by Yvette Depaepe
Published the 28^th of April 2025


To Fotomarion, photography is a challenging hobby that allows her to relax after a hard week at work. She loves capturing the mood and colours of nature. She is also fascinated by modern architecture and strives for technical perfection and precise alignment in this category. Her passion for photography allows her to fully express her creativity in both genres.
Let's find out more about the person behind these excellent photographs through this interview.

'life is colorful'

Dear Marion, please introduce yourself and tell us more about yourself, your hobbies or other projects you're involved in!
My name is Marion Liebmann and I live in Germany. My hometown Hohwacht is located directly at the Baltic Sea and I spend a lot of time there. Hohwacht is also a very popular tourist destination and I support our tourist agency with atmospheric photos of our region.
This photo was taken one morning on my beach. I live about 5 minutes walk from this place. It doesn't hurt to get up early for the sunrise.

'the fisherman'

When and how did your photographic journey begin?
I started with digital photography in 2008. I started with Nikon by chance and I've stayed with them ever since. I now shoot with a Nikon Z, a mirrorless camera, and I'm very happy with it. As I had a close relationship with a professional photographer in my early days, shooting in RAW format was a given from the start. Post-processing in Photoshop was also a given.
I also learnt to shoot in manual mode from the start, which was very challenging in this package as I had absolutely no idea about aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how they related to each other. I was completely unfamiliar with film photography.
Living less than 700 metres from the Baltic Sea, the sea was my subject in all weathers and I shot every day for the first few years. A friend said that I probably slept with my camera in bed and that it had grown on me. So I gradually learned to use the technology with confidence.

For many of us, photography is either a hobby or a way of life. How would you describe your relationship to photography?
For me, photography is a challenging hobby that helps me relax after a hard week at work. However, I also accept commissions so that I might be able to buy a new lens. When I'm outdoors, it's a very exhilarating feeling to capture the mood and colours of nature.


What would you say has been the most important experience that has influenced your photography so far?
Through photography and the various photography forums, I've discovered many interesting people and travel destinations, as well as the many ways that photography offers to express one's creativity.

You have your own style, but your work is very diverse. Can you explain why that is?
I do architectural photography as well as landscape photography.
Nature was my first subject because I live by the sea and the nearest interesting city is a two-hour drive from my home town. I've also been drawn to nature, especially the sea, since childhood. The silence and the special atmosphere have a very meditative effect and I can relax there very well.
Since I also like to develop myself, I needed another photographic subject, and architecture has always fascinated me. Especially modern architecture or special perspectives that reveal an object only at second glance.
I have one style in common with both of these photographic subjects: straightforwardness.

'stormy day'

'white room'

What is more important to you, the mood/story behind your images or technical perfection?
I can't answer this question with either/or. In landscape photography, the mood is more important to me, but in architectural photography, technical perfection is extremely important to me, because my architectural photographs have little to do with 'mood' and more to do with precise alignment.
In landscape photography, I love the tranquillity and colours that nature can conjure up, and I enjoy these moods myself. The photos are then taken 'on the side' and I enjoy and remember them on the computer when I develop them.

'the bridge'

What is your general relationship to your subject, apart from being an observer?
Usually I'm also an admirer, a lover of my subject. It doesn't matter if it's nature or architecture. In architectural photography, I'm also an 'explorer' of the subject, looking for special and sometimes abstract perspectives. I like to leave landscape photographs unaltered. Of course, I also develop them on the computer because I shoot in RAW format.

'the white wave'

'lines'

'under a big cloud'

Do you carefully prepare the locations you want to photograph?
I prepare for city trips/architectural photography trips by marking the locations on Google and noting the photo and location in Excel. I also note the opening times and add information such as "public access", "I have to sneak in here", etc. I'm not always sure what kind of photo will come out of a place. Sometimes a photo file will sit on my hard drive for a year until I know what will become of the subject.
It can also happen that I realise on location that I'm not connecting with the subject at all and that I'm struggling with perspective. Anything can happen.
When I travel to photograph landscapes, I know where I want to go and how to get there. But you can still be surprised when you get there.
In Denmark we wanted to go to a rock called Camel Rock in a small bay. We knew there was a cliff above it. We didn't know the way down, just that it went down somewhere. On the way we saw a drop that looked quite dangerous. Nevertheless, I thought it must be there and I wanted to go down, but then I got a bit scared when I was halfway down the cliff and was able to hold on to a railing post. My companion went another 50 metres and suddenly shouted, "HERE, I've found the way". I struggled back onto the path and sure enough, the other path was bumpy, but doable. If you didn't know the area, it could have gone wrong.

'The Camel Rock'

For a few years I also concentrated on staircases. They would be revealed to me or I would painstakingly search for them on Google. I wasn't always prepared enough to know whether a door was open or not. That wasn't a problem in museums, but it was in residential or office buildings.
Here I'd sneak in; it was during the coronavirus pandemic and strangers weren't supposed to be in the building. But since I live 900 kilometres away, I had no choice; I put on a mask and went in.

'the spider'

Here's a residential building, and there, too, I naturally sneaked in with a resident.

'the eye'

Often it's luck, and even the best preparation doesn't help.

Where do you find inspiration and what inspires you most?
Most of my inspiration comes from photography forums and social media. The flood of influencers that are quickly accessible via mobile gives me ideas of places that I think are worth visiting with a camera. Connecting with other photographers is also very helpful in developing ideas. But it's important to me that when I go on a trip, I don't look at other photographers' photos. I want to develop my idea and perspective on location, not have a finished image in my head.

'red'

'orange'

Many people believe that equipment isn't very important if you're passionate about photography. However, can you please tell us what equipment you use (camera, lenses, lighting, tripod, etc.)?
Equipment is important to me to achieve a certain photo quality.
This especially applies to the choice of lenses. Fast lenses do make a difference.
I shoot with a Nikon Z8.
My lens collection is quite limited:
Nikkor Z24-70mm 2.8S
Nikkor Z14-24mm 2.8S
Nikkor Z100-400mm 4.5-5.6S
Samyang 10mm 3.5
The tripod is a carbon tripod from Feisol
Tournament Carbon CT-3442
The tripod head is really good stuff with a quick-release plate.
For city tours, I also have a small tripod from Sirui.

What would be your favourite photo? Please tell us the story behind it.

'red apple slice'

I like this photo because I really like its shape and colours. As it's a shopping centre, it wasn't difficult to get there. We only stayed one night in this city and I had almost forgotten about this place. We went there on our way back, but it was hard to find a parking space and I discovered that it was very difficult to get the right distance from the façade. The road in front of the shopping centre was very busy, even though it was closed, so I had to be careful not to get too far onto the road to get the right distance for a good shot. The cars there were going very fast and, as I said, the road was very busy.
We also had sunshine that day with a few small white clouds. Unfortunately, this resulted in strong reflections in the windows and I had to replace the sky with a gradient.

Who are your favourite photographers or mentors whose work has influenced you and your photography?
When I started photographing in 2008, I was experimenting on my own and wanted to take 'good' pictures, meaning the sharpness, contrast and exposure had to be just right. In the beginning, I over-edited my photos and the colours were way too intense. Now my aim is to capture the colours and mood as they were.
For landscape photography, I don't have a particular photographer; there are just a lot of great images of places I'd like to travel to.
In architectural photography, one photographer in particular has inspired me, Marcel van Balken. His photos have inspired me to include people in images, for example to turn a ceiling view into a room or to show dimensions.
However, people are not always included in my pictures! The people in my photos are always from my photos and not from other photographers.

'windows'

'under the bridge'

Basically, I'm trying to find my own style and don't have any 'real' role models. I know a lot of really good photographers that I can't even name here, but I don't want to copy any of them and I try to find my own perspective and interpretation of the subject in every location.

As we're coming to the end of this interview, I'd like to ask you to tell us about any plans or photography projects you'd like to be involved in.
Plans would be a bit far-fetched; I'd like to buy a Nikon Plena and get into people photography. I don't know what direction that might take yet. But I don't have the time for bigger projects yet. I could also imagine publishing a staircase book, but that's still up in the air.

Is there anything else you'd like to add, and what do you think of 1X as a starting point for your work?
For me, 1x is a good platform for assessing how good a photo really is.

'lost'

'the cloud'

'at night'