About Me
I'm Samuel Houcken, a nature photographer and designer from the Lower Rhine.
Growing up on the left bank of the Lower Rhine, nature right outside the door fascinated me from an early age. After my A-levels in 2015, during a Federal Voluntary Service in nature conservation, I discovered my two great passions: ornithology and photography. What started with long-exposure photography quickly became a deep enthusiasm for bird photography – and later for nature photography in all its diversity.
I like to play with focus and blur, deliberately work with little equipment and try to show animals the way they really live: unstaged and in their habitat. Local wild birds have a special place in my heart. The best way to get to know my work is to browse the bird and macro galleries yourself.
Animal welfare comes before every shot. I don't give exact locations or coordinates – only broadly named regions. I protect rare species and breeding sites by deliberately leaving out details.
Besides photography I work as a designer, which also helps me when selecting images. I share my knowledge of our local fauna and flora in e-books. And as a member of GDT (Society for Nature Photography) I'm part of one of the largest communities for nature photography.