THE PRO INTERVIEW

For years, animal rights photography has received scant coverage by the mainstream media, but Timo Stammberger tells Keith Wilson why animal photojournalism is now starting to make an impression…

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HOTOJOURNALISM has its roots in street photography and reportage, documenting contemporary social issues, daily life, cultural differences and international conflict. In some instances, the creative aesthetic of a few photojournalists means their work moves into the realm of fine art.

But who in the art and photography worlds has ever considered the clandestine imagery by animal rights activists to be a part of the realm of photojournalism, let alone fine art? The quick and honest answer is no-one. However, that perception is changing fast as a new cabal of photographers, describing themselves as ‘animal photojournalists,’ attract greater media attention and public recognition for their work. A remarkable new book, HIDDEN, featuring images by 40 such photographers, and the undiluted praise of Nick Brandt and Brent Stirton, has helped raise their profile. Berlin-based Timo Stammberger is one of this new group. More used to working undercover and in darkness, he agreed to come into the light for this interview to reveal more about his work and a topic that many people prefer to ignore…

Most of your work now is about animal rights, but that wasn’t always the case…

That’s right, it was more fine art projects and corporate work like annual reports and interior portraits for corporate stuff. But then I turned vegan and I thought I’d better turn my skills in a good way and I thought maybe the most interesting projects are in my field of interest. They were animal rights mostly, so I started to get involved in the movement.

And you photograph human rights stories too. How did that start?

I was one year in (working on animal rights), when here in my neighbourhood in Berlin, in 2015, there started this human rights crisis when so many refugees arrived. They were camping outside, quite near to where I live, and that’s when I started photographing also human conflicts. But it was super tough and I quickly burned out. During the day, I was photographing the refugees and at night I went to farms to photograph my animal rights projects. It was all just too much.

01 BATTERY HEN CITY

The scene inside a factory farm where thousands of hens are crowded into rows of multistorey cages

Lens Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Exposure 1/40 sec, f/5.6, ISO2000

But now you concentrate on animal rights photography?

I want to focus on animal rights because many other people are involved in human rights and so many photographers are working for humans. We all agree that humans shouldn’t suffer, humans shouldn’t be exploited and it should not happen, but it’s not the same feeling for animals yet. So, I thought my work can have a bigger impact in this field. That’s why I have decided to concentrate on photographing animal rights.