Masterclass in Nature Photography by Jürgen Freund at JCU

Cairns-based photographer Jürgen Freund has been pointing his camera at all creatures great and small for several decades now, and with great success.

He won the 2010 PATA Gold Award for Travel Photography with an image of marine biologist Brad Norman tagging a whale shark at Ningaloo Reef. A spectacular picture of a Minke whale’s eye won the Oceans category of the Nature’s Best Magazine international competition. He has also placed highly in competitions including the World Press Photo Award and UK’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Yogi, as he is widely known, works with his wife Stella Chiu-Freund.  They have published some stunning books that aim to focus attention on valuable and fragile places.

The Coral Triangle is the result of an 18-month expedition undertaken for WWF, documenting the wildlife, land and seascapes of a six million-square kilometer expanse of land and sea encompassing the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

For Sulu-Sulawesi Seas they documented some of the millions of species, from marine mammal behemoths to minute micro-organisms, that live in the eco-region encompassing the waters and islands of Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Closer to home in Cairns, Yogi and Stella are inspired by the rainforests of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and the neighbouring woodlands and savannah.

In June 2012 they will have returned from another Asian expedition to teach a masterclass in nature photography for James Cook University in Queensland’s far north.

The majority of the week’s classes will be held in the field, visiting the lush forests, crater lakes and extinct volcanoes of the Atherton Tablelands. Yogi will help you capture your best shots of the region’s inspiring flora, fauna, landscapes and waterways.

Fish Faces of the Coral Triangle featured in GEO Magazine

Last April, we had a truly charming feature in Germany’s GEO Magazine on the Coral Triangle’s colourful and cryptic marine creatures – a sure sign of biodiversity in this ecoregion. Soon it will also come out in GEO International magazines all over the world in around 16 countries!

BBC Wildlife Magazine features The Coral Triangle

We have been working hard to promote the Coral Triangle through our pictures. The images we accumulated during our epic 18 month WWF Coral Triangle Photographic Expedition is slowly getting its proper exposure in the world. For starters, here’s a beautiful portfolio last March in BBC Wildlife Magazine.

 

GEO October 2011 – Lake Eyre Story

GEO October 2011 – Lake Eyre Story

Our 2.5 month winter expedition this year to outback Australia’s Lake Eyre Basin is now out in the German GEO Magazine!

Tauchen Magazine – West Australia 2008

Tauchen Magazine – West Australia 2008

FLASHBACK – October 2008

We were boarding the fabulous diveboat MV Febrina on Yogi’s birthday in 2008 when a fellow guest from Germany chased Yogi with a magazine upon finding out he was Jürgen Freund. The newest issue of Tauchen Magazine had our West Australia story in it and the cover was Yogi’s! Here’s a chance to show it off for the first time in 3 years!

A Raja Ampat Video of Freund Factory at work – WWF Coral Triangle Expedition

A Raja Ampat Video of Freund Factory at work – WWF Coral Triangle Expedition

While we were in North Raja Ampat, we were incredibly fortunate to have professional photographers and videographers Claudia & Leon Joubert document our stay and experience in what is arguably the epicenter of marine biodiversity. Claudia Pellarini-Joubert and Leon Joubert of the Bittenbysharks.com fame used to work with Max Ammer to manage and market Sorido Bay Resort.

http://www.vimeo.com/9854363

WildPhotos 2011

WildPhotos 2011

A photographic event happens every autumn at the Royal Geographic Society in London. It is the UK’s largest nature photography symposium. WildPhotos plays host to some of the world’s top wildlife and environmental photographers – including winners of the prestigious Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

This year, I have been invited to speak at WildPhotos about a very special subject – The Coral Triangle. On October 22, the title of my talk will be “Revealing the richest place in the sea: Dive-tales from the Coral Triangle”. I hope you can make it to this event.

Rolex Laureates Collaborating – Jürgen Freund on Assignment for Rolex in Ningaloo 2008

Rolex Laureates Collaborating – Jürgen Freund on Assignment for Rolex in Ningaloo 2008

FLASHBACK – May 2008

Rory Wilson and Brad Norman - two Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureates joined forces to study whale sharks of Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. Yogi was given this “difficult” assignment of spending luxurious time onboard the boat of retired NBA basketball player Luc Longley to photograph these two scientists. First thing he told me about the boat was that it was custom built for Luc who towers 7’2″ and Yogi’s feet were dangling when he sat on the toilet!

With the many Rolex press releases that came out about this collaboration, one particular article from Qatar Airways’ inflight magazine Oryx led to Yogi winning the 2010 PATA Gold Award for Travel Photographer! Search for the winning picture in the December 2009 issue of Oryx Magazine!