Photographers

Christian Fosserat

Christian Fosserat, a 43-year-old Swiss naturalist photographer, video maker and carpenter.

“The true nature of animals is to be wild and free”… Christian has been loving losing himself in the forest since his earliest childhood. Those walks enabled him to awaken his interest for photography and to face his fears, especially for night!

That must be where we could find the roots of his passion for nocturnal birds.

He discovered animal photography through the works of his role models, including S. Saldago, R.-P Bille, F. Lanting, or J.Brandenburg and then learnt all by himself the basics of photography. “I really enjoy the immediacy of photography, to manage to capture the present moment is just magical”.

When talking about his favorite activity, Christian gets passionate : “To be within nature is inspiring, I feel totally alive, I can feed myself with this abundant energy that invigorates me and I come out full of satisfaction and pleasure”. His first pictures were on classical themes, including chamois, stags or ibexes. But soon, he wouldn’t have enough with big mammals and instead of turning towards “rare birds” (as a lot of naturalist photographer do), Christian decided to focus on the local fauna, the one living next to him. Aware of the impact of his presence in the environment, he leaves nothing to chance before going and shooting. He’s multiplying spotting visits and is always paying close attention to the optimal moment, the right movement, and the ideal atmosphere that would inspire him. And only once he did that, he would hide in the landscape without much layout (as it would break the contact with nature if he could only see it through a small window).

On the technical side, Christian decided to use monopod, as its using suppleness enables a unique movement rapidity. A 600mm lens allows him to be quite far away from the subjects he’s shooting and to capture a few moments of their private life without disturbing them. But the difficulty remains to be accepted by animals. The temptation to reduce the distance between the photographer and the animal is huge, but he has to resist or it could annoy the animal that would flee. This aspect is essential in the approaching process, as a good picture couldn’t be taken if the animal doesn’t completely feel confident.

portrait : © Yves Menétrey

View all documents from this author