MEET ZACH
(AKA ZWIEGS)
I liked jumping on rocks, it was a prophecy
One of the happiest moments of my life, on top of a mountain in Italy
After graduation, I knew I wanted to travel. I found out about HelpX and Workaway, two websites that changed my life. On these sites, people post opportunities to work in exchange for food and a bed. I was hooked.
I wanted to see Iceland, Italy, and the Faroe Islands. So I went! I herded sheep, changed beds and cleaned toilets, harvested turnips, took care of gardening, taught english, helped plan a birthday party, did some mission work, rode horses on the beach, road tripped across a country with people I'd just met that day, sailed across the north atlantic sea and suffered through seasickness to reach a place I'd been dreaming of for years.
MY VALUES
Fulfillment Through Discomfort
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I've learned that some of life's greatest happiness often follows great discomfort and challenges. The sunrise is always worth the freezing hike in the dark.
Showing Up
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I think people tend to get far too caught up in planning and expectations. I'm a firm believer that if we put in the effort to show up, God and the world will take care of the rest.
Commitment to Authenticity
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As a photographer I feel that I have a duty to tell stories as they truly happened, nothing manufactured. Even when I'm "posing" people or setting up a certain photo, I always make sure that the image reflects the energy of the moment, the emotions of the person, and the value of the story at hand.
The basics
Name: Zach Wiegert (aka Zwiegs)
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Age: 19 Years
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Interests: Photography, filmmaking, parkour, hiking, off-roading, cliff-jumping, skydiving, video-games, dangling feet off cliffs, dope clouds, pine trees, canyons, lakes, you get the idea.
Why photography and adventure?
Throughout my life, I've become passionate about creative storytelling. Photography opened the door for me to seek out incredible places, meet incredible faces,
and have incredible adventures in those places with those faces.
It's a way for me to express myself and bring hope and inspiration to my viewers and clients.
The full story:
As a kid, I spent 90% of my time living imaginary adventures, dressing up as a myriad of characters and stepping into the big, wide world of my backyard or the open space by my house to live out my adventure fantasies.
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Me 'n' Dad
A terrifying 4th grade gangster
As I grew up,
I stepped into theater and did 12 musicals and plays, taking on the persona of english settlers, 50's era gangsters, various animals, soldiers, and more. On those stages, I told stories of adventure, love, danger, and friendship.
I started training parkour.
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Over my 10 years of experience, Parkour has given me a new vision for the world. It gave me the mindset to see everything as an opportunity, taught me how to break down challenges and overcome obstacles, and introduced me to some of my best friends. To this day, I train on a weekly basis and work as a coach at the same gym where I started training.
Spending my childhood going on all of these made-up adventures and pushing my mind and body with my parkour training led me to The Day i picked up a camera.Though I didn't know it at the time, I picked up a camera because I wanted to start having real adventures and telling stories of my own. My parents generously gifted me my first camera and I started shooting.
I went on a three-day hammock backpacking trip in North Carolina between my freshman and sophomore years of high school and it was there where I really fell in love with photography. On that trip, I learned what it meant to chase the light and though I didn't really know what I was doing yet, I knew I was on to something. I felt like I had some purpose.
I shot photos all through high school, somehow managing to get random groups of people together to climb mountains with me for sunrise on the weekends. I started learning about light, about composition, and about how to effectively tell stories.
And so began the cliff-sitting tradition...
By the end of high school, I'd been on several insane road trips and spent my weekends learning the ins and outs of photography and adventuring. I was starting to get the hang of it and starting to understand that this was something I really wanted to pursue. Being in the mountains with my friends adventuring and taking photos made me feel more alive than anything else I'd ever done. I knew it would not be an easy pursuit, but
I also knew it would be worthwhile because of the way it filled my soul.
My favorite landscape photo from high school. Those lines were so nuts!
That brings us to today, where I'm still pursuing my dream in this crazy world. I believe that the meaning of life is found in the journey to find it, so for as long as it feels right, I'm gonna keep using my camera to tell my own story and the stories of the people I have the privilege of connecting with.
