About and Contact 2022-11-08T11:00:02+00:00

CONTACT

Juergen and Stella Freund
PO Box 1354
Atherton, QLD 4883
Australia
email: freundimages@gmail.com

ABOUT US

Jürgen Freund grew up in Germany. He is fondly called Yogi as Jürgen can be pronounced a million different ways causing him some shivers. He studied mechanical engineering and found out it wasn’t creative enough for his inventive mind. Instead of designing machines, he worked as an industrial photographer in Munich for 7 years. Lured by the challenge of marine wildlife photography, he acquired an underwater camera even before learning how to scuba-dive in 1981 in the cold lakes of Germany. Finally, he answered “the call of the sea” and became a full-time freelance marine and wildlife photographer in 1995 getting his work published internationally. He has traveled all over the world, taking highly acclaimed images published worldwide.

Yogi’s engineering background comes in handy whenever he has to make his own lenses & photo equipment to suit his needs when there are none available in the market. He is innovative in his photographic style and count a lot in his engineering abilities to answer creative requirements. A constant for him is change as he now ventures into land and marine photography using panoramic format cameras – making underwater housings himself. He specialises in wildlife and nature subjects and prefers working on a project tackling photo shoots in a photojournalistic manner. A visual storyteller by heart, he likes showing photo stories about animals and people, working slow and letting nature or events unfold and capturing these in its natural manner.

After years of wandering, Yogi has finally found a home base in Australia and now lives in Tropical North Queensland with his wife, Stella. He works closely with WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the organisation uses his photographs in many of its conservation campaigns. He is also a regular contributor to GEO magazine in Europe.

Yogi is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Stella Chiu-Freund grew up in Manila, Philippines. She studied anthropology but ended up in advertising, producing radio and TV commercials for 7 years. After quitting advertising, she ventured into the freelance world in Manila producing video documentaries for a publishing house, government agencies, non govenmental organisations, and the academe. She moved on to producing books and had a stint at working with foreign production companies visiting Manila. Stella, now based in Cairns, produces photo stories with her husband Jürgen Freund.

Jürgen and Stella finished an exciting 18 months straight photographic expedition for WWF from 2009 to 2010 through to six Coral Triangle countries: the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. The images from the expedition resulted in the coffee table book THE CORAL TRIANGLE

Assignments and More

  • Great Sea Reef Fiji WWF South Pacific – 2013-14
  • Coral Triangle Book Launch with WWF US and ADB – Washington DC at the International Monetary Fund – October 2011
  • Coral Triangle Book Launch with WWF Indonesia and ADB – Jakarta – October 2011
  • Speaker at Wild-Photos – Royal Geographic Society London – October 2011
  • GEO Lake Eyre Expedition South Australia May to July 2011
  • WWF Coral Triangle Photographic Expedition – The Philippines, Sabah Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands & Timor Leste, April 2009 – August 2010
  • Rolex Awards covering Brad Norman and Rory Wilson tagging whale sharks in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia May 2008
  • GEO Snake Expedition Australia Queensland Feb 2008
  • Conservation International Seascapes Photographic Expedition in the Philippines May/June 2006

Some of Jürgen’s most important International Photo Awards and Exhibitions:

• 58th WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / Natural History Museum UK, 2022  Highly commended in the “Behavior Amphibians and Reptiles” category with his “The Snake Tree” image. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• 57th WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / Natural History Museum UK, 2021  Highly commended in the “Plants and Fungi” category with his “Mushroom Magic” image. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• NATURE IMAGES AWARDS / Terre Sauvage & International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN, France, 2015  1. IUCN Lauréat Bourse – Men & Nature category – Fruit Bats of the Tolga Bat Hospital Story  2. 2nd Prize – Men & Nature category – Fruit Bats of the Tolga Bat Hospital Story  3. 2nd Prize – Portfolio – Two Worlds (Split level image series)  4. Nominated – SOS Endangered Species – Leatherback Turtle Story

• 50th WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 2014  Finalist in the “Invertebrates” category with his “Thousands of Fireflies” image. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• ASIA / PACIFIC REEF AND RAINFOREST Solo Exhibition / Tablelands Regional Gallery, Atherton, Queensland, AUSTRALIA, April 2014

• NATURE’S BEST WINDLAND SMITH RICE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD / Nature’s Best Magazine USA, 2007 First Price in the “Oceans” category with a picture of a Minke Whale’s eye. Exhibition: Smithsonian, Washington DC

• WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 2007 Specially Commanded in category “Animal Portraits ” with a picture of Pavlova the Minke Whale in the Great Barrier Reef. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• 2 x NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION / Nature’s Best Magazine USA, 2004 Highly honored in the “Oceans” category with a picture of displaying cuttlefish pair and a whale shark picture. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• FIRST INTERNATIONAL SEA PICTURE FESTIVAL – PHOTODEMER / Vannes, FRANCE 13th September – 13th October, 2003 Picture exhibition of 18 images of whale sharks and the whale shark hunters of Pamilacan in the Philippines.

• WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 2003 Highly Commanded in category “The World in our hands” with a picture of a Philippine fisherman catching a thresher shark. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• COLORS OF THE SEA Solo Exhibition / Manila, PHILIPPINES, 2001

• WORLD PRESS PHOTO AWARD / for Photojournalism THE NETHERLANDS, 1999 3rd Price in category: “Nature and Environment Story” on the Pamilacan Whale Shark Hunters. Exhibition: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam & Worldwide

• British Gas WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 1999 Highly Commended in category “Animal Behaviour: All other animals” with a picture of a Group of Mating Cuttlefish. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• British Gas WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 1997 Highly Commended in category “Underwater World” with a picture of a Whale Shark. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• FESTIVAL MONDIAL DE L’IMAGES SOUS-MARINE ANTIBES / FRANCE, 1996 Silver Price

• British Gas WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 1995 Highly Commended in the category “Gerald Durrall Award for endangered species” with a split image of a Manatee. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• 2 x British Gas WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 1994 Highly Commended in the category “Underwater World” with a picture of an Arrow Crab and Specially Commanded in the category “Praise of Plants” with a split image of a Mangrove Tree. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• British Gas WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION / BBC Wildlife Magazine & Natural History Museum UK, 1993 Highly Commended in the category “Underwater World” with a picture in the Giant Kelp Forest in California. Exhibition: Natural History Museum, London & Worldwide

• NIKON PHOTO CONTEST INTERNATIONAL / JAPAN, 1991/92  1st Price in category: “Underwater Photography”

Jürgen Freund pictures and stories have been published in the following international magazines:

Action Asia/Hong Kong, Asian Diver/Singapore, Abenteuer & Reisen/Germany, Abenteuer Natur/Germany, Animan/Switzerland, Aquanaut/Germany, Austalian Geographic/Australia, Diver/UK, Geolino/Germany, Geo/Germany, GEO Saison/Germany, Esquire/UK, Focus/UK, Focus/Italy, Geomundo/Mexico, Hörzu/Germany, International Wildlife/USA, L’Express/France, Mare/Germany, Muy Interessante/Spain, National Geographic World/USA, Natur/Germany, Ocean Realm Magazine/USA, Oceans France, Ranger Rick/USA, Readers Digest/Germany, Scuba Diver/AustralAsia, Sport Diver/USA, Tauchen/Germany, Terre Sauvage/France, VSD/France, Wildlife Conservation Magazine/USA

Stella’s body of work

Producer & Blogger

• WWF Coral Triangle Photographic Expedition – The Philippines, Sabah Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands & Timor Leste, April 2009 – August 2010

Philippine–Australia Fixer / Location Manager / Production Manager for Documentary Film or Video Productions

Australia

• Oceans – Galatee / France, 2008

• Jellyfish Invasion – BBC / Tigress Production / UK, 2008 Philippines

• Child Labor – BBC Comic Relief / UK, 2002

• Roots – Channel 5 / UK, 2002

• The Last Surrender: Lt. Onoda Story – BBC Timewatch / UK, 2001

• State of the Planet – BBC Natural History Unit / UK, 2000

Documentary & TVC Producer – Freelance, Manila

• Forest King (animation) – Bookmark, 2000

• Resource at Risk : Philippine Marshlands – Bookmark, 2000

• Wildlife Wonders Series – 60 second TV Commercials on the following animals : whale sharks; tarsier; purple heron; dugong; manta ray; whales & dolphins; Chinese egrets; fruit bats; coconut crabs; Phil. Crocodile – PLDT, 1999

• Mindanao : Peace documentary – Philippine Government, 1999

• Dreamweavers : Weavers of Lake Sebu – Bookmark, 1999

• Whale Sharks : The Donsol Experience – WWF Philippines, 1998

• Quiet Places : Ecotourism in the Philippines – Bookmark, 1998

• Resource at Risk : Philippine Coral Reefs – Bookmark, 1997

• Kuwaresma : Philippine Lenten Rituals – Bookmark, 1997

• Jose Rizal : A Heroe’s Life – Bookmark & Ateneo de Manila University, 1996

• Peace Documentary – UNDP, 1995

• Punla : Poverty Alleviation – Philippine Government, 1995

Coffeetable Book Project Director / Manager – Freelance, Manila

• The Coral Triangle by Stella Chiu Freund and Jürgen Freund – ADB & WWF, 2011

• Hua Fei – Chinese Filipinos – Ateneo de Manila University, 2003

• Sulu Sulawesi Seas by Jürgen Freund – Bookmark & WWF, 2001

• Dreamweavers – T’nalak Book – Bookmark, 2000

• History of Philippine Television – ABS/CBN, 1998

• 50 years of DBP – Development Bank of the Philippines, 1997