Winzlinge ganz groß. A Photo Safari on One Square Meter Konstanz

Description

The Lake Constance Nature Museum will showcase photos of a unique safari starting in March 2026: Biologist and dedicated nature photographer Dr. Thomas Gries from Kreuzlingen documented a year of life on a single square meter of forest edge and reveals in his images a fascinating world unknown to most people. "Some people were surprised by what I was doing," Gries recounts about his project. For an entire year, he repeatedly visited the same spot, about one square meter in size, in the forest near the Botanical Garden of the University of Konstanz, and captured nearly 66,000 photos of the many small and tiniest inhabitants of this patch of earth. Gries mostly performed this activity lying down to get close with his camera lens. "Some walkers might have worried about me lying there," says Gries. The project was self-chosen and is probably unique worldwide. "I don't know of anyone else who has ever done something like this," reports Gries. At the end of 2022, he met with Dr. Gregor Schmitz from the Botanical Garden of the University of Konstanz to select a suitable square meter of ground. Schmitz had previously practiced observing nature on a square meter with students during excursions and had also contributed to the "Sendung mit der Maus". Now, the goal was to repeatedly search the same area for living creatures over a long period. From January to December 2023, Gries spent a total of 331 hours on site over 93 days. The biologist Gries's personal curiosity quickly developed into an extraordinary citizen science project. Many of the photographed species could not be identified via common apps. Gries contacted experts at various universities and museums and received much support and encouragement. Some findings turned out to be extraordinary, such as a photo of the wood midge species Monardia stirpium. "I received feedback from an expert on gall midges that this species was well known from dead specimens, but my photo was probably the first of a living specimen," says Gries. Nearly 500 species of plants and animals were likely photographed — from moss to mite, from snails to tiny wasps and flies. The exact number is not yet fixed, as the investigations by experts are ongoing. "When I started taking photos, I never thought I would find such a wonderful and fascinating diversity right at my doorstep," says Gries. "It was a journey into a world that was unknown to me and probably most of us before, and it has forever changed my view of the beauty of nature, especially in the small." Gries wants his project and the exhibition at the Lake Constance Nature Museum to also serve as a call to others: "There is still so much to discover in this area!" Source: thurgaukultur.ch - the cultural portal for Thurgau, with dates, topics & people worth talking about.