Limpets in the Landscape

Theo Bosboom

Theo Bosboom is a passionate photographer from the Netherlands, specialising in nature and landscapes. In 2013, he turned his back on a successful legal career to pursue his dream of being a fulltime professional photographer. He is regarded as a creative photographer with a strong eye for detail and composition and always trying to find fresh perspectives.

theobosboom.nl

One of my first limpet images, taken on a colourful rock in Asturias, Spain

Introduction

Although limpets are widespread and can be easily observed at low tide in many places along the Atlantic coast of Europe, the life of limpets is completely unknown to most people. This included me, until a few years ago. Certainly, I have seen them many times when photographing coastal landscapes for my photo book Shaped by the sea on wonderful beaches in countries like Spain, Portugal, Scotland and Ireland. They looked like part of the rocks they lived on and blended perfectly into the landscape.

But it wasn't until I was working on a focus stack and noticed that the position of the limpets changed slightly during the shots that I realised they were actually living creatures that could move! After that, I started paying more attention to them in the field and I also started reading all about them. You could say it was the beginning of a kind of love affair with these beautiful and interesting creatures.