Fritz Pölking (* 30 January 1936 in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

; died 16 July 2007 in

Greven Greven (; Westphalian: ''Graiwen'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster. Geography Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25&n ...

) was a German

nature photographer Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and book

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Biography

Fritz Pölking was a certified German Master of

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

("Fotografenmeister") who started publishing books and journals on nature. His magazine "Tier- und Naturfotografie“ ("Photography of Animals and Nature") was the predecessor of "NaturFoto“ which is nowadays published by the

Tecklenborg Verlag Tecklenborg Verlag is a publishing house based in Steinfurt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that is internationally recognized for its illustrated books on wild animals, and for their nature-related magazines, which include ''Naturfoto'' and '' ...

. Fritz Pölking was also one of the founders of the "Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen e. V." (German Society of Nature Photographers) He lived with his wife Gisela (likewise nature photographer) in

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

. His photographs have been published in journals including

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Journal of Zoology The ''Journal of Zoology'' is a scientific journal concerning zoology, the study of animals. It was founded in 1830 by the Zoological Society of London and is published by Wiley-Blackwell. It carries original research papers, which are targeted t ...

and

Australian Geographic Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, ''DMag'' magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclop ...

. In 1977 he won the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition was declared

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an annual international wildlife photography competition staged by the Natural History Museum in London, England. There is an exhibition of the winning and commended images each year at the museum, which later ...

. When a cardiac arrest caused his death in 2007 he left a body of work of 30 books including the German/English work ''Am Puls des Lebens/At the pulse of life'' (). In 2008 the GDT and the publishing house Tecklenborg launched the Fritz Pölking Award and the Fritz Pölking Junior Award.

References

External links

Fritz & Gisela Pölking's Official Homepage Calling with camera and tent on the emperor penguins by Fritz Poelking
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polking, Fritz 1936 births People from Krefeld Nature photographers German non-fiction writers German book publishers (people) 2007 deaths 20th-century German people Photographers from North Rhine-Westphalia German male non-fiction writers 20th-century non-fiction writers