Marsel van Oosten

The award-winning nature photographer tells Graeme Green about simplicity, Snoop Dogg, death metal, and the dire state of Mother Earth

- Graeme Green

Marsel van Oosten

Nature photographer

Marsel van Oosten is a Dutch nature photographer. He currently lives in South Africa, with producer and videographer Daniella Sibbing. Together they run Squiver (www.squiver.com), which offers specialised wildlife and landscape photography tours. Marsel won the grand title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 for his shot ‘The Golden Couple’. Other awards include International Nature Photographer of the Year (twice), Travel Photographer of the Year and Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Marsel’s images are exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and have appeared in National Geographic, Audubon and Geo. He is a Nikon Ambassador and one of the nature photographers supporting the New Big 5 project (see page 112). He recently released a short documentary, Dragon Blood: A Photographer’s Journey to Socotra, Yemen, on YouTube.

Instagram: @marselvanoosten www.mother-book.com

Marsel van Oosten’s 15-year photographic career has been filled with many highlights, with expeditions from Namibia to Norway to Yemen, creatively capturing the natural world, from golden snub-nosed monkeys, lions and polar bears to rock formations and dragon blood trees. Along the way, he’s become the world’s only nature photographer to win the ‘Grand Slam’: the grand titles for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, International Nature Photographer of the Year and Travel Photographer of the Year. “It flew by,” he reflects.