Rene Van Echelpoel Country: Belgium Rene Van Echelpoel was born 1954 in Retie, Belgium and currently he lives in Oud-Turnhout, Belgium. As a nature photographer he is a member of the PSA , Photografic Society of America in the United States of America and also of the Austrian “ Fotoklub Leonding “. He has been photographing since the year 2000 and his favorite subject is all nature. Ever since his youth, he has a special admiration for all aspects of nature. Rene is particularly interested in photographic techniques to capture his personal nature experience as detailed as possible. The emptiness, the silence, the greatness but above all the beauty of nature has continued to fascinate him up to this day.

As his interest in nature expands to all natures facets, he wants to improve his technique to capture all that splendor and give it more and more shape. Many years of spending countless hours of leisure, observation in forests and fields and lots of patience, have been translated into a large collection of nature shots, in short, a real life work.

Rene regularly participates in worldwide organized international nature photography competitions. It is a real passion and he hopes to continue for many years.

In 2013, he received the PPSA distinction  by the Photografic Society of America, as well in 2018, the Austrian distinction MVÖV Blau mit goldenen Ehrennadel by the Verband Österreichischer Amateurfotografen Vereine VÖAV.

As a highlight in his career , he received in 2016, the prestigious cultural prize of his municipality Oud-Turnhout, Belgium, for his entire oeuvre of natural images and his many years of service in the field of nature photography.