Forest Meditations
WaterBear Network
A storytelling platform giving imperfect activists the tools to do some good.
See the world through a different lens with The Comma, our monthly editorial takeover featuring social and environmental perspectives from inspiring filmmakers, journalists, experts and activists from our community.
This month we hear from wildlife photographer and filmmaker Gamander Lopez, who has just recently come back from one of our film shoots. Gamander has recently worked on and he is one of the main characters of our latest WaterBear Original, Spirit of The Forest. Fresh out of high school, Gamander has already gained serious accolades in film and photography competitions. With 9M followers on TikTok, his passion runs deeper than visual media as he has been photographing nature since he was 10 years old, and he is now pursuing a degree in Biology. Today he recounts one of the days he spent in the forest during our film shoot.
Words by: Gamander López Photos by: Gamander López
A day in the life of a wildlife photographer
07:00 My day starts close to the sky, at the top of the Carpathian mountains. Beautiful forests extend until my eyes can see. Every now and then we drive by a meadow which seems patchy since parts of it have been dug up…A first sign that bears have been here before us. Our journey continues until we find a spot where I can set camp for my day in the forest.
07:30 It’s a cold morning. The sun takes longer to rise here since it has to climb the mountains first. I get my camera gear and camouflage and walk along between the trees by the side of a little lake. It doesn’t take long to find a nice place close to the water where I set everything up. I try to hide myself as best as I can amongst the leaves, so that the animals I hope to see don’t notice me. Only if that is the case, they will reveal themselves as they are, which I came here to capture.
09:00 A grey heron lands only five metres away from me. I try to move my camera as slowly as possible and can finally take the first photos of the day.
11:15 I suddenly notice a movement in the water in front of the heron which is still there. It’s a snake! It is swimming on the water. I can only see it for a couple of seconds and then it disappears to my left.
11:30 The snake is back! It passes one metre in front of my hideout. And finally I can get a proper look at it and film it. I have never seen a swimming grass snake before. It’s a very special encounter and the snake continues swimming around for the next 30 min until it goes back to land.
14:00 We make our way further up the mountains. Here there are beautiful big and old beech trees. One of them is hollow inside and you can even step inside of it, yet it is still alive and well. I am just in awe of how resilient these trees are.
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They can pass the test of time, unlike us, they could tell so many stories about this place…Maybe as many as the lines on their wood.
16:00 With the help of rangers I hope to see my very first European bison. They have to be somewhere on this slope where we’ve been hiking around for more than half an hour. I start to feel a bit exhausted. A ranger tells us that we are approaching the bison: Only 50 metres. With the help of an antenna we are able to track the position of a female bison. She is the leader of a group of three individuals. Shortly after, we suddenly meet them. They are only a few metres away from us. But because the forest is so dense here, you can only really hear them breathing and munching and every now and then you see a little movement.
16:10 I change my position just a little bit to try to see if I can get a clear view of the bisons. I got my camera ready in my hands and tried to move as quietly as possible over branches and dry leaves. And suddenly, I’m standing right in front of a very big bison. It is only four metres away from me and through a little window in the branches I can see its big eyes and horns. I barely dare to breathe and carefully take a few photos.
17:30 As we approach the car to leave in search of another spot, a bear jumps out from a tree beside the forest road! The excitement takes over, I want to take a few photos but we decide that it’s wiser to stay in the car and take a few shots from here instead. The bear is probably around two and a half years old, he curiously seems staring into the camera.
So funny - he doesn’t seem to notice that a yellow leaf is on his head and it takes him some time to shake it off.
20:00 The darkness has now covered the last peaks of the mountains. Not one day is the same in the forest, every tree hides his own secret life and nurtures the vital ecosystem of so many other species that seem to live in harmony with each other. How wonderful it is to see wildlife intact in this rare wild pocket of Europe.
Getting to see up close these giant beech trees reminded me of how their story matters now more than ever.
Impact Spotlight
From the ultimate dream to create the Făgăraș Mountains National Park în România and to contribute to the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems, Foundation Conservation Carpathia has created the Forest of Immortal Stories. Adopt one of the 2,544 secular beech trees and directly help to protect this ancient ecosystem.
🎬 Watch Spirit of The Forest