Member Monday Featuring Andreas Hitzig
Corseaux, Switzerland photographer Andreas Hitzig loves photographing wildlife and spending time with his dog Hobbit—take a look at his work and find out how he got into photography in this Member Monday feature.
Let’s talk to Andreas and see how he’s been spending his time and creative energy these days!
About the Photographer:
- Hometown: Corseaux, Switzerland, located in the French speaking part of Switzerland close to the shore of Lake Geneva.
- Years in Photography: In digital since 1996, in the early eighties I did some film, but not too much.
- Years as a KO Member: I don’t know, probably around 10 years or so?
About the Photo:
- Title: A Hobbit Nose
- Location: At home in Corseaux out on our terrace.
- Additional description: I had decided to add a Macro lens to my gear and received it that same day. When I returned back home it was a sunny and warm evening and we were sitting outside. I put the new lens on my camera and looked around for a subject to photograph. Hobbit was sleeping next to my feet, so I just went low and made that click. Hobbit is the name of our 3 year old Picardy shepherd. His companion is a six year old Picardy lady named Fili. I have included a photo of both of them, so you can imagine who is behind the nose. Hobbit is the one on the left of that photo.
- Gear/Software used: Sony A7R4 using a Sigma 105 mm Macro lens, some post processing in Lightroom classic and Sharpen AI from Topaz.
Describe your creative style in 3 words.
Contrast, crisp and colour
Tell us about a time you struggled or failed with your photography, and how you overcame it?
The Covid pandemic, the lockdowns and other restrictions hit most of us hard and I was no exception. I was lucky to have returned from a beautiful safari in Botswana literally the last day before Switzerland and the countries I visited closed the borders. For some time I had plenty to do with my photos from that trip. The more and more I developed the images I was looking for something new, something different to show my work. Finally I came up with the idea of a virtual exhibition. I curated this exhibition with about 40 of my favorite Botswana images. It was really fun, but also a lot of work, to prepare this exhibition. The feedback I got was encouraging. The exhibition is still online, its free, there is nothing to buy, you might just spend some time to have a look at the images, read the text I wrote to each image and move around.
I used to travel frequently, mostly to India for business. This is not possible anymore, so I had to find new ways also for my photography. I remembered some KO classes, where Moose and Rick were talking about your own backyard is the best place to train yourself and keep you motivated. So I started to go on Safari in our garden, my garden safari trips. It was difficult in the beginning.
After spending hours and hours in the garden I started to see some wildlife that I had rarely observed before and I started to take pictures of it. I learnt a lot of the behavior of our local wildlife, mostly birds. I got more and more attached to my garden safaris and over time the results I achieved got better. In my journal on my website, you can see some of the images I took. I have attached two images I recently took, one showing a blue tit diving from his observation point and the other one a bee crawling out of a flower she had visited.
What sparked your love of photography?
When I started with digital it was mostly the young age of our two boys that I wanted to keep memories of. The more and more software got more powerful and memory more accessible I dived into the digital darkroom. Today I love taking images as much as a like to develop them on my computer. Often I create different versions of the same photo with different mood and crop, not missing out also black and white if the image permits.
What’s your favorite class on KelbyOne and why?
There is not one class and not one instructor in particular. The classes form Moose and Rick inspired my wildlife photography, the classes from Scott and Terry learnt me a lot of Photoshop and Lightroom. I like the way Kaylee brings dog photos to another universe. Last but not least I like the interviews Kalebra does.
If you’d like to connect with Andreas, give him a follow on Twitter and stay up to date with his latest projects!
Thank you for joining us for another Member Monday! If you haven’t yet, be sure to submit your photos for a chance to receive a Member Monday feature of your own.