Growing up, me and my family had a hectic lifestyle. Although we had the space in the house, the garden and the lovely Swiss nature surrounding us, we were never home. Between rushing to various school events or sporting activities, with parents that worked full time and travelled for work on a weekly basis - having a pet, was out of the question... Who would look after it? Feed it? Take it out? Walk it?

Eventually, (after a lot of begging and promises of taking full responsibility), my parents finally agreed to having a cat: enter Jack, my amazing tabby cat. Then followed Dave, my diabetic female cat, and Zaphobibobrox, the world’s best hamster.

But that wasn’t enough! Lucky for me, my aunt and uncle live in the Lake District where they own a big farm filled with animals including sheep, cows, border collies (for all the sheep), and some very friendly highland ponies. Visiting them was always great fun! Between visiting my furry friends on the farm, horse riding at home and looking after my pets, I was pretty much set. Then, one day, my passion for horses led my father to take me on a riding trip to a ranch in Montana (USA) when I was just 14. There, I fell in love with every 4 legged friend (mainly horses, but there were also dogs and hundreds of cats!), along with the amazing Wirth family. From that trip onwards, I made it my mission to return every summer to work there, and continue to learn and improve my horsemanship skills, as well as visit my second home and family; something which I still do to this day.

So that’s my animal passion story in a nutshell… Now, to tell you about photography and how I came about merging my two passions.

I started collecting animal posters when I was 7; sticking them up on the walls of my bedroom, constantly observing the movements captured of a galloping horse, or the perfectly timed shot of a bird drinking a drop of water from an outdoor tap… I was mesmerized by the ability of a person to freeze a moment; one that came and went in less than a second and that was captured purely through observation and patience. That is when I realized that photography was more than just about the things we see, but rather the way in which we see them. After that, I decided that I loved any photo in which you could see an animal or a human’s personality, their mimics, particularities, goofy faces; their true beauty.

My interest for photography continued to grow throughout my childhood. I took photos of animals all the time, and this passion grew significantly during my years working on the ranch. Later on, during my year of travelling the world (including the United States, Patagonia and parts of Australia), I enjoyed photographing and documenting my adventures, along with photographing the incredible people I met on the way.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2016, that I decided to try turning this passion, and combining it with my love of animals, into a small business. After spending some time with a dear photographer friend, I was inspired to chase my passion, brush up on my technical skills and dive head first into the world of freelance photography!

I could go on and on about my story but I’ll keep some for when we meet in person :)