design4kids

Hi, I am Eric Lolkema, a freelance people photographer from the Netherlands.

People photography means it’s personal. I am not interested in a smooth outside or in a recreated scene that is all about pose. When working with a person I try to capture some of his or her personality. For me photography is about contact. I press the shutter the moment we connect. Making me a happy man when connection, framing, pose and lighting come together.

I like computing as part of the photographic process. Photoshop and Lightroom are my favorite software programs, replacing the traditional darkroom. I am certainly no traditionalist in photography and have been working 100% digital most of my career.

Coming to Guatemala for the fourth time means a chance to connect to kids who are working extremely hard to give direction to their lives. A direction away from traditional poorness. I am extremely happy to contribute to that.

Oh yeah, my first memories are from the 60’s. I was alive when Woodstock happened, I remember Jimi Hendrix coming to Holland for a concert and the protests against the Vietnam war. I am married more than 20 years, have been a vegetarian and now a modest non veggie. Still believe in organic farming and hope that one day people get wise and stop polluting. I don’t wear flowers in my hair and don’t oppose to private ownership. I immensely admire the Dalai Lama but am not very fond of modern day superficial spirituality. I listen to music from King Crimson and Led Zeppelin to Greek Laïka and Schubert’s impromptus. I hope to see you one day in Atitlan.

In my Spanish class when trying to explain my photographic interests, we came up with the next phrase. That sums it all up for me.
“A pesar de la adversidad la fotografía muestra una luz de esperanza.
Si no eres capaz de mostrar esto, la fotografia no tiene sentido”

Editor’s note: Eric is returning for his third Design4Kids workshop. He’s contributed to every workshop since even before they began. We met each other and Nancy McGirr, the director of Fotokids, during a “Bridges to Understanding” workshop in Santiago in the Fall of 2007 that spawned the idea to come back and teach design studio skills. He’s an awesome guy with a huge heart, and a brilliant photographer. Visit his website to see what I mean. –Jeff

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