Siegfried Kuhn: the man who made James Bond milk a cow

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Siegfried Kuhn: "Early practice, in football as well as in photography - my first sports photos were taken in my spare time on the 'football field' in Lyss, around 1946, when I also made my first attempts at colour photography." Siegfried Kuhn

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery in front of the Hotel Weisses Kreuz in Lyss, 1950. "After this visit, Montgomery drove to Mürren, where I sent him prints of my photos. He immediately thanked me with kind words and signed it 'Montgomery of Alamein', the place where his troops won the desert battle in North Africa against the Germans." Siegfried Kuhn

"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the former US First Lady, always exerted a powerful attraction. Wherever she appeared, there was immediately a crowd of reporters and photographers. Here, in winter 1966, she is on her way with her sledge together with her children Caroline and John." Siegfried Kuhn

"On February 24, 1970, several avalanches buried the Valais village of Reckingen. Arriving at the disaster site, I documented the sad event, the clean-up work and later the tribute to the dead for the Schweizer Illustrierte." Siegfried Kuhn

"Skiing with a difference: the European Cup for grass ski racing, held at Gstaad, August 1971. International interest was great, and one of the photographs appeared on a full page in the American LIFE magazine." Siegfried Kuhn

"Fritz Chervet is one of Switzerland's best-known boxers and celebrated his great successes in the 1970s. The way he won the European flyweight title on March 3, 1972 in the Festhalle in Bern was impressive. Fritz Chervet, exhausted and absorbed after his success." Fotostiftung Schweiz Winterthur

"I went with a journalist to Kleine Scheidegg for an interview with Clint Eastwood, the great actor and director who was filming in the Bernese Oberland for his movie The Eiger Sanction. Before I set off in the direction of the Oberland, I was told by the press officer of the Eastwood production that we should get in touch again in a week's time, but I didn't comply and just drove there. The reception was understandably a little cool at first. Acting discreetly, however, I was allowed to take photographs anyway." 15. August 1974 Siegfried Kuhn

"At home in her parents' house in Ostermundigen near Bern, Ursula Andress pretended to be a fashion journalist for the Illustré magazine and put together a selection of women's fashions", 1979 Siegfried Kuhn

Friedrich Dürrenmatt with his cockatoo 'Lulu'. The photograph was taken on December 19, 1980, and appeared in the anniversary issue of 'Schweizer Illustrierte' to mark Dürrenmatt's 60th birthday. Siegfried Kuhn

"Hostage-taking is quite a rare event in Switzerland. So there was great interest when kidnappers took control of the Polish embassy in Bern in September 1982. The drama lasted three days and ended with the successful release of the hostages by the police. The picture shows the reporters' cameras set up outside the security barriers." Siegfried Kuhn

"My idea with James Bond actor Roger Moore was to record him in an unusual situation: in a barn, milking a cow. All three wishes came true. Hans Zingre, a farmer and ski instructor, helped out and was perplexed by his illustrious guest. Cow 'Meieli' also patiently did her part and looked perfectly into the camera. The photo was published in the Schweizer Illustrierte in 1981." Siegfried Kuhn

"After the first happy shots on the hornussen field at the beginning of my career, I managed to take equally beautiful ones at a game in Schlosswil in 1986. I photographed the Hettiswil team at a moment when the hornuss was flying along and the men were shouting predictions to each other about the presumed place of impact." 1986 Siegfried Kuhn

"A scissor-grinder and pan-maker by trade, politically left of left-wing, revolutionary and partisan. That is the short description of Gottfried Bauer, born in 1905, by himself. The former Verding child spent his life on the road, only settling down with his wife in old age. The picture shows him taking a nap in his bedroom with his dog 'Netti'. 1979 Siegfried Kuhn

"My 1983 visit to the Infantry Officers' School 5/83 lasted several weeks. At my own discretion, I could choose topics that interested me. The reportage appeared a year later in Schweizer Illustrierte with the title 'Das Stahlbad' [The steel bath]. The picture shows a manoeuvre in the middle of bathers on the Saane." 1984 Siegfried Kuhn

"With a hat filled with straw flowers, we lead the way to Appenzell. We took the first photos in front of the orphanage where he had lived. We continued on to the farm where he had worked as a farmhand. On a wooden bench at the edge of a nearby forest, Krüsi told us about his camping adventures, which he had experienced across Switzerland, on the road with tent and Velosolex." Siegfried Kuhn

"No Federal Councillor was more willing to accept my ideas for productions than Adolf Ogi. His enthusiasm for sport repeatedly gave me ideas that could then be realised, often without Ogi himself noticing, like this headstand at his home." 1991 Siegfried Kuhn

"For the Federal Council's trip to the Bernese Oberland in 1993, there was a "marching plan" that specified exactly when and where photographs could be taken. This time, of all things, the last stage, the arrival at Ogi's home village of Kandersteg, was no longer part of it. This was incomprehensible to me, which is why I went there anyway and was able to take a picture of Ogi's father and son greeting each other warmly. As I suspected, the picture had an emotional power that also convinced the jury of a competition. I was awarded the prize for special achievements in photojournalism." Siegfried Kuhn

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From shooting James Bond milking a Swiss cow to snapping former Swiss president Adolf Ogi standing on his head, Siegfried Kuhn has had an extremely varied career as a press photographer. His new book tells the stories behind the photos that graced Swiss magazines and newspapers for years.

Photographers take pictures. But sometimes they write too – for example, when they provide the photos and the texts for their features, or, like Siegfried Kuhn, they commit their experiences and adventures to paper at the end of their careers.

In summer 1966, Siegfried Kuhn took photographs of a team of Japanese climbers on the Kleine Scheidegg. The image was captured by the mountaineer Toni Hibeler

His recent book, “Siegfried Kuhn Press Photographer 1959-1995”, includes photos, features and other documents, as well as 140 long and short stories that he wrote as the man behind the camera. Kuhn worked for the Swiss publishing house Ringier for 33 years.

The publication is an amazing experience for viewers and readers alike, as well as being a photographic chronicle of an era. It’s also a refreshingly different kind of autobiography that gives an insight into how press photographs are created, and how they make their way into illustrated magazines.

Kuhn recalls his beginnings: “About ten years before I was born, my parents, Alfred and Alice Kuhn-Bodmer, both trained professionals, bought Roman Hohl’s photography business in Lyss. With a mobile studio camera, they began photographing family groups, wedding couples and crying, naked babies on sheepskins in a glass-roofed studio. Everyone lined up to be photographed for portraits, passport photos and mementos in front of a painted background showing the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains.”

Siegfried Kuhn recounts: “On a slippery road and in driving snow, a lorry rammed into me in Kosthofen, near Lyss, on December 3, 1970. I was unhurt and had the presence of mind to photograph the scene.” Siegfried Kuhn

Dream job: press photographer 

He continues: “My mother set me on the path to becoming a press photographer. I had just returned from a trip when she showed me an advertisement posted by A.T.P. Bilderdienst in Zurich in the magazine Photo-Rundschau, the publication which at the time served the Swiss photography industry. The job advert was for a reporter, not in Zurich but in the Bern office. I took immediate action, applied and was hired straight away — with one condition: I should learn to drive as soon as possible.”

“My dream job began prosaically. At the A.T.P. headquarters of in Zurich, my colleagues introduced me to the life of a reporter. Once I was sent out to wander the streets of Zurich to photograph striking and remarkable subjects. Only with hindsight did I realise that I had blindly walked past Hans Krüsi, a painter who later became a friend, at the flower stall.”

Agenda entry for Thursday 15 August: he drives up to the Kleine Scheidegg to photograph Clint Eastwood. The expenses are carefully listed. Siegfried Kuhn

James Bond in the cowshed

“While on a big story about James Bond – Roger Moore – in Gstaad, I was unsatisfied with the pictures I had taken and wanted to try something different with this world-famous star. I asked him on the spot if he would let me photograph him milking a cow. Moore’s reaction was astonishing. He didn’t find the idea crazy at all. He even knew how to milk. The only problem was finding a cow and farmer who would cooperate and make it happen in the limited time we had. Moore took mischievous pleasure in surprising us with his milking skills and explained that he had acquired them as a child on his uncle’s farm. I rushed about setting the scene.”

“The farmer Hans Zingre, a former skier, was delighted and thought it would be great to have one of his cows milked by ‘James Bond.’ I drove ahead to get the milking cap, apron and chair ready with Zingre’s help. My wife sat next to Moore in his car to direct him to the farm. It all worked out really well. When they arrived, everything was in place. The actor sat down on the milking stool and started milking, a fly landed on his back and – what a stroke of luck – the cow, Meieli, looked at the camera. Roger Moore grinned, I pressed the shutter release of the camera, and the cover photo for the Schweizer Illustrierte was sorted.”

Siegfried Kuhn

Siegfried Kuhn was born in 1931 and completed his apprenticeship as a photographer in Lyss from 1947 to 1950. From 1959 to 1962, he worked as a photo reporter for A.T.P. Bilderdienst in the Bern office, and from 1962 to 1995 he worked mainly for the Schweizer Illustrierte. But his photos appeared in over 20 different illustrated magazines, journals and daily newspapers.