Member Monday Featuring Andreas Hitzig
Bzz, Bzz! A little bee told us that it’s Member Monday! Meet Switzerland based photographer Andreas Hitzig, and explore the inspiration behind this awesome capture.
About the Photo
I live in the French part of Switzerland in a small village called Corseaux, close to the town of Vevey on the shore of Lake Geneva. I took this image in our garden, in front of our house. This is one thing I’ve learned from several KelbyOne Courses, the best training ground is your backyard or garden.
I just recently added a Sony A9 camera, along with a 100 – 400mm lens with a 1.4 TC to my gear. So I used this gear to shoot insects in my garden. It might sound like an overkill to use such gear for “just” a few bees in the garden. I don’t mind if a miss some shots of insects with this gear, I can return to the garden tomorrow or next weekend when the sun shined again.
But I would regret very much if I miss a shot of a hunting cheetah or a jumping leopard on safari, just because I don’t know well enough my gear. So I take this shoots because I like the results, but also for practice. This way I gain experience in how the different autofocus modes behave, how the gear reacts to my movements, etc. It’s really a fun way to make nice photos and to improve my skills at the same time.
Gear and Software
A Sony A9 camera with a 100 – 400 Sony lens and 1.4 tele converter.
Photography Preferences
Mostly wildlife and landscape. For business purposes I travel a lot to India, there I do sometimes some street photography and some architecture photos. I almost never take photos of people.
Photography Inspiration
Moose Peterson and Rick Sammon for their Wildlife classes inspired me the most. I don’t have a backyard like Moose, nor do we have the critters he has there, but in using our garden as practicing ground started with his tips already many years back.
Favorite KelbyOne Classes
I love the classes of Kaylee Greer because I love our two dogs and she opened really the creative side of photographing our dogs for me. I like Scott’s classes for Lightroom and Photoshop because they are focused on simplicity, practical for daily use for non-professional people like me, the same for Terry White. Even though I never practiced light painting, I admire the results achieved by Dave Black. Last but not least I find the interviews by Kalebra very inspiring. The way she asks her interview partner is great and unlocks a lot of practical and personal information.
Connect with Andreas
You can follow Andreas’ website for more work like this stunning photo! We hope you enjoyed getting to know featured KelbyOne member, Andreas Hitzig.
Be sure to submit your photos for a chance to receive a Member Monday feature of your own.