In her portraiture and long-term documentary work, Annika Haas creates imagery that is visually poetic. The images she makes are also a way for the award-winning Estonian photographer to learn more about herself and the communities she depicts. "I have been quite a withdrawn character socially and even shy away from people, but observation with the camera has given me courage," says Annika, reflecting on what photography has taught her.

Annika's journey began at 13 when she received a film camera from her parents as a birthday present. Born in Tori-J?esuu, a village in the area of Soomaa National Park in southwestern Estonia, Annika felt her wild surroundings call out to her. "It was a very natural thing to capture nature and the local people," she says.

Her first Canon camera was the Canon EOS 3 35mm SLR, and at age 19, Annika's first foray into being a published photographer began with regional press. "At the beginning of the 1990s, I had my first picture in a local newspaper and I was so proud of that," she says. "I then decided that my future should involve photography." Annika has gone on to have work published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, Monocle magazine, San Francisco Chronicle and LensCulture magazine, and has been featured in exhibitions across the world.

Annika's work with communities has also involved shining a light on Estonia's Roma people, a minority group she began connecting with in the late 1980s, and has helped to dissolve misconceptions. "I started this project to get over the [general societal] fear towards the Roma community," she adds. "So I always have to have some kind of push from an emotion or feeling for how and why to start a project."

Windows into hidden communities like this, Annika says, begin with honest intentions and being willing to learn. An image from her resulting documentary work was voted among the Best Estonian Press Photos of 2013, as decided by The Estonian Newspaper Association.

Annika's project, Anatomy of the Estonian Muslim Community, followed a similar motive to gain insight through documentary portraits, and resulted in an informative exhibition. "I decided to show the real face of the Muslim community in Estonia and my aim was to somehow show that there is no difference in who you are by your nature, skin colour or religious background," she says. "There is always some kind of ethical theme in my photography."

The moral compass she uses in her work has also included environmental issues, evidenced by her Greenhouse Effect project, a long-term photographic study of four years portraying Estonia's younger generation, aged 12 to 21, that is tackling the exploitation of nature and overconsumption of Earth.

"I perhaps have a little bit of a naive hope that I can change the world with photography," Annika concludes. "My work involves important themes and I really enjoy that there is always a connection between photography and poetry."

What's been the key to having your work featured in a lot of prestigious publications?

"If you want to be a 'voice' it's important to show your work. You have to just start making contacts. There are always people who hopefully feel something, so it's important to find those people and connect. I started with competitions. I was quite successful even at the beginning of my career. I won one very important international photo competition all about Estonian visual identity. Competitions are important for photographers because nowadays there are too many photos. If you have something to say, then just try."

What is your greatest achievement?

"If I see that my work really matters to an audience who comes to an exhibition, or if I can change things for good. The most important thing is if a person feels touched in some way through my creation."

Who have been the photographers and artists that have inspired you the most and why?

"You have to find your own way. If you have to copy someone it's not the right way for me. There are always people who will be influenced by your art."

What have you learned about yourself through your own lens over the years?

"Above all, photography has taught me empathy and vision. In order to see, you need to look and be open first. But the greatest discovery and development in myself has been that looking has changed to seeing. Why is it important? Because looking is momentary and limited, seeing is a creation of associations and connections, and what a paradox it is: I learnt it from the blind people I created one project with."

"Before I press the camera shutter button, I don't analyse the technical characteristics of the image so much as its content. Henri Cartier-Bresson's theory of the 'decisive moment' has been incorporated into my photographic practice, not within the framework of using photographic techniques to achieve a visually effective image, but to create a meaningful context for capturing. Think about what you have to say to others, and how your message touches the viewer's senses and makes them react with a movement to become better for themselves and others."

Instagram: @annikahaasphotography

Website: foku.ee/member/annika-haas/