KEES VAN DER HORST My interest in photography began when I was twelve years old and had to stay in hospital for an extended period of time. To help pass the time, my parents gave me a Kodak Instamatic with black-and-white film rolls. With that camera, I mainly chased after the nurses in the hospital. Around the age of fourteen, our family moved to Etten-Leur. During my school years and studies (physiotherapy and acupuncture), I had little time for photography. It wasn’t until our two children grew older and we started going on enjoyable family holidays that I picked up the camera again. My wife faithfully made photo albums of our holiday snapshots. My next camera was an Olympus IS-10, which already worked much better. It truly became a hobby — or rather a passion — when my daughter was doing an internship in South Africa and we went to visit her. For that occasion, I bought a Nikon D3100 with two kit lenses and started photographing with great enthusiasm. Interestingly enough, the photos turned out quite well and looked good, but I had no idea why. That changed when my daughter’s boyfriend — who had studied at the Photo Academy in Rotterdam — explained to me why certain photos were so successful. From that moment on, I began attending workshops, not in any fixed order or direction, but simply to gain experience and discover what I really enjoyed most. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), more than thirty years later I still don’t know! Due to privacy regulations, it is not possible for me to combine my paramedical profession with photography. However, now that retirement is approaching, I can fortunately devote more time to one of my greatest hobbies: photographing everything, both animate and inanimate. Who knows what may come of it!