Stefan Christmann, born in 1983 in Koblenz, is a nature photographer and filmmaker from Germany. From 2011 to 2013, he spent 15 months as a physicist at the German research station Neumayer III in Antarctica, photographing the unique beauty of the southern polar winter. He was particularly interested in the emperor penguin colony in the neighboring Atka Bay. He’s been captivated by this charismatic bird ever since.
In 2017, he spent another winter on the icy continent on behalf of the BBC Natural History Unit in order to document the lives and survival of the emperor penguins for 11 months, using both film and still photography. His unique images of previously undescribed behavior not only contributed to the understanding of this remote species, but were also presented to millions of viewers worldwide in the BBC landmark series “Dynasties”.
Christmann has won numerous photographic awards, including the world-famous Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio Award in 2019. His photos have already graced the cover of “National Geographic“ and were also published in various other international magazines, such as BBC Wildlife Magazine, Ranger Rick, TerreSauvage, GeoLino, STERN and many others.
With the poetry of his pictures and his emotional stories about the continent at the end of the world, Christmann wants to reveal the special beauty and vulnerability of the polar regions. His active educational work is intended to benefit not only the emperor penguins, but also their endangered Antarctic habitat.