Ron Willems lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Deriving his income from other sources, for him photography is an unpaid passion which started in his pre-teen years and developed rapidly.
He became the youngest person in the world to be awarded his Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain at the age of twenty. Three years later he became only the fourth person in the world to gain his Fellowship of the Photographic Society of New Zealand. This was for his imaginative experimental photography, a passion he still pursues actively today. Later he was awarded the honour of Artist of the International Federation of Photographic Art for his extensive international successes and most recently was awarded his Associateship of the Australian Photographic Society for his work in electronic imaging.
Currently he shoots all his photography with a Nikon D200. All his experimental work is done on the computer via Photoshop, while his earlier experimental work was all done in the darkroom using film up to 4 x 5 inches to get high quality results.
He has won the New Zealand Salon of Photography six times, has had over 40 major international awards and over 1,800 exhibits of his work in Australasia, Asia, Africa, America and Europe. In addition to exhibiting he has also judged extensively, including national and international salons of photography.
His photographic work and articles have been published in books and magazines in New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
However, more than anything, he enjoys photography and helping others with their photography - it is part of his life and it allows him to see the wonderful world in which we live.