Handboek Natuurfotografie Nederland & België

With pride I can announce that my recent book “Handboek Nederland & België” was published. A book whit many insights into the Nature photography from the Netherlands en Belgium. And also a book with a lot of photos with a “making-of” story. The book is divided into 12 chapters, each representing one month. Every month I will discuss various topics like wher you can find specific nature subjects, preparation, camera techniques, light and composition. But also, how to make a more appealing image of a subject. Each month I conclude with a summary of hotspots, how to get there and other useful information. The topics are very diverse: from insects, reptiles, birds, mammals, plants to landscapes. The book is unfortunately only available in Dutch language.

Nikon D300, 18 mm, 250 iso, 1/160 s, F/20.0, fill in flash

Now available is the BBC Wildlife Magazine, April issue, featuring my story about the Alpine marmots. Last year I have photographed this animals in National Park the Hohe Tauern in Austria. On the image you see the opening spread from this article: a Alpine marmot with on the background the Grossglockner (highest mountain of Austria).

Last week I stayed several days in London for judging the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer contest. More (but not to much,  sorry) on my facebook.

Nikon D300, 155 mm, F/4.0, 1/2500 s, 200 iso

Last year the 1ste Nature Images Award was held in France. This is an international contest organized by the French nature magazine Terre Sauvage and the IUCN (the world’s largest environmental organization). The first prize was won by National Geographic photographer Steve Winter. And I won a third prize in the mammal category with one of my alpine marmot images. A nice beginning of the year! On the website www. natureimagesawards.com you can see the winning images. Also soon there will be an publication of my marmot images in a internationally well known magazine. Soon more about this nice publication….

Nikon D300, 270 mm, F/7.1, 1/250 s, 800 iso

In recent years I visited Borneo twice and was deeply impressed by the beautiful rainforest with her many exceptional animals. But the look in the eyes of the Orang-utan at the picture is one I will never forget. From his cage, he had a view of the rainforest, his rainforest! But now, sitting in a cage, his habitat is limited to a few square meters. How sad! And also sad is how quickly the rainforest disappears. Scientist have calculated that most likely over 10 years no more orangutans are living in the wild. Then we find them only in cages, such as the Orang-utan in this picture.

As a photographer I have affiliated with Orangutan Outreach Netherlands who supported the work of Willie Smits. Willie is one of the leading conservationists in the world and leading several major project like the project DeforestAction. National Geographic US is making a movie of this project. Currently Willie accompanied Crown Princess Gusti Pembayun during a trip in Europe. She is the eldest daughter of the Sultan of Yogyakarta/Indonesia and also president of the Conservation Foundation Yogyakarta. At this moment she visits the Netherlands to raise awareness for the DeforestAction project.