About Federico
Born in Milan, Italy, in 1975, Federico Veronesi is a Kenya-based professional wildlife photographer and safari guide.
Raised in a family of keen photographers and naturalists, Federico ‘s passion for African Wildlife and photography developed during his early childhood. On his first safari to Kenya at six years-old with a small Polaroid camera, something inside told him that he had found his place in the world.
This came true later in 2002, when he moved to Kenya right after completing his university studies. Initially, he worked for a Nairobi-based development agency, but would travel to the bush as often as possible. He soon realized that this was not enough yet. In 2007 he gave up his job and set up a small semi-permanent tent on the banks of the Talek River, in the Masai Mara National Reserve.
His wish of living in the wild and among the animals was starting to take shape. Every day he would leave his tent in the dark and venture out to look for his favourite subjects, Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, photographing their lives and feelings, following them through the days, weeks, years. Then one morning in 2009 the most unexpected encounter with the most elusive of Africa’s wild felines, the holy grail of African wildlife, the Caracal. He is probably the photographer who has most extensively documented the life of these felines in the wild, following two different females with their litters through the years.
After focusing his work extensively in Kenya, Federico ventured south to neighbouring Tanzania, and found another corner of heaven in the endless plains of the Serengeti, where rocky outcrops rise from the grasslands in magnificent shapes and forms. He loves photographing the Lions in this magnificent setting, one of the places which evokes the strongest feelings in him.
Some of these images and stories have been captured in his first book published in 2015, called "Light and Dust", and already sold out.
Backlight or dramatic lighting have been his trademark style. He felt that in the play between light and background, dust, mist, there was the key to convey the personality of each animal, the intensity in their eyes, their deeper emotions. And to connect their emotion to the viewer’s.
As the years went by his main photographic style gradually shifted towards black and white. Elephants, his favourite animal since childhood, became one of his primary subjects. It was in Amboseli in early 2010 that he made his other unforgettable encounter with a charismatic creature, one Africa’s last big tuskers, a bull Elephant known as Tim. Federico photographed him and other Elephants extensively in the amazing backdrop of Amboseli. Black and white Elephant images from here are some of his most successful fine-art prints.
Federico has been organizing and guiding photographic safaris in Eastern and Southern Africa both for established professionals and keen amateurs.
His limited-edition prints are sought after by collectors worldwide, and are available through various galleries in Europe and USA. His images have been published in books and magazines, including BBC Wildlife and BBC earth’s books.
Contributing to conservation of African wildlife through his imagery and work is his priority. He has been supporting different organizations such as African Wildlife Foundation, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Cheetah Conservation Fund, Bushlife Conservancy and the Remembering Wildlife initiative.
Artist’s Statement
The endless savannahs and the wildlife of East Africa have inhabited my dreams since my earliest childhood. Now through the images I continue to follow those dreams and I try to render eternal the moments I am lucky enough to witness.
I photograph trying to capture and convey the emotions that I feel in front of the beauty and the majesty of the animals, the places, the cloudy skies, the rocky outcrops, the infinite space all around. Lately I photograph primarily in black and white. I love how the animals are almost removed from the current flow of time and space and their emotions stripped bare. I seek to establish an emotional connection between subject and viewer by looking for those moments and atmospheres where animals’ and viewers’ feelings align. However, I am still also attracted by the warm colours of Africa, the early lights, the morning mist and the dust storms, the beautiful skies at sunrise or sunset.
Besides capturing moments in their lives, I also love to photograph animals completely immersed in their habitat and to convey their wild spirit.
I exclusively photograph animals that are completely wild and free in their natural environment. While doing it my priority is always that of not disturbing them, not interfering with their lives and damaging their habitat. I let them get used to my presence and most of the time they eventually come close to me on their own choice. I feel that this is the only way to have a glimpse into their intmacy, into their secret life. Only by behaving like this they let you see the world through their eyes and occasionally frame their emotions in an image.
My images are faithful representations of reality and the natural scene, without any digital alteration. In my images I don’t add or remove elements digitally, I don’t replace backgrounds or skies. Images are therefore completely genuine. Certainly I post-process my images extensively to fully realize their emotional impact, or convert them to black and white using advanced techinques, but never altering in the essence the small frame of reality that I captured. Obviously this approach requires much more time, dedication, patience, endurance, committment, knowledge and respect for nature than people who manipulate their images artificially on the computer.
For me spending time surrounded by nature waiting for a moment that maybe will never happen, or under a dramatic sky watching a wild creature is a privilege and an immense joy, and is probably the ultimate goal of my photographic journey.
Nairobi, January 20th 2020
Federico Veronesi
