Marsel Van Oosten

Photography terminology is peppered with hunting terms they all start to make sense when applied to wildlife photography. It requires a great deal of patience, a good head for geography and biology, quick reflexes and a steady hand. You need to be out where the wild things are at the times when they’re active and you have to deal with the weather, the boredom, the potential for damaging your equipment and, when it comes to African wildlife, the not insignificant chance of being chewed on or stepped on or crapped on.

Van Oosten’s images are a real testament to the skills required for good nature photography. And that whole field is important because every new inspiring image of wildlife adds to our collective sense of responsibility for these creatures and their environments. Each new series taken on the Savannah or in some other remote corner of the planet might be the first time a young child sees one of these creatures outside of a Dreamworks animation.

But with such a long tradition of African wildlife photography, a growing number of people with excellent equipment and the shrinking boundaries of the sanctuaries it’s hard to do something new.

Marsel succeeds through his compositions and through his artistic perspective on these creatures and landscapes. He’s found ways to shoot these creatures in a new light and elevate these images to something exceptional. The eye that he brings to the job has the potential to stir an audience that is accustomed to exceptional images of these places and remind us again of the diversity of the natural world.

For more amazing images of wildlife check out this award-winning compilation on the Boston big picture.