Great crested grebe family on the Alster Great crested grebe family on the Alster

With the Hauben Taucher family on the Alster

In Germany, as a photographer you have to specialize in one topic. Wedding photographers only photograph weddings, fashion photographers don't show their weddings because otherwise art buyers who are giving away the next lucrative advertising job will be put off. A very German approach: everything has to fit into drawers. At a Phase One event I met a photographer from Stuttgart who was too versatile for German agents - and was therefore very happy to be provided with photo jobs by a French agency.

Of course, as someone who loves photographing people in addition to sports photography, I don't think this pigeonholing is that great. Especially since both types of photography require quite different equipment. Of course it's a different methodology, but learning it isn't rocket science - and I've been living very well with the symbiosis of both types of photography for a few years now. It's lucky that I have clients around me who trust me to do both. Thank you for this at this point!

Furthermore, I am very pleased to have this blog: I don't really care what thematic priorities are. I just want to have fun while taking photos. And when I walked hand in hand around the Alster with my loved one on Saturday and we discovered a species of duck with offspring that was initially unknown to us, it was clear to us that we wanted to visit the young family again with different equipment. I only had my Leica with me and my loved one went around the Alster armed with a macro. Nobody could have imagined that we would discover something so sweet. When it comes to photographing animals in Germany, the only thing that usually counts is the focal length - neither of us had that to hand.

So on Easter Sunday we went back with long focal lengths to the spot on the Alster where we now see this Grebes had seen the unmasked couple first.

Of course I will never be a wildlife photographer, I have too much respect for this type of photography, but the subject was right in front of us. My advantage is that I can reuse the long focal lengths from sports photography and show some snapshots of everyday life. However, they are 400 mm almost too short, which is why I made an exception D800e behind it. That gave me the necessary reserves to "digitally zoom in". Of course, I won't win any animal photography prizes with the pictures, but it was simply a lovely time on the Alster. The hunting fever for the right shot set in here too...

Look at the penultimate picture again: 1/1000s exposure time is not enough to capture the movement of the head clearly.

If you would like to see the wonderful natural spectacle: The Hauben Taucher family is located not far from the Cliff Restaurant, just a few steps to the north. There is even a park bench there that invites you to linger.

  1. Very good photos Stefan! They show that a photographer who knows his craft can also deliver very good photos in another area without any problems. 😉 You can offer the images at 500px Prime without any problems.

  2. It's nice that you're making the typical German game of pigeonholes your topic and ignoring it. I often have the impression that we rarely pursue the fun and joy we feel in things.
    A nice post, both with pictures and words

    LG Werner

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