Into the volcano: how to succeed in adventure photography and filmmaking

Wondering how to become an adventure filmmaker? For Canon Ambassador Ulla Lohmann, who has been a travel and adventure photographer and videographer for over 25 years, it all stems from a fascination with volcanoes. Her home base is in Germany, but her work for organisations including National Geographic, GEO magazine and the BBC, among many others, has taken her to dozens of countries. She has filmed and photographed eruptions and lava flows, as well as the people who live on and around active volcanoes.

One of Ulla's most dangerous shoots involved abseiling 600 metres inside an active volcano on the islands of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. The unique and spectacular shots she took, just 50 metres from the lava lake, were the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. "The volcano felt so big and powerful and it made me realise that we humans are so small," she says, "but at the same time it really made me feel alive."

In late 2025, Ulla completed a 47-minute documentary for Red Bull Bergwelten titled Italy’s Mountains of Fire: Europe’s most active volcanoes. It follows her journey to Italy's most iconic volcanoes – Etna, Stromboli, Campi Flegrei and Vulcano, the one that gave its name to the whole phenomenon. It combines adventure storytelling with scientific insight and, as Ulla describes it, "what people do when they have an active volcano in their back yard" – including snowboarding down Mount Etna and scuba divers exploring the sunken ruins of an ancient city near Campi Flegrei.

Travelling to exotic locations and shooting for prestigious clients is a dream job for many people. But carving out a career in travel and adventure photography and filmmaking isn't easy. Here, Ulla discusses her unusual career path in travel videography, reveals the kit she uses, and shares her advice for aspiring adventure filmmakers.

Ulla has been fascinated with volcanoes since the age of 8, when her father took her to Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei and the remains of Pompeii. There, she was captivated by the awesome power of volcanoes and the sulphurous smell of "the breath of the earth". Filming her Red Bull documentary, she stood at the very same place and reflected on her career.

At the beginning, she had only the desire to study volcanoes. At the age of 18, she won a national youth science competition in Germany. "I invested my €1,500 prize in a year-and-a-half trip around the world, which is when I started to take my first pictures." These, with her reports of her travels, were regularly published in a monthly magazine in her home region.

On that life-changing trip, she travelled to Vanuatu to see the volcanoes. By coincidence, there was a team from National Geographic there. She got to know them, convinced them she could cook, and they hired her – as their cook. "Meeting them made me realise there are people who work as journalists who are storytellers with a science background, and this was the moment when I said 'I'm going to do the same thing'."

Ulla attained qualifications in geography, environmental management and photojournalism. However, success didn't come immediately. She learned that it's important, especially when starting out, to take life's knocks and bounce back from them. Ulla's first story for National Geographic, about a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea that took her three years to find, was initially rejected.

For her, Ulla says, "it's all about the story" – and for much of her career that has meant filmmaking as much as photography. Canon's EOS stills and hybrid cameras make it so easy to switch between the two, she says, most shoots involve both, as the story may require.

On her Red Bull documentary, Ulla's main camera was a Canon EOS R5 Mark II. The production crew were filming with EOS C70 and EOS C80 professional video cameras. In the field, one of the most beneficial features of all these cameras was their high dynamic range and exceptional high ISO performance in low-light conditions. "These are extremely high-contrast environments," Ulla explains, "when you want to show both the very bright flowing lava and dark cooled lava, for example."

Canon's eye tracking autofocus was also invaluable, Ulla says. "With the glare and heat from red-hot lava, you can't focus manually – in fact, with goggles and other protective clothing on, you can't really see the camera's display that well. So it's great that I can trust the camera to lock on and follow the subjects."

Ulla and her production team used a variety of lenses. The Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM is a favourite – "a great, great lens, especially in low light" – but for cinematic storytelling in remote locations when weight becomes a critical consideration, and for filming where image stabilisation is required, the crew turned to the RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM, one of Canon's "trinity" of professional f/2.8 telephoto zoom lenses. To cover the range of focal lengths required, their travel filmmaking equipment list included the other two "trinity" lenses, the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM and the RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM.

Inevitably, cameras and lenses for travel and adventure photography have to perform in extreme conditions, and Ulla praises her Canon gear's robustness and weather-resistance. She explains that rain falling through clouds of volcanic gases becomes highly acidic – so much so that it started slowly eating through her abseiling ropes, but her camera's weather-sealing was up to the challenge.

Ulla's gear has survived being splashed with seawater on a fishing boat, as well as extremes of high-altitude cold and volcanic heat. On the Red Bull shoot, she recounts, "at one point, we were filming an interview out on a recent lava flow, and I had to stop. It was cooling on top but still hot underneath – so hot that the tripod starting melting from below – but the camera kept performing."

Not everyone will have the opportunity to film on volcanoes, or want to specialise in that niche. But Ulla's career demonstrates how a creative mindset, determination and unquenchable thirst for adventure can conquer the biggest challenges in adventure photography and videography. And, naturally, it's never boring.

"I get as much of a thrill as I had in the very beginning," Ulla says, "because I realise how powerful stories are, and how I can really change people's lives. When I do talks, I get a lot of feedback from people saying how I have inspired them to realise their own dreams, how I've changed their lives, and this is very fulfilling. It's what makes me do what I do."

"Develop storytelling skills, because a lot of people can take great images but it's the story that makes you stand out as a photographer. Find a story, develop it, and if your story is strong enough, if you have a personal message to tell, you will always succeed."

"You need to invest your time, money and energy into something you're passionate about. I just do what I love. I specialised in indigenous cultures, particularly communities living around active volcanoes. It's a very narrow field but I carved out this niche by proposing the right stories, and a lot of magazines contacted me. Become an expert in one area and use a unique style of photography to tell that story."

"My breakthrough story was about a tribe in Papua New Guinea who still practise mummification and had never been photographed. Magazines are looking for photographs that have never been seen before – something visually interesting that tells a story. Choose a topic with wide appeal that reveals new things."

"If you want to become an adventure or expedition photographer, make sure you know the ropes – learn about ice climbing and ski touring and, wherever you can, go where other people cannot. You will have an advantage as a photographer and get hired because you have specific skills."

"I have to be a full team member – I have to carry the same amount, walk the same distances, and do my job. Pack carefully, don't carry too much, and make sure you put sport in your daily routine, because physical fitness and resilience is part of the work."

"I always go out with a story in mind – an atmosphere I want and shots I want to get. I can then plan what equipment to take. With volcanoes, of course, you can only plan to a certain extent – nothing ever goes entirely according to plan, but then that can become the story. To be honest, cities scare me more. In nature, if you are alert then you can see the signs, and I try to anticipate what could happen. What happens if the volcano erupts? Where is the lava going to flow? It's risk management. I think things through and I can usually stay calm, because I have planned ahead."

"I have to know where everything is in my pack. I have to operate my camera at night with my eyes closed. I have to be able to change a lens in the middle of an ash storm. And I have to trust my equipment. So I would rather work with less than too much. If I cannot carry the lens I'd have preferred, or if it would, for example, jeopardise my relationship with subjects who are not used to cameras, then I will choose practicality over that last bit of perfection. I don't want to say I don't aim for the perfect shot, but the thing is to get the shot."

"Working in a team is very important for me. On our volcano shoot, for example, over a period of two weeks, we normally got only one or two hours' sleep a night. Four hours was a record. Usually people would just crack under this pressure, but we all wanted the same goal and we all pulled together.

"In the same way, it's always good to collaborate with NGOs and local communities – make sure they also profit from people taking their photographs. Of course telling their stories can benefit them, but when I photograph people I also give part of my earnings back to them or their community, through NGOs that support them after natural disasters and so on."

"I like to meet editors at photo festivals such as Visa pour l'Image – but editors don't have much time, so just make sure you can explain your story in one sentence. I make a portfolio of new stories every year, pitch it to editors, and usually one in ten works. That's just the nature of the game. It helps to have a good portfolio, but a lot of editors browse social media and websites for photographers, so make sure your best shots are out there."