Stop Waiting for the Door to Open

For me, it is like this…

When I am at home, I work spending many hours in the darkroom making my prints. It is a place of focus, patience, and craftsmanship. It is where my vision and ideas finally become existence.

And of course there is magic there. There is still this moment when a print slowly appears in the tray, when something that was only a thought, an emotion, or a vision suddenly becomes real.

But the truly unexpected rarely happens there.

The unexpected happens when I leave the comfort of what I know. When I step outside, travel somewhere new, meet new people, and walk through a door without knowing exactly what is waiting behind it.

And every time I do this, I realize something:

Behind one door there is always another.

Sometimes I feel a little like Lucy in The Chronicles of Narnia, opening the wardrobe and discovering that behind something ordinary an entirely new world is waiting.

I think we often spend too much time standing in front of closed doors, wondering why they are closed. But isn’t that exactly the purpose of a door? A door is supposed to be closed. That is why it exists. And that is why it has a handle.

The handle is an invitation. It is waiting to be touched, waiting to be pushed down.

It is not the door’s responsibility to open.

It is ours.

Too often we wait for the perfect moment. We wait until we have all the answers. We wait until the whole path is visible and safe. But I don’t think life works that way.

And I think art doesn’t work that way either.

Ideas don’t arrive fully finished. Projects don’t need to be completely understood before we begin. If we wait until every question is answered, we often never start.

Most ideas begin as something very small — a feeling, a curiosity, a quiet thought that says: “Follow this.”

And then action is required. Understanding comes while walking.

A project reveals itself through the journey. It gains meaning through the experiences, encounters, failures, surprises, and moments we could never have planned.

Push down the handle. Walk through the door.

Yes, sometimes there is uncertainty. Sometimes even fear.

I know this feeling very well. I have stood in front of many doors wondering:

Will this work?
Will I fail?
Will it be safe?

But over time I realized that my biggest fear should never be failing or getting hurt, it is missed opportunities and not having reached my full potential, not living my life to the fullest.

Everything new I start I feel uncertainty but also curiosity. Not with a perfect plan but a lillingness to explore and to risk. Sometimes it brings me in trouble but it always its fixable.

One encounter leads to another. One idea opens the next door. Something that once seemed impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Photography has always been my reason to keep moving. It brings me to places I would never have visited, introduces me to people I would never have met, and creates stories I could never have imagined.

A few days ago, I arrived in Singapore. Originally it was nothing more than a stopover on my way to the rainforests of Borneo to begin a new project.

But then another door appeared.

After I mentioned my trip on Instagram, someone who has followed my Instagram for years asked if I was passing through Singapore. He invited me to visit the world-famous Botanical Gardens, especially the Orchid Gardens.

We walked, talked, and shared ideas. He was actually working in the Botanical Gardens.

And suddenly I was asked if I would consider photographing their orchids. The possibility appeared to create a new series and exhibit the work next July in the beautiful art gallery of the Botanical Gardens.

Everything would be arranged — access, permissions, accommodation inside the gardens, even a small studio space.

And yes of course, I will walk through that door.

The most amazing part is that orchids had already been quietly waiting in my mind. Last year in Paris I discovered a small shop filled with extraordinary orchids. Since then the idea stayed with me, but I didn’t know how to begin.

The door was there.

I just hadn’t reached the handle yet.

Now I am stepping through the next one.

Borneo.

I don’t know exactly what I will find or how everything will work out. How could I? It is on the other side of the world, in a place completely unknown to me. And that is exactly why I am here.

Maybe this is where the magic really happens — somewhere between an idea and the courage to follow it.

Right now I am sitting in Borneo in the middle of the rain forest in the mounatains. The weather is crazy. Thunderstorms, lightning, endless rain, flash floods. It is cold, and I am freezing while waiting, hoping, and praying for the rain to stop.

I have four days. Four days to create one photograph.

Yes, I traveled all this way for one picture. But I know one thing:

One picture can become a door.

And behind one door there is always another.