Roger Vroemen is the new owner of café De Gouden Reael at Zandhoek 14, a business he acquired in July 2018.  Roger, who I’ve known for a decade, has had many jobs, and multiple careers. So I asked him for career advice while eating brunch with my family one sunny Sunday morning. It was during this discussion that I realized how small Amsterdam can be, and how its residents are more connected than they likely know. This inspired me to test the theory. 

Roger’s first job was De Vergulde Gaper on the Prinsengracht, where he worked in the summer of 1993 after he moved to Amsterdam.

Jascha currently works at De Vergulde Gaper, more than 25 years after Roger. Jascha has been working there since February 2018. Before that, he worked at various cafes in Amsterdam like Huize Frankendael, De Haven van Texel, and Cafe Del Mondo. After being rejected to take pictures at the first two cafes, I was invited to photograph a waitress in Cafe Del Mondo.

This person, who asked to have his name withheld, has been working at Episode in the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 37 for 2,5 years now. Before Episode, he used to work at FOAM.

This is Paul de Ruyter. De Ruyter currently works at FOAM, the photography museum of Amsterdam at Keizersgracht 609. Besides working at FOAM, Paul also works at De Bakkerswinkel in the Roelof Hartstraat. These were his first jobs in Amsterdam. When explaining my idea for this project he was immediately enthusiastic about it. We started talking and I told him about my plan to apply to film school. Coincidently, he told me he had studied at De Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (AHK) where he got his Bachelors Degree for film directing, the very same degree I’m considering now.