Biography Jurgen Sloots

Hi, I’m Jurgen Sloots (1964) and the founder/initiator of Nature Photo Portal. Ever since my youth been active in the field of nature, because of my grandfather and father were nature lovers aswell. At the age of 12 I was one of the youngest members of the Youth Nature Association in The Netherlands. Birdwatching was my main interest and I wanted to keep that moments alive. That’s why I got a job in a nearby supermarket and after some while I bought my first Pentax K1000 with a Tokina 400/5.6 Photographing birds and mammals is since then my greatest passion in life (after my wife & kids;-).

Close to home

I make my photos mostly close to home in my living environment Eindhoven, a beautiful region with a great deal of unrivalled natural beauty. For my conceptual projects it’s also nice to work close to home. I don’t waste time by traveling around. And I just love my own territory, it allows you to go back and back again and see the changes in the landscape or with the animals.

Biography Jurgen Sloots: Close to home

Nature Photo Portal

Nature Photo Portal is my newborn: for years I dreamed about a website/blog/portal where nature photographers from all over the globe can share their joint passion nature photography. It’s for beginners, advanced, amateurs, semi-prof and professionals. It’s about information and inspiration. Everyone can find or contribute on their own level. Newbies can find lots of information and others with more experience can share their thoughts and knowledge on the portal.

Jurgen Sloots Photography

For many years now, I’ve been involved with photography practically every day. With great enthusiasm, I cooperate in the realisation of appealing projects in order to share my amazement with people who are interested in nature and photography. This holds for both profit and non-profit environments. New technologies are followed closely and, where possible, used to enrich photographic projects. The projects in which he participates include multimedia presentations ( 18 meter screen, 6 projectors) photo-commissions, exhibitions, photography festivals, books, workshops and lectures etc.

For example my last project (with Eric Bergmeester) was SlimBoek de Groote Heide | Brainport natuurlijk! ( SlimBoek de Groote Heide | Brainport naturally!) Not just a book, but a whole conceptual project: a coffee table book whereof 30 photos are enriched with AR (augmented reality), an app with a walk in nature where you can see 10 points of interest (AR), an exhibition whereof the photos are scannable and a photo community where people can share their photos of the area. This book is about the correlation of nature and technology in Brainport Region Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Associations

An important thing for me was and is sharing my passion for nature and nature photography with other enthusiasts. That’s why I was a co-founder and board member for many years of the Association of Nature Photographers Eindhoven( VNFE ) and the Dutch Nature Photographers Association ( NVN ) in The Netherlands.

Photo hides

My passion for nature photography is a well-known fact, and many people around the globe know me because of my pop-up photo hides. I designed and sold them for years to many satisfied customers. At the moment we’re busy to develop our newest range of pop-up photo hides: one person, two person and a bivi hide for low angle shots. We’ll keep you informed about this especially developed hides for wildlife photographers.