Welcome Dutch travel and nature photographer Patrick Koster welcomes you on the PaKos Photography website. Be inspired by the many pictures of nature’s finest moments. Eclipse Many times I looked at National Geographic magazine’s impressive photographs and wondered what an adventure it must be photographing volcanoes and other forces of nature. After capturing the solar eclipse with borrowed equipment I bought my own SLR. I then tried photographing other rare phenomena like lunar eclipses, lightning and auroras in the Netherlands. Lava Junky Vacations to Nysiros (Greece) and Spain's volcanic Canary Islands reminded me of those impressive NG magazines and sparked a renewed interest and fascination for volcanoes. Experiencing and shooting pictures from erupting Stromboli was so impressive that it made me a photographing lava junky for ever. Volcanoes The Stromboli adventure resulted in trips, vacations, expeditions and even a honeymoon to Ol Doinyio Lengai (Tanzania), several of the Canary Islands (Spain), Stromboli and Etna (Italy) and a range of USA volcanoes like Yellowstone Supervolcano, Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier and many more of the other Cascade range volcanoes. Meanwhile I read too many volcano books, have seen to many volcano documentaries, got to know other lava junkies and volcanologists and even got a membership with the IAVCEI. Challenges Capturing a moment of raw nature is both exciting and many times a big struggle with the elements. You put yourself at risk due to the volcanic risks of bombs, toxic gasses, and suffocating ash. Volcanoes wreck expensive camera’s and lenses in many ways so an empty wallet is just another risk. But if all these challenges result in some extraordinary pictures I had a good time. Other subjects Apart from volcanoes I try to capture lightning and auroras in the Netherlands. These are rather rare but with some perseverance it can be done. And there is the travel and adventure photography with the more normal range of subjects. More to come So far I have a lengthy volcano wish list. It contains many volcanoes and volcanic areas. The Eiffel, Hawaii , Iceland, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Galapagos are just some of them. This year (2008) I went on an expedition to the Erta Ale and Dallol. See this travel report. Keep a close eye on my website. There will definitely be more in the future. Equipment EOS 3 EOS 40D EOS 400D EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS EF 2x II TC-80N3 remote control Several filters Speedlite 380EX Velbon carbon tripod NeoCarmagne 630 Velbon ball head PH-263QL Digital Darkroom My digital darkroom consists of a Windows based PC with 2 GB memory, 2x 160GB and 2x 500GB hard drives in raid 01 mode, a calibrated EIZO S2431w 24" TFT and a calibrated Mitsubishi 21" CRT, two Matrox graphics cards. I use a calibrated Minolta Dimage Elite 5400 slide scanner and for backing up my digital files on the road I use 2 mobile harddisks in a Nextodi housing and separate external HD's and DVD's at home.