Gheorghe Popa | Sunday

Cuejdel: the enchanted and dangerous lake

Last year we met Gheorghe Popa at our festival during the award show of Nature Photographer of the Year. He won the Portfolio Award with his stunning landscape images made in Romania. He’s such a great guy! He has his own pharmacy business. As a person he is very humorous and adventurous and besides he is also a very talented photographer!

But what we also remember about him is that photography can sometimes be very dangerous! He almost got killed… Lucky for us and his family it didn’t happen and he will show us how he makes his beautiful and artistic landscape photos. He will also tell us why he was allowed to live twice….

Gheorge Popa loves all forms of photography, yet he usually focuses his lens on landscapes. He has traveled a lot around the world, but despite that, Lake Cuejdel in Romania continues to give him the greatest satisfaction and joy. For him, Cuejdel is the place to relax and to practice his photography skills.

During this inspiring lecture, he will take you to the enchanting Lake Cuejdel during the four seasons. He tells you how he was there any time of the day, to search for the best photo opportunity. Often it didn’t work out and he came home frustrated. The perfect light he was looking for was missing, or simply because he was dissatisfied with the technical result.

At a certain point everything fell into place: the light, the fog and especially the inspiration. Over a period of four years, he has made a whole collection of special photos in the different seasons. Enjoy Gheorghes magical pictures and let yourself be enchanted!

Ronald Peeters | Sunday

Artistic nature photography

Whether it be small feathers, spore caps of moss or a soft ripple in the water, Ronald Peeters can completely lose himself in it. With his artistic look, he manages to create a world that is only reserved for fairies and other mystical creatures.

In his working life he is a biology teacher. Nature photography is his passion. Ronald loves nature and tranquility. He would like to take you to the world beyond the directly observable with his photos .

In his artistic nature photography Ronald Peeters is always looking for possibilities to depict what his wonder about nature evokes in him. He transforms his photo projects into visual stories-in-music, which he presents under the title Whispering of the Muses. Ronald will take you along in his Whisperings during this inspiring lecture.

He shows you some of those cartoons. A tip of the veil… In Swans’ delight, swans take you along in their swan ballet full of royal wing beats. Feathers’ Wonderland takes you to wondrous vistas that reveal floating feathers full of dew drops at the first rays of the sun. Dream away with his poetic and impressionist images!

Herman van der Hart | Sunday

Bird photography in The Gambia and Senegal

Herman van der Hart is an all-round nature photographer with a broad interest, but birds, wildlife and landscapes do have his preference. During his lecture he will take you to the wonderful hospitable countries Senegal and Gambia in West Africa. These countries are also known for a fantastic variety of exceptionally beautiful and colorful birds. The most important question for bird photographers is often: how do I make my photo trip a success?

During his lecture, Herman will explain how you can get the most out of your photo trip in this part of the world. What can you expect when visiting these countries when it comes to traveling, sleeping and photographing? He hopes – in addition to all the tips for bird photography and of course the possibilities of capturing wild animals, landscapes and people in a beautiful image – to convey his love for these countries to you.

Tin Man Lee | Sunday

How to freeze and capture rapid moving animals without ending up with blurry images?

Tin Man Lee is an international award-winning wildlife photographer, blogger, and instructor who has had a deep love of wild animals since a young age. His photos have been published on the cover of Alaska magazine, Wild Planet Photo magazine, and annual NANPA Expressions. He was an invited judge of Nature’s Best Photography Asia and View Bug. He has been featured in the Smithsonian Earth, Natures Best Photography, Outdoor Photographer magazine, Nic software, 500 PX, Peta Pixel, et cetera. He also teaches two popular online photography courses: Dynamic Tension Stacking and Maximum Emotional Impact, and now has hundreds of award-winning photographers all over the world taking his classes.

On a personal note: you won’t find a more kinder and generous person with his knowledge of the art of wildlife photography.This fellow was on our ‘wanted list’ for the last four years! Figuratively of course. But his images are a feast for the eye. So we hoped that he wasn’t too big for one’s boots, otherwise we wouldn’t match. Fortunately this wasn’t the case and then we finally managed to snatch him for our festival, he’s now on our speakerslist. We couldn’t stop talking on the phone, someone had to call it off by saying I have to make other phonecalls today! Tin Man Lee is such a humble and funny guy. We shared laughs, ideas and talked about everything.

So we are pleased to introduce Tin Man with his talk on how to capture fast moving animals. Don’t we all struggle with that? How does he always manage to do it and how does he manage to get those beautiful colors in his photos? During this lecture he will teach you how to capture the critical moment in such a way that you touch people with your photos! This is an event you won’t want to miss! Bring your questions and sit back and enjoy the learning experience!

Matt Maran | Sunday

Shooting foxes, The Compassionate Way

Matt Maran has been photographing wildlife for over twenty years. He traveled around the world several times for this. Since the pandemic, however, he mainly photographed close to home. His personal mission is to promote nature in his own city. He now focuses mainly on capturing the urban red fox. With his photos and stories, Matt wants to inspire you to investigate which fascinating stories play out in front of your own door.

His lecture is therefore about telling interesting stories close to home. Among other things, he will answer the following questions: How do you work on your photo project? How do you develop and tell a story? How do you keep improving photographically and challenging yourself creatively? He also discusses other aspects that are important for your photo project such as building relationships with local people. An inspiring and educational story that mainly focuses on the role of conservation photography.