Helsinki-born and based, Markus Varesvuo turned lifelong birding into full-time professional wildilfe photography in 2005.
 He has since authored well over a dozen books in altogether nine languages, including the Handbook of Bird Photography, written together with Jari Peltomäki and Bence Máté.
In addition to having built and constantly updating an extensive photo library of bird pictures, Markus creates images that charm viewers into the world of birds.
 His work has been exhibited extensively in Finland and abroad. Giving talks to audiences ranging in size and interest,
 he likes to share the joy that he finds in birds as well as information about the animals, their behavior and habitats, and the threats they face in the human world.
Markus enjoys competing, especially when he is winning, and luckily for him, his images do well in competitions decade after decade.
 One of the sweetest awards was the Foto Finlandia Photography Award in 2018 when a nature photo won the national photo competition for the first time ever. 
Other favorites are the BPOTY Portfolio Award in 2017, World Press Photo nature category 2nd place in 2014, and naturally, winning the GDT Bird category in 2011.
Mostly though, it’s about photography, the creative process. Northern winter with its distinctive light quality and weather conditions is his favorite season for photography. 
Markus focuses on the birds of Europe; one lifetime is not enough to cover all the birds of the world well.
Light, content, composition, background, angle – these are the essential building blocks for a good image that has a story to tell of a given moment in the life of a bird. Out in the wild,
 with wild subjects, it is an endless, inspiring challenge.
Markus has prior experience in jury duties, e.g. the WPY semi-finals in London in 2011. As a judge, Markus brings to the jury table an extensive and deep knowledge of his own field.
 But not limiting to birds; he has followed the wider European nature and wildlife photography genre for decades and has a profound interest in both the art of nature photography and the natural world itself.
 Idea, authenticity, originality. Visuality, expression, competence. These are elements that he is looking for in pictures but what elevates something from the crowd is a bit of a mystery.
 Trust in the process and in the teamwork are the tools for finding the winners.