Wonder and curiosity characterizes the life of emeritus professor dr. Jan van der Greef (1952), with his passion for nature as the leitmotiv. He started photographing birds in his teens, physically challenged by polio at the age of 4. His innovative scientific work in systems biology and interest in metaphysics and philosophy merged with his nature photography and focused on the interconnectedness of man and nature, reality and the mystical.
Over time, the boundaries between philosophy, science and fine art nature photography have evaporated. The worlds of thought and the world of intuition became balanced. He is specialized in intuitive symbolic nature photography capturing his direct experiences and feelings in nature, this made his work more impressionistic and abstract.
He is an author of three books ‘Reflections of the Inner Self. Dreams and Visions of Nature’ (2014), Limitless life, the power of passion and imagination (also in Dutch, 2019) and his master piece ‘Beyond Oneness, bridging the seen and the unseen’ (2019), visual poetry as entry to sense the otherworldly.
For both his scientific innovations and fine art photography Jan van der Greef has been multiple awarded at the most prestigious international level such as Scheele-award 2005 and winner Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018.
Jan van der Greef is a highly acclaimed inspirational and motivational public speaker, with a depth of presence.
He is a co-founder and board member of the foundation Alliance for Nature (Home – Alliance for Nature) and serves as a board member of the Essentia foundation (Home | Essentia Foundation)