Joseph Eta was born on the coast of Cameroon. His childhood in Africa continues to influence his photography. He loved art from a young age and used to admire the works of some of the leading photographers in the world. He was brought up at the foot of Mount Cameroon where the sun was his timekeeper. Outside the window and in full view of blue-blossomed jacaranda trees, his grandmother would move the water bucket, sit in a beam of light then slowly heat his bath water before he left for school. Eta would dress and when ready, he would watch the shadow of the sun move graciously around the room like the hand of a clock, until it lit up the front door step, and then he would know it was time to leave for school. His life in secondary school was exciting.
The school faced the Atlantic Ocean shores and every day he would watch the waves break as he sat in his desk. He remembers vividly these early interactions with the outside world and these were the beginning of his appreciation of nature and natural beauty. Eta left Cameroon as a young man to Germany, where he studied software engineering. His work in Europe as an engineer shed light on both the astonishing power of technology and also its limitations. The photographer was inspired by the different ways of communicating and living in diverse environments. His photography aims to address the balance of how people respect - and interact with - the natural world.
