Consultant / (Co-)Founder

Associate Director at Symplicit
(Co-)Founder at various ventures

Photographer

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Avid Traveller

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Find out what happens behind the lens

In 2007, I had the opportunity to study the third year of my Interaction Design study abroad and I was admitted into an exchange program in Sydney, Australia. Growing up in The Netherlands, I was taken aghast by how everything was different from what I knew: it didn’t rain 360 days of the year, the water was actually blue, surfing was a thing, there are national parks that are bigger than my entire country and I made friends with people from all over the world. One year surely seemed too short.

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So I tried my best to return to Australia after my studies were completed. The first job I managed to find was as a junior web developer/designer at a small web company. It wasn’t much pay, but I was so stoked when my first salary came in that I immediately bought my first second hand entry level SLR camera. I had trouble buying food for the next two weeks, but I didn’t care.

My traineeship visa ran out two years later in 2012. Plans to get a permanent residency (PR) or a proper work visa fell through and I wasn’t quite yet ready to go home. So I booked a one way ticket to Vietnam instead. I ended up traveling on a shoestring through South East Asia and photography became my sense of purpose. I noticed that the more remotely I traveled, the more welcome I felt and the more I wished I could help the local people and environment. I just didn’t know how.

After a couple of months, a fairly significant question came up: what am I going to do next? The only answer I could come up with was to return to Australia on a three-month tourist visa and try everything in could to find a job who’d be willing to sponsor me. If I failed, I’d give up and go home. I was lucky. The only lead I had from many many applications ended up doing just that and eventually also sponsored my PR.

I’ve been focussed on a career in design ever since and came to see photography as a hobby. However, I never managed to shake that feeling of wanting to do more for the places I had visited on my travels. On a dark moon I realised that I could help these places with a single unifying project: Fair Photo. This has been my north star since its inception and this, amongst several other projects, easily manages to fill up my spare time.

My grandfather, Adriaan Rekker, with his camera in 1959.

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However far a travel, however mundane a day at home, photography entices to live more.

About my

When one enjoys the pursuit of the perfect photograph, it can be sometimes too easy to get caught up in our daily routines. We give ourselves less and less time to go out, explore, figure out what we were meant to do, listen to our inner self, create, be free and let rationality take over – slowly diminishing our creativity, passion and spirit.

The pursuit of a good photograph might just be about learning to follow the heart and intuition, to remain in motion to find and reveal that what is magical and do its existence justice. It forces to dare, to conquer, to discover, to defy, to make time last, to make time count. Adventure may hurt you, but monotony will kill you  – universe is transformation, stagnation is kryptonite.

Like any other creative art, a photograph too can store emotion. It captures both the journey of the subject and that of the photographer however less visible. It tells a story that commences with a frame of reality – but continues into the realm of imagination.

I hope to remind ourselves of what we live amongst; a unique planet to be proud of. Beauty truly is all around us, but it’s our perspective that determines how we see it – or whether we see it at all.

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The Soul of South-Korea

The Soul of South-Korea

Breaching Humpback whales in Coogee

Breaching Humpback whales in Coogee

Humpback Whales
Gerringong Whales

Gerringong Whales

Coogee Whales
Coogee Whales

Coogee Whales

Stockton Sand Dunes
Sand Dunes in Stockton

Sand Dunes in Stockton

The Land of the Rising Sun

The Land of the Rising Sun

Flores and Komodo in Indonesia

Flores and Komodo in Indonesia

Oia
Traversing the Mediterranean from Napoli to Istanbul

Traversing the Mediterranean from Napoli to Istanbul

Marvelling at Mystifying Mountains and Medinas in Morocco

Marvelling at Mystifying Mountains and Medinas in Morocco

The Grand Scenery of the USA

The Grand Scenery of the USA

Eucalyptus Tree
Blue Mountains in Black and White

Blue Mountains in Black and White

Duncan & Mingsu

Duncan & Mingsu

Experiencing the Midnight Sun in the Lofoten

Experiencing the Midnight Sun in the Lofoten

Morteza & Mahshid

Morteza & Mahshid

African Elephant
The Wild North of South Africa

The Wild North of South Africa

Tafelberg
Captivating Cape Town

Captivating Cape Town

Porto
Picture Perfect Portugal

Picture Perfect Portugal

Exploring the South of Sri Lanka

Exploring the South of Sri Lanka

Anvil Rock Lookout
Lockley Pylon and Anvil Rock in the Blue Mountains

Lockley Pylon and Anvil Rock in the Blue Mountains

Dunquin
Dia Duit

Dia Duit

Noosa River Entrance
Noosa

Noosa

Sydney Sunset
Sydney Skyline Sunset

Sydney Skyline Sunset

Tacking Point
Port Macquarie Surroundings

Port Macquarie Surroundings

Green Island
Manyana & Green Island

Manyana & Green Island

Ourie Pool
Ourie Pool in Werrie Beach

Ourie Pool in Werrie Beach

King Island at Sunset

King Island at Sunset

Eastern Suburbs Sunset
Sunset over the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney

Sunset over the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney

Menindee Memory
Mungo & Menindee in Australia

Mungo & Menindee in Australia

Pelican Point
Norah Head at Sunset

Norah Head at Sunset

Dee Why Head
North Curl Curl

North Curl Curl

Freshwater Rockpool
Freshwater & Long Reef Headland

Freshwater & Long Reef Headland

Coogee Lightning
Coogee Lightning Cloud

Coogee Lightning Cloud

Gold Coast

Gold Coast

Zenith Beach
Zenith Beach & Seagull Point

Zenith Beach & Seagull Point

Sea Cliff Bridge

Sea Cliff Bridge

Mahon Pool Sunrise
Mahon Pool at Maroubra

Mahon Pool at Maroubra

Giles Bath
Giles Baths

Giles Baths

McIver Ladies Bath
Coogee Rockpool

Coogee Rockpool

Gowri & Hasitha
Hasitha & Gowri

Hasitha & Gowri

Hindu Priest
From East to West through Central India

From East to West through Central India

Cormorant Fisherman
Chasing the Hidden Charms of China

Chasing the Hidden Charms of China

Hindu Wedding
Ankit & Olena

Ankit & Olena

Sydney Skyline
Vivid 2018

Vivid 2018

Eiffel Tower
Europe 2018

Europe 2018

Monk at the Shwedagon
South East Asia 2017

South East Asia 2017

Skenes Creek Beach
Great Ocean Road 2018

Great Ocean Road 2018

Opera House
Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Tien & Tussy
Tien & Tussy

Tien & Tussy

Supermoon
Supermoon

Supermoon

Barangaroo
Sydney Open 2016

Sydney Open 2016

Danu Man Portrait
South East Asia 2016

South East Asia 2016

Sydney Skyline Streaks
Smoke Streaks

Smoke Streaks

ANZAC Bridge
ANZAC Bridge

ANZAC Bridge

Sydney Skyline
Sydney Harbour at Night

Sydney Harbour at Night

Kuranya
Bondi Rainbow

Bondi Rainbow

Marcus & Min
Marcus & Minh

Marcus & Minh

Tim & Rachel
Tim & Rachel

Tim & Rachel

Sydney Skyline At Night
Opera House From Harbour Bridge

Opera House From Harbour Bridge

Sydney NYE celebrations
Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley

Hunter Valley

Machapuchare Sunrise
Annapurna Semi Circuit

Annapurna Semi Circuit

Seaguls
Seagulls In Flight

Seagulls In Flight

Three Sisters
Three Sisters

Three Sisters

Adrian & Marlen
Adrian & Marlen

Adrian & Marlen

Milk Beach
Milk Beach

Milk Beach

Uyển chuyển
South East Asia 2012

South East Asia 2012

Cradle Mountain in Tasmania

Cradle Mountain in Tasmania

Highland Cows
Grundlsee in Austria

Grundlsee in Austria

Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk

Gimmelwald

Gimmelwald

Te Anau
New Zealand is not Zeeland

New Zealand is not Zeeland

Uluru
Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

When designing a digital product, challenge is to create something that works efficiently, instantly, intuitively and that looks beautiful. User Experience (UX) design is about ensuring the user’s central position in the design process from the start, while User Interface (UI) design looks at the visible (interactive) outputs and how these are organised. My mission is to create products that elevate function into art without compromising on usability nor costs.

My design process is an ever evolving process itself with a universal experience language at its core, that is polished and expanded upon through countless of iterations. Apart from rapidly and efficiently creating products to be proud of, I also strive to help ignite or accelerate change by creating products that have a positive real world impact.

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A Unified Product Strategy Glossary

A Unified Product Strategy Glossary

The Evolution of Design Boards Part 2

The Evolution of Design Boards Part 2

Determining maximum characters: Introducing “Lorem6”

Determining maximum characters: Introducing “Lorem6”

Extracting user stories from research synthesis: Quantifying qualitative data

Extracting user stories from research synthesis: Quantifying qualitative data

The Evolution of Design Boards Part 1

The Evolution of Design Boards Part 1

iOS14 broke my iPhone 6s, but here’s a different solution to Apple.

iOS14 broke my iPhone 6s, but here’s a different solution to Apple.

Building the ultimate GEL design system using Sketch & Abstract

Building the ultimate GEL design system using Sketch & Abstract

Creating a “live” audience research report for Fair Photo

Creating a “live” audience research report for Fair Photo

From user story to user flow

From user story to user flow

Knowing where customers are dropping off on Multisite using AARRR

Knowing where customers are dropping off on Multisite using AARRR

From empathy map to value proposition

From empathy map to value proposition

Creating and comparing personas for Multisite

Creating and comparing personas for Multisite

What can we learn from the difference between enrolments and prospects?

What can we learn from the difference between enrolments and prospects?

How usable are our Multisite designs?

How usable are our Multisite designs?

For as long as I can remember, new ideas have kept popping into my head. From the “wouldn’t it be nice” to the “omg I cannot believe that this doesn’t exist yet”. The list just kept getting longer and longer.

Most of my experience is in designing digital things, however, when it comes to the build, organisation and business, I still have much to learn. I commenced an MBA in Social Impact in 2021 in the hopes that it would get me closer to realising some of the projects on this ever growing list. The ones that have made some form of pogress so far (alone or together with friends), can be found here.

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