Thank you for browsing my website. My name is Oscar van der Velde. I grew up in Bedum, The Netherlands, 10 kilometers north of Groningen. At age 18 (in 1995) I moved to Wageningen for my Meteorology studies, which I completed in 2002 (M.Sc.) after internships at KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) and the University of Oklahoma (CIMMS) in Norman, OK (USA) specializing in thunderstorms and lightning. I defended my Ph.D. degree at Université de Toulouse (Laboratoire d'Aérologie) on sprites and gigantic jets in 2008.

I now work as postdoc in the Lightning Research Group of the Electrical Engineering Department of the Technical University of Catalonia (Spain), in the city of Terrassa. My current home is in Sant Vicenç de Castellet, Spain (province of Barcelona), with a great view on the mountain Montserrat.

My hobbies are forecasting and observing thunderstorms and sprites, photography, and I am fascinated by cameras and optics, landscapes and the night sky, as well as electronic music, world music and some metal. I currently shoot with a Canon EOS 5D with the following lenses: EF 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 20mm f/1.8, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro, Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye, CZJ 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon, EF 75-300mm f/3.5-5.6 III, EF 50mm f/1.8. For sprites and meteors: Watec 902H2 Ultimate, Computar 12mm F0.8 and 8-48mm F1.2 lenses, wide converter. High-speed video camera: Redlake Motionscope M1 (1000 frames per second, 640x500), 25mm F0.95 lens. Medium format camera: Bronica S2a 6x6, Nikkor 75mm f/2.8, Komura 45mm f/4.5. For color photos of sprites: Canon EOS 350D (no infrared blocking filter).

My website got started in June 1996. In its present form (2010) it is based on the Flickr photo hosting. I currently still have to complete all photo descriptions and add a movie section. You can visit me at Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightningwizard/