Bruno P. Zehnder

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bruno “Pinguin” Zehnder (born September 8, 1945 in Bad Ragaz , † July 7, 1997 at the Mirny station in Antarctica ) was a Swiss photographer . He specialized in penguins , as he was particularly fascinated by the emperor penguins and their life on the pack ice.

Life

After a commercial apprenticeship and stays in London and Paris, Bruno Zehnder moved further into the world. On his extensive travels he came to Japan in the 1970s . There he turned to photography.

He first traveled to Antarctica in 1975 as a steward on a Danish ship. Back in Japan he celebrated his first successes with a first series of penguin photos. From 1979 he lived in New York , where he continued his career as a photographer after an exhibition at Nikon . In 1988 his emperor penguins graced the VISA credit card and in 1990 the cover of Time Magazine .

Bruno P. Zehnder was repeatedly drawn to the penguins on the ice, where he is said to have often spent five or more hours on an isolation mat for a single picture. His photos and his commitment to the environment earned him international recognition. Among other things, he received the “Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society ”, the “Environmental Award” from the UN and post mortem the “Award for Excellence”, also from the United Nations.

After Zehnder was able to accompany the 34th Soviet Antarctic expedition in 1988, he stayed regularly at the Russian research station Mirny, in the vicinity of which the breeding behavior of the emperor penguins can be observed. He made his last trip there in the Antarctic winter of 1997. On July 7th, a rapid change in weather forced him to turn back. Disoriented in the storm, he missed the station by around 50 meters. Two days later, his frozen body was recovered, which was buried next to Russian expedition members on Buromsky Island .

After his death

Bruno P. Zehnder's photos have been on view across Switzerland in the touring exhibition “Among Penguins” since 2002 . As part of this exhibition, a memorial stone with a family of penguins was unveiled in his home town of Bad Ragaz in 2003.

A biopic announced for 2006 entitled "Emperor Zehnder", in which Richard Gere was supposed to portray the Swiss photographer, was not realized.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Van Nistelrooy: Richard Gere on upcoming projects! ( Memento of October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Filmmag.de, October 30, 2005; Retrieved October 16, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Zehnder, Bruno P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES penguin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss animal photographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Ragaz
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1997
Place of death Mirny station