a professional nature photographer from Amsterdam, travels the globe snapping pictures of the incredible world around him.

While at art school for advertising and graphic design, Oosten never cared too much about photography calling it too “artsy-fartsy.” But while he was an art director he grew to appreciate “the power of still images.” Eventually, turning his photography hobby into a passion.

“I really like the unpredictability of nature photography,” Oosten said over e-mail to Weather.com. “One moment it can be dreadful weather, the next you suddenly get the most amazing sunset. And with animals it's even more extreme. You never know what you're gonna get.”

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Oosten has won several accolades for his photographs, including “Nature Photographer of the Year” in the International Photography Awards and First Prize in the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

He also runs a company with his wife, , that organizes specialized nature photography tours for sightseers.

Check out the images above to see the world through Oosten’s lens. Read on for the full interview conducted by Weather.com.

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German photographer Wolf Ademeit captures powerful portraits of animals. (Wolf Ademeit)

Namibia is seen in a photo snapped by Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten. (Marsel van Oosten)

Why nature and wildlife photography?

I've always loved animals and the outdoors. Also, it's quite challenging to get good landscape and wildlife photographs because as a photographer you have only very limited influence on what's going to happen - both in terms of weather and animal behavior. In most other fields of photography, you have more control over the conditions and your subject.

I really like the unpredictability of nature photography - one moment it can be dreadful weather, the next you suddenly get the most amazing sunset. And with animals it's even more extreme. You never know what you're gonna get.

A lot of your landscapes look like the environment itself was treacherous. How did you manage the environment to get the perfect shot?

I spend a lot of time on planning. For most trips I spend as least as much time on the planning as on the actual trip itself. Picking the right time of the year is crucial - the weather determines the quality of the light, and the time of year determines how the landscape will look and how the animals will behave.

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I choose the time of year that gives me the best conditions for that specific subject. For night photography I want clear skies, but in Iceland I want ominous skies and snow. And good photography conditions are not always the most comfortable conditions; in Libya we had almost daily sandstorms in the Sahara - very uncomfortable as a tourist, but great for dramatic dune shots. And just last week we got stranded for three days in the south of Iceland because of blizzards and whiteouts - it was not pleasant to walk outside, but the extreme weather was great for photography. The most important thing is that you're always prepared for the worst.

I’m sure there are many stories behind your photographs. What’s one of your craziest stories?

In 2011 we thought we were cursed. We spent a couple of months in the Sahara and traveled in Libya and Egypt. On the day we left Egypt, the revolution started in Cairo. Soon after the same thing happened in Libya. We then traveled to Japan for our annual photo tour there, and just after we left there was the earthquake and the tsunami. It was scary. People had actually noticed that after we visited a country, all hell broke loose. Luckily the spell was broken soon after.

Another one: in Chad, the nomads don't want you to take any photographs of their camels. They think that when you take a photograph of a camel it will get sick and die. One time we were getting drinking water from a well in the middle of the Sahara. There was a big group of nomads there as well to get water for their camels. Daniella [wife] noticed a young pretty nomad girl and wanted to photograph her. She used some universal sign language to try to ask permission, pointing at herself, then to her camera, and then to the girl. The girl smiled back, so Daniella assumed that it was ok. But as soon as she lifted the camera to take the shot, the girl picked up a large camel whip from the ground and lashed out to the camera, precisely hitting it. The girl and the rest of the nomads then all laughed.

In addition to taking your own photos, you run nature photography tours. How did that get started?

Daniella and I both like to travel, and I like to help people to become better photographers. We ran our first official Squiver photo tour to Namibia some seven years ago, and it was a big success. We then started setting up more tours to lots of different destinations, and we keep adding new ones. It's great fun to travel with a small group of like-minded enthusiasts from different nationalities, enjoy nature, learn to take better photographs, and to have a wonderful time.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Amazing Animal Portraits

German photographer Wolf Ademeit captures powerful portraits of animals. (Wolf Ademeit)