Albert Mächler - Photo Hunting
Opening day: December 13, 2007
Albert Mächler
Interview by Duccio Biasi
How did you become passionate about Photo Hunting?
I am naturally attracted towards difficult situationsand passionate about reaching objectives that are hard to get. Photo hunting is one of them because it requires a great deal of stubbornness and deep knowledge of wild animals’ behavior.
What species would you rather photograph?
I particularly like observing and taking photos of mountain pheasants because their mating season – which occurs in May – is a real show.
It is probably not that easy to take close photos of animals who are not used to human contact. Did you develop any particular approach?
I generally try to attract them using their favorite food. I sometimes need weeks, even months, before a relationship of trust is established and the animal comes and feeds with me on a daily basis. It has occurred that, in order to shoot a very special photo, I had to remodel the soil around the eating place, or set some fences.
You generally shoot some very expressive photographs: sometimes they are dramatic, other times even funny. Is this just the result of intuitions and luck or is the analysis of animals’ behavior useful to obtain such results?
It certainly is. It is absolutely necessary to know the habits of animals intimately; this helps you catching them in spectacular situations. With mountain goats, for instance, I often have to wait up to 10 hours near the herd before they stop feeling me as a disruptive element and start behaving normally again.
You live in Engadina, a real natural heaven, extremely wealthy in wild fauna. Are there any “fixed” locations for photo-hunting or is your activity linked to an ongoing territorial search?
Even if Engadina is very wild and hosts a wide variety of species, I shoot a lot of photos also in other places. For instance, when I want to shoot mountain goats or white partridges I’d rather go to Alpstein, for chamoix Northern Austria, for owls and deer I go to Hungary. The environmental characteristics and the habits of the surroundings, as well as the help that I can get from friends, obviously play a key role in my choices.
Interview by Duccio Biasi
How did you become passionate about Photo Hunting?
I am naturally attracted towards difficult situationsand passionate about reaching objectives that are hard to get. Photo hunting is one of them because it requires a great deal of stubbornness and deep knowledge of wild animals’ behavior.
What species would you rather photograph?
I particularly like observing and taking photos of mountain pheasants because their mating season – which occurs in May – is a real show.
It is probably not that easy to take close photos of animals who are not used to human contact. Did you develop any particular approach?
I generally try to attract them using their favorite food. I sometimes need weeks, even months, before a relationship of trust is established and the animal comes and feeds with me on a daily basis. It has occurred that, in order to shoot a very special photo, I had to remodel the soil around the eating place, or set some fences.
You generally shoot some very expressive photographs: sometimes they are dramatic, other times even funny. Is this just the result of intuitions and luck or is the analysis of animals’ behavior useful to obtain such results?
It certainly is. It is absolutely necessary to know the habits of animals intimately; this helps you catching them in spectacular situations. With mountain goats, for instance, I often have to wait up to 10 hours near the herd before they stop feeling me as a disruptive element and start behaving normally again.
You live in Engadina, a real natural heaven, extremely wealthy in wild fauna. Are there any “fixed” locations for photo-hunting or is your activity linked to an ongoing territorial search?
Even if Engadina is very wild and hosts a wide variety of species, I shoot a lot of photos also in other places. For instance, when I want to shoot mountain goats or white partridges I’d rather go to Alpstein, for chamoix Northern Austria, for owls and deer I go to Hungary. The environmental characteristics and the habits of the surroundings, as well as the help that I can get from friends, obviously play a key role in my choices.
Albert Mächler was born on March 20th, 1950 in Altstätten, in the San Gallo Canton in Switzerland, where he also grew up. After leaving school, he did a work training period in a bank...
(read more)
|
|
|
|
