Dirk Jan van den Berg took up photography in 2003. The introduction of the digital SLRs created the opportunity to control the entire workflow from taking the picture to printing the picture. It ended my everlasting frustration with unsatisfactory development and print work of photo laboratories during the analogue days. Living in New York as well as Beijing for 8 years in total, has provided him with ample inspiration, thousands of photos are the fruits of long walks in both cities. My camera is the extension of the visual senses. It stills moments of people, objects and structures that otherwise would last seconds or even less. A good picture is not a mere image, it reflects emotion, it tells a story in a split second. I like my photographs to fit a template of diagonals and straights, probably reflecting strive for rationality and order. I am pleasantly surprised to find out that people like my work, it means that my hard drive is no longer its terminal station. It is an honour to be part of the exhibition with our great friends form China." Dirk Jan van den Berg was born in 1953 in Hilversum in the Netherlands. After his studies in econometrics at the State University in Groningen in the Netherlands, he embarked upon a career in the Dutch civil service. He served his country as the ambassador to the United Nations in New York and to the PR of China in Beijing. In January 2008 Dirk Jan van den Berg took up the position of President of Delft University of Technology.
