The beginning / by Arne Bischoff

So this is the beginning of this page. But what was my beginning? A so-good friend kindled both: the interest in photography and the appreciation for birds. The former was easier to ignite. I was allowed to use her D90 a lot and my interest grew with every picture I shot. But it took quite some time to go further than interest. I was missing a subject. I was missing something that I wanted to photograph. I was missing a reason to photograph.

Enter birds. I always was an outdoorsy person. And since I was a young boy, I was fascinated with nature documentary. I breathlessly watched tigers and snow-leopards and whales and and and in the tele. Subsequently I was dreaming of “spectacular“ subjects to photograph. But there are not so many spectacular species in Northern Germany. You can consider yourself lucky to see a pouncing fox. But as a matter of fact, there is hardly a more spectacular subject than birds. This is what my friend told me. And my friend told me more but never dug into my heels, giving me the room to understand myself. It took a while, but I did. Today I love that I see birds wherever I may go. They come in all varieties and they are literally everywhere. Be it the metropolis or the remote wilderness. They adapt to every possible habitat. And they come with so many behavioural patterns, sizes, shapes, colours, species. Of course, you have to work a little to fully appreciate all this. But the more you know, the more you understand, the more fascinating it gets. My friend knew.

My love for birds in particular and for watching animals exceeds my interest in photography. If I can choose only to watch or only to photograph, I'll watch. But more often than not, I do both. And of both I will tell you in this weblog. Of birds, of experiences watching wildlife and a little of photography.

Stay tuned and see my first ever picture of birds …