Jolanda Vlastuin was born and raised on a sublet in an zone tabbed the Veluwe, one of the sparse woodland areas in the Netherlands. She started with photography without her first child was born. In the years that followed she enjoyed documenting the lives of her children. One day, while photographing her kids, she saw a slug in the grass and wondered how tropical she could get with her camera and kit lens. The result, a photo of the slug showing its teeth while eating, triggered her interest in macro photography. What followed was a macro lens and through the years numerous vintage lenses.

She attended a beginners undertow for photographers and then started practicing. The internet helped her to find all she wanted to know. Nowadays she unchangingly shoots in transmission mode in order to have well-constructed tenancy over the light interacting with her subjects. Once or twice a week she takes her camera outside but she moreover still enjoys photographing her children.

Glorious morning © Jolanda Vlastuin

Inspiration

“My love for nature was instilled in me from an early age. I grew up on a sublet near the woods, so nature and animals were unchangingly close. And my parents unchangingly taught me how important it was to respect both people, animals and nature.
Religion plays an important role in my life and my beliefs have not only taught me the importance of stuff a loving and caring person, but it is moreover a source of inspiration.

In the field of photography, nature photographers Bob Daalder and Loulou Beavers were my biggest sources of inspiration. With Bob it was mainly the soft, painterly effect in his photos that inspired me to try to create these types of photos, where minimum depth of field and such play an important role. With Loulou, it was the use of the double exposure technique that intrigued me. I first practiced this technique in post-processing for half a year surpassing I started using the in-camera option.”

Rise and shine © Jolanda Vlastuin

Preparation

“I like to go out without having a well-spoken end result in mind. I may have some ideas in my head, but I like to be inspired by what comes my way. Of undertow I do take into worth things like seasons and weather conditions, so that you know, for example, whether it is a promising day to squint for dragonflies. But the outcome of such a day is still completely open.

When I requite a workshop it is slightly different, increasingly planned and increasingly focussed on what techniques the participants want to use. But plane then, going out with the camera virtually your neck offers the weightier chances for unexpected photos. So let yourself be inspired by what you see!”

Signature

“My religious preliminaries influences my tideway to art. I see God as the creator of everything. To me He is the light and this light symbolizes loving everything virtually you, be it people, animals or nature. I think that’s why I tideway photography as painting with light, highlighting the eyeful of everything virtually me in a respectful way. The colors and mood in my photos are reflecting this. I often segregate to alimony my photos underexposed which gives my photos quite a visionless look, but in the visionless you can see the light better.”

Light unchangingly overcomes the darkness © Jolanda Vlastuin

Ambition

“It is my yearing to show the eyeful of nature. And I hope my photos contribute in two ways. First, to get people to respect and superintendency for nature by showing them how trappy nature can be. And considering we humans are moreover part of nature, we must moreover be respectful and caring towards each other. For example, take a squint at comments on social media, which are full of negativity and harsh words. We should be a little increasingly gentle with each other.

Secondly, I hope that my photos will request to other nature photographers to stay closer to home increasingly often and to stimulate their creativity. Realize that there are moreover photographers living in those much-visited faraway places, so why not enjoy their photos and in the meantime take your shots near you? Photos from your own environment are increasingly recognizable to your regulars which makes it easier for them to finger unfluctuating to nature. And furthermore less traveling moreover contributes to diminishing our footprints.”

Sleeping eyeful © Jolanda Vlastuin

Photography contest

“I’m not a person who loves to be in the spotlights. And besides that, participating in photography contests like Nature Photographer Of The Year, is very much time consuming. But since it is only a few years ago that I started my own business, stuff providing photography workshops, it is helpful to get my name out. And stuff awarded with a ‘highly commended’ in a prestigious photo races like NPOTY is definitely a unconfined sign.

But remember it is important to only participate if you finger well-appointed with it. And when you decide to participate, try to be original. Only then your work gets noticed by the jury”

The shy butterfly © Jolanda Vlastuin

Social Media

“For me social media platforms like IG and FB are a ways to get in contact with other people; friends, family and so on. At the same time these platform offer a endangerment to see what other photographers are doing. Not to squint and reprinting their photos, but to get inspired. That said for me most inspiration comes from stuff outside. Ideas upspring in your throne and take shape outside.

These platforms moreover provide opportunities to talk well-nigh what matters in life. And to share your thoughts on the consequences of many of the choices we make. Worldwide there is a lot of sustentation for climate change, global warming, CO2 emissions and the like. And the terrible consequences of all these problematic issues are shown on TV from all corners of the world.

Deep in the forest © Jolanda Vlastuin

In the Netherlands, the agricultural sector is identified as one of the major culprits. Of undertow there are problems and a lot needs to be done, moreover in the agricultural sector. But the problems are not over when the farmers tropical their businesses. There are increasingly causes that contribute to the problems we have. Think of the steel industry or the aviation sector. Or what we can do well-nigh it ourselves? Staying closer to home, flying/traveling less or no longer, take a hair-trigger squint at the origin of our food, eat less or no meat, buy second-hand stuff, et cetera. We have to do it together if we want to transpiration anything.”

Nature speaks without words © Jolanda Vlastuin

Covid-19 effects

“Because I live on a farm, tropical to the woods, I had the opportunity to get out and well-nigh whenever I wanted. And as soon as I was allowed, I started my workshops again, mostly on an individual basis. Considering the workshops do not form our main income, putting it on a low for a while didn’t have much influence on our daily life.

On the other hand, the effort it took and the limitations I encountered to visit family and friends made this period very difficult for me. I am a person who likes to be virtually people and so the effect on my social life was much greater than the effect on my photography activities.”

Always squint up © Jolanda Vlastuin

At the end of the interview I asked Jolanda Vlastuin the question: “if you could ask flipside nature photographer one question, who would that be and which question would you ask?

Jolanda was quick to answer: “I don’t have a question for a single photographer, I want to ask a question for many of us. Why do so many wildlife photographers fly all over the world to take pictures once taken by other photographers. While we know how big the footprint is that flying entails. If you are unshut to it, you can moreover take unconfined photos tropical to home. If you travel less, you may need to get increasingly creative to get lulu photos of subjects you’ve photographed before. But I do like challenges!
If we all do something to make our planet greener, the world will be so much increasingly beautiful. Many hands make lighter work.

Oceans are made up of many drops.
And how powerful are its waves.

Let’s take superintendency of each other.

Waves © Jolanda Vlastuin