Willem deGroot

My name is Willem deGroot and I am very excited that you are reading this and interested in my photography! I am a self-taught nature, landscape and fine art photographer located in Sugar Land, Texas. While I enjoy many types of photography and love learning new things, my main interests are in wildlife and landscape photography. Currently I concentrate my efforts on landscapes and wildlife in our national parks. I believe my strength in photography is my technical knowledge of how to take a sharp image as well as my skill in post processing an image. I am constantly trying to improve my skills in both these areas.

I grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the small town of Easton. It was here that I became really interested in photography and gained a real appreciation for nature. At the age of 10 I received a very inexpensive camera as a gift and I modified one of our bathrooms to be a dark room. My mom purchased a used enlarger for me and I was hooked! In this small town we had an event every Fall called the Eastern Shore Waterfowl Festival. My dream was to be able to capture images of ducks and geese like the artists at the Festival presented every year. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the equipment for that type of photography, so I concentrated my photography on family and pets.

My strong passion for science led me to receive a BS degree in Chemistry from High Point College in High Point, North Carolina and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from NC State University, in Raleigh, NC. My first and only job after I received my PhD was at The Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas where I worked for 33 years before retiring in 2019. I met my wife at Dow and we raised our kids in Lake Jackson and in Sugar Land, Texas. I rekindled my interest in photography taking pictures of my kid’s achievements particularly on the soccer field.

A few years before I retired, I found myself with a little more time on my hands as my kids became much more independent. Fortuitously, I learned that a person that I had carpooled with for many years was also very interested in photography. We decided to take a 10 day car camping/backpacking/photography trip to the four corners area of the US. This trip really re-ignited my passion for nature photography and made me want to learn more and more about both compositing pictures, but also post processing.

Jump ahead about 5 years and I retired after working for 33 years at Dow and now I had lots of time to pursue my passion for photography. I decided to really accelerate my education into both picture taking technique and image post processing. I purchased several on-line courses, but found much of the information I needed by following specific artists and watching YouTube videos. One of my biggest obstacles was fear of social media. I am obviously ‘old school’ and didn’t grow up with a cell phone attached to me. I decided in 2021 that I needed to overcome this by challenging myself to post to my Facebook account regularly.

My approach to photography is very technical. I strive to achieve the highest quality images I can under the conditions in which I am taking the image. As an example, I always (99% of the time) use a tripod to make absolutely certain my images are as sharp as possible. I have no doubt my photography passion will continue and my skills as an artist will evolve. Thank you again for visiting my photography site and I hope you enjoy my images!

willem@willemdegrootphotograpy.com
(979) 235-7306