Biography

Vita

Christiane Slawik has devoted herself to horse photography with body and soul. Filled with enthusiasm for horses since her childhood and having felt comfortable in all saddles of the world for over 30 years by now she had financed her academic career with paintings and photographing horses. Thus also logical the Topic of her exam: “Hippological Considerations about Naturalistic Horse Representations in the Forming Art”.

After several stays in the USA a radio-cooperation followed and afterwards many years of moderating including the job as editor-in-chief at the television in Germany.

Today Christiane Slawik writes and photographs for several international professional journals and publishing houses. On the search for expressive moments the photo-journalist is steadily inspired by the respective situation, by light and colour, by the aesthetics and the individual charm of each horse. Her photographs and paintings have been exhibited many a time.

Passion Horse

If thick or thin, tall or small, old or young, noble or stout - I am happy with horses as long as I can think. They attract me magically; they touch the deepest part of my soul. Their presence, their facial expression, their smell and particularly the noises around them. How they talk among themselves or with us, a gentle welcome snort, the chewing noises of their teeths, a calm neighing …

Around 35 years in the saddle had begun for Christiane Slawik in a conventional riding organization with everything what is part of it: Taking lessons, Riding holidays, passing the Riders’ exams, then small tournaments. Still living in Wuerzburg she then financed her academic studies (geography, art, German) with painting horses. Soon, her paintings were repeatedly exhibited. Suitable photos as originals for the paintings were taken with the same camera that was used also for her journeys and her university work. Also, during the several stays in the US Quarter Horses and Saddlers modelled for her paintings. Already at that time the love to the arts and to the horses was united in her exam: Christiane’s “Hippological Considerations about Naturalistic Horse Representations in the Forming Art” were proposed to be extended thesis to an examination work for the doctor’s degree. Also, Christiane’s own artistic and plastic works for her art examination represented horses.

The certain something

Christiane’s former hobbies, horses, taking photographs, travelling, meeting animal enthusiastic people and being creatively active unified into a profession which soon became real vocation. Only the ‘painting’ today is not done by Christiane herself anymore but exclusively by her camera. Besides the motives which are common and demanded by the customers unlike many colleagues Christiane Slawik additionally offers ‘the certain something’ in her horse photography.

Christiane’s photos clearly show her previous artistic experience and assessment. They capture temperament, charm and personality of every animal perfectly. A customer worded this enthusiastically: “You have not represented my horse just like everybody sees it but how only I can see it with my heart!”

The artist doesn't only produce dream-photographies but initiates also new dreams with her photos: “In a really good photo everything our imagination develops into the horse topic manifests itself in the fraction of a second: Blowing manes and tails, shining eyes, drumming hooves, grace and strength. This also wakes the feeling in ‘non-horse-people’ that repeatedly overcomes a horse friend when encountering this marvellous creatures.

However, Christiane Slawik does not only go for ‘photogenic’ or prominent four-legged stars. With pleasure she also transports monthly quite ‘normal’ horses, long-haired ponies, massive cold-bloods or ‘the horse out of the stable next-door’ on title, poster or calendar of international magazines.

Profound Photo Jornalism

Meanwhile the photo-journalist writes and/or takes a photographs for about 40 international associations and companies, calendars, publishing houses and -magazines. Her own, richly illustrated books have been published with the Cadmos publishing house and combine sound expertise with outstanding photos that reach the readers’ souls. Prof. Dr. Zeeb, one of the most renowned horse-behavioral scientists wrote about Christiane’s famous book “Heavy Boys – the Comeback of the Cold-Blooded Horse”:

“The older one gets, the more one notices how little one knows actually. You have combined a heap of specialized knowledge with terrific photos in this work! I was pleased to refresh and to complete my knowledge.”

The former TV editor-in-chief collected journalistic experience already directly after her studies while co-constructing one of the biggest private regional television transmitters in Germany. Christiane Slawik prepared feature programs and films to all important topics at home and abroad and moderated innumerable journey and magazine programs for years. Her long guests’ list contained famous and prominent people of a broad kind of socialites and colours: Stars and starlets, Olympic champions and world's champions, rock- and pop-stars, Pulitzer- and Nobel-prize-winners as well as Federal Ministers and governors. During that time not much time remained for her beloved animals. Only after reporting about a riding stable and after an accident in Central Africa that wrecked almost all of her activities for 8 months she concentrated fully and completely on her old passion again: “Now I am doing what my heart really hangs on!”

Up from then innumerable live reports arose around the horse and around the world combining comprehensive enquiries with interest in events, backgrounds and personalities. Authenticity of her protagonists plays a large role for Christiane Slawik:
“Besides breeding- and studfarm-portraits I report best of all about real horse people. Far too seldom you have such a known name in the scene like in France e.g. Francois Pignon. Horsepeople like him are actually everywhere. You only have to open your eyes and heart – and then they stand suddenly in front of you: Sensitive, nice people who exemplary and lovingly try to do justice to their horses in the context of the given possibilities. Small employees or pensioners compensate for missing financial resources with dedication, ideas and primarily with time. Of these enthusiasts many a prominent rider still could learn a lot.”

An enormous specialized knowledge favours the writing, the photo-shooting and the tracking of her quite special stories. No matter which riding style, no matter which country or which breed - Christiane Slawik sees immediately where riding is well and profound. She takes the excitement away from the riders expertly, she helps them with small corrections now and then and moves them at the decisive moment in a quite special light. Her dedicated, critical eye is incorruptible. More generously than riders she examines the horses and compensates for smaller lacks elegantly with special camera-persepectives:

“They are such wonderful creatures. Infinitely patient, always honest and open-minded. They place their unconditional confidence in us, they give us their whole strength. In the whole animal kingdom there is nothing comparable. Where would mankind be without the horse?”

Feeling at home in all saddles

The extensive know-how has a background: all saddles, all riding styles and all breeds that Christiane Slawik meets she tries to experience first for herself. She has to understand which idea, which purpose, and which culture stands behind it, why there is a special saddle- or bridle-construction or a specific way of directing a horse.

“For me the deeper sympathy for a riding culture is only possible if I also have ridden on the horses at its place of origin myself.”

Language barriers are not important anymore even at most remote locations in the world if self-confident men in the saddle see the woman not only taking photographs but being enthusiastic about riding their horses also.

“It has fascinated me again and again to experience that the love for the horse overrides all barriers of languages and culture in the world.”

On her travels Christine steps with the special gait of the Islandic horses upon lavafields, she visits Irish horse markets or jumps field obstacles on Irish Hunters, she wanders in between the large herds of traditional state stud farms, tests the energy of Portuguese bullfight horses, does Passage and Piaffe with Spanish P.R.E.’s, lasts on rearing Friesians, slides Quarter Horses, rides on Arab champions in Egypt, joins with the Butteri on Maremmas half-wild bulls, enjoys a Camargue stallion in the Rhone’s delta, has Knabstruppers dancing at the arena of the Danish queen in Copenhagen, leaps onto the unsaddled Noniuses of the Hungarian Csikos without hesitation or gallops with Bedouins through the Tunisian Sahara sand. These not only presented a stallion as a present to Christine but granted the photo-journalist an experience of a special kind at Christmas 2002 - many years after a photo-shooting: The tribe surprisingly sent her a message that her idyllic photos would keep the spirit of a recently deceased rider forever in their tents.

Very much Christiane Slawik has learned from Florian Müller's exceptional P.R.E. stallion Almanzor on which she rode weekly during his education for over a year. Today one of the most successful and best-known show-horses in Germany the explosive and sensitive Almanzor founded her special love for Iberian horses. Nonetheless Christiane actually always favours the breed that she currently has in front of her camera-lens. Later on, for two years Christiane regularly rode the Grand-Prix-Specialists of the multiple Russian champion.

As often as possible she watches Europe-wide the work of the most famous classical riding-masters of our time, trains her eye for the absolute perfection and harmony and transfers this feeling also to other motives. So Christiane Slawik found photo-sessions in historical castle gardens offering opportunities to hold single moments between horse and rider in front of a grand scenery. Thus resurrecting baroque stings or paintings again became a specialty of her. Like the photographer the riders, too, do not hesitate to give every possible effort because they know that it is worthwhile to saddle for Christiane Slawik!