Robby Bolleyn was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1966.
After completing his studies in Marketing, Nature Education and Photography, he began his career as Office Manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). But eventually, he decided to devote his life to full-time photography.


Robby has had a lifelong fascination with Africa.
The African animal world and indigenous cultures have become the focus of his field of creative work in photography. He has many fond memories of long stays in the African bush, built up over almost two decades. To this day he and his Dutch wife, Marleen Koppen, venture back to Africa each year.

As shown in his zebra portraits, he mostly looks for ideas, visual concepts and preconceived images that have already begun to form in his mind. Then, he builds his images carefully, based on intuition, even if those images are created in just a split second.

Whether it’s a lion approaching him in the Serengeti, or an “environmental portrait” in a carefully composed setting which captures the essence of a person, or the studio-based study of an African mask in which he tries to go beyond the visual qualities of this mystical piece of art, Robby always seeks to honour the spiritual identity. In his creative expression he reveals the beauty of life ... and beyond!

Robby and Marleen are based in a farmhouse in Burgundy, surrounded by meadows and woods. He moved to France after declaring his home country “far too small”.