Squiver

Michael - Alternate Thursdays Lumas Photo: Marsel van Oosten Marsel van Oosten Knysna is
the home to one of the world's leading photographic artists. Marsel van Oosten was born in
Rotterdam, where he grew up and made a success in marketing. He loved the
images that formed part of his campaigns, especially those that supported
conservation. He became a keen amateur photographer himself, but as time went on, he realized
that he wanted to become a professional photographer and artist, that that was
his real passion. He and his wife, Daniella, closed their agency, and planned a
year of wildlife photography around the world to start the new venture. They called it Squiver - a made up word. Marsel asked Daniella to estimate
the costs of such a venture, and it was way beyond anything they could afford.
Then Marsel’s marketing background kicked in. He hit on the idea of
producing a book focusing on top rank lodges and venues around the world – a book
that the lodges would pay to be included in. The project took off, and their
first book was Wild Romance covering lodges and venues across Africa. You can
still grab resale copies for around $250(!) Marsel’s career as a photographer had
taken off. Looks good to me! Since then
he has collected first prizes in International Photography Awards, three times; in 2015 he was Travel Photographer of the Year; and in 2018 he was Wildlife
Photographer of the Year.

I was privileged
to hear him speak and enjoy his stunning visuals at a U3A meeting here in Knysna. He
showed us many of his truly amazing pictures, starting with the elephant at
Victoria Falls which adorns the cover of his more recent book Mother . He
explained that this was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
No one else has a picture of an elephant peacefully feeding at the brink of the
magnificent falls because no one else was there at that moment. Indeed, he continued, the impact
of the animal is not that it's a great or even particularly interesting picture of an
elephant, but that it gives scale . The impact of the falls is so much greater
because we can appreciate its vastness by comparison to the size of the animal. Inside Mother by Marsel van Oosten and Daniella Sibbing Every wildlife photographer needs a bit of luck, but Marsel's real satisfaction comes from planning a wildlife picture in advance. Looking
for the perfect setting. Finding the perfect angles and lighting. And then
waiting patiently for an animal simply to appear in the right place. Here is a great example. He liked the shapes of the trees. All it needed was the right animal. Given enough patience, sooner or later you may get the shot. Or you try again. The trees - and Marsel - waited patiently for the elephant... Photo: Marsel van Oosten In fact, for Marsel,
planning is everything. Perspective is important. He’ll dig a hole in the
ground so that he can photograph a rhino from ground level. Or a lion.  Rhinos from ground level Photo: Marsel van Oosten Photo: Marsel van Oosten Photo: Marsel van Oosten Oh, and here
are a couple of tigers, and these are not from a trip to India. It turns out
that, yes, there are tigers in Africa. Tiger Canyon ( https://tigercanyon.com/ ) is a tiger conservation
area in the Karoo in South Africa where tigers have been introduced in the wild
as a backup to the wild ones in other parts of the world. The idea is similar
to zoos having groups of a rare species to save it from extinction. But zoos
can’t preserve a predator’s wild sociology and hunting strategies. Tiger Canyon can and does. A similar philosophy has white rhinos in Australia.

 Marcel always wants to try something new. Take a look at this video clip of Namibian Nights: https://wanderlust.video/namibian-nights-from-marsel-van-oosten/ Marsel and
his wife have been all over the world, and they can manage their professional activities from anywhere, but they decided to settle in Knysna. They've  built a magnificent home overlooking the Knysna estuary. The timing was good. Covid arrived and restricted their travel and
their opportunities to run photography tours, but it gave an opportunity for
them to write  Mother: a tribute to Mother Earth , unfortunately currently sold out. To really
appreciate Marsel’s art, visit his website https://www.squiver.com/about/   And read about his wonderful photography tours…