Max Rive
Max Rive is a Dutch landscape photographer who shares mountain journeys, teaches photo editing and leads photography tours with Madison McCardle.
At 100 nudges, fangea sends Max’s team an official invite.
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Latest
Max’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus his backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
- The Ice Prison2015 · Photographer · Himalayas, Nepal
Epson International Pano Awards - 2017 landscape photography portfolio2017 · Photographer · Winning portfolio
International Landscape Photographer of the Year - Max Rive’s Best Wide Angle PanoramasPhotographer · A selection of ten panoramas
Max Rive Photography
Overview
- From
- The Netherlands
- Work
- Landscape photographer, photography guide and educator
- Started
- 2008, documenting mountain hikes with a compact camera
- Breakthrough
- 2015 Epson International Pano Awards Open Photographer of the Year
- Tour partner
- Madison McCardle
Mini bio
How it started.
Max grew up in the Netherlands with a fascination for mountains. His current account of his beginnings dates his photography to 2008, when he took a compact camera on a six-week solo hike along the GR5. The pictures began as a way to remember the journey and share it with others.
Finding his audience.
Sharing photographs online helped turn that hiking hobby into a career. In an early interview, 500px described him as its top photographer on the 500px Prime licensing marketplace. Max said companies had found his work through sites such as Flickr and 500px, while licensing through Prime became more frequent.
The award-winning views.
His six-shot Himalayan panorama The Ice Prison won the 2015 Epson International Pano Awards Open competition. In 2017 he won both International Landscape Photographer of the Year and International Landscape Photograph of the Year, with the single-image prize going to a photograph from Argentine Patagonia.
Sharing the journey.
Today Max and Madison McCardle guide small photography groups, scouting destinations themselves and helping participants with composition and light. His site also shares travel guides and editing instruction, extending the experience from finding a viewpoint to finishing the photograph.
Creditschronological, newest first
- 2026The Secrets to Finding Compositions in PatagoniaAuthor and photographer
- 2026Ultimate Photography Guide: Himalayas of NepalAuthor and photographer
- 2017International Landscape Photographer of the Year winning portfolioPhotographer
- 2015The Ice PrisonPhotographer
Awards
Quotes
The unexpected, the adventure and the feeling of freedom and escapism during my travels.Max Rive, 500px interview
Asked what he likes most about landscape photography.
Trivia
- The Ice Prison is a six-shot panorama made from inside a Himalayan ice cave with a view of Ama Dablam.
- His current camera bag lists a Nikon Z8 and a DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone.
- He says he once made only about one in ten photographs vertically; by his 2026 vertical-format guide, that balance had reversed.
Find Max
Follow Max’s photographs, field guides and next adventures.
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