Nature photographer Machiel de Vos (88) from Havelte died on February 12. He wrote countless books about the beautiful nature that he captured all over the world. Even flora and fauna in his own garden could amaze and move him. “Thinking out, a nature person through and through,” family writes on his website.
Klaske, the love of Machiel’s life, died in January last year at the age of 83. They were together for no less than 61 years. He has been alone for just over a year. The death of his other half was a hard blow. That last year it was far too quiet in the house on the outskirts of Havelte, decorated with photos. In November and December, pneumonia struck Machiel. He ended up in hospital, but recovered. “I feel capable of more action every day,” he wrote in December on his own website, which features beautiful photos. He shot his last plates from maze fungi.
Globe trotter
De Vos, originally from Steenwijk, wandered the world taking photographs for decades. He made more than sixty trips worldwide, often with his wife Klaske. They were in Antarctica and the North Pole and everything in between. His photos and travel reports appeared in books, magazines and calendars. He did this in addition to his work as civil engineering project leader for numerous infrastructure projects in the Netherlands.
A love for nature was instilled from an early age. As an 18-year-old, Machiel de Vos was one of the founders of nature association De Noordwesthoek in Steenwijkerland. “My father was a fisherman. He taught me the love for everything that grows and blooms. That passion has always remained.”
Various magazines and books used his photos, such as the renowned magazine Grasduinen. Butterflies, birds, flowers and plants, De Vos saw new things every day. No Yurt in Mongolia or a penguin at the South Pole, but a dragonfly on a plant, just below the window of his living room. The world has become smaller for Machiel in recent years, but it is also beautiful up close. “Nature inspires every day.” Until the end, he posted the photos on his own website machieldevos.nl.
More than twenty years ago, Machiel and Klaske returned to their native region from Leusden, where they had lived for years. The book was published not much later The Havelter Zand about the nature and culture around this Drenthe village. With an eye for detail and composition, De Vos captured the most beautiful places for posterity. In 2007 he switched from analogue to digital. “I have not yet taken the final step, a camera without a mirror. I don’t think it will happen yet,” he said in an interview in this newspaper in August last year.
Difficult without his great love
Without his Klaske it was tough. Yet Machiel courageously took on a new project. “In 1995 I wrote a book about the province of Utrecht and unknowingly I recorded many dovecotes and pigeon towers in the Langbroekerwetering area. The question slowly arose in my mind: what are those things? What were they used for and why is so little known about them, while some of the buildings are really beautiful?”
The dormant interest in those wonderful buildings became a mission and Machiel was occupied with that assignment every day until his death. He got up early and scoured the internet looking for pigeon construction projects. He approached photographers or took the photos himself. The aim was to produce a book with all the remaining pigeon houses from the public road in the Netherlands. He was no longer able to finish this project.
Last chapter
“I also know that I have started the last chapter of my life, because the years are going to count,” he said in August last year. “I want to leave something beautiful for posterity. I hope to complete my mission regarding the dovecotes. I also think it shows courage to still do this at my age. I have to keep going.”