Raised in a small village on the island Goeree Overflakkee, the Netherlands, I spent my childhood in the Dutch countryside. This is where my interest in nature arose, roaming the meadows and the local nature reserve, looking for anything that moved or made a sound. When I turned 14, my parents gave me a camera and a new passion was borne. Not that I knew what I was doing, far from that, but I loved taking pictures. Especially animals, first my dog and later, once I bought myself a second hand 70 - 210 mm lens, the local wildlife.

During my study and most of my 30 year career in finance, my interest in photography and wildlife faded to the background, only to shortly re-emerge during holidays. Some 10 years ago, I kind of rediscovered my childhood’s passions as a great way for stress relief and since then I am spending more and more time in nature with my camera. A couple of years ago, I finally had the time to fulfill a long-cherished wish by attending a nature guide course in the beautiful Okavango Delta in Botswana. The first seeds for this wish were sown some 25 years ago, when I did my first safari in South Africa. Although an entire new experience back then, I felt at home straight away in the remoteness and rawness of the African bush. Over the safari holidays to follow, the curiosity about the ecology in general and wildlife in particular increased and so did the questions. Although there is still so much to learn about it, the nature guide course provide me with so much more insight and knowledge that I appreciate nature even more. But it also gave me an understanding how fragile nature is and how much pressure is being put on it by humankind. That all of us are surrounded by nature, in some form or the other, but so many take it for granted, are oblivious to it or even consider it to be a nuissance.

In my photography I am looking for the beauty, the fragileness but also the rawness in nature. Whether taken in the African bush or in my backyard, I hope my pictures convey my passion and fascination for nature and make you appreciate nature just that little bit more.