Johan Kaethoven

Born in Belgium, 1969

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With a father who worked in the photo film industry, the photo bug must have crept in my genes from my birth on. I still remember, I was walking around with my first compact camera, still with analog film rolls.

 

The moment digital photography made its appearance,  I quickly saw the benefits of it... Results were immediately visible and if they were not to your liking, you could immediately take another picture. It didn't take long before I bought my first digital compact camera to experiment with. This way I could immediately change my setting to achieve the best results.

 

After working with Olympus Micro Four Third systems for 15 years, all the way from the E-510 over the OMD E-M10 to the professional systems such as the OMD E-M1, OMD E-M1 mkII and the OMD E-M1x (always equipped with the Olympus Pro lens series) it was time for an upgrade!

 

With the Sony Alpha series I found the ideal partner. Together with a Sony consultant we put together the ideal configuration for my type of photography. We decided to go for the A7 mkIV body in combination with some G series lenses. The advantage of this system is that you photograph with a 33MP full frame sensor that gives you clear results and also gives you the option to crop your pictures later on if necessary. Also the colors of this sensor are extremely rich and give you a beautiful dynamic result.

 

Whenever I go out I always have both A7 cameras with me, each with a different lens configuration so that I don't have to change lenses so I don't risk missing the shot. With this method I can also be sure that I will achieve the results I had in mind in the shortest possible time.

 

 When I first went to South Africa in 2019, I was immediately bitten by the safari virus.

Without any doubt, the African wildlife completely stole my heart and photographing wildlife became a passion from that moment on. Since then I take every opportunity I can get to photograph wildlife, I can't hardly imagine myself being outside of Africa. What fascinates me in this is the beauty and power of nature, ranging from flowers and insects to landscapes and wildlife. My dream is to buy a property in a private Big5 game reserve and settle me. That dream continues!

 

The most difficult part of wildlife photography is not only the camera skills, but also tracking game and the somewhat unpredictable behaviour of the animals. Besides that, also lighting conditions can be a pain in the ass, you have to deal with dark light at dawn of day or harsh light in the middle of the day.

To my opinion, the Sony cameras and G lenses are the best companion for the results I want to achieve!