Die Premiere von "Ruf der Wildnis II " beim Wunderwelten Festival in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee.

( English version see below)

Es dauerte einige Wochen in denen Emil und ich intensiv an unsere neuen Multivisionshow “Ruf der Wildnis II” arbeiteten. Dann war es soweit. Die Premiere beim Wunderwelten Festival am 7. November 2010 in Friedrichshafen. “Ruf der Wildnis” – eine Homage an Jack London, der meine Leidenschaft für die Wildnis Nordamerikas geweckt hat.  Es war ein unglaubliches Gefühl zu sehen, wie sich das Graf Zeppelin Haus immer weiter füllte bis ich zuletzt vor einem Ausverkauften Saal stand und 1000 Besucher vor mir hatte. Die gewaltige Leinwand von über 12 m Breite ließ die Bilder zur vollen Wirkung kommen. In der neuen Show hatte ich die Gelegenheit, viele meiner Erlebnisse in der Wildnis Nordamerikas – zwischen Alaska und Baja Kalifornien, Mexiko – an die Zuschauer weiterzugeben.

Visions of the Arctic event with Earthjustice in the Times Building in New York City

Auf WunderWelten folgte dann eine Tournee in der Schweiz, Vorträge in Nord Amerika und weitere Festivals, so dass ich in den letzten 3 Monaten an über 7000 Besucher meine Bilder und Erlebnisse weitergeben konnte. Ich muss ehrlich sagen, es ist anstrengend, wenn man oft Tag um Tag auf der Bühne steht. Aber ich habe es lieben gelernt, denn das Medium des “Live-Vortrags” ist etwas besonderes. Menschen nehmen die Bilder, die Erlebnisse und auch die Botschaft ganz anders wahr, als z.B. in einem Dokumentarfilm aus dem Fernsehen oder etwa im Kino.

Florian speaking at a Earthjustice event in New York

Für mich war es ganz besonders, die eindrücklichsten Erlebnisse unserer Reisen und Expeditionen für unsere Multivisions-Show aufzuarbeiten. Es gab mir nämlich die Chance mich an die verschiedenen Orte zurückzuversetzten und mich daran zu erinnern, was ich damals gefühlt habe. In den Vorbereitungen der Show achten wir ganz besonders auf die Bilderfolge um die Witterungen und Lichtstimmungen in der Wildnis weiterzugeben. Emil hat besondere Fähigkeiten in der Muskikauswahl und der Abstimmung auf die Bilder, so dass wir das Erlebte als gefühlte Atmosphäre weitergeben können. So können wir unsere Zuschauer in die Wildnis entführen.

Gleichzeitig gibt es mir die Möglichkeit über wichtige Naturschutzprojekte zu sprechen und auch auf direkte Gefahren für einige der Wildnis-Regionen, in denen ich arbeite, hinzuweisen. Das Rückmeldungen bisher waren überwältigend! Gerade gestern habe ich wieder eine ganz besondere  Email erhalten, von der ich einen kleinen Auszug zitieren will: ” Selten habe ich Menschen um mich herum so mitfiebern sehen. Die Geschichte vom Karibu-Kalb, die Wölfe und Bären, das, was Du von Euch erzählt hast – grandios ! …….
Von der Macht der Bilder bin ich immer überzeugt gewesen, doch dass sie so eine intensive Wirkung haben können, dass sie direkt “ins Herz gehen “, hätte ich nicht für möglich gehalten ! “

Über 1600 Besucher bei der Mundologia in Freiburg - bisher unser größtes Publikum

Vor Jahren habe ich einmal einen Zeitungsartikel über die Fotografie im Zeitalter des Films geschrieben. Obwohl ich auch kleine Filmabschnitte in meinem Vortrag habe, wurde mir wieder klar wie besonders das stehende Bild ist. Man kann einfach die Augen eine Weile lang auf den Fotografien ruhen lassen. So kann man z.B. den heruaspringenden Wal wirklich erfassen. Das Medium des “Life-Vortrags” bringt etwas ruhe in unseren hektischen Alltag.

"Ruf der Wildnis II" bei der Mundologia 2011

Die Zeit der Vorträge ist nun vorbei und ich werde mich nun wieder auf die Arbeit im Feld konzentrieren. Falls Sie bei Ruf der Wildnis waren, bedanke ich mich für Ihr Kommen. Hoffentlich dann bis zu unserer nächsten Show über die Arktis.

Wrapped in layers of clothes I am laying on my stomach, watching a large group of longhaired beasts, that seemed to be from a prehistoric world. The wind has picked up in the course of the night to 40 miles and hour. It whips up the mountain sides and sweeps up small ice crystals that hit my skin like needles. In different areas blowing snow becomes thick and travels across the ground like a ghost of fog.

As parts of my face start to get colder and want to turn numb; and my hands can’t handle my camera anymore, I am thinking how lucky I am to be hit with this weather. It is these types of conditions, that I was hoping for. In my photography I really want to convey a sense of place – take people out into the field with me. For that, my images need to convey the harsh weather conditions, the powerful elements of the wind and the cold.

I am laying on the ground to get a unique perspective. The blowing snow creates this mystical atmosphere and ads to my interpretation of an animal that rather belongs to a children’s fairytale than to this world. I also have learned that the Muskoxen are much less mindful of my presence if I stay low to the ground. They often just eye me with curiosity.

As I am out there observing them many hours a day, I become ever more fascinated. What puzzles me the most is how they can live of a few lichen on the barren tundra, that they scratch up from underneath the snow. How can they possibly receive sufficient energy from this bit of vegetation to withstand constant arctic winter conditions?

What gets me even more, is that I seem to always find them on the most exposed and windy spots on the mountain sides and hilltops. They appear completely indifferent to the wind and the cold. It becomes obvious how well they have adapted to their environment. Their wool apparently has 6 times the insulating qualities of regular wool. No wonder they stay warm.

I am wrapped in several layers of underwear, polar fleece and outer shells that keep me warm. I had never paid much attention to high-tech clothes in the past. Part of that was probably the price tag: out of reach for a broke photographer who spends all of his money on camera gear. This time around however, I had received a sample of Patagonia´s winter clothes. I have to say I was totally impressed. The combination of inside layers and outer shells completely kept any wind from getting to me. It allowed me to hang out with the muskox patiently waiting for those special moments that make up a great image.

It is the worst trying to hold the lens still, when you feel the mosquitos landing on your hand starting to sting

Remember this moment, when you peacefully lay in bed on a warm summer evening, you close your eyes and want to finally relax and slip off into dream world……. and then suddenly you hear this single little mosquito flying around your head. You hear the ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ziiiiiiiiii coming closer to your face and you try to feel where this damn mosquito lands, so you can hit yourself over the head and hopefully smash the little bugger. Most of the time however your face may flinch in anticipation of the oncoming hand, giving this mosquito just enough time to escape its fate.

Well now multiply this mosquito by a thousand, NO! by tenthousand and you may be able to imagnine the kind of  hell you might find yourself in on an arctic river in summer. The noise level of mosquitoes resembles a concert of dog wissles that are just within the realm of the human ear.

So you are still with me? – ok; then you imagine my idea to wade through a river and sit patiently in the tundra near a wolf den to see if I might get lucky to get a photograph. Well yeah, this is the thing with me. If I have a glimpse of hope, my will can be pretty strong. ( Read about my story on PATIENCE )

So what was I after? I had know about this wolf den the year before. Together with my pilot we checked the location this year again to confirm that the wolves were actually still present. We did one round over the den and saw a grey wolf peacefully resting on the river bank. I got one image and this observation gave me reason to come back. When we planned to come back in July we thought about mosquitoes; I bought a mosquito net last minute, because I had forgotten mine. Thank god! As we arrived at the river and flow over the den site we still saw a black wolf nearby. That wolf never even looked up but just shook his fir. It was a sign. As soon as we landed, we know what was going on. This poor creature was so miserable, it could care less what we were all about. Aerial wolf-hunters? Who cares! Put me out of this misery!

Grey Wolf watching the den. Nikon D3x, 70-200mm/f2.8

Good thing we were of the other kind! Longer story short: After crossing the river, I sat down near the den for a couple of hours. For some reason the mosquitoes always found away to work their ways to my skin. I tried to stay calm and the dream of the wolf images kept me pretty upbeat. The bigger problem for me was that I saw not much sign of activity on the river bank. The sand seemed not disturbed from tracks of playing wolf pups, nor was there an obvious path where they would emerge. I checked out different angles but I just could not convince myself that these wolves would ever appear in the open, if they were there at all. So I decided to leave, one of the many times where a hope for an image did not result in success.

Maybe it saved my life, that there were no fresh signs! With my stubbornness I may have stayed out there until the mosquitoes would have sucked the last drop of blood out of me and just left my dried up outer shell – mummified; of course with camera in hand.

Grizzly on the coastal planes in the Alaskan Arctic

Hey everybody…….

I know I have been promising to write about my arctic aerial expedition. To tell you the truth, I am in kind of restless state where my thoughts are all over the place right now. The experience that I had in the arctic was so incredible. Some of the impressions were so profound, that I feel I cannot express it in a blog that I just write in a few minutes. I need to find a little more space first.

To get an idea of the vast arctic landscape touched me deeply. To see caribous by the hundred thousands was a long life dream of mine, that became reality in wonders that I hardly dared to imagine. I am aware that I see the last truly wild and wide ranging animals on this continent. I saw not caribou – I saw a larger organism: The herd as a whole.

I have some very difficult issues to go through right now and it is interesting how the landscape and the ancient rhythm of nature gave me not only a sense of place of being at home in nature and on this planet, but it also seemed to balance out some of the different realities we are living in. Nature is something very grounded, something pure and real. It gave me perspective. Maybe these are my spiritual moments. A friend just said to me: “When you are out there in wilderness – your are at church, Florian!” So much on this planet is full of wonder. I am fascinated to observe the interconnectedness of the natural world and to document some of the special moments I witness. It is a deep passion that seems to guide my life.

In our modern lives we are immersed in a very changed environment. Our realities change from city to city,work place,  friends, peer groups and family. It is our sense of perception and those influences. If one spends more time in nature it seems one can find more to one`s self.

Up in the arctic I immersed myself into a world apart. When this grizzly wondered down towards the riverbed he stood tall catching his balance, I felt welcome to wilderness.

So be patient with me. I will write about this incredible adventure of witnessing the caribou, seals on the ice and the polar bear…… hopefully soon!

This Conservation Photographer of the Year Award was created to recognize a special individual who has used his or her skills as a nature photographer to implement meaningful and measurable conservation efforts and to inform and educate the public about environmental concerns. The CPY Award is presented in alliance with the National Wildlife Federation, the largest nonprofit conservation organization in North America.

It is hard to imagine how wildlife is able to thrive in places where weather can be unforgiven or food seems scarce, like the Arctic. And yet, some of these unthinkable places, carry amazing histories of survival.

It was late afternoon and I had been walking along the river bank to set up my stereo recording system. Walking close to the river, I passed by several river cracks that were quite deep and slippery. From the corner of my eye I cached a slightly movement from the inside of the crack.

To my astonished eyes, what I came to encounter wasn’t a fox as I had thought, it was a young caribou calf that had been left behind. My heart felt cold to the ground. 

 He didn’t move, or called, or anything, he just sat there, looking at me. He was probably exhausted after crossing the freezing waters of the river and fighting the current to keep up with its mother. 

After witnessing their struggle to cross the heavy waters of this river, one can only think, this little being should continue living after such an effort. He was so tiny, like most of his siblings, probably few days old.

And the thought of them already swimming across such waters, it really makes you wonder how amazing nature can be.

We as wildlife photographers, have never interfered with nature in any way. We are there to document. But I  felt a strong need to help, at least to give him the chance to continue his journey.

So I went and got Florian from camp to see what to do. The Calf was there, siting still. Florian went down and helped him up the river bank. Then he passed it onto my arms to carry it over to the open.

He looked at me with his big brown eyes, and I could feel his heart beating really really fast! This tiny little calf had probably never seen a human before, and was wondering what we were doing. But he stayed calm, it was a truly peaceful moment.

We could see the mother on the other side of the willows, running franticly searching for its calf. So we carried it over to see if they would find each other. And they did!

As soon as the calf called out a few times - yelp yelp yelp - the mother immediately came over. They touched noses and ran off together.

At the end of the day, we realized how much this animals have to go through to keep up with the herd. And then we thought, if any other people would see what we saw, they would’ve want to do the same: save the little calf.

Later on, we realized that saving a calf from the crevasses is only a symbolic message. It is more important to make people aware that preserving their lands, will allow them to roam freely over the Tundra.

This specific area, the Utukok Uplands, has been proposed for future oil drilling. Efforts are being made to oppose this, but we still need your voice to help prevent further exploitation.

Would’ve you want the little caribou to survive the river crossing?

If we really want this animals to continue thriving across the beautiful landscapes of the Arctic, oil development should not happen in this pristine areas. We need new clean ways to produce energy.

Say no to oil development in the Arctic! For more information visit the following websites:

www.alaskawild.org

www.nrdc.org

www.nwf.org

There are many stories to tell about Wild Migrations and how we happened to be in the middle of some of them. Our first journeys with hundreds of tiny sandpipers in Cordova, AK. It was one of a series of encounters that took our breaths away and set a mark in our hearts about what migration means.

For all of this fascinating creatures to traverse hundreds of miles at a time.

Flocks after flocks of diminutive Sand Pipers kept arriving over the Cordova mud flats. Resting, feeding and re-energizing before heading further north to their nesting grounds on the Arctic Tundra.

To be part and document this incredible spectacles, we needed to fight against winds, stand bad rainy weather, stare dull against grey skies and go through some phsicological fears of probably not getting any shots… but after a long wait, there is always a reward.

And so, this is how one of many stories begins…

With a heart filled with excitement, we were dropped in this unique location where we planned to document the annual migration of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd.

I had listen to many incredible stories about this herd which includes 400,000 hooved members, restless wonderers of the Tundra.

Very few had actually been in the midst of one of them. Would we be able to find them? Will they allow us to contemplate their annual migration?

It was my first time in the Tundra and Florian had not been that many times in such a remote location. I obvisouly imagine all possible scenarios, but the truth is I had such a little idea what I was about to see.

After weeks of careful preparation and planning, we still  had no assurance if we were to witness anything. Some people said, “you might hit it right, but for the years we have traveled the area, we have never seen them, that is roughly 30 years”.

The place is so vast and the animals are so unpredictable, one can never tell the exact dates when to witness this magnificent spectacle. So we prayed for good luck but kept expectations low.

As we came closer to the drop off point, we could see in the distance many white points disperse over the landscape, so tiny and far away one could hardly see any shape. But as the plane got closer and closer to the land, more and more you could make out the white dots move rythmically over the tundra. Caribous!!! Thousands of them!! As far as your eye could see…

We arrived with incredible weather, way better than I had expected. Very windy for sure, but the sky blue as a jewel. We set up camp in the middle of a warm sunny day and sat down to wait, as usual. We are always waiting…

The day went by peacefully and as the sun got closer to the evening (according to our watch) we realize it was time to move around and explore the area. There weren’t many high points where to scan the area. And even though you could see everything from where ever you were, what ever mission you undertook, cost two times the effort. Not only because of the distance, but more because of the terrain.

One can say: Cool! No Mountains to hike! Everything is flat! But then, you feel sorry for choosing to carry a little more equipment thinking it might be so easy. Hiking over the tundra is a true challenge, going through wet zones, mushy or muskeg zones is more a nightmare than a pleasure excursion.

But at the end everything has a reward and we started to see the first Caribous appear over the ridge line, on the other side of the river.

We sat down and waited to see what that evening was to granted us with.

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As we update this blog, you will have an insight of what it means to live a “wildlife photographer’s life”. Florian will also share some of his knowledge about photography and tricks that he comes up with to solve problems in the field.

We know that new postings should come directly from where you are, but some times we found ourselves in the middle of the tundra, rafting down some crazy river or sailing the wild waters of South East Alaska, making an internet connection impossible.

We have tons of stories to share including documenting Snowy Owls in their nesting grounds, major migratory movements by the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and the amazing conglomeration of thousands of shorebirds migrating north in the shores of Cordova, AK. Come back to find more about our past and ongoing adventures!

We hope you enjoy exploring with us and hope that through our eyes, you get to experience and enjoy some of this incredible places that hold many untold stories.

From our wild hearts: Florian & Emil