What happened before the click...Photographers tell their story behind a special picture. This time: a wolf who seems to sense something.
I know there’s something there…That’s what this young wolf seems to be thinking in this pine forest on the German-Polish border. Wolves have extremely sensitive senses almost always enabling them to spot us humans first before we catch sight of them. And this animal had caught a movement I’d made. Though as I was wearing camouflage and the wind direction was in my favour, the wolf wasn’t able to identify me as a human and a moment later it continued calmly on its way.
I get the same indescribable feeling every time my camera’s trained on a wolf: I feel the adrenalin flooding my body, get goosebumps all over and my heart beats madly. This burst of adrenalin helps me to wake up instantly and be able to concentrate on taking photos. And that’s how it was on this July morning, having slept very little then or over the previous nights. The thrill of being totally alone in nature with these wonderful creatures had woken me long before sunrise. However, the sight of this wolf more than made up for the lack of sleep.
Niklas Weber bought his first SLR camera ten years ago and after that his life changed. Still a young man, Weber went on several photography tours to continents far away from his home in the Allgäu region of southern Germany. His experiences with the coastal wolves of British Columbia left a particularly strong impression on him. He would like his photography to help people reconnect with nature. In spring 2022, Niklas Weber joined the EuroNatur press trip to Bulgaria, where he documented the release of the cinereous vulture into the wild.