Witteveen retires after 37 years of photojournalism
Always get 'jolt of joy' to see photographs

YorkRegion.com
July 17, 2014
By Simone Joseph

Sjoerd Witteveen has witnessed two monumental changes in his lifetime.

The first: the transformation of Markham from a rural town to a more sophisticated city.

The second: the digitization of photography.

Witteveen retires Friday after 37 years of work as a photographer for The Markham Economist & Sun and sister papers The Thornhill Liberal and Vaughan Citizen.

Witteveen came to Canada in 1970 from Harlingen, the Netherlands, and began studying journalism at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, where he met his wife, Averill Maroun. He began working at the Markham Economist & Sun in 1977.

Back then, Markham was a small, rural place, he said.

“Most of the land was agricultural. Hwy. 7 was a two-lane road. There were a lot of gravel roads at the time.”

Witteveen began his journalism career as a reporter, but after three or four years, he started focusing on photography.

At that time, photographers still used darkrooms and chemicals to process film.

In fact, he ran the newspaper’s darkroom, working in a white lab coat.

By the late 1990s, cameras started using digital files.

Witteveen prefers using digital equipment over the equipment from the days of the darkroom.

“It is cleaner. My clothes don’t smell,” he said. “Digital is like a watershed, as far as I am concerned. Our company embraced it whole-heartedly.”

When Witteveen started the job at The Markham Economist & Sun, he was living in Toronto, but moved to Thornhill in 1982 and still lives there.

He has enjoyed having a variety of subjects to shoot.

“It’s not just sports. It’s not just politics. I got to take pictures of everything,” he said.

However, sports photography emerged as one of his favourite aspects of photography.

“Sports was always fun to do. You don’t have to tell them to be themselves,” he said.

Rugby is one of his favourites - “You can see their faces and shoot without helmets.”

He also enjoyed taking photos of Pope John Paul II when he toured Canada in 1984.

So, how does he want to be remembered as a photographer and employee?

“As a person who loved to take pictures and worked hard to take great shots for any kind of assignments, not just the great ones.”

At a retirement party last Friday in Unionville, Regional Councillor Gordon Landon presented Witteveen with a plaque signed by Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti to congratulate Witteveen on his 37 years of service.

His very first editor attended the party, along with many fellow photographers, reporters and editors, wanting to show their respect and admiration.

Witteveen is certain he will continue taking photos even after he retires.

But snapping shots for personal pleasure likely won’t feel the same as shooting photos for seven community newspapers and the yorkregion.com website, he admitted.

“I liked interacting with people and seeing the pictures afterwards. You always get this jolt of joy in the process. I still get that when I see my pictures in print or on the screen.”