Bence Máté

Early years

Bence Máté was born in Szeged on 26 February 1985. His father, Gábor Máté is a maths and technology teacher; his mother, Ildikó Máté is a schoolteacher. He has a younger brother, Soma Máté. When Bence was two, the family moved to the edge of the village of Pusztaszer, and built a house by the wetlands. Bence’s bedroom window looked out onto reedbeds; it was here that he took his first bird photos.

Education

Bence Máté went to the primary school in Pusztaszer, where both his parents were teachers, but never felt as though he belonged in the classroom. Later, at the Kiss Ferenc Forestry High School in 1999, Bence felt increasingly constrained by the formal educational system. By the age of 13, he was spending most of his free time taking wildlife photos. His teachers noticed and supported this passion. Bence won third and second prizes for lectures he delivered, illustrated with his own images, in the Kitaibel Pál national conservation competition in 2000 and 2001 respectively. In 2001, Bence attended his first BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award ceremony; his air fare was paid for by school staff. In 2003, he took six months off school to study English in London, where he made a living through temporary work such as gardening and working in the Ealing Broadway Burger King. When Bence went back to Hungary, he returned to his high school to begin his final year. But he missed too many classes, and from October 2003 was home-schooled. This allowed him to spend much more time on wildlife photography. In 2004, Bence was offered a place at the University of West Hungary. He never took up the offer, however; he was too busy taking photographs.

Early interests and career

In primary school, Bence joined the children's bird club and began to discover the natural riches around his village. His interest in nature increased as a result of the conservation and artisan nomadic camps he attended between 1993 and 1996, led by his Biology teacher, Zsolt Mészáros. Bence made money from rabbit farming and handicrafts and saved up to buy a Zenit 4.5/300 photo sniper, which he painted in camouflage colours so that he could get closer to birds. In November 1998, he built his first hide (out of reeds).

In 2000, Bence was named Hungary's 'Young Wildlife Photographer of The Year'. He won that title a total of five times between 2000 and 2004.

In 2002, at the age of 17, he became the youngest member of naturArt, the association of Hungarian Wildlife Photographers. He continued to build hides, including underground hides, and experimenting with his shots.

In 2001, the image 'Susliks' was highly commended in the BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and, the following year, in 2002, his image 'Recycling' won him the title of the BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Most famous pictures

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Professional career

On 1 October 2003, at the age of 18, Bence founded a company and began to make a living from photo competitions, lectures, writing articles, building exhibitions and selling images, while continuing to spend thousands of hours in his hides. In November 2004, he switched from analogue to digital technology. In spring 2005, he experimented with a one-way glass photo technique, which allows him to photograph shy animals more closely without disturbing them. This technique soon became widespread among photographers shooting from hides.

Bence drew the attention of international profession when he won The BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s Eric Hosking Award (for photographers aged 18–26) in 2005. He was invited to photograph wildlife of Pripyat National Park in Belarus as part of the National Geographic's Wild Wonders of Europe, one of the most significant photography-based conservation books, which featured 69 of the most talented and dedicated European wildlife photographers photographing the rich and varied natural heritage of 48 European countries.

In 2006, Bence launched an enterprise based on wildlife photography tourism. He renovated a farm and turned it into one of the most popular photographic venues for hide-based photography in Europe, thanks largely to his innovative one-way glass hides, which have transformed the practice of hide photography. In the same year, he was named Hungary's 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' for the first time. He won this title in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, more times than any other person in the history of the competition.

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Costa Rica, Brasil, South Africa

Between November 2008 and April 2009, Bence worked in Costa Rica, building hides for wildlife photography purposes, going on to do similar work in Brazil from September 2009 until March 2010, developing his skills in planning, designing hides and experimenting with different materials and construction techniques.

In 2010, his image of leaf-cutter ants, entitled 'Marvel of Ants', won him the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and Bence became the only photographer in the history of the competition to win the Grand Prize in both the young and adult category In 2010, Bence was named Honorary Citizen by the village of Pusztaszer in recognition of his contribution to the local community.

In 2012 he built his underwater metal hide known as the 'Theatre'. He designed exclusive bird and big game hides for Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa, which started a business based on the most extraordinary African photo hides as an alternative to classical safaris.

Equipment

Since 2006 Bence has been one of the 'faces' of Panasonic, thanks largely to the fact that his photography demonstrates what can be achieved with starter level equipment. He tests the latest Panasonic cameras in extreme situations in countries such as Costa Rica, Brazil, Norway, Hungary, Sri Lanka and Africa.

Significant awards

Other awards and recognition

Charitable activity

Bence's role model is Csaba Böjte, a monk of the Franciscan Catholic order, who founded St Francis Foundation for orphans and children in need. So far, the foundation has helped 5,000 children. Bence has been cooperating with Brother Csaba, building hides for the foundation. Since 2013 he has been taking part in the Honorary Godparent programme, which offers an opportunity to contribute to a child's care.

The popularity of the television series 'The Invisible Bird Photographer' among children inspired Bence to design wildlife photography playgrounds, introducing children to wildlife photography. The hides are equipped with one-way glass, electric heating and nextboxes as well as monkey bars and slides in order to encourage children take part in outdoor activities.

Bence offers his images free of charge to Hungarian national parks to use for conservation purposes. Since 2013, he has been nominated Ambassador of National Parks.

Books

Films

'The Invisible Bird Photographer'. The természetfilm.hu scientific film workshop, owned by Chello Media, was commissioned by Spektrum Television to shoot a 3 x 26-minute series, which was a huge success. The slow motion camera shots were prepared by Bence. Director: Attila Molnár; cinematographer: Zsolt Marcell Tóth, Bence Máté; narrator: Péter Rudolf.

Part 1: The miracle water
Part 2: The three tenants
Part 3: Fish dinner