Presentation
Dany GRAHEK
France
http://photographie-animaliere.com
Photographs
My passion for ethology and images naturally led me to wildlife photography, over ten years ago now. What could be more wonderful than to be in the wilderness, just a silent witness, admiring the beauty and capturing a little of the private lives of the animals that fascinate me?
The complexity of the animal world is infinite, and we’re only just beginning to appreciate its full richness on the threshold of a new mass extinction. As “we protect what we love and we love what we know”, it’s important for me to highlight animals that are special to me in their natural environment and to show them more familiar through my photos.
Admire, understand and respect are the three cornerstones of my photographic approach.
Exposition
Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) is a very special little feline. The flattened head, low set ears and round pupils give it a really unusual look. No wonder people want to take its photo!
A solitary species, it lives at high altitudes in extreme environments in Asia. Difficult to observe, it is sometimes falls victim to the shady practices of business photography.
It was essential for me to be able to observe these felines in their natural environment, completely free and without any interaction. On a high plateau in Ladakh where wild animals live side by side with nomadic shepherds, I was able to shoot a series of portraits of a family of Pallas’s cats in a rocky setting that shelters their multiple dens.
