Stella Freund with Juergen’s photograph of sweetlips
After over 30 years as a multi-awarded and widely published nature and wildlife photographer, German-born Juergen “Yogi” Freund, who lives in the beautiful Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland with his Filipino wife and collaborator Stella, has amassed a remarkable body of work.
Juergen’s original vocation was as an engineer, but nature photography had won him over since his brother Winnifried gave him his first camera when he was just 18. The engineering skills proved useful for building all sorts of special equipment for the many cameras he soon acquired from second-hand shops and garage sales.
After developing a love for the ocean and scuba-diving, Juergen explored the globe, producing images and articles for some of the world’s top dive and nature magazines. Ironically, an early injury blinded him in one eye, but has also given him an unparalleled perspective of the world. As Canberra-based science writer Julian Cribb once noted so eloquently, “When humans are but a distant memory and only the rubble of our passing remains, the oceans will again teem with life and populate the planet, as they have done so many times in the past. The oceans are our past, our present, our future—and no human is better equipped to tell their tale than Juergen Freund…”
‘Coral Archipelago’
Aside from having his images, many of them stunning underwater shots, published in books and magazines and globally exhibited, Juergen has collected photo awards through the years, including the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Nature’s Best Photography, and World Press Photo. He is a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, iLCP, an elite group of the world’s top wildlife, nature, and culture photographers set on pushing the agenda of environmental and cultural conservation through photography. For more than two decades, he also worked closely with the global conservation organization WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, which has used Juergen’s photographs in many conservation campaigns. In 2009, Juergen and Stella had spent a year going around the global biodiversity hotspot known as the Coral Triangle, documenting wildlife, people, landscapes, and issues, resulting in the acclaimed book The Coral Triangle, published by the Asian Development Bank and WWF in 2011.
‘Golden Bowerbird’
With friends and acquaintances constantly inquiring about owning an iconic Juergen Freund photograph, Juergen and Stella have finally decided to make the work commercially available, and have launched Juergen Freund Fine Art, specializing in photographic images.
Juergen with his ‘Explosion of Anthias’
“Photography celebrating nature, and being surrounded by these types of imagery, greatly ease the mind and soul,” says Stella. “Juergen’s images are so compelling in their beauty and depth that they bring you into the world they portray.” Indeed, whether it is a signature half-and-half shot of mating sea turtles at the surface of the ocean, a riot of colorful anthias on a reef, an image of a minke whale, humpback whale, or whale shark, or a stunning landscape and fauna, a Juergen Freund photograph is a breathtaking art piece to adorn any space—the products of years of travel to remote places, and the invested time, patience, passion and dedication needed to take a great picture.
‘Turtle Love,’ mating turtles photographed in Sipadan, Malaysia
Check out Juergen Freund’s art photographs, available as high-quality prints, on https://www.juergenfreundfineart.com/, or find them on Facebook @juergenfreundphotography. Photographs can be shipped all over the world, ready to hang, and guaranteed to bring the magnificent outdoors into any home.
