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We started our diving course in the early nineties. We followed this at a diving club that was affiliated with the NOB, the Dutch branch of CMAS. We successfully completed these and although we say in retrospect that the certifications did not imply that we knew a lot about diving, at least our physical condition had certainly improved.

In 1996 we decided to buy an underwater housing to record our diving vacation. It was a house where disposable cameras were put in. The result was very nice, partly because of the clear water. Not long after that we switched to an analogue Sea & Sea camera with external flash. Our first photos were taken with that camera in the much less clear waters of the Netherlands.

In 2001, after we visited some marine biology courses, it was decided to make a new investment. Then came the switch to a digital camera, it became a Nikon Coolpix 990. This was followed by a few other digital cameras.

In 2004 we moved to Hungary because of the work, where we started photographing butterflies due to a lack of diving water, which became a new great passion. In the 8 years we lived in that country, we went to Croatia very often for a diving weekend. Croatia also turned out to be a very interesting country for butterflies and plants

We have returned to the Netherlands for quite some time now and we have found a nice place to live in the National Park “Maasduinen”. We gave up diving for health reasons and instead we focused on nature above water. For this we usually walk from our front door into nature, but other areas are also regularly visited.

Taxonomy

On taxonomic classification is much confusion, or disagreement. We have therefore decided to work with WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species) for marine species. For butterflies and birds, we use the classification of Fauna Europaea.