Local community photographer

Born and raised in the Netherlands - after early retirement - my wife and I moved to Australia in 1999. Before we moved I worked in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Photography has always been a passion. Back in the sixties I had a Praktica SLR and my own darkroom and enlarger - developing and printing my own films. Later years it was mainly "point and shoot" until I bought a Canon 400D in 2006 ..... That is when it started all over again.

Now we have a Canon R5 (and a Canon R as a backup). As my wife and I travel a lot we take the camera along to record our impressions. Also birds around our garden and beaches are a challenge, just like the surfers riding the waves at One Mile beach.

Photography has taken over from my hobby of 50 years as an amateur radio operator. Hence my nickname VK2GWK - my unique radio call sign. (My old Dutch call sign is: PA0ADC). In December 2020 I sold all my radio gear and bought a couple of new lenses.

At present I am the local "community photographer" in Nelson Bay. Local charities and community organisations ask me to take photos at local events. Quite often these photos also end up in the local newspapers. Also I teach DSLR photography at the Tomaree Community College: showing my students what all these knobs, buttons and dials on their camera are for, telling them about the "exposure triangle" and teaching basics of composition and post processing.