Hi folks!

As most of you guys know (or at least could have guessed from the last pics) I've been to Locarno to participate in a bird of prey-workshop with André Boss (http://www.andreboss.com) in the local Falconeria (http://www.falconeria.ch/) a couple of days ago. I've kept an eye on Andrés work for quite a while now and had the chance to meet him in person this summer. At this point (at the latest) I knew that I had to attend a workshop with him. André is not only a great and very talented photographer, but a great guy too ... so I really looked forward to this workshop and to meet him again.

Early morning we (my girlfriend was participating as well) drove the car down to Locarno. Thanks to great weather and not much traffic we arrived about 2,5h later. Those who know me, know that I usually arrive a „little bit" early, so we got enough time to relax before the workshop started.

After a little round of introductions André started to explain to us how he works and how to take pictures in this and that situation and gave as lots of tipps as well. And he was not only explaining „his way" of taking pictures, but wanted to know how we worked as well and tried to give us tipps to improve „our way" too. He never tried to push us into one direction but explained the pros and cons of each way as good as possible.

With the first show of the day we started our first photography-part. We clicked away and did our best to catch the birds (which is all but easy, given the size and speed of some birds ... e.g. a falcon). It really was a great expierence to get that close to all the great birds ... from snowy owls, eagle owls, ravens, falcons and bald eagles to all sorts of vultures, caracaras, buzzards and even a secretary. Every bird had its own specialties which the trainers tried to show to us as best as possible.

After the first „normal" show we had the pleasure to see a second more private show with the possibilty to shoot portraits and close-ups as well. During a break we got served with an amazing lunch and had the chance to talk shop and discuss all sorts of things with André and the other participants.

We started our second part with the second show of the day ... this time with the little advantage of knowing what was to come ... that made some things a little bit easier and I've even managed to get a couple of sharp falcon-shots (sadly, nothing good enough to display). After that show we again had the pleasure to watch a private show and had the chance to shoot portraits as well. As a little „highlight" it was announced that the bald eagle should catch a fish out of a little puddle but it wasn't motivated that day ... eighter André hadn't bribed it enough to do so, or he wanted to tease us to participate in another workshop with him ... nobody knows ... ;-)

After that the light was fading pretty fast and André finished the workshop with a little debriefing. About 2,5h later we were home ... tired but happy.

I can only congratulate André BIG TIME for this great workshop ... everything was really great, from his partnership with the Falconeria, his organizing of the day to his help and advice during the shoots and how he watched every single one and helped were help was needed. I'll sure return next spring to participate in another workshop with him ... if only to get that pic of the fishing eagle ... and as I've heard, I'll not be driving alone ... ;-)

If anyone hasn't found the pics yet, here they are!!

If you have some additional questions for my, feel free to ask me. You can just comment here, write me an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or send me a message on facebook. I'll do my best to answer all your questions.

If you want me to write about a specific topic in the future please let me know. I'll be happy to write a little post about it.

And as allways: if you like this post (or not), please let me know ... spread the word, press „like", etc. I really appreciate your feedback!!!

Cheers,
Manuel