Hunting with a Camera Pioneer of Dutch Nature Photography Richard Tepe

Richard Tepe was one of the first photographers in the Netherlands to photograph nature and to point out the importance of its preservation. Although his work was well known and widely published and exhibited in the early part of the twentieth century, his name was quickly forgotten after his death in 1952.

Tepe was born in Amsterdam in 1864, where he was raised by his grandparents and grew up in an upper-class, Catholic environment. His grandfather owned a textile company and one of Tepe’s relatives was one of the master builders of the well-known Krijtberg church at the Singel canal in Amsterdam.

Tepe was both co-founder and member of several ornithologist and natural preservation clubs and became a member of the Netherlands Patrons of Photographers Association in 1909. It is unclear why he became interested in photography, but it is evident that his interest was not limited to the aesthetic qualities of the photographic image. The aspect of “knowledge” enclosed in the photographic medium was equally important to him. The visual qualities of photography offered opportunities to analyze the subject of research, which is probably how Tepe intended to use his photographs: as an exact copy of nature to study his field work.

In his oeuvre Tepe focused on birds, nests, animals, and landscapes, but he also photographed still lifes and genre scenes. The Rijksmuseum holds approximately 300 of his prints in their collection, and 3,000 original glass plates that were once archived in Amsterdam were transferred to the Fotomuseum in Rotterdam in 2000, which shows a selection of his work online.

Claartje van Dijk

Source: Christiane Kuhlmann, Richard Tepe: Photography of Nature in the Netherlands 1900–1940, Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum and New Amsterdam Publishers, 2007.

See also

The Keartons: inventing nature photography – in pictures
Richard and Cherry Kearton, working in the 1890s, were possibly the world’s first professional wildlife photographers. The brothers’ pioneering photos include the first shot of a bird’s nest with eggs and the first Masai lion hunt.

From a dead Ox catch a Fox PIONEERS OF (DUTCH) NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY Frans Lanting Richard Tepe Charlotte Dumas Erik Kessels

Richard Tepe

Fotograaf Richard Tepe (1864-1952) werd enkele jaren geleden herontdekt. Hij wordt nu gerekend tot de belangrijkst pioniers van de Nederlandse natuurfotografie. Tepe woonde vanaf 1910 in Apeldoorn. Hij fotografeerde de omgeving voor fotobladen als 'Buiten' en 'De Wandelaar'. Samen met Jac. P. Thijsse en Rinke Tolman maakte hij verschillende boeken over planten en vogels. Door de natuur vast te leggen op de gevoelige glasplaat droeg Tepe bewust bij aan het behoud van die natuur, net zoals Thijsse en Tolman dat deden door er gloedvol over te schrijven. Tepe vergeleek zijn werk met de jacht. Camera's waren in zijn tijd nog logge gevaartes met lange sluitertijden. Hij moest altijd gebruik maken van een statief en telelenzen waren er nog niet. Soms kostte het Tepe meerdere dagen om een vogel op zijn nest te betrappen. Behalve natuurfoto's maakte Tepe ook verschillende foto's van Apeldoorn en omstreken. Onder andere interieurfoto's van Paleis Het Loo en portretten van de mensen die hij op zijn omzwervingen ontmoette.

Het Rijksmuseum kocht in 2000 een groot aantal glasnegatieven van Richard Tepe. Deze zijn overgedragen aan het Nederlands Fotomuseum en inmiddels vrijwel allemaal te bekijken via de website van het Nederlands Fotomuseum.

Een uitgebreide biografie van Tepe is te vinden op de website Scherptediepte.