What happened before the click...Photographers tell their story behind a special picture. This time: storm clouds over the Vjosa Delta
I took this photo at the delta of the Vjosa river in Albania. I had been travelling with a group of filmmakers who were working on a documentary about the Vjosa, which is one of the last free flowing rivers in Europe, and we were racing to get some final shots before losing the last sunlight for the day. We had been walking along the beach, searching for the mouth of the river, when I heard the sound of barking dogs. Standing on top of a long sand dune, I looked into the distance and saw their animated dark shapes moving closer and closer. I had become used to dealing with these wild dogs while working in Albania, and knew that if they were far enough away they usually wouldn’t approach, but just make a lot of noise.
Yet, these dogs kept coming, and they sounded angry. As it became clear we might have to stand our ground and fight them, a voice came booming from the distance, stopping the dogs in their tracks. Their owner, a fisherman, had called them off and waved for us to come over to his hut that he had built in an old communist era bunker. As my colleagues chatted with the man, I turned around and found this composition.
The moment lasted just an instant and I only took this frame. Something about the alert dogs in front of the bunker, the red light, as well as the ominous storm clouds in the distance, really helped capture this sense of unease and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Vjosa, which is threatened by plans to build several large hydropower dams along its course.
Nick St.Oegger is a documentary photographer and journalist working throughout Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. His work explores the relationship between people and their natural surroundings, often focussing on communities threatened by environmental issues. He has spent several years following the impact of the hydropower boom in the Western Balkans. Nick St. Oegger’s work has appeared in Vice, LeMonde and De Standaard, amongst others. With his stunning photographs he is also supporting the “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign.
Note: This photo and the story behind it were taken in 2020; a lot has happened on the Vjosa since then. But even though it's a national park, there's still uncertainty about the future of the Vjosa (see link below).