It’s the last day of the year and I’m getting sentimental. Looking back, the start of 2011 gave us an epic winter with great light, a lot of snow and some fairytale landscapes. Spring brought us to Marrakesh in Morocco. The narrow streets of the souks in the old city forced me to work in a completely new and different way. Very challenging and great fun. It was definitely one of the highlights of the year for me.

Shelf ice on the Wadden sea - The Netherlands
Summer brought me back to the roots with some classical Tuscan landscapes and gorgeous late afternoon light. Or perhaps doing landscape work with a 500mm super tele lens isn’t that classical after all...

Street life in Marrakesh - Morocco
Finally, autumn in the Mosel region turned out to be a game of patience. With days of bad light it all came down to the very last day. And what a day it was with a spectacular misty sunrise over the hills and valleys. Other highlights have to be my first book being published and the sold out seminars and talks at Foto Konijnenberg en the ZOOM Campus 2011. 2011 also saw record image sales.

Fields of gold - Tuscany, Italy
So, what’s up for 2012? Well, first of all, 2012 will be my 10-year anniversary as a photographer so we have some special things planned. We start off with a completely new workshop program. With new workshops, new locations and smaller groups. I’m very happy with the new set-up and by the looks of it, you are too. The ‘Winter special’ workshop sold out in a week and reservations for the other workshops are coming in on a daily basis. Great! We already have several new trips planned to great locations. As for seminars and talks, we start off on February 11, when I will be one of the guest speakers at the 6th NVN International Nature Photo Festival in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Village on fire - Wolf an der Mosel, germany
But in the end, it all comes down to the images and the fun of taking them. And I am stepping into 2012 full of fresh and new ideas which will challenge me artistically in new and different ways I hope to share with you. Happy New Year and have a great 2012!