On a beautiful summer day in 1969 I was born in Berlin Germany. My parents gave me the name Silvia which means forest, woods, the one who is from the woods........ In November 1980 I moved to the Netherlands where I'm still living at the moment.

​Since my childhood I have been interested in nature and wildlife, especially in little creatures like butterflies, caterpillars and beetles. At the age of 12, I studied dead flies under a microscope and started to collect caterpillars to find out what will happen. I remember the day we came home after a short holiday and in my room two butterflies were flying against the window (some caterpillars were escaped). When I grew older my hobby turned into a serious passion and in 1992 I bought my first Canon SLR camera. In 2005 I switched to the digital photography.

​My love for butterflies and nature are in my genes. I love it to go out in the early morning, when mother nature is switching from night into day, and photographing sleeping butterflies. And very often when I'm lying in the grass I meet other creatures like deers. But mostly, I enjoy the sound of the birds. This music in combination with the ultimate feeling of freedom gives me satisfaction: that's my meaning of life.

My speciality is macro photography. For the 'normal' butterfly pictures I use a 180mm macro lens. For special close-ups or really small creatures, like jumping spiders, I use a special macro lens (MP-E 65mm) which offers me 5 x zooming. 
Patience is the keyword into macro photography as all the little creatures are frightened to death when a human being with a huge macro lens comes near....the butterfly will fly away and the jumping spider jumps away. Sometimes I need days, even weeks, for one good photo.

For more detailed information about the way I photograph, please read the chapter: Photography.

Viva la vida, Silvia