and then count down the top five kinds of cheese.

Paul Zizka  00:27

And I just fell in love with the mountains and the possibilities for exploration. Eventually, I realized that photography just really made those outdoor experiences even more powerful that there's a danger in a creative sense. There's a danger going to those places that you're just going to repeat you sort of microwave what you've seen online a million times as opposed to create something that is more you. It's, you know, the mountains are dangerous and they send you constant reminders of that I was on a glacier in Jasper Jasper National Park, and there was this huge avalanche coming down the biggest I've ever seen.

Nick VinZant  01:08

I want to thank you guys so much for joining us. If you get a chance, like download, subscribe, share, it really helps us out. We really appreciate it. Our first guest is an artist. I don't think people necessarily immediately think about photography as an artistic expression. But our first guest absolutely captures the artistic side of it, because some of the pictures that he takes, and the places that he takes them from are just incredible. And he has this really fascinating story about not just pursuing what it is that you're really passionate about, in some cases, taking years, years to take one photograph. This is Paul Ziska. So for you what kind of inspired the career path Was it a love of photography or love of the outdoors?

Paul Zizka  02:03

It was first and foremost a love for the outdoors. I moved, I'm from Eastern Canada, and I came out to check out the mountains, like every Easterner does at some point in their teenage years, and I just fell in love with the mountains and the possibilities for exploration. And right away, I thought, Okay, I need to make a life here. And if I'm going to make a life here, how can I be outside as much as possible? And so I narrowed it down to a few career paths, such as guiding and photography. And eventually I realized that photography just really made those outdoor experiences even more powerful. And so I it just became sort of the obvious way forward for me at that point.

Nick VinZant  02:50

Were you good right from the bat, or was it something that you really really had to work on?

Paul Zizka  02:55

I was a good observer. I would get the odd comment. You know, when I would share images, I would get the odd comment from people saying, you know, you should maybe consider taking this a little bit more seriously, you have a good eye, you, you sort of provide an interesting perspective on things. And I didn't take any of that, too seriously. You know, when friends and family tell you, you're good at something they're not, you know, they're always a little bit biased. Mostly, I think I was, I was driven more than more than I was a talented photographer. I think I just one size, set my eyes on that as a career path. I just wanted it really badly. And I kind of think that that sort of proved more useful to me than any kind of natural talent initially.

Nick VinZant  03:43

You know, we've interviewed a number of people on this podcast and a number of our listeners seem to have kind of struggled with that same kind of question about like, how do I, how do I really know when to pursue something? Was it something that just kind of clicked or how did you know that this was something You could do,

Paul Zizka  04:01

I knew that I had the passion, the passion was there that was clear. I absolutely loved going out there. And especially once I realized that photography could be so much more than documenting that, that it could be a creative outlet and I could have an impact on other people through a body of work and all that became quickly became addictive, that it that was more of a matter of, you know, how can I make it? How can I make it make a living of it, without starting to hate what I'm doing. And because I only had myself to worry about at that time, I didn't really need too much of an income to make it work. So I sort of saved up and save up some money. So I was able to kind of ditch everything else and live and breathe photography and do just that for a full year and take lots of bad photos and experiment and go out and figure it out for myself. And as I was doing that, I started to monetize a little bit and I realized That at least for you know, for just a guy living sort of on his own time that that would be enough to to make things work, I was able to cobble living together and eventually, you know, I got married and have kids now it's like I was I found other sources of income and other ways to generate revenue that support us as a family and I don't hate it yet. So it's I think it's working out okay.

Nick VinZant  05:26

Are you mainly trying to go to places and explore places that maybe people haven't photographed before? Are you trying to take more unique images of I don't mean this word, but pop more popular places.

Paul Zizka  05:40

For me photography is very much tied to curiosity and exploration and actually I would probably put exploration ahead of the head of photography even so I like to go out there and explore. First and foremost, if I get If I if it, if it gets me to places where nobody goes, then then that's great if I get good images out of it that that's sort of a convenient by product. But I found that my happy place is when I explore and when I go somewhere that I've never really set eyes on. So that's that's usually my primary goal. And then and then after the fact, I'll try to, if I do get some good images, I'll try to monetize in one way or another. I don't. I don't sort of I don't avoid the iconic locations. I live in a place where there's a lot of those sort of trophy shots that people come and shoot repeatedly. And they do people go to those places for a reason. Those places are absolutely fantastic, incredibly photogenic that there's a danger in a creative sense. There's a danger going to those places that you're just going to repeat you sort of microwave what you've seen online a million times as opposed to create something that is more you and you those places, sort of encourage you to stray from your creative path and your own voice a little bit. And I think it's that's where it's it's becomes a real challenge. How do you how do you pursue that creative voice and you don't sell out but still find a way to, to monetize? In the end? It's a delicate dance for sure. And it's I think it's something that all photographers struggle with. And there's days where you you do the dance very well, and days where you strugglea little bit more.

Nick VinZant  07:27

You instruct people a lot. What's the mistake that people are usually making?

Paul Zizka  07:31

That's an excellent question. The mistake that people are usually making, well, one of the most common mistakes I think I just I just sort of touched on is they go to a place and their main goal is to recreate something that that they've already seen someone do an emulation as part of the creative process. You know, I think it's, it's, it's a very natural thing to do. I sure have just, you know, went out there and try to recruit images that others took when I first started, definitely. But I think a mistake that a lot of people take especially make, especially in this age of social media, is that the they get stuck at that step and they have trouble moving beyond that and creating a body of work that's truly theirs. So that's, that's one thing that that's one mistake I can think of that people make. And also, I think is just, people don't commit the time, as much as they used to, I think in terms of you know, connecting with nature, getting a real sense of place. I live in a place that sees huge amount of visitation millions and millions of people every year. And it seems like increasingly, people including photographers are just in a rush to move on to the next thing and to try to fit in as men as much as they can in their itinerary, which doesn't really allow for to work as a photographer doesn't allow you to work with intent and to commit you know, what's the time that it takes to create reading next Level images. So I'd say those are the main two mistakes that that I see people making in my field. What's the longest that you've ever spent taking one picture? Well, there's pictures that I've visualized. I've pre visualized. And it took years, you know, for the right conditions to align in to allow those images to come to be in terms of, you know, being in on location and waiting it out. I would say, you know, probably probably hours just sitting by the tripod and waiting for things to come together waiting, waiting for waiting for the Aurora to come out maybe the clouds to move out of the way or just to just just getting into position and preemptively and waiting for just darkness to come. There's also you know, of course, there's photos that required a little bit more physical work, so just getting to the location may have taken hours or days, but there's definitely some now having said that, not not all the images Is that I'm proud of required that kind of commitment. There's images where, you know, I was driving around and the light was amazing. I pulled over to the shot and I went home and it didn't have to break a sweat. So the mix of a mix of the two, but I think the more you shoot, the more you realize that great images take commitment, sometimes you're just gonna have to really put in the work and commit a lot of time for your vision to to materialize.

Nick VinZant  10:28

Is it more technical skill? Or is it more just having the eye to find kind of a unique composition?

Paul Zizka  10:37

I think the technical side of things that becomes second nature pretty early in your journey as a photographer, you know, if you shoot a lot, after a year or two, I think you don't really think about the techie stuff nearly as much it it's it just sort of happens. And it's not something that makes you pause a lot in the field or anything. What wants to once you've acquired that don't have that kind of second nature skill, then I think it's it's really what makes you progress as a photographer is read a more abstract stuff like yeah, like, like your own vision and being able to anticipate possibilities and being able to being able to work with intent, I think is a big one, as opposed to just trying to just as opposed to being scattered. I think I was a lot, I was a lot more scattered when I first started and now work, I work with a lot more intention. And I do the more I shoot, the less I shoot in the sense that I the camera stays in the bag a lot more than it used to be just because you're you're always looking for, for the extraordinary and your standards sort of get get better and better. So I think you know, the technical stuff. Once you're a few years into it. It's not really what bogs you down. It's not the limiting factor for anyone. I think the limiting factor is how am I going to get the body of work That is that is my own and that that sort of stands out.

Nick VinZant  12:03

How do you feel when somebody just assumes that your pictures are good? Because you have a really nice camera?

Paul Zizka  12:10

I think that's I'd say it's flattering really. If you've been in the industry if you benefit tog refer for a while, you heard you've heard that one. So, so many times that you feel a little bit immune to it, but I think it's a great opportunity to educate people and to just put a put a positive spin on things and let people know that you know, it's really not it be lying if I said, gear doesn't make a difference. It does. It does really help but really, it's one of so many factors involved in the making of a great image. And then usually when I point that out, people they get it.

Nick VinZant  12:54

Do you have kind of a basic philosophy when it comes to photography

Paul Zizka  13:00

I put the experience ahead of the art, I would say, I've been guilty many times, especially when I started, I was guilty of going out with a specific image in mind. And I was tunnel visioned into seeing that image come to life. And I refuse to accept that the conditions didn't really align for that image to come to exist. And because they, I would go to a place and that didn't get the beautiful light or the nice colors I was hoping for I would go home disappointed, which after a while, I thought was was really a shame because, you know, I thought, well, how is it that I can go to a place where millions of people dream to go once in their life and I couldn't home with a negative experience. I owe it to the rest of the world to not do that. And then I realized, well, that's because I put the results ahead of the experience. And I think as the years went by, I started putting the experience ahead of everything else. In seeing the photos more as a as a byproduct, you know, seeing, you know, going out there making sure that making sure that you know, every day in the mountains is a good day, and he's just any Sunrise by a lake is a good experience. And if I get if I get the photos to show for it, that's great, but I can't I can't afford to come home with a negative experience from that. So I think if you if you put the experience ahead of the photographs, and sort of the journey, the whole experience ahead of the results, then then you win every time. And that's the philosophy I tried to abide by him.

Nick VinZant  14:37

For you. Like what would you say is your best photography experience? Like the thing that jumps out to you? Time and time again?

Paul Zizka  14:46

Oh, gosh, it's hard to pick just one but in a general way. I would say the best photo experiences I've had are the ones where I've been able to have both both inexperienced both both memories that that there's still vivid to me, as well as some photos that I look back on, you know, 510 years later, photos I look at and Andy take me to take me right back to a specific moment. And they stand the test of time, technically, they're strong. So not only do they just, you know, sort of allow me to relive those moments, but technically there are images that are compelling that are that stir up emotion not just in me, but in other people as well. I think if I've had the experience and photos that have that kind of quality, then then those those will those experience. Those are the more powerful moments that I've had in my career.

Nick VinZant  15:40

Have you ever felt like you've gone too far for a photo so to speak, like, have you ever put yourself in a situation that looking back on like, whoa, I maybe shouldn't have done that?

Paul Zizka  15:50

Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. I live I live in the mountains and I spent a lot of time in, you know, in in sort of remote areas, in places where there's a little Bit of objective hazard and more than once I've taken a photo or ended up not taking it and drove home or sort of walked away from the location thinking yeah, that was not the smartest moment the smartest decision of my life to sort of tried to make that image happen sometimes you get so caught up in the process, that it you can kind of lose track of the danger. You know, if you're into mountaineering photography, well, there's inherent dangers and if you if you play in the mountains and photograph in the mountains long enough, well, you're you're just, you know, it's always always a bit of a gamble. I mean, is it dangerous just because of like avalanche, or you're like on the side of a cliff or what is it about it? Yeah, you know, there's there's objective hazards like, like avalanche, rockfall, you know, if you do if you're if you head out on the glaciers, you've got the crevasses there, always A potential danger. Just exposure in general, just the elements getting lost. Yeah, falling rappelling accidents. I mean, the mountains, the mountains are dangerous. And it's, you know, the mountains are dangerous and the sand do constant reminders of that. You've been to all seven continents.

Nick VinZant  17:23

Which one kind of stands out to you?

Paul Zizka  17:26

Gosh, that's a great question. I'd say the one that stands out the most probably Antarctica, just because there's really nowhere else. There's nowhere else like it that kind of offers that. That sort of feeling of remoteness and that end of the world feel where it feels like if you go a little too far, a little further, you're just gonna fall off the planet almost. I've, I felt like I felt so far away from and so cut off from the world, the times that I've gone to Antarctica and just just the dish sheer beauty and just being able to wit being able to witness what the what the wildlife can do if it's left alone and to do to do what it wants, what what it would naturally do, it's just really eye opening. So I feel like nothing, nothing really compares to Antarctica. I my favorite place outside of the Rockies is probably Greenland. So I would say if I can just single out Greenland from the rest of Europe, that's probably the place that that has the most that that's the most magnetic magnetic for me, because it's got so much untapped photo potential, so much wilderness, and it doesn't have the restrictions that Antarctica has. So you're sort of you're you're free to explore at your own risk and and just create at your own risk in in Greenland and there's no boundaries that way. So that's, that's a place that you know, if Greenland was a continent, it was it would come out ahead of everything else, but otherwise Antartica is pretty special too.

Nick VinZant  19:01

Are you ready for the harder slash listeners submitted questions?

Paul Zizka  19:06

Absolutely fire away?

Nick VinZant  19:08

How do you feel about extensive editing of photos? Like do you feel like that's cheating? Do you feel like that's straight photography? Or do you feel like that's more of an art composition thing?

Paul Zizka  19:23

I think the most important thing is to know where you stand for yourself and to be open about your process. When people ask. I have nothing against people who do compras at work, you know, it's not it's not my thing. Or what you what some people would call illustrations, you know, where maybe, you know, you borrow, you borrow a full moon from Banff and you you add some Aurora from Greenland and a landscape from Mongolia or something. You know, it can lead to beautiful results. If it's done, right. There's lots of people doing an amazing job at it. I just know it's not it's not for me. For me, a lot of the a lot of the joy in photography comes from the chase and trying to put yourself in a position where those incredible moments will align in front of you in nature and and that's what kind of keeps me going out there. And I think if I was to put those moments together, you know, in front of the computer at home, I think the the, the art form would lose some of its appeal for me, but people lie to some where different on the spectrum and I'm standing I totally respect that some people are more purists. And they will not do any editing at all. I think I'm, I'm somewhere in the middle. But I've been trying to be very open about my process. But for me, I would only create images where you know, the elements you see in the shot are the elements that were there at the time. Now I might do a little bit of a little bit of blending or change, you know, Adjusting contrast and but I think overall ethically I'm I'm probably somewhere in the middle of the spectrum

Nick VinZant  21:09

Do you have to kind of when you're doing this, you know, adventure mountain photography, you have to have a lot of other kind of skills like rock climbing and mountaineering and stuff like that.

Paul Zizka  21:19

It certainly opens up a lot of possibilities to be able to get to get to those those places and to be able to access those angles. But I mean, there's a lot of people who shoot in the mountains full time, and they do exclusively roadside photography under body of work is absolutely incredible. So you definitely don't need to get into all those activities in order to create good mountain imagery, but there's certain angles certain perspectives that you can only you can't you'll only be able to document if you if you learn the basic you know, if you learn mountaineering and glacier travel and trouble. And if you're able to travel through steep rock, ice and snow,

Nick VinZant  22:04

biggest shot that you missed,

Paul Zizka  22:07

oh, there was there was a huge I remember I was on the I was on a glacier in Jasper Jasper National Park. And there was this huge avalanche coming down to biggest I've ever seen on snow dome. And I had I had a fellow photographer I was getting out with on a moraine in front of me. And right away my brain kind of identified the you know, the composition as having this huge amount of potential. And I, I had you know, of course, it was one of those moments where I had the I had the wide lens on, and then I thought, Oh my gosh, I should reach switch to telephoto, that would be the shot of the year for me. And I just thought well, by the time I switch to telephoto, the moment will be gone and unfortunately it was one of those moments where I hesitated for like Three seconds before I switched it on. And then I realized that the thing would actually have gone on for long enough for me to get the shot. But I didn't pull the trigger early enough. And there's, there's a lot of those, there's a lot of those moments where you know that that reminds you that maybe you're not quite as ready and adaptable a photographer, as you think you are, even though you've been doing it for a while you're, you're reminded that there's, there's always room for improvement. And I think part of it is just you know, you have to be able to appreciate a scene with your own eyes, as opposed to just seeing it through the camera all the time. And I think any sort of more experienced photographer will, will will. That's something that you'll hear from a lot of experienced photographers that sometimes is just accepting that, you know, I'm not even gonna bother, I missed this and I'm just gonna take it in with my own eyes and just go home with a memory

Nick VinZant  23:51

For somebody who's getting into photography, they're thinking about getting a camera or something like, not something like that, but they're thinking about getting a camera. I mean, is there Something about it that they should look for like you should get this guy and you should stay away from this.

Paul Zizka  24:07

Oh gosh, I think I think you're better off just going out there with a camera that's pretty basic that doesn't require a huge financial commitment and just take the time to figure out what appeals to you what what genres of photography you're really drawn to. And then you know if you figure out okay, I absolutely love Astro photography, then go drop, you know, a little bit of money on a on a really good fast lens or a camera that shoots well at at high ISO, or you know, if you're drawn to portraits, go get a great lighting kit, but I think so many people pour thousands of dollars in you know, I often teach people who are just starting and their gears way better than mine. And the the, they're, they have yet to figure out where their passion really lies within the realm of photography. So I would say you know, at first You really don't need a good a good setup to to figure out what you what you're really drawn to.

Nick VinZant  25:06

How do you feel when people take pictures with an iPad?

Paul Zizka  25:10

Ah, gosh, you know, I think whatever whatever device you have at your disposal is fine with me. I don't judge people who have iPads. It's there's just you can take absolutely beautiful photos with an iPad. There's just no way to be elegant doing it. That's the only thing but if people are okay with that, then that's fine with me.

Nick VinZant  25:34

Every my dad does it and every time I see him, I'm like, damn it, dad.

Paul Zizka  25:42

Yeah, it's amazing. You can spot the iPad from from a kilometer away. There's just yeah, there's just no, there's no way you can look like a cutting edge. You know, a badass photographer with an iPad in your hand.

Nick VinZant  25:54

That's pretty much all the questions I got. Is there anything else that you think we missed? what's coming up next for you?

Paul Zizka  26:01

what's coming up next, you know, we're just waiting for the dust to settle on this whole pandemic thing really, I think nobody really knows what the world of photography is going to look like on the other side of this. So what what we're doing at our end is just trying to be ready to try to be ready to act and respond quickly. Once we're once we have a glimpse into what that new landscape, what the landscape of the photo world would look like. But for now, we're just kind of being patient and just catching up on those those projects that have been on the back burner for a long time. I think that's what a lot of photographers do. And we're, we're going to be ready to hit the ground running when the the earth starts to spin again.

Nick VinZant  26:44

I want to thank Paul so much for joining us if you want to connect with him. We have linked to him on our social media accounts were profoundly pointless on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You have to check out his Instagram just to see these pictures. Like there's a lot of good people pictures on Instagram. And then there's his pictures, which are a whole new level. And they're so inspiring. Because, yeah, these places that he goes to, are a little bit difficult to get to maybe really difficult to get to, but they're not impossible. Like you can get there too. So it's such a great, it's such a great source of inspiration.