Eric Sanger Monteros — a nature photographer from France.
I was just 16 when I bought my first camera—a Nikon fitted with a 135 mm focal lens. It was the beginning of a long journey, and I spent the late 1970s to the early 1990s immersed in photography, capturing portraits, scenes of nature, and architectural forms. I developed the prints myself, enjoying the tactile satisfaction of seeing an image come to life from start to finish. Looking back, those early images seem simple, even rough in quality compared to what’s achievable today with digital technology. But that process taught me something invaluable: the patience and dedication that photography demands.
Over time, everything changed. The extraordinary leaps in technology opened up new possibilities. The ability to shoot endlessly, to document settings, to push the limits of what can be done in low light—these advancements allowed me to approach photography in a totally different way. I now had the freedom to experiment, to refine, and to repeat shots until I captured the essence of what I was after.
What draws me in is the harmony found in the simplest subjects—like a patch of grass, a branch, or the way light reflects off water. I don't mind if these images lose their figurative meaning and drift into abstraction, as long as they evoke emotion, inspire daydreams, or spark a moment of meditation in the viewer.
As I deepened my practice, nature became my primary focus. Water, in particular, captivated me. I spent years studying its reflective and refractive qualities, fascinated by its ability to create fluid, ever-changing scenes of elegance. The more I understood the mechanics of water, the better I became at capturing its hypnotic beauty. But I’ve always remained true to the craft—I don't rely on digital manipulation or image editing software. What you see in my work is reality as I perceive it, not something altered or artificially constructed.
I continue to be driven by the desire to capture the world’s beauty, particularly the magic found in water and nature. Photography for me is not just about preserving a moment but revealing something deeper, something that moves us beyond what we see on the surface.
