Interview With Thierry Lagnel From Switzerland

BY Aaron Y. January 26, 2024

Thierry Lagnel | New York Photography Awards

Thierry Lagnel

Thierry Lagnel is a Swiss autistic photographer who started in 2015 and became passionate about wildlife photography in 2018. Despite having no formal training, he has a deep interest in photography due to his family history.

Hi, my name is Thierry Lagnel. I am a 31-year-old amateur and autistic photographer from Switzerland. I started photography as a hobby in 2015, but it was mainly tourist photography.

I didn't study photography, I'm an amateur and I learned it myself. But I have photography "in my blood" because my grandfather and great-grandfather were professional photographers in my hometown in Switzerland.

My hobby became a passion in 2018 and, in the summer, I wanted to start with wildlife photography and my first shot was a wild beaver. Very good to start with, but the quality was poor because I had a very basic and small camera.

I use a Sony RX10 IV bridge camera.

Well, my goal was to win gold awards one day and it's done. So now I will try to be a little bit famous one day if it's possible.

A friend told me that my photos were incredible and that he was sure that I would one day become famous if I continued in this way.

As an autistic person, I see the world differently than normal people and this can be seen in my photography style.

Original, unexpected and interesting.

It's an honor to win such a great international competition. It gives me the motivation to continue my passion.

My photo "The shapes of water" shows an abstract representation of a Swiss river. I was outside doing wildlife photography and I stopped by this river to take a shot because I found the water forms quite interesting. At first, I didn't realize that I had taken very good pictures. I showed it to my mom, who thought it was awesome and beautiful. Then I showed my photo to some friends and they also found it incredible. So I decided to enter a contest with this photo. It's one of the best I ever taken.

It doesn't change my career now because I'm just an amateur photographer. But in the future, it may help me earn some money with my passion.

Vincent Munier, french wildlife photographer.

A friend, who used to work as a personal trainer, told me to continue my passion and practice to automatically gain experience and win a competition one day.

It's OK to start with a very simple and cheap camera. The important thing is to practice and find your photography style.

Patience, passion and perseverance.

I often try to try new things with my camera and sometimes try to get out of my comfort zone.

I want to dedicate my victory to my grandfather who was a professional photographer. He would certainly be very proud to know that his grandson is a gold winner at the New New York Photography Awards.