SOMEONE MUST HAVE SEEN IT, SNAPPED IT, AND WRITTEN IT DOWN

OTHERWISE IT WOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED

 

 

Henk Kloosterhuis
1942

 

Exploring the unknown world around me is my passion, and I have been on the road living this passion ever since I was a young boy.

The inborn eagerness to get into contact with the people of other countries and to understand them has taken me all over the world and has inspired me ever since I left home at the age of sixteen to hike around Europe.Verysoon an inseparable mate joined me, a camera, and we continued together on the road.

After the Hotel Management School and military services in the Marines, I signed on a vessel of the ‘Holland America Line’ and later I was employed by the KLM: the big world had opened itself for me. In my leisure time I started writing articles on political and socially challenging topics in countries like New Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Bali, Cuba, Mexico, Australia, Peru, the United States and soon I got so involved that I made a living out of it.

However, the life of a professional photo-journalist is not always easy to combine with the demands and practicalities required by family life. I decided to concentrate on a home based job. After having full filled some management positions and a study at Cornell University, I build up a Consultancy in the International Hospitality Industry.

However, my camera never left me and I took advantage of every spare moment to investigate all that still wanted to be explored by me. I frequently visited the Far East, North- and South America and Africa.

 

There is a time for everything, and in 2007 I felt that I had to turn a page of the big book of life again. I sold my Consultancy and set off, this time in a 4x4 camper. I drove, literally, around the Himalaya, visiting regions and I met people that in some cases had hardly seen any foreigner, let alone in a camper, in their lives. Their willingness to make contact with me and to pose for the camera continually made me feel very humble.

With the circle around the Himalaya completed, my next venture was to set off with not only my camera, but also a professional writer aboard, to conquer Mongolia.

 

 In five months we went to the most remote corners of the country, sometimes being overwhelmed by the hospitality and friendliness of the Mongolian nomads. Meeting people in their own environment and sharing their lives and experiences, gives significance and inspiration to my life. The interaction with people always opens a box with big surprises and as such a big reward for the hardship endured to get to remote place.

By focusing at people and getting them on a picture, my mind has widened up and I feel lucky that I have learned that prejudices and stereotypes really only exist in one’s own vision.

 

I am very eager to share my experiences with other interested people.

The pictures of people, different places and a large variety of situations have formed my vision on the world.

It is with a big sense of responsibility that I want to tell my stories, making use of my pictures and short texts. As such, I sympathize with a new line within photojournalism: ‘Humanitarian Photojournalism’.