Twelve hours for the perfect picture: Marzlingen wildlife photographer publishes calendar for the first time
Created: 09/25/2022, 09:00
By: Magdalena Hoecherl
Well equipped: David Slawik (21) has been a passionate photographer for eight years – especially wild animals.
© private
David Slawik (21) is a passionate wildlife photographer.
To draw attention to how worthy of protection nature is, he is now publishing his first calendar.
Marzling
– David Slawik worked hard for this moment.
The 21-year-old drove to Norway with two friends, with a tent and photo equipment.
While Germany is groaning at temperatures of over 30 degrees, the three young men are out and about in the tundra for days at three degrees.
Where there are no more paths, let alone other people.
Just steppe landscape as far as the eye can see.
But what the three then spot in the distance rewards them for all their exertion: two musk oxen fighting each other.
Slawik pulls out the camera and takes the picture of his life.
Giants from the Ice Age: On a photo tour in Norway, David Slawik was lucky enough to discover a total of four musk oxen.
© David Slawik/private
The first camera came out at Christmas
Slawik, who lives in Marzling, is studying forestry engineering in Weihenstephan from the fall and works as a paramedic in Freising, is a passionate hobby photographer.
It all started about eight years ago.
When the Allgäu native was 14, he first came into contact with photography through a friend.
"I found it really exciting and wanted to take a closer look at it," he says in an interview with FT.
He wished for his first camera for Christmas and then really got into it with the help of the internet.
"I absorbed everything, self-taught, so to speak, and photographed everything possible."
After a year, the teenager realizes that he wants to take his camera out.
"I've always liked being in nature." So he starts to put wild animals in front of his lens - in the forest, in the mountains, by water.
And while he only grabs the camera at first, over time he realizes how important not only the photographic equipment is, he now owns four cameras, tripods and several lenses, but also the environmental conditions for a good picture.
He soon learns to adapt to the season, the light and weather conditions and, above all, to the animal species.
"For example, if I want to photograph owls, I go into the forest before sunrise to take photos when the first light comes." He can be more flexible with frogs or dragonflies: "They are not that shy."
What is particularly close to his heart in his hobby: the careful handling of nature and its motifs.
“Unfortunately there are some in the scene who will do anything for a good picture.
I expressly distance myself from that.”
(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
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Photographing animals in zoos is therefore never an option for Slawik.
"My great wish is not only to bring people closer to the beauty of nature through my photos, but also how important it is to protect it - especially with regard to climate change." Hence his studies.
His dream is to later work as a ranger in a national park on nature conservation projects - and to accompany them with the camera.
With the camouflage tent on the way
Whenever Slawik goes out, he always makes sure that he disturbs his “models” as little as possible.
Therefore, the right camouflage is extremely important: outdoor clothing in colors like green, black and brown, sometimes he also uses an invisibility cloak.
He sometimes puts up a camouflage pattern tent for deer or the kingfisher native to Bavaria.
"That's a bit covered with branches and leaves and you're practically invisible between trees and bushes."
Majestic: For this photo of a kingfisher, the hobby photographer had to stay in the camouflage tent for hours.
© David Slawik/private
But photo and camouflage equipment is useless if you don't bring the most important thing with you: patience.
“I spent a total of twelve hours on several days in different places for the kingfisher.” But it was worth it: “The birds came in at three or four metres.
To experience that was very nice.”
The kingfisher, the musk ox and ten other animals from Germany and Norway can now be admired in a calendar for 2023.
"After eight years, I thought to myself that I had now reached a level where I could implement such a project with a clear conscience." does.” Slawik wants to continue investing the proceeds in photo equipment and, of course, nature conservation.
Here is the calendar by David Slawik
The A3 photo calendar is available for 21 euros including postage.
Interested parties can send an email to
david.slavik9464@gmail.com
or via Instagram.
You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.