1975-2001: Dutch History Photo Commissions > Oscar van Alphen
Alphen aan den Rijn, 8 September 1923
Pseudonym of Cees Nieuwenhuizen. After graduating from naval college he studied social geography for a few years, and then started to work for a trade company. Initially he was chiefly interested in technical photography but later on he focused more and more on the social aspects of photography. During the fifties and sixties he mainly photographed the post-war reconstruction of the Netherlands. From 1970 onwards his photographs became more journalistic in nature and more socially conscious. In his work he combines images with texts.
In 1973 he was awarded first prize in the World Press Photo "features" category.