I would first like to thank you for visiting Michael Kleinwolterink’s Photography and hopefully having a look around this site and finding some wonderful photography. It is a joy and pleasure to share this photography that I have been able to capture over the years with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about ordering anything or just want to talk photography.

Growing up in the heartland of America, I have been surrounded by a landscape that is perfect for photography in my mind. I started out in high school with a Pentax film camera taking the photography classes that my local high school offered. Enjoying the time behind the camera, along with other art related classes, I continued education at Iowa Central Community College. There I attended more photography classes along with graphic design using the Pentax film camera along the way. Back during that time, I had to wait to see what I captured on film and hope that special moment turned out. However, once I transferred to the University of Northern Iowa, the camera took a back seat to business school.

Once I graduated from UNI and started working at Lake Panorama National as an Assistant Golf Professional, I found myself enjoying the outdoors more often. I soon realized that I needed to capture this time in the outdoors and purchased a Pentax digital slr. This new camera spiked my interest in photography as I could instantly see what I had captured on “film” along with saving hundreds of dollars on film development. I soon realized however that my small Pentax camera kit was lacking while out taking photographs so I needed a new camera. I always wanted equipment from the big two brands, so in 2008 as soon as Nikon released the D90, I purchased the camera. With this new camera body, it created a whole new interest in photography for me.

Since purchasing the Nikon D90 I have continued to add lenses and computer software to my camera equipment kit to improve my skills. The world wide web and other means of instruction has also helped me grow my knowledge of photography in this day and age. But nothing helps improve your knowledge of how to capture those special moments then being out there pushing the shutter on the camera. After the image is captured, transferring the files onto the computer I am able to make a great photograph exceptional if all the right “ingredients” are there in the image. In 2015, I started to feel that the D90 was starting to get "old" and with a new interest in nightscapes and astrophotography, I purchased the Nikon D750.  This new camera has allowed me to capture even better images and I look forward to many years with this amazing camera.

The last two years have been exciting with published work in Ducks Unlimited. An image I captured was the overall winner in the 2018 and 2016 Ducks Unlimited Photo Contest. The previous year I was runner-up in the waterfowl category of the photo contest. My work was also published in the 2016 Iowa Ducks Unlimited Calendar. In 2017, I entered the High Plains Journal Down Country Roads Calendar contest and was selected for one of thirteen images for their 2018 calendar that is sold nationwide. I have been lucky enough to be published in the magazine “Midwest Today”, be nominated as a top 5 finalist for Ducks Unlimited 2011 & 2012 Waterfowl 360 photo contest and took 1st Place in the Guthrie County Tourism Photo Contest in 2009. I've also had my work published in Our Iowa and Mid-American Waterfowler magazines in 2013.

The above accomplishments are great but it does not fuel the fire for me to be out shooting my camera. What inspires me is capturing those once in a life time moments and being able to share them with others.