A quiet walk in the forest is more than a ride in the most luxurious car

22 March 2024 Forests in photos

This March, our photo in the spotlight is “Wondering Babies of Boreal Owls”. Miroslav Saniga, a runner-up in our 2023 Photo Contest, took the photo in the Veľká Fatra National Park in Slovakia. In our interview, he told us more about his photo, and what the forest means to him.

How does the forest continue to inspire you and your photography?

For me, an audience at an ancient forest is more than being accepted by the most respected person in the world...

For me, more than the most prestigious award from this world is a sweet little gift from an ancient forest...

For me, a quiet walk in the arms of an ancient forest is more than a ride in the world's most luxurious car...

More than sleeping in the world's most luxurious bedroom is dreaming in a moss carpet under the veil of trees of an ancient forest...

For me, a sip of water from a stream from an ancient forest is more than the most branded drink in the world...

For me, the bird symphony in the chamber hall of the ancient forest is more than the most ingenious composition in this world...

More than all the medicines of this world, staying under the arch of an ancient forest heals me...

More than all the comforts of this world, the oasis of an ancient forest is for me...

Have the forests you photograph in changed since you took your photo ‘Wondering Babies of Boreal Owls’?

The forests around my birthplace, which I see as the primordial Garden of Eden, are still beautiful and beckon me into their arms just like when I fell in love with all of nature through birds as a little seven-year-old boy... The nature around our foothill village of Liptovské Revúce, situated between two mountains – the Low Tatras and the Great Fatra, is indescribably beautiful and varied, that it cannot be satisfactorily contained even in the most fantastic human imaginations.

How has your photography journey continued since you first participated in the PEFC Photo Contest?

I always go to the still lives of nature with photographic equipment. Nature is not static, but a living, dynamic system.

More than once, a unique opportunity is offered to a person literally out of the blue. When we have a camera in a zipped backpack on our back, without a flashlight inserted and with an unsuitable lens, when we suddenly find ourselves in front of a magical natural scenery, where some crazy fascinating scene is unfolding, which will end in a moment and may never happen again in our presence. You really have to recover quickly from the unexpected moment of surprise so that you don't miss the generous offer of the screenwriter and director of nature, as they say.

If a photographer dreams of images of a circling Rooster of the Capercaillie during a starry April night with a moon disk or wading on a fluffy snow pillow bathed in the first blush of the morning, then they have no choice but to get up in time and set out in the evening on a tiring all-night pilgrimage, wading through waist-deep snow. Here, drenched to the core, they must wait patiently for the rare opportunity to immortalize the moment.

What can each of us do to safeguard our forests?

For our own sake, but especially for future generations, we should understand the existence of life on our planet as the greatest miracle. If we want to protect the forest and all natural systems, then we must not be demanding about our daily needs.

The sober modesty of each of us is more than appropriate in this case. It is saving drinking water – the most important irreplaceable natural resource, wood, paper, electricity and all natural resources. With such an approach, each one of us can do a great deal during our lifetime to protect and save the forest and all of nature.

Have you discovered anything about PEFC and/or certification over these past years that you didn’t know before?

I have been following the activities of PEFC for many years and I am glad that it helps to protect and improve the forest wealth of our wonderful planet Earth.