Jos ( 1943 – Vlaardingen / Netherlands ) has been training done at The Hague (Netherlands) on the secondary technical school for Photography and Photonics. Twelve years he worked on the Optics department with TNO, then 24 years with the government as head of a photo & video department and later as a specialist analysis , now retired .

Photographie: Photographing he has learned from his father , a well-known and successful dutch amateur photographer.Through Through the professional training with teachers like Mr. R.de Vries , Ed van Wijk and Kees Molkenboer he learned to deal with light, became acquainted with the arts and art-forms. He watched photographers like Paul Huf , Paul Wolff , Erich Salomon , William KLein, Cas Orthuys , Henri Cartier – Bresson , Ansel Adams , WL Berssenbrugge and others how they are taken their pictures. Jos Degen has won two prizes at photo contests: national ( ANVV ) and international ( Leica Photography ). The photography he used to record the impressions, the moments around us in a fraction of a second eg landscapes, people , trains , architecture , art and culture. By traveling around the world , he broadened his horizon . He came into contact with other cultures : their patterns , colors and philosophy . Sometimes he was struck by their simplicity or complexity . The photography is by definition a representation of reality . But there are always impressions that you can not capture photographically.

Graphics: Since 1974 takes Jos at the Vrije Academie in Vlaardingen part in the courses graphic techniques : screen printing , lithograph, etching , linocut prints and Blindprinting conducted by well-known artists such as Theo Kwak , Leo de Koning, Renee Mervel and Beaty Czetö . He is also inspired by Japanese woodcuts of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai and Ando Hiroshige by their simplicity and use of color . With the graphic techniques he can build on the photographic reality. It gives him a huge freedom especially in abstractness . Currently he makes thematic images , monochrome and / or multicolored .

Digigraphics: At this moment he also uses digital photography . Remains essential seeing the image and good shooting . But photography did not always record properly your impressions . Therefore you need  extra (photo )graphical tools The computer is a replacement of the darkroom , but with many more options . These photographic images are processed in the computer into something graphic with the aim to get the main lines / planes out. The different kinds of software tools , which Jos used to achieve a certain idea / impression. By not writing exactly how he got the picture , the images are unique. It is exciting every time what the result is , and differs from the earlier ones , because his feelings about that image / impression is always changing . This new method he called digigraphics: a marriage between photography, graphics and informatica . The order of the Municipality of Maassluis to make their New Year Card Jos inspired to do more digigraphics of Maassluis, Rotterdam and Southern France. These graphic images he used again as the basis for making etchings and / or woodblock / linocut.