The writer of this with André van Duin.© photo Rens Muller
Rens Muller
Tuesday 23 April 2024 at 07:04
André van Duin was already on a pedestal for me, but following his statement regarding taking selfies he can no longer be broken.
André van Duin is celebrating his sixtieth artist anniversary this year. He does not celebrate this with a grand gala, but with a voluminous book, written by my colleague Jan Vriend. The book is a collection of short pieces. With hilarious anecdotes, wonderful facts and cherished memories of the celebrant. If you don’t already have sympathy for the great man, you will following reading the book.
Selfies
Van Duin has been on a pedestal for me for a long time, but is now at a lonely height following his statement regarding taking selfies. ‘They used to want an autograph, now a selfie. I never say no. Taking a photo like that is faster than explaining that you don’t have time. And it often means a lot to people. So I just do it. Small gesture, big happiness.’
A selfie often means a lot to people. What Van Duin says is absolutely correct. I also have a strange habit of taking selfies with more or less famous people. Not that I’ll fall into a black hole if I can no longer take selfies, but I can’t deny that I get a certain amount of pleasure from it. It has become a hobby that got out of hand. It gives me a certain pleasure to have my picture taken with celebrities.
Admittedly, I am quite shameless regarding this. While fellow journalists exercise the necessary restraint, I have no hesitation whatsoever in asking the celebrity in question to take a photo with me. And I almost never get a zero response. I have never managed to take a reasonable selfie with members of the Royal Family. That is my mission in the near future.