In June 2016, Gerard Visser and myself visited Bulgaria to shoot Wallcreepers.

This is my third article about ‘less is more’ it surely won’t be the last! (see link to second and first article). ‘Less is more’ has become really my favorite thing. I'm even considering selling my 500-mm-telephoto lens as  it’s lying around in my basement uselessly (that being said, I keep using it regularly).

Act I: I grew up in the city of Rotterdam together with my parents and my older brother (Henk). But as a four year old, I suddenly got a new brother: what a nice surprise! My brand-new brother, named Jaap, was already around thirteen years old when he was introduced to our family...

Some people are born in the wrong body. They feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body or, of course, the other way around. Since a few years ago, when I first visited Scandinavia, I knew that I also had a problem. Not that I was born in the wrong body, but in the wrong country. Like some sort of ‘trans-countrier’.

The Great Grey Shrike is anything but boring, it’s a beautiful bird and a dangerous killer. This former breeding bird is now a scarce winter guest in the Netherlands; you’ll find these birds in moorlands, which is their favourite place to be.

Sexing and ageing is important for the identification of redpolls. Further identification will be easier when keeping these in mind. With redpolls, sexing and ageing isn’t always that simple. In the field it’s sometimes impossible. Shall we give it a go?

Any self-respecting photographer would be shooting in RAW, wouldn't they?

Like Greenland and Spitsbergen, Barrow (at the last northern part of Alaska) is a dream location for any bird photographer, especially those who have a preference for arctic species. That is why Jan van Holten, Martin van der Schalk and myself visited this magical location in June 2015 for the duration of two weeks.

On my trip to Barrow, Alaska, USA (June, 2015) I found a notable amount of redpolls. I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't expecting it!

The opportunity to film is one of the advantages of modern photography. Now and then it’s nice to take a short video, just for fun!

In Spring 2008 Menno van Duijn, Adri Hoogendijk and myself visited the southern part of Poland. Our goal was to photograph Pygmy Owl and Ural Owl...

As a bird photographer I love less-is-more-pictures. The subject that matters takes up only a small part of these pictures, while its surroundings plays an important role.

I love redpolls. It’s not easy to explain why I like redpolls that much. With their nice red cap and their tiny bill they appeal to many bird lovers. There are different species of redpolls and not always easily identified in the field.

Some test pictures of a Canon EOS 7D mark II. First the whole picture (reduced to 1024 pixels) and after that a part of the same picture (100% crop)...

The gems of the Portugese Azores aren’t the rare American migrant birds. No, they're the endemic Azores Bullfinches (pyrrhula murina), found at the eastern tip of the beautiful island of São Miguel. Some would claim that these birds are less than inspiring to look at and thus not worth observing but as a lover of finches I find them anything but dull. I would go so far as to call them beautiful and even mysterious due to the ‘Priolo's’ (the Portuguese name for the species) history; once being thought extinct and then rediscovered.

For a bird photographer a Cetti’s Warbler is always difficult to photograph. This species is mostly (or always) invisible. Most birders only hear the bird and never get the opportunity to see a Cetti’s Warbler. The strong and typical song or call of a Cetti’s Warbler is a good indication of the presence of these birds. Last winter I had an unexpected good opportunity to photograph this bird...

Batsfjord, March 2014. Never before had the days leading up to a bird photography trip been so bad; a week before leaving a piece of my tooth broke, then I stubbed my toe and after that I burnt my back in an infrared sauna. To make matters worse, the route app of Norway I had installed on my phone didn’t work and last but not least I got a nasty pain in my lower back which also through my left leg…

In 2013 I visited Kangerlussuaq, Greenland from the 18th to the 25th of March in order to photograph the redpolls there. Now you might be wondering how one might pronounce Kangerlussuaq. My heartfelt advice would be not to spend too much time thinking about it, only the Inuits are able to pronounce this word correctly…

In order to make a photography trip, I visited Spitsbergen (Svalbard) from July 22 to August 13, 2010. The first week I was lonely and alone in Longyearbyen. On the last two weeks I sailed, together with a group, on a classic sailing vessel...

In January 2010 I went to Canada to photograph Snowy Owls together with Rob Reijnen, Han Meeuwsen, Hans Nooitgedacht and Adri de Visser. The Snowy Owl was at the top of my wish list…

Normally bird photographers have the desire to use more millimetres during shooting. When you have a 200 millimetre lens, you want a 400 mm lens; of course with an extender and a body with a crop factor so as to have a good range. Once the 400 mm lens is in your possession, you're already dreaming of a 500 mm lens. The more millimetres the better!  I myself reach 1120mm with the combination of 500 mm (lens) x 1.4 (extender) x 1.6 (crop factor of my body)…