Birds: TIM FLACH

Tim Flach is one of the world’s foremost animal photographers, his technical expertise and innovative intellectual approach helping define the way images are made in this arena. Born in 1958 in London, he published his first monograph, Equus, in 2008, an acclaimed study of horses and our relationship with them. This book was followed by six more monographs to date – Dogs (2010), More Than Human (2012), Evolution (2013), Endangered (2017), Who Am I? (2019), and Birds (2021). His next project will be a study of insects.
As the world faces its sixth mass extinction, also known as the Anthropocene extinction, Flach’s images communicate an urgent ecological message into the cultural sphere. Eschewing romantic fantasies of traditional wildlife photography, they emphasise connection with other creatures in a bid to engage viewers and move them into making the necessary changes to government policy and their own behaviour.

Flach’s photographs have been exhibited at prominent galleries and museums worldwide. Endangered, a powerful record of species on the edge of extinction, was shown at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris in 2021 and the State Gallery of Art, Hyderabad in 2019, for example; Flach has also had solo shows in venues such as the Beijing Museum of Natural History and Lumiere Brothers Gallery in Moscow. His images are held in permanent collections such as the V&A Museum and Swedish Museum of Natural History.

This is a picture of a horse named Hassan, or rather, just a part of Hassan. A white shoulder and a mane on a black background, the image manages to say more by having little in it. This semi-abstract picture has a level of ambiguity that resonates - a detail of a beautiful horse that at the same time, suggests a pristine snow-covered mountain. The attention this image received made me realize that the horse was not only a subject that fascinated me, it also had a special connection for many other people. Somehow, the image had punctured their consciousness and prompted them to respond. 

Excerpt from Equus, published by Abrams, 2008

Hungry Ya Yun had to be tamed by food. "Usually, they would have a stick of bamboo but we gave her small fragments of apple that wouldn’t be as obvious in the shot," says Flach. "I sought to focusing on Ya Yun's personality as an individual, needing to move the portrait away from a normal bamboo eating panda. What I got was something very gestural and ambiguous, you can easily imagine her holding a microphone or ice cream". Ya Yun, a mischievous female from Chengdu, China, under the care of the Panda Research Centre, was chosen as the star model. Since he only had a few minutes to take this shot, Flach spent time practising with a toy panda before Ya Yun entered the room. Once inside the studio Ya Yun took an instant dislike to her new surroundings. "She pulled down my perfectly positioned black backdrop. She tore it cleanly in two, enjoying every moment," Flach says. "It was a beautiful piece of crushed velvet that we bought all the way from the UK. I had to piece it back together and make do".

"With their frequently brilliant colors, elaborate plumes, and outrageous courtship displays, the pheasants and their relatives (Galliformes, or landfowl) are an ancient lineage of birds that includes some of nature’s most aesthetically extreme creatures. The galliforms are prized by both avian and mammalian—and not least, human—predators. Consequently, the galliforms also include some of the most well camouflaged of all bird species."

Excerpt from "Birds", Abrams, 2021

"The familiar pigeon, or rock dove, is a common sight in cities and towns around the world. However, its ubiquity should not distract us from admiring its many diverse wild cousins. The family of pigeons and doves (Columbidae) includes a vast radiation of over three hundred species found in all parts of the world except Antarctica. Pigeons and doves are largely seed and fruit eaters, and they have successfully evolved to thrive in many of the world’s forests, grasslands, and deserts.

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Pigeons and doves are attentive parents. Typically, their nests are a sparse and quite flimsy platform of sticks, and males and females share in incubating and feeding the young. However, the adult diet of seeds and fruits creates a challenge for baby pigeons, or squabs, because plant materials can be very hard to digest. As a result, pigeons and doves produce a nutritious “crop milk” from special cells in the lining of the esophagus. The squabs are fed on pigeon milk for the first week of life."

Excerpt from Birds, Abrams, 2021

Whether it is a soaring eagle, a diving peregrine falcon, or a furtive owl spied in the night, the experience of a wild raptor will raise your pulse and inspire awe and excitement. These predatory birds have long captured the human imagination, and they always reward our attention and interest. Although raptors are not a single branch on the avian tree of life, recent research indicates that the ancestor of the major lineage of land birds was a raptor. In other words, the most recent shared ancestor between a hoopoe and a finch, or a woodpecker, and a weaver was a raptor. Raptors comprise a diverse group of carnivorous bird families with distinct hunting techniques that feed on a variety of prey. Large hawks and eagles feed on vertebrate prey. Falcons specialize in eating other birds. Owls feed mostly at night, while vultures feed on carrion. Keen vision is vital to the hunting success of the diurnal raptors. Hawks, eagles, and falcons have the highest visual acuity of any animals known, providing them with ten times the visual detail of humans. Although owls have great nocturnal vision, they have also evolved amazingly acute hearing to aid in locating their scurrying prey."

Excerpt from Birds, Abrams, 2021

Toucans are found in Central and South America from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, whereas the hornbills are found in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. Both families are largely frugivorous, and they are important dispersers of the seeds of tropical trees. They may play an important role in the regeneration of tropical-forest ecosystems.

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Toucans and hornbills nest in tree cavities. Hornbills, in particular, have an extraordinary and unique nesting behavior. After selecting an appropriate tree cavity in which to nest, the male and female close up the entrance with mud, ultimately sealing the female inside the cavity. While inside, the female will incubate the eggs, care for the hatched chicks, and protect them from predation. On the outside, the male feeds his mate and the growing family of chicks through a small slit in the dry wall of mud. When the young are ready to fledge, the pair break down the adobe-like seal and leave the nest. Because large hornbills must find ample nest cavities in mature tropical trees, they require enormous tracts of prime forest in order to survive. Thus, many species are highly vulnerable to extinction.

Excerpt from "Birds", published by Abrams, 2021