I was always frustrated with the fact that  my ‘standard’ lens was too dark. So I went looking for a new lens with a bigger opening. I wanted to be able to shoot without flash. So I had three options…. I could go for the f/1.8, the f/1.4, or the f/1.2. But the main drive was the price which ranged from €100,- to €1300,-. Knowing that €1300,- would be way too much and I probably would be unsatisfied if I bought the cheaper one. I went for the f/1.4. And I have to say that I am very satisfied. Please find the specs below. Features -Focal length and maximum aperture: 50 mm f1.4 -Lens construction: 7 elements in 6 groups -Diagonal angle of view: 46° -Focus adjustment: Overall linear extension system with USM -Closest focusing distance: 0.45m / 1.5ft -Filter size: 58mm Crisp images with little flare are obtained even at the maximum aperture This standard lens features superb quality and portability. Two high-refraction lens elements and new Gaussian optics eliminate astigmatism and suppress astigmatic difference. If crisp images with little flare are important to you, they can be obtained even at the maximum aperture with this robust lens..

On our combined Kenya – Tanzania trip we saw too much, yes even for me that is possible. People we know me, know that it is never enough for me. And so it almost was on our trip. To be honnest I must say that we didn’t see enough but when we came back we had to organise all the photos we made (and videos). And that was way enough. We took 6900 photos and 24 hours of video. So you can imagine that it took a while to go thru all. Below you see just a few, and in the Tanzania gallery there are a few more. (I did make a selection (80 pcs.)) When we entered Tanzania we already did many gamedrives in Kenya and we were getting the hang of it. We learned to be patient and most important we had learned where to look. What realy intreged me were the zebras. I love their paterns. We saw many hyenas on the road, mostly lying in the mud or eating. They weren’t scared of the visitors and you could approach them very close. Persoanly I think they are scruffy looking animals with no beauty at all. And 9 out of 10 times they looked angry. When I took the photo of the eating hyena, we could hear the bone cracking. It made it even more realistic then it already was. To be continued………

In 2006 we made a trip to Kenya and Tanzania, on this page you will find a selection of photos that were made in Kenya (for Tanzania go back and select ‘Tanzania’) We made the trip in February and the rain season was just starting.During this period you will be able to see many new born animals. And so did we. We saw many lion troops with their cubs, and to be honest it was hard to resist not to leave the car and walk over to them, just to pet them. We had made the choice to take a private safari and therefore we could decide for ourselves if we wanted to spend more time at a specific location. This giving us the opportunity to see what we wanted to see. In Kenya we spend the most time in the Masai Mara, a nature park that connects to the Serengeti (Tanzania). In this park it is still possible to leave the road and come up real close to the animals. Sometimes a little bit too close! This young elephant bull wasn’t very happy to see us, or wanted to make a statement in front of his little herd. He was really showing of and making a lot of fuzz about our visit. Later that day we encountered a solitaire elephant bull, and that was when it became scary. As soon as he spotted us he started to wave his head and making clear to us that he was not going to move. For us it was almost impossible to escape by driving backwards due to the difficult roads. We waited for some very exciting minutes and finally we saw a little opening. Our driver steps on the gas and we were able to get behind him. Luckily for us […]

After my time at the academy, I stopped photographing for a while. due to many different factors. When I was introduced to digital photography I discovered that I was still enjoying it very much. Thanks to the internet we can now share our work the easy way with the rest of the world. And so am I. The result is this webgallery. The complete collection can be found in my main gallery. This gallery can be accessed via several links that can be found on the other pages, but if you are impatient you can enter the the gallery from this page. But then you will miss out on the introductions and highlights. In the gallery you will only find photos and no text. To enter the main gallery, please click on the image

Sometimes you take a picture and you know its the right shot, and sometimes you have a bad feeling during the photoshoot but after leaving the darkroom you discover that when you combine several photos that you have an excellent serie. On this page I will show you some of my best pictures and series.   First of all, a very emotional serie. When I was 19 my mother got breastcancer. A lot of greef and fear controlled our lives. And for some strange reason we both had the urge to capture this awfull moment. It took us 4 years to gather the guts to actually do it. And we are both very happy with the result. Regardless of the bad emotions there was also a lot of happiness and laughter. Hence the combination of the two photos. The end result is a serie of 4 photos which can be found in the main gallery. And my mom? she is still here, and still being my mom…. Another serie is “Dogs”, playing with them and chasing them on the beach was the fun part, cleaning the equipment afterwards was less fun. When I started to develop the first film in the darkroom, I saw some personallity in the dogs and that intregued me. I tried to see the dogs as humans with their own character. I decided to return to the beach and try to add some mistery to the images. I worked with long exposure times and used a flash to freeze the image. The golden labrador is named Balder and he was my dog, Unfortunately he is no longer with me he died at the age of 14.

Having a Canon Digital IXUS, gives me the possibility to take pictures anywhere, anytime. I love to have this camera with me. And take pictures of unknown situations and places. Besides that it also gives you the oppertunity to photograph everything that you want to be remembered. Without thinking about light, composition, and technique. In other words just plain and simple snapshots. I think that some of them are worth sharing with you so if you are interested click in the photo to enter the snapshot gallery In this gallery you will also find pictures that were taken randomly so I had difficulty placing them in one of the other galleries.

Since I bought my film scanner, I’m re-living my past. Between the 10.000 negatives I have, there are so many images that I cannot even remember that I have seen them. So I’m exploring my own archives. And now being older I see new photos that I have missed 15 years ago. I’m using a Epson scanner (F-3200), which can also scan the 120 films and framed dia-positives. The quallity is superb and the machine is relatively fast. It still cost a huge amount of time to scan the filmstrips, but I think it’s worth it. Not only for the joy of seeing your old pictures but olso to ensure that they don’t get lost. So I’m able to show some photo’s that would have stayed on film because of the lack of a good darkroom. Follow the link to my main gallery If you are looking for scans you need to go to the old galleries like ‘Old School’ and ‘Pre School’ Still scanning the old negatives, but it is a lot of work so i need to be patient.

Since I have bought my first digital camera I started to pick up photography again. Now I’m back at my old level and enjoying it again, so when possible I’ll take my camera with me. And without the limitations of expensive film, you can make a lot of images. Fire During the summer its a delight to sit outside next to the waterside and light a fire. One night we had this special log that you could lit and it would burn from the inside out. After playing with it for a while is decide to get my camera and here you find the result. Monkey Business One day Joan and I had this great oppertunity to photographs these monkeys. We really enjoyed ourselves. After a while the smaller ones had to balls to approach us and that resulted in a loss of equipment, they just stole it out the camerabag, so we ended up chasing them, without result. (I do hope they will find a good use for that sunhood…..) But hey at the end it was worth it. I love the animal photos. it is always a joy to work with them. Garden live Since we moved to our current house it’s the first time that we have a garden. And every summer its a thrill to see what grows and how the plants and flowers evolve. But sometimes you discover an unwanted guesst. Regardless how beautiful he is. And we are getting used to the spiders, maybe seeing how they build is nest makes it bearable. In the main gallery you find more pictures of our garden.

I  started photography when I was eleven years old. My first photos were about experimenting and learning the first steps. So basically they look very shitty. Personaly I get a huge smile when I look at these pictures and some of them bring back nice memories. This is the main reason why I want to share these photos with you. To get a look at the pictures click on the photo to enter the “pre-school” gallery. All the pictures that you will find here are scanned with my film scanner, so image quallity is poor. But it will give you an idea how everything started.

During my time at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy I made most of my photo’s. They were made before the digital era, and therefore it will take a long time before I have them scanned from film. So I will try to publish them in small amounts at the following link. While studying at the academy I was on journey trying to discover what kind of photography I prefered. So you will find many different styles and subjects. And some series are just based on a task set by the teacher. At the end I had to say that I enjoyed making portraits the most. And for me there was no difference between human subjects or animals. If I look at my current photos I have to admitt that I prefer animals above human portraits. I asume that this also has to do with the travels we make.