by Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Marcel Egger 
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 9th of July 2025

'SamuiFisherman'

Your portfolio includes various styles of photography: animals, landscapes, portraits, street photography, photomontage and staged photography. Could you tell us more about your choice of subjects?
Thank you for your interest in my work.
I am very versatile and enjoy photographing all kinds of subjects. I love the challenge of trying new things and achieving the seemingly impossible. Two of my specialities are compositing and microphotography. During the lockdown, I built a camera slider with a microscope lens and a light tunnel. I placed a fly in front of the lens, set the camera to move in a pre-determined way over a distance of 0.001 millimetres and took approximately 400 photos. I then combined these into a single, consistently sharp image using a process called photo stacking. The result was an extraordinary portrait of a fly's face where every hair and pore was visible, offering a unique insight into the microcosmic world. This photo won me the European Championship title among professional photographers and secured me a place in the top 10 at the World Championship.

'VultureQueen'

Are you aware that you mix reality and dreams to the extent that we can sometimes be confused when looking at your pictures?
My images are intended to astonish and provoke thought. Simply capturing an event in a photograph isn't enough for me. I want to create new stories and let my imagination run wild. True to the motto: 'I make the world the way I want it.' Before becoming a photographer, I was a freelance artist specialising in fantastic realism for 10 years.

'FaceOn'

How do you choose the subjects for your photomontages? Do you take photos that inspire ideas, or do you take pictures according to a starting idea?
I do both. Often, I have an idea and gather the elements of the image from my photo collection. However, there are also ideas for which I take the necessary photos in the studio. I don't realise every idea. It's entirely possible that a completely different result will emerge while I'm working on an idea.

Could you tell us how you created your image, 'Car Mechanics'?

'CarMechanics'

In our photography club, www.erster-fotoclub-lustenau.at, of which I am chairman, we are currently running a matrix competition for our members. At our Christmas party, nine terms were drawn at random, and members are now allowed to create a photo or image containing at least three of these terms. We meet every other week and anyone who attends the club evening can bring a new image. We then review the entries and compile them for a club championship, which is judged by another photography club. The images will be presented to the public at a large photo exhibition in autumn. Our terms are: yellow, face, central perspective, handbag, walking, green, dramatic, close-up and out of focus. For my photo, 'Car Mechanic', I included as many terms as possible. Feel free to take a look and see how many you can spot. I found the car wreck in the desert while travelling in Namibia, and the mechanics were actually fishermen from Thailand. The background is also from the island of Koh Samui. With a lot of imagination, a touch of madness and the magic of Photoshop, I created this image. Our members know my incredible photos and are always excited to see my latest creations.

Best wishes to all the talented photographers and crew members at 1x! It's great that such a motivating and exciting photography community exists.
Marcel Egger

'NamibiaFashion'

'LionDream'

'MoonOwls'