How I got into wildlife photography

When I first got my camera, I had no idea what kind of world I would (eventually) dive into. For a long time I only used photography as “better” holiday documentation, and whenever I was here in Münster, I never really touched it - the camera would often just sit around for ages, and the few skills I’d just learned would slip away again. At some point during my bachelor’s degree, I got to go on a field trip to Hiddensee and met some fellow students who already knew a fair bit about birds. That was the first time I had this moment of realising - hey, this could actually be really fun. And since I’d always been enthusiastic about photography anyway, my interest was sparked. I looked for a decent telephoto lens that wasn’t too expensive and got myself the Sony E 70-350mm f4.5-6.3, which turned out to be great. The problem was, I had no idea what I was even supposed to photograph or what to look for. I was simply overwhelmed, and my enthusiasm faded quickly, because it was winter, there were few animals around, and everything was grey. Then at some point I was at my parents’ place, looking at a postcard that had been sitting there for ages. It showed a kingfisher - painted, but still beautiful and striking. And since the kingfisher had somehow always been a topic in our family, with my father always telling us whenever he’d spotted one again, I had an idea - that’s my goal! To photograph a kingfisher well, or really, to even see one in the first place, because at that point I hadn’t even laid eyes on one myself. So with fresh energy and motivation I headed out, and, well, what can I say…

Since then I’ve taken a lot of photos, and it’s exactly this act of heading out, searching a little, or simply letting whatever comes your way wash over you, that gives me so much back. What might just be “some bird” to someone else can become the highlight of my day - and that’s exactly what I love so much about it.