Anna Cseresjnes - The hidden beauty of flora and fauna

by Yvette Depaepe
Published the 21st of April 2025

Through photography, Anna Cseresjnes' view of nature has changed greatly, and she continues to discover how much beauty there is in nature.

'Akelei'

Dear Anna, first of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer this questionnaire! First of all, please introduce yourself and tell us more about yourself, your hobbies or other projects you are involved in!

I'm an Austrian citizen who has been living in France for a long time. I worked for 30 years for the Austrian national airline based in Paris.
I'm now retired and live in the south of France (French Riviera).

When and how did your photographic journey begin?

I took my first steps in photography when I was younger, during my travels around the world. Unfortunately, due to a lack of time, this remained for many years just photography for souvenirs.
The day I left the airline and retired, my boss offered me my first digital camera. It was an amazing experience, my first shots with a numerical camera ... my HOBBY for my retired years was born.

For many of us, photography is either a hobby or a way of life. How would you define your relationship to photography?

As I said, photography is a hobby for me... I discover new possibilities every day and photography has become quite addictive.

You have your own style, but your work is very varied. I see beautiful flowers, but also landscapes and wildlife.

I don't specialize in any one style, I'm more used to nature, macro, animals and sometimes architecture. Yes, I have some landscapes, but I don't think I can compete with landscape photographers.

What is your favourite photo? Please tell us the story behind it.

My favourite images are my flamingos. I took them in Camargues (Southern France)

'meeting before sunset'

'fighting ...'

'sunset ...'

What is more important to you, the mood/story behind your images or the technical perfection?

Well, I think technical perfection is easier for me to achieve than storytelling (I think that's just a lack of ideas and imagination on my part :-).

What is your relationship to your subject matter in general, beyond being an observer?
Do you prepare carefully the places you want to photograph?

Oh no, I don't prepare anything, I just take my camera and decide to go and shoot. In the beginning, I used to shoot everything, just to see how it would look on the screen.
My view of things (nature) changed a lot. I remember that sometimes people passing by would ask, "What are you shooting? Nothing there? "They didn't see anything and were amazed when I showed them the result on the screen, there is so much to see in nature.

Where do you find inspiration and what inspires you most?

Nature (flora and fauna) inspires me the most.

Many people think that the equipment is not very important when the passion for photography is strong. But could you please tell us what equipment you use (camera, lenses, lighting, tripod, etc.)?

I started with a very small and simple digital camera (a gift from my boss :-) I'm a Canon fan and now I work with a Canon 5D (mark II, and mark IV) I don't work with flash, special lighting or tripod, just me and my camera.
I have a 90mm macro lens and an 18-300 ...

What would you say is the most important experience that has influenced your steps in photography?

My most important experience in photography was the discovery of 1x :-)))) and ... the discovery that MY pictures seemed to be good enough for this experienced web agency.

Anna

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