Harry Kikstra
Welcome to the Artists Blog !!
1stAngel: When did you first become interested in art, in general?
Harry : I think in high school, but merely because it was required. Art was not big in my family.
1stAngel: When did you first become interested in photography, specifically?
Harry : I always liked to take and see photos, but never really pursued it.
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Makalu from 3rd step on Everest Seeing the sunrise from 8700m and looking down on the world’s highest mountains is incredible and this image gives a slight hint of what it feels like to be on top of the world. |
Though I did get a camera from my Grandma (as you are supposed to do when you want to become a famous photographer 
, I did not do much sensible things with it.
I think that I really started to enjoy it when I started travelling and climbing and somehow felt the need to capture those moments in nature and culture. When I got my first SLR, then I really started capturing the world, but that was only about 10 years ago..
1stAngel: In what other forms of art do you also work, if any?
Harry : I have written 3 books, of which two guidebooks (so the only art in that is my photography), but the other is a non-fiction about my Everest expeditions. I really enjoyed the art of writing in many ways, using words as my camera, capturing the essence of photographs without showing them.
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Tibet: sunset from 8300m camp on Everest Same feeling, but different place and time. This is shot from my tent and takes me back to life in the Death Zone.. |
I also like filming, have filmed in the mountains and will film on my upcoming trip. I think Photographers make interesting filmmakers as their focus is (literally) different than many people coming from filmschool.
I have built websites as well and am interested in the art of internet communication. I have handbuilt a 5 string fretless bassguitar once and enjoyed both the handicraft part as well as the musical aspect. Music can touch me and always has been able to do so.
1stAngel: On which style(s) of photography do you specialize?
Harry : I hate restrictions (in a broad sense) and like to shoot many different things, but my focus has been “Mountains” (and other Landscapes) and lately more “Culture”: daily life and people. Somehow children seem to like me as much as I like to photograph them, so I have a nice collection of kids’ portraits by now.
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Row of climbers up Northcol of Everest, Tibet Man is so insignificant. I love the texture of Everest here |
From my about page:
“I have started ExposedPlanet.com not only as a way to show my portfolio, but also to share the beauty of our planet. Nowadays negative press & media might make people scared of everything foreign or different: culture, religion, people and the places themselves. This xenophobia is taking over our lives and prevents us from seeing the real world as it is: a wonderful place with beautiful people. There are no bad or evil countries, religions or people. There is bad and good people in every culture, including your own.
I hope I can share a bit of the amazement I have enjoyed while traveling the 7 continents. The more I see, the more I know I still have to see and I will. Life is too short to focus on not-existing enemies & fears.”
“I hope that it will sparkle your imagination, make you curious or even just educate you a bit, being maybe the 3 most important aspects of society in my view. A picture can say more than a 1000 wars and can maybe help understand the world around us. It’s a small place, so maybe we can make the best of it together.”
1stAngel: Has your style changed from when you first began? If so, why?
Harry : Yes, I shoot much more people now, use more fixed lenses and that has made a big difference as you need to be more creative and active in order to get the framing right. First the photography was a by-product of my trips and climbs, now it is almost a reason, though I still need something else to pay for them.
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Taschi Dzom Hells Angels, Tibet Read the accompanying story. Life in Tibet, I love this scene, it is still my desktop image and makes me smile |
I am still hesitant to shoot a lot though. Sometimes I hit myself afterwards because I only took one shot of a beautiful scene. This is a persistent by-product of travelling in remote places with limited rolls of slidefilm, batteries and money.
Even with the current digital possibilities, I still shoot very few frames of a scene. I guess it saves me from having to decide which ones are bad!
1stAngel: What kind of equipment do you use (film, digital, cameras, lenses, PC, etc.)?
Harry : I always used Canon though I probably would be just as happy with Nikon, but it is too expensive to try both. From the EoS 500n to the EOS3, both with negative and slide films; last years using them, I only used Provia slides.
The EOS 20D was the first real digital one, which I bought just before Everest in 2005 and it worked right up to 8850m.
The last two years I used a 5D as I need the full frame and the larger size.
I am waiting for a new version of that one as my body (and that of my camera has had a hard time in the mountains and on my trips.
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Love in its purest form. |
Favorite lenses are the 135mm fixed, 50mm fixed and the 16-30mm zoom. I also have a 15mm fisheye, but we have a hate-love relationship and might split.
I have a PC and Mac and use both, though currently more PC, have Photoshop on both.
1stAngel: What made you choose that equipment?
Harry : Need for sharpness and bokeh (lenses), need for magazine-printable size full frame images (5D). Also financial: opportunity when making some money from the images, I immediately reinvested it in new lenses. Weight is still a limiting factor due to practical restrictions while climbing and cycling.
1stAngel: How do you choose what you’re going to photograph?
Harry : I don’t. It is almost a reflex of what I see and encounter. Usually I do not like my planned shots, but the snapshots are my favorites. You can not plan life, so most planned shots are not a true representation of life for me.
Sometimes I just go sit in a lively place, like on a crossroad in this small Tibetan town, Taschi Dzom. I waited there for over an hour, just doing nothing but observe. Once I had blended in, I could capture life.
On a mountain, you usually have few options, it is hard enough to carry a camera, let alone use it properly. But sometimes I feel such joy being in those areas, that I have to try to capture it, though I know that even my best images can only cover a few percent of the true experience. Then again, those experiences are so strong, even that small percentage is more powerful than a full-power day in a regular life back down.
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Nepali Girl with amazing eyes close up Innocence radiating through some of the most powerful eyes I have seen. |
1stAngel: What kind of editing do you perform on your photographs, if any?
Harry : Photoshop, I have done some HDRs but not much and I have stitched a few images, but mostly simple stuff like contrast and levels. Very rarely I use layer masks, mostly to desaturate a specific part of an image.
1stAngel: How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?
Harry : An Everest expedition takes two months, and before you can climb over 8000m, you will need at least 5 weeks. Taking a camera out a backpack or a down jacket and preparing it in -40 degrees can take many minutes, but most shots are made in about 1/8000th to 1/40th of a second. Photoshopping can take anything from 2-30 minutes. If it is longer, I usually abandon the project
1stAngel: How do you know when a piece is finished? Is it easy to walk away?
Harry : When I look at it and really like it, but it does not happen that often. It is not easy to walk away, but I have so many other things to do, that I must force myself. I would love to have time to tweak every pixel and take a week to carry lenses, food and tripods up a mountain and wait for the perfect light and another week to photoshop it to perfection.
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Orange Tulips in the Netherlands close I never had shot flowers before, but these colours were too strong to resist! |
1stAngel: What do you do to overcome a “block”?
Harry : Wait or look at my portfolio. Sometimes I feel all my images suck. But after a while I see my images on ExposedPlanet and then it usually starts itching again. I am proud of what I have accomplished so far but perfectionist enough to know that there is much room to improve. So even just the urge to get better can help start again. I shoot in waves.
1stAngel: How well do you take criticism and how do you make use of it?
Harry : I need it as without it I slow down or move backwards, but do not like it. I like the feathers in my behind, but criticism is much more useful, but I can be quite defensive, though I have improved
1stAngel: Who is your favourite artist?
Harry : The artist currently known as Prince. Not on his albums (an album is a vinyl version of a CD, with bigger grooves) but live on stage. He’s funky.
Heather Nova can whisper in my ear anytime. Music normally touches me deeper than visual art, though some documentaries chill me to the bone.
I have no real preference for a specific photographer, there are so many very talented people out there, I am surprised by different people every day I am online.
I love Vermeer. This fellow Dutchman created so incredibly detailed pieces, a pleasure to see. Rembrandt is the king of light, I wonder what he could do with a good camera…
1stAngel: Which one of your photographs is your favourite?
Harry : That changes, but the current top 9 are the ones shown in this interview..
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Chinese borderguard at Tibetan border My favorite from the hip shot, this in uncropped. Could not have framed it better or had a better model. I love the story in this one frame. |
1stAngel: Have you exhibited any of your work in galleries? & Will your work be included at any upcoming contests or galleries? If so, where and when?
Harry :No and no. Travelling most of the year, I have had no time to proper investigate this. I would love it though. Maybe I need an agent
1stAngel: What are your plans for the future?
Harry : Need to build a few websites and write a guidebook next month.
After a trip to Tanzania in May/June to climb Kilimanjaro and to set up a local tree-planting project I will be off on a long bicycle trip, from Alaska to Ushuaia (Argentina). About 40.000km (25.000miles), will take about 2-3 years I think. This will include some photoprojects and filming as well as getting attention to the state of the world (both culture and nature).
My larger plan is to make the world greener and a better place to live in. I am trying to create understanding between cultures through my photography.
By the way, I will plant at least one extra tree per image sold in ImageKind.
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Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, in the Moscow Kremlin Sometimes nature is stronger than photoshop. No masks, just the sun and clouds and architecture.. |
1stAngel: What advice do you have for budding photographers?
Harry : Follow your heart. Do not count on being able to make a living (immediately) from your art, but do not let that stop you from creating.
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it”. As quoted from Amelia Earhart (over whom Heather Nova wrote one of the most beautiful songs ever).
I think Woody Allen rephrased that as ‘80% of success is showing up’…
Just get out there, and use your eyes to make the world a better place.
Harry, it has been a pleasure! Thank you very much for taking part in the interviews and I hope you get to plant many trees!
You can view Harry’s gallery at http://www.imagekind.com
and visit his site at http://exposedplanet.com /
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