I was born in Amsterdam in 1952, and came of age during the 1960's. I have lived in the States since 1972, and in the Chicago area since 1973. I use Canon equipment, film as well as digital, and I prefer Black and White in most situations.

I joined the Chicago Police Department in 1986, and I have served primarily on the South and West Side, and in most of the city's Public Housing Projects, especially Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini Green.

In January of 1997, I was injured in-the-line of duty, and I have been paralyzed and legally blind ever since.

No longer able to use manual focus cameras and lenses, I traded in my Rolleiflex for an auto-focus SLR, and more recently made the switch to digital. I use special software to enlarge and edit the images that I otherwise would not be able to see.

Photography is more important to me now than ever. It is the most meaningful activity from my former life that I can still participate in today, albeit with far greater difficulty than before.

I have written a book about my experiences as a Chicago Police Officer: "Chicago Cop: Tales From The Street." It is available in both Paperback and Kindle format from Amazon.com.

Recently, I have started matching up images with excerpts from my book, allowing me to reach a wider audience. Look for the Set of images marked "Chicago Cop: Every Picture Tells a Story."

I am in the process of making my images available for purchase via Pixels.com. If you want a specific image and don't see it on Pixels.com, send me an email and I'll see if I can add that particular image to the available pictures

inventory.

Go to www.pixels.com and look for me by name: Andre Van Vegten. Thanks, and have fun looking around.