I would first like to thank you for visiting Michael Kleinwolterink’s
Photography and hopefully having a look around this site and finding some
wonderful photography. It is a joy and pleasure to share this photography that
I have been able to capture over the years with you. Please do not hesitate to
contact me if you have any questions about ordering anything or just want to
talk photography.
Growing up in the heartland of America, I have been surrounded by a
landscape that is perfect for photography in my mind. I started out in high
school with a Pentax film camera taking the photography classes that my local
high school offered. Enjoying the time behind the camera, along with other art
related classes, I continued education at Iowa Central Community College. There
I attended more photography classes along with graphic design using the Pentax
film camera along the way. Back during that time, I had to wait to see what I
captured on film and hope that special moment turned out. However, once I
transferred to the University of Northern Iowa, the camera took a back seat to
business school.
Once I graduated from UNI and started working at Lake Panorama National
as an Assistant Golf Professional, I found myself enjoying the outdoors more
often. I soon realized that I needed to capture this time in the outdoors and
purchased a Pentax digital slr. This new camera spiked my interest in
photography as I could instantly see what I had captured on “film” along with
saving hundreds of dollars on film development. I soon realized however that my
small Pentax camera kit was lacking while out taking photographs so I needed a
new camera. I always wanted equipment from the big two brands, so in 2008 as
soon as Nikon released the D90, I purchased the camera. With this new camera
body, it created a whole new interest in photography for me.
Since purchasing the Nikon D90 I have continued to add lenses and computer
software to my camera equipment kit to improve my skills. The world wide web
and other means of instruction has also helped me grow my knowledge of
photography in this day and age. But nothing helps improve your knowledge of
how to capture those special moments then being out there pushing the shutter
on the camera. After the image is captured, transferring the files onto the
computer I am able to make a great photograph exceptional if all the right “ingredients”
are there in the image. In 2015, I started to feel that the D90 was starting to get "old" and with a new interest in nightscapes and astrophotography, I purchased the Nikon D750. This new camera has allowed me to capture even better images and I look forward to many years with this amazing camera.
The last two years have been exciting with published work in Ducks Unlimited. An image I captured was the overall winner in the 2018 and 2016 Ducks Unlimited Photo Contest. The previous year I was runner-up in the waterfowl category of the photo contest. My work was also published in the 2016 Iowa Ducks Unlimited Calendar. In 2017, I entered the High Plains Journal Down Country Roads Calendar contest and was selected for one of thirteen images for their 2018 calendar that is sold nationwide. I have been lucky enough to be published in the magazine “Midwest Today”,
be nominated as a top 5 finalist for Ducks Unlimited 2011 & 2012 Waterfowl 360 photo
contest and took 1st Place in the Guthrie County Tourism Photo
Contest in 2009. I've also had my work published in Our Iowa and Mid-American Waterfowler magazines in 2013.
The above accomplishments are great but it does not fuel the fire for
me to be out shooting my camera. What inspires me is capturing those once in a
life time moments and being able to share them with others.
Sincerely,
Michael Kleinwolterink
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