Dear Arnoud, Dear Gaia.

Today I stand here with great joy to propose a toast to your marriage. For those who don't know me yet: my name is Niels and I can consider myself lucky to call Arnoud a friend for sixteen years now.

We know each other from the art academy in The Hague, where we studied photography.

You were the best of the class. Where we were still struggling with shutter speed and aperture, you produced the most beautiful series with the greatest of ease.

For example, if you wanted to test a flash, you got on the bus to the sea and returned with work reminiscent of Rineke Dijkstra's beach photos.

Not only were you the best, you also stood out in another way.

Where other art students liked to stand out, by hooting and hollering,

you caught my attention with your calm and quiet. If you were criticized by a teacher, you kept looking at them for a while before reacting. You took the criticism for granted and continued with your own ideas.

You had every reason to be embarrassed, but instead you remained humble and always yourself.

And that is exactly what I like about you. While teachers burned us down because we made work that didn't fit the bill, for example, or they kept pushing us to expose ourselves, to make conceptual work - whatever that may be.

Or not at all. In that world, you were the person with whom I could just have fun. A kind of resting point in that wild sea of art.

With you I knew exactly what I was getting: a friend who saw the fun in everything, with whom I could laugh and who did not judge me. Someone, in short, with whom I simply loved being around. And that never changed.

Unfortunately, after six months you quit the course. Despite that calm aura, there appeared to be restlessness in you. You went traveling, including to China. But when you returned with a bin full of new photographs, you were unable to turn them into a series.

You let go of photography again, started a second course in photography in Ghent but ended up as a developer at Cineville.

Although you recently changed jobs again, it seems as if you have found your peace: and that with a wonderful wife and two fantastic children.

It is with great pleasure and confidence that I put a big fat signature on this.

Here's to you.