Mees Swinkels | wildlife camera operator
Showreel
portfolio
- IN PRODUCTION -
FINLANDS HIDDEN WILDLIFE (2025) is currently being produced by GULO Film productions, who are known to capture unique behaviour of rare and elusive animals. In 2023 and 2024 I spent many months in the Finnish taiga forests filming its elusive inhabitants like wolverines, flying squirrels and capercaillies.
ONZE NATUUR (2022) is a 7-part blue-chip wildlife documentary for and about Belgium as well as a cinema movie. It was a big national success.
- IN PRODUCTION -
WILD EUROPE (2024) is a 6-part blue chip television series about Europe, produced by Light and Shadow GmbH. I did shoots in various countries during 2022/2023. More information coming soon!
WAVES BENEATH THE WATER (2022) or Nederland Onder Water is a 50-minute wildlife documentary about Dutch underwater life aired on NPO1 (Dutch first TV channel) and was awarded many prizes on festivals, including Green Screen best of Festival.
other contributions
WOLF (2022) is a movie about the return of the wolf in the Netherlands. It screened in cinemas in the Netherlands and Belgium and won prizes at film festivals.
MARKER WADDEN (2021) is a Dutch 50-minute documentary that broadcasted on NPO1 (Dutch TV channel) in 2021.
THE GRAND CARNAVAL OF CHAMELEONS (2023) is a 50-minute documentary about Chameleons in Madagascar, which broadcasted on ARTE in France and Germany.
HOLLAND - NATUUR IN DE DELTA (2015) is a wildlife cinema documentary about Dutch waters and its inhabitants.
About me
I was raised with a keen eye for wildlife. My father taught me how to recognise birds sounds from a young age and took me out in nature to watch wildlife. Influenced by documentaries and my hero David Attenborough, I dreamt about being a wildlife filmmaker. At the age of 16 tried reaching for professionals and got in contact with Dutch wildlife filmmaker Dick Harrewijn. He was kind enough to borrow me his camera equipment and helped my deciding what to study. Years later, during my Masters (MSc Ecology and Nature Conservation at Wageningen University), Dick brought me in contact with Pim Niesten, who took me on my first paid job! After that everything kicked off. Luckily I managed to finish my degree in between projects. Now I can call myself a scientist and as well!
Over the years I gained experience with a variety of animals, settings and people. Here’s what I learned:
- How to deal with extremes like frostbite in -30 degrees or infected wounds in the tropics
- The basics of German, French and Spanish.
- I familiarised myself with most high-end camera systems, lenses and grip like ARRI, RED (V-Raptor), Phantom (4K Flex), DJI (inspire 2), Canon (CN20), Sony (Venice)
- Flying FPV drones (for 2 years)
