Visions of the Wild

Florian is happy to share his personal stories as well as his professional perspective in the field of conservation and photography. If you have a question that you cannot find answered here, e-mail it to us and Florian will try his best to answer on this page.

FAQ: How long have you been a photographer?

A photographer as s.o. who has a camera:

My father borrowed me his Praktika Camera for the first time when I was 12 years old. We visited “Insel Mainau” a beautyfully gardened flower island on Lake Constanz in Germany.

I however was interested in the “wild” side of the island and spent the next hours photographing lizards on a stone wall. Meanwhile the others looked at the flowers. This was in 1987. I guess I got somehow hoocked at that point.

As a serious amateur:
Later in 1992 at the age of 16 I took part in an exchange program where I was placed in a school in IOWA. Then I bought my first telephoto lens: A sigma 500mm f7,2. I became ever more serious throughout high school and university. With further trips to North America and Africa.

A photographer as a profession:

I studies biology at the university of Heidelberg for 5 years, but then in 2000 I decided to quit school to turn my full attention to photography. Since thenI have been working as full-time professional photographer.

FAQ: How did you get interested in nature and nature photography?

I grew up at the edge of a forest as the oldest of five kids. My mom was happy to have us out of the house at times and so we roamed the forest in the vicinity. We encountered deer, foxes and birds. We often played Indian trackers inspired from the stories of the American West. Our interest in actually paying attention to animals around us was fueled by a family friend, a great naturalist and village dentist, who would get very excited if we shared our observations with him. Another step was the gift of a spotting scope that my parents gave me at the age of 14.

As I spent more and more time in the outdoors, the desire grew to take home some of my observations to share with family and friends. I bought a camera connector to the spotting scope, but the results were undoubtly blurry images.

Later borrowed an old Novoflex Telephoto lens and went on a family trip to Helgoland, in Germanie`s North Sea. The ship barely made it to the island as we encountered one of the worst storms in decades. There were not many photography opportunities because of the storm. Nevertheless, with sand and surf blasting my face away, I laid on my stomach to get a lower perspective of resting sandpipers. Needless to say most of the images were blurry, but the experience was embeded within my soul.

FAQ: What were your most dangerous moments?

When I was attacked by a Black Rhino on my first african expedition, and later on by an elephant. Or when I was circled at full speed by an angry black bear mother (pissed at another bear, intruding her territory).

I have been looked over hard by a grizzly mother, when her cubs ran up a river bank to sit beside me, after beeing scared off by another grizzly female.

I ran into a rip tide with our “little red boat” and broke the tiller. Almost lost my right eye, after a tent-pole snapped into my face in the Alaskan Arctic. And last but not least, I cut my wrist with a boxcutter while preparing a camera trap with a hards shell pelican case.