Photographer Sylvia Furrer & Holger Hoffmann are the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributors of this photo essay. From the project ‘Love Letter to the Rainforest’. To see Sylvia & Holger’s body of work, click on any photograph.
Hardly anybody likes humid heat. If they can’t avoid it, they try to escape it and the sweat that comes with it as quickly as possible. The idea of ‘rainforest’ is associated with green hell. For me, it has the opposite connotation: In over 45 years of exploring our planet, I have never felt the same euphoria in the mountains, no matter how high and spectacular their peaks, nor in the deserts, no matter how rolling the dunes or bizarre the rock formations, as I do in the jungles of Africa, New Guinea or the Amazon basin.
The daylight in the jungle is never harsh. The sun’s rays are filtered through the tall, sometimes gigantic trees and the dense foliage. Only at midday do individual patches of light dance on the damp ground covered in fallen, brown-colored leaves.
If you have the stamina and strength for treks of several days, you can experience different vegetation zones within a few days, whether in the Andes or in the highlands of West New Guinea and on the ascent of Kilimanjaro or the Rwenzori. Here I am most fascinated by the cloud forest. The ground is covered with huge cushions of moss and above all, the clouds accumulate and rain down regularly. The higher we climb, the more gnarled the trees become. The forest becomes thinner and the trees lower until it is replaced by a moor landscape with giant lobelia and senecia.
Hiking through the rainforest and being wet from head to toe – from the rain, from the soaked plants, from crossing creeks and from sweat – is a wonderful way for me to escape our overstimulated world. My instincts and perceptions are sensitized, my senses sharpened and my mind relaxed, as if I were in a ‘floating tank’.
Artists’ Statement Swiss travel and documentary photographer Holger Hoffmann and travel writer Sylvia Furrer have visited over 110 countries. They are fascinated by the customs and daily life of the people who have preserved their culture. Holger and Sylvia developed a profound respect for these people who subsist in remote areas under harsh living conditions such as in the extreme cold of Siberia, the hot desert of the Danakil, the wet jungle in West Papua or the high mountains in the Himalayas. They have published travel and photo reports in various magazines.
All images and text © Sylvia Furrer & Holger Hoffmann
See also:
Chaos Tours – In Black & White
By Sylvia Furrer & Holger Hoffmann
Sylvia & Holger’s Previous Contributions To Edge Of Humanity Magazine
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Love black and white photography! This is wonderful! I did black and white photography learning the skill as a part of my degree. So, I truly appreciate it.
Your rainforest language had me there with you, hiking the lush greenery under a dappled canopy.