Sharp Shots

Rolf Kopfle first shot the picture of a red squirrel reaching up for a drink of tap water in 1987, in Banff National Park. The image didn’t appear in print until 1988 or ’89, but since that time it has been reproduced over 100 million times, and "that’s a conservative estimate," Kopfle says.

Over the past decade, the squirrel shot has been printed in newspapers and magazines across the European Union, on postcards, and has even graced the pages of The National Enquirer.

This is just one of Kopfle’s images — he has thousands. One of the most successful, Kopfle says, is a shot of two young bears, wrapped in a cuddly bear hug. The image, marketed by Rolf’s European agent, was picked up for use in advertising campaigns by the likes of international banks and real estate companies. In the past five years Kopfle says that one shot has earned more than $45,000 Canadian in royalties.

Kopfle is a Swiss-born photographer who, since 1996, has made his home at the top of a hill overlooking Tyhee Lake, near Telkwa, BC. His specialty is wildlife portraiture. He has portfolios of images of animals from around the globe — from caribou to owls, eagles, loons, wolves, cheetahs, grizzlies, tigers, dolphins and squirrels — snapped during trips with his wife Gabby through Asia, Europe, Australia, the US and Canada. Those images, along with photos of cute kittens and puppies, handsome house cats, dogs, horses, and yellow fluffy chicks, have made their way onto book and video covers, day timers, magazines, Hallmark greeting cards, Ravensburger puzzles and Brown Trout calendars. Both the World Wildlife Fund and the UN Endangered Species Report have published his pictures.

"I like my job," Kopfle says. "I want to give the message to people that we still need to care for nature and the environment.

"Nature, in today’s environment, has a really hard fight, and as a photographer I can show what little we have left and tomorrow it could be gone."

This summer Kopfle says he plans to travel to northern Manitoba to photograph Beluga whales. His current project rests at his feet in a cage beside the computer: two hamsters, in training for a picture shoot for a kid’s magazine. Normally nocturnal creatures, Rolf is in the process of readjusting their schedules so that he can take pictures of them in a daylight setting.

"Many people think that a photographer is a guy with a couple of rolls of film who goes out and snaps the right shot. No, that’s not the way it works. I work for weeks on a shot.

"For the Grey Owl picture, I followed that one for a couple of weeks. The light has to be just right, you have to listen to where it is…

For the cover photo shoot of young Siberian tigers for Blick Magazine, Kopfle worked with the animals for over two days, playing with them, feeding them, getting to know their patterns.

Born and raised in Luzern, Kopfle attended business college and then built a career as a reporter and photojournalist at the leading Swiss newspapers. He spent many years as an investigative reporter specializing in white-collar crime, was photo editor with the principal Zurich daily, and covered the 1988 Calgary Olympics as well as Expo ’86 for Associated Press.

During the summers, sometimes when there was a lack of "hard news," Rolf would supply his own nature shots for newspapers or Associated Press. At the time he and his wife spent a fair amount of time traveling, and he had a good supply of images on hand. Gradually he built up his own freelance photo business, rk press. The Kopfles bought their land above Tyhee Lake in 1994 and now, from their log home, they do business with the UK, Canada, US, Japan, Switzerland and Australia, via the Internet.

Photos of Rolf Kopfle’s photographs are now available in Smithers at: The Wooden Mallard, Pottery by Elaine, Appreciations and The Iron Horse Gallery.