Retired since January 2007.

I was working in The Netherlands Cancer Institute for over 35 years, starting with electron microscopes, had excellent skills in micro surgery (about 20 year experience), switched to image processing and ended due to some reorganization in the department supporting information technology.

In February 2007 I moved to Krakow, Poland to start a new life, but some will stay: photography and my great interest in music and dance.

I bought my first camera when I was 16: a simple small Zeiss camera (Zeiss Ikon Colora, model 1960), two years later followed by a real SLR: a Nikkormat FS with a Nikon 2/50 lens. I didn't want a camera with built-in light metering (and therefor batteries) as I didn't want to be disturbed by the "center-the-needle" system: the right moment of releasing the button would already have gone. Instead I bought a Gossen Lunasix3, much more sensitive, but after some time I even didn't need it (except in difficult lighting environment) as I could beforehand tell which shutter/f-stop setting should be used. In the following two years I bought the Nikkor 2.8/135 and Nikkor 3.5/28. Much more later a Nikkor 2.8/20 completed the range and I used this equipment until it seemed to be time for me to switch to the digital version: in 2005 I bought a Nikon D70 with the Nikkor 18-70 lens, and replaced this lens in 2007 for the Nikkor 18-200. Finally in December 2008 I bought a Nikon D300.

In the years 2008-2009 I also bought a Nikkor Micro 2.8/105 and a Nikkor 2.8/10.5. Even I digged up an older Nikkor 1.8/50.

I noticed that I needed a fast telelens for all this dance pictures, ideally in the range 40-150mm. Sigma has a suitable lens, but after reading the reviews I decided not to buy that one. In July 2010 I had the luck that I found somebody in Austria who wanted to sell his nearly never used Nikkor 80-200/2.8 AF-D. So for nearly the same price as a new Sigma 50-150/2.8 I hope to make some nice pictures with it :-). As the price was less than I wanted to spend, I could also buy the Nikkor 35/1.8 :-)

I think for now I can do with it.

Update April 2021:

Some years ago after buying the D300 I upgraded to a D800 with a Nikkor 24-120/4 and as soon as the mirrorless cameras from Nikon were announced, I ordered a Z 7 and I am quite sure I was the first one in Kraków with this camera. I really needed a silent camera for all my pictures I take during theater performances. It turned out that the 80-200/2.8 didn't focus with the Z 7, so I bought a second hand Nikkor 70-200/4. For interior photography I bought in 2020 the Nikkor S 14-30/4.