Natascha Fürst
Momentum by Martina Trepczyk
Emotional Connection to Nature
Filmmaker, photographer, and artist Martina Trepczyk shares her journey between worlds, between languages.
Her deepest sense of freedom emerges by the sea. She spent her childhood at her grandparents’ home on the Polish coast, where her fascination with nature began early. She drew storyboards of sea creatures and anatomical cross-sections of animals giving birth. Before turning twelve, she experienced her first dive in Croatia with her father. Together, they encountered an octopus. A moment that became unforgettable.
It sparked a recurring dream: to see whales and orcas in the wild. For Martina, being underwater means liberation. It’s about becoming part of something larger, perhaps even sacred. It is an encounter with transcendence. Diving, for her, is both a technical practice and a spiritual calling. Silence holds a central role. Not the absence of sound, but the quiet one discovers within. While the ocean may seem silent, the reef is alive, or at least it should be.
-
Michael Messer
-
-
-
Hanoon Hussain
-
Hanoon Hussain
Creation Underwater and on Land
Martina unites perspectives often seen as opposites: Politics and poetry, conservation and art. For her, they are deeply intertwined. Art should serve activism, not just aesthetics. A central theme of her work is origin. Recurring feelings include grace, awe, and sensuality, whether through a honey-covered torso, a tiger shark, bare skin, two manta rays, or a baby gorilla.
The essence of her work is also her mission: to feel deeply, to evoke unnamed emotions that can only be experienced. The Earth was once home to a vast range of mammals. Today, wild mammals make up just around four percent of the total mammalian biomass. Their numbers have declined by an estimated 85 percent. In contrast, livestock dominate. Cattle alone outweigh wild mammals nearly tenfold. These devastating realities are ever-present in Martina Trepczyk’s work. She aims to express the rarity of wild biodiversity and the urgency tied to its fragility.
Sharks swam Earth’s oceans long before the North Star lit up the sky, before Saturn bore rings, before the first trees rooted in soil. They are ancient witnesses to our planet’s grace, gliding through the oceans like time itself. The water that once formed clouds still flows through rivers as part of a continuous, eternal cycle. Martina sees her work as both a tribute to nature and an invitation to experience it with courage and sensuality.
“What shaped me most was my first encounter with a tiger shark. I’ll never forget that moment. It was in the Maldives, in shallow, turquoise water. Suddenly, I made eye contact with a four-meter-long female tiger shark. My dive mask began to fog, and it felt like water was seeping in. Then I realized: tears were filling my mask. This feared creature inspired no fear in me, no anguish. Only beauty.”
- Martina Trepczyk
Connection. Conservation. Politics. Poetry.
That experience profoundly changed Martina Trepczyk. Modern humans often perceive themselves as separate from nature, rather than part of it. In that moment, it became clear to her:
we are just a small part of something vast.
Being underwater remains a form of freedom for Martina. It allows her to connect with something greater. Diving is not just a discipline, but a state of being. Silence continues to shape her underwater work. While the sea may seem quiet, it pulses with sound. Corals crackle, fish nibble audibly and sound travels much faster in water than in air. Scuba diving, unlike freediving, is not a silent act. Yet on more than one occasion, a shark or a blue whale has passed just behind Martina without her noticing. In contrast, jungles can be overwhelmingly loud, making sleep elusive. In response, Martina learns to focus on visual impressions, seeking silence in the negative spaces of her compositions.
Martina Trepczyk
“I create work that reconnects us to the planet’s movement.
What matters in the end is not talking about the ocean, but becoming the ocean.”
Martina Trepczyk
Martina with the Leica SL3-S
Underwater shoots require preparation across many dimensions. Beyond travel logistics, the technical planning is crucial. Equipment must be prepped, rented or serviced. Martina is intimately familiar with her gear. Using her camera and diving equipment is second nature. Moments underwater do not repeat.
When a shark passes by or a silverback gorilla locks eyes with her lens, all that remains is presence. The readiness to press record or release the shutter. Every other adjustment, such as ISO and shutter speed, happens fluidly as she dives deeper or moves through shifting light. The deeper she descends, the more the world turns blue. Our eyes perceive this shift because light is absorbed quickly underwater. Reds vanish first. This natural phenomenon is called extinction.
“I bought my first Leica 14 years ago.
I’ve traveled five continents with it.
I am obsessed, truly.
I love the timeless aesthetic of analog photography.
That’s why I started collecting Leica R lenses.
Now, I don’t have to compromise.
The Leica SL3-S effortlessly unites film and photography.”
– Martina Trepczyk
