Photographer of the Month — Ernie E Suto — April 2019

Ernie E Suto is one of those rare gems which spices up the world of landscape photography. His generosity and love for the genre go almost unmatched. Creative and strong compositions mark his work, and his images ooze quality, atmosphere and visual interest.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am born and raised in Hungary and grew up in the countryside. I have always loved being out in nature. For long periods of time I have lived in various countries such as Germany, Canada, and the USA. In addition I have visited many different countries and places over the years.

What made you start out with landscape photography?

In the middle of my thirties I moved to Canada and I was mesmerized by its National Parks like for instance the Algonquin National Park during autumn. It was just breathtaking standing on a peak and look down at the red maple leaf forest at sunset. So I decided to buy a Minolta film camera, and started shooting.

Then 8 years later my family and I moved to the West Coast of the USA. One day I saw an image from the Antelope Canyon on Yahoo News, and I told myself: ‘I have to take a look at this place myself’. I had never seen anything like it before.

Next I saw some images on social media from landscape photographers. They posted images from places such as the Yosemite N.P, the Grand Canyon and so on.

We were struggling with money back then, so my dream came true years later when I one day bought a used Canon 10D crop sensor digital camera with a cheap Sigma lens and a short Velbon tripod. I was in awe and wanted to go shooting. I wanted to know everything right away. I was hungry for taking pictures, as well as explore the beauty of the West Coast of the U.S and further. As I was digging myself into National Parks and images I just realized that I was on the best spot on earth for taking Landscape images — there is no place on earth where you can find basically everything from deserts to rain forests.

How would you describe your work, and how has it evolved since you started out?

First when I bought my first digital camera I was shooting basically everything. My work was unorganized and basic. Then I signed up to web sites such as Flickr, Facebook and 500px, and my attention turned towards to landscape photography.

As I was visiting different places over the years I realized that landscape photography was what suited me the most. One of the reasons why is because it’s so special. It’s not like portrait, wedding or any other kind of photography. It’s a lot harder work.

In landscape photography you just never know what’s going to happen in the next minute or so.

Nature is continuously changing, the light, the subjects, the whole scenery could change in a second. That was the biggest challenge for me all the time — to catch the moment at it’s best.

Nowadays I don’t shoot as much as I did before. If the circumstances are not good enough for my needs I don’t even pull the camera out from my backpack. I just enjoy wandering around, and it’s always a pleasure for me being out in nature.

Some my images got recognized over the years by my iconic landscape photographers such as Perri Schelat, Alex Noriega, David Thompson, Ryan Engstrom, Ryan Defreece Dyar, TJ Thorne, and many more. They are all great, and their work is so inspirational to me. All this made my decision firmer that I should stay on this path and just keep doing what I was doing.

What is one of your all-time favorite images and why is it special to you?

I have several images on my mind concerning my all time favorite image. I think I like them all, but there is one in particular which I took with some of my good photographer friends.

We drove up to the Bristlecone Pines and were photographing one of the most iconic trees in the park at night. It was special for me because we had to figure out how to lit up the tree in the dark. While I was thinking about how to solve this I asked them if they had anything to use as a filter which we could place on the front of our LED flashlights. My good friend Scott McReynolds pulled out a Starbucks napkin from his pocket and it worked perfectly. We were laughing our asses off. My image turned out great and won at a major landscape photography competition in Europe two years ago.

You are now planning on going professional. Can you tell us little about why you have opted to pursue such an occupation?

In the U.S. I always helped photographers in regards to how they could take their work to the next level. I was also teaching private workshops here and there. In addition I for years also helped photographers on Skype and in social media.

Now I want to explore other places, and I want to do something different. So I have decided to lead workshops in the northern parts of Europe such as Ireland, the UK, Norway, Sweden, some northern islands, the French Alps, the Dolomites and other locations.

I believe that one of the biggest gifts in life is if we really love the work we do for a living.

Many of my friends keep telling me that I have to do this. Somehow I feel like landscape photography is my destiny, even though I keep learning something new every day.

Have you ever been severely criticized for your work? And in that case how did you handle it?

Oh absolutely! I remember when we moved to Redondo Beach, California, and I kept going down to the beach for sunset images. At first I thought that every single sunset is the same. But when I went down for the third time I began noticing the changes — the changes of the textures in the water or the light on the horizon. So I just kept going down and posted many stupid sunset images on social media. It was funny.

Then one of my friends told me that I might have to go somewhere else for taking pictures. Since then I have never taken images from the beach. I thanked him later for opening up my eyes.

I always respect criticism regarding my work. I know my images are not perfect, and will never be. Just like I think there is no perfect image on earth that everyone likes. And there is nothing wrong about that. I strongly criticize my own images too after editing. I am never satisfied with my images. Even today when looking back to my images I took 2–3 years ago I just shake my head. I don’t know what I was thinking or why I did what I did back then.

Have you any hobbies? Or is photography both your soon occupation and your hobby?

Yes, I do have a hobby. I love to immerse myself in the art of culinary. I cook a lot of Mexican dishes. I also love to cook Asian food, especially Japanese. I make good sushi, tuna salads with fruits and cold Japanese soups on hot summer days. I own some very expensive Japanese kitchen knives. They’re handmade artwork in my eyes, thus I keep them sharp all the time.

Photography is a different thing, but it’s pretty close to cooking! We always have to find the right recipe for a good image, just like for cooking a good soup. Right?

In which direction do you believe landscape photography is heading?

That is a tough question… Well, it’s clear that in terms of gear landscape photography is going in the direction of mirrorless cameras and lenses. Just for making our backpack lighter, and make the camera makers pockets wealthier. One of the new things the past years is the rise of drones. Their sensors and their flying time are just getting better and better. Most importantly, the new perspective for taking pictures is a huge magnet for landscape photographers. I believe that drone photography is definitely a new chapter in the history of landscape photography.

What is the most amazing place you have visited? Is it possible for you to articulate why it made such a huge impression on you?

I have visited countless places over the years, from low deserts to high mountains, exotic islands and rain forests. I’ve seen them all. Each place has its own magic.

I think each place I have visited left a huge mark on me.

The silent warm sunrises in the Mojave desert, the crystal clear air on top of the Eastern Sierras while slurping my hot morning coffee or the sweet flower smell in the air of the Island of Kauai.

All of them were unforgettable, even if I wasn’t taking pictures at the time.

What inspires you?

What’s inspiring me I would say is the challenge. I just never know what’s going to happen when heading somewhere so I really have to use my imagination and my creativity in the field.

I love to see and shoot places with different conditions. I love taking pictures when it’s not easy to achieve good compositions or the light is not the best. I love to be challenged by the weather or the conditions. I like to solve problems for the best possible image while shooting. It’s fun.

Are there any landscape photographers who in particular inspire and influence you?

Oh yes! Many! One of them is you, Ole Henrik!

When I started out doing landscape photography I was just shooting what I liked the most, but never paid much attention to composition, light or other stuff. I was just taking pictures for fun.

Then as I dug myself deeper and deeper into some rules I started shooting according to those rules. Now, I follow no rules anymore. I think every single scenery has its own rules about how to capture it. All we have to do is just find out how to master it. How to make it something special.

So back to your question, I learned a lot from photographers and not only from landscape photographers. I have always wanted to learn a lot about landscape photography, so I created a group on Facebook and invited photographers from all over the place. The group was growing like crazy and there were tons of low profile image posted there every day.

One day I had enough of seeing this, and therefore removed 2000 members from the group. I only left the best photographers. Now there are only 189 photographers in the group, and all of them all are top notch very well known landscape photographers. I’m so proud that I was able to bring all of these photographers together into one group. Not only for just sharing our images in the group, but also shooting together too every once in a while.

I have met most of them during my trips, and I always have had a great time with each and every single one of them. Just to name a few …. Erin Babnik, Candace DeFreece Dyar, Ryan Defreece Dyar, Mitch Rojas, Paul Rojas, Jennifer Renwick, David Kingham, David Thompson, Ryan Engstrom, Michael Bandy, Kane Engelbert, Paul McConville, Jessy R Moran, Bob Bowman, Aaron Reed, Gary Randall, Aron Cooperman, Peter Coskun and many more. I just can’t mention all of them, that would be a long list.

One more thing: there was this very famous Hungarian photographer whose name is Robert Capa. He was one of the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history — mostly during the second world war. He had a quote….”It’s not enough to have talent, you also have to be Hungarian”. So, whenever some of my friends ask me how come my images are better than theirs I use to say the same thing — just to pull their legs.

How do you manage to find a balance between all the traveling and having a family?

Well, yes, this can be a huge problem among landscape photographers. There was a time when I almost sacrificed my marriage for the love of traveling and exploring. It was hard, but I realized that I had to find a balance between taking pictures and family fun. So we made plans together and I took my family not only for photography trips, but camping trips also. We have made trips to many fun places together these past years — and taken many family pictures as well.

Do you have a favorite subject to photograph?

Yes I do. Some photographers like for example taking pictures of water, smaller creeks, waterfalls, the ocean and so on. I like taking pictures of water too especially if the water has a nice texture. But… I’m into trees. I love trees, I always have. I love taking pictures of the forests during autumn, or just simply one tree could look good too on a foggy morning, or covered by snow. I’m still looking for my tree. I haven’t found it yet.

Do you have any advice to young aspiring landscape photographers?

Many photographers are asking me about their gear, and how to take better images. I always say: ‘Find your own way first’. You have to find out what you are into when it comes to photography. Learn from images, research a lot, and study quality images on websites. Learn from them. Keep shooting as much as you can and learn something new every day. I also always recommend them to try to shoot something different, for example something that no one else have shoot before — or perhaps just a few photographers. Be yourself, always be positive and humble.