In conversation with Jeroen Knippenberg (AKA JK6065)

[carregwen]

Here we go again... number eight in the series. I'm particularly grateful to this week's guest as he is only 18, and has not been a photographer for very long - but that doesn't seem to stop him producing some really excellent images.

On top of that, he's a very nice chap, as I think you will agree after reading this.

Here are the previous inmates accounts of themselves, but please don't forget to read this one.

Sean T. McHugh (McQ)
Steve O'Neill (Wirefox)
Kay Wilson (wilgk)
Mike (Clactonian)
Colin Southern
Peter Ryan
Donald Mackenzie

[carregwen]

©Image, Steve (Wirefox)

In conversation with...Jeroen Knippenberg

Name: Jeroen Knippenberg
Location: Near Roermond, southern Netherlands
Website: www.flickr.com/photos/jk6065


Rob: Thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us today.

Jeroen: You're welcome Rob and thank you for the opportunity. I’ll try to make something amusing out of it.

Perhaps we can start by you telling us something about your general back-ground. What about your work history – anything interesting?

Certainly, though I might disappoint you on that. I’m 18 years old and don’t have that much interesting work history- apart from getting filthy working on a farm and serving grumpy Germans their drinks. As supposed for this age I’m busy with my studies. I finished 8 years of primary school and six years of secondary school where I specialized in science and more specifically, physics. About a month ago I started with Mechanical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology. I’ve been interested in technology all my life so it was an obvious choice.

And what about your family life?

I was born in 1992 in the countryside with quite some pastures, cows and farms in the southern part of The Netherlands (Limburg). I still live there in a small town next to a river with my parents, my brother and my sister. I’m planning to move out of the house and find a place nearer to my University. I’ve been happily in love for about two years with my girlfriend Laurie. I met her on a school trip to Rome (how romantic). She was a student of the same school, and after arriving in the Netherlands again we kept seeing each other.

As I’ve always liked being on my own I spent a lot of time alone in the fields en forests when I was a child and still I do. The only difference is that I carry a camera with me most of the time now.

If you were staying in tonight, what would you choose as one of your favourite books and/or films to keep you entertained, and what you be having as a favourite meal?

I really appreciate several hours of sleep every night, but if I have to I would start with a good dinner. I like traditional Italian food. The Italians are absolute masters in creating beautiful flavours with little ingredients. They say it’s the love...

In general my favourite books are modern literature. I’m fond of psychological Romans which may be a bit crazy. For the Dutch forum members, Arnon Grunberg’s Tirza is one of my favourites. If the tiredness kicks in I would lay on the couch with Laurie and watch Edward Zwick’s The Last Samoura with Tom Cruise. A great movie about a culture we could never really understand but which is so intensely beautiful.

Editor's pick. An abandoned bicycle at Jeroen's old school. A great composition.

OK, photography is a given, but what about other hobbies or personal interests?
I started practising Judo for about eleven years ago and I have enjoyed it ever since. Now I’m a blue belt and I’m about to graduate to brown belt this year. To train my stamina and muscles I do cycling, running and some general fitness. It feels great to push myself racing through small country roads on a bicycle.

Another passion of mine is playing the guitar. I play acoustic guitar for about two years now. Inspired by living-legend Tommy Emmanuel I like playing finger-style guitar (although it’s so hard to master..). Furthermore I like playing some classical pieces and other pop and rock.

Pretending to be a chef is also a hobby of mine. I like to cook. As said before traditional Italian food is my favourite. I like experimenting on combining flavours, smells and colours and I appreciate when something good emerges.

Editor's pick...(Taken by Jeroen at a railway station in Holland. A very observant street shot.)

Let's get on to photography - how long have you been a photographer, and what got you interested in the first place?

It’s about two years ago that I bought my first camera. It was a way for me to give expression to a need of expressing creativity and also an art form that has a challenging technical side to it. Most of all it was the technical side that drew me to it at first, though the more I’m busy with it, the more the creative side of photography appeals. I started photographing the countryside near my house and basically all the things that appealed to me whatsoever.

What type of photography are you interested in, and why?

I’ve only been photographing for two years now, so I’m very busy with developing interests and skills. Landscapes is a subject I’ve been doing often throughout the years. Besides that, I do some architecture and street-life. Most likely these last two will become a greater part of my interests since I spend a lot of time in a larger city for my studies. In the past there was a period I did quite some water droplet studies and I did quite some sunsets and sunrises. Lately I’m very interested in black and white photography. I like how you can strip down the surroundings to merely shapes painted with light and dark.

Any particular photographic influences?

For the water droplet studies I’ve been inspired by Martin Waugh’s work. Like no other he seems to be able to make sculptures out of liquids as if it’s stone. More recently photographers like Ansel Adams and Michael Kenna inspired me in my photography. Not that much in my way of photographing (I don’t have that much time for it lately anyway) but the more in my view on photography. Photography as an art, a collaboration of craftsmanship, emotion and a great vision. The older photographers of the film area seems to have this craftsmanship and vision far more than the digital photographers.

What do you hope to achieve through your photography - or what have you achieved already?
In only the two years I’ve been photographing I do have some photographs exposed to the people. I’ve had a landscape shot published in a local newspaper, some shots were used for the magazine of the my Judo club. I also did some portrait work of teachers for a school yearbook. And best of all I had three water droplet shots in an exposition at my secondary school.



And of course, I won some mini competitions and monochrome mini competitions on CiC. What I would like to achieve is that people feel attracted to my work, that they feel like going to a gallery simple because my work is exposed over there. But most of all, I would like to keep doing beautiful things with a camera as long as I enjoy it.


What you think of CiC? Any way it could be improved? Where should it go from here, in your opinion?

Right now I think CiC works great as a learning place for photographers. You could compare it with a high school: there is a lot to learn on CiC but also time to relax and have fun (which is also very important). You shouldn’t always get too serious and I enjoy the fact that CiC is a community with people with shared interests.

I came on the forum and started reading tutorials. Later I started discussing my photos and other member’s. As long as CiC keeps doing that it’s going where it should go. New great tutorials keep being added and the forum community is very active. Well... “Steady as she goes”

Getting more personal if you don't mind...what keeps you awake at night, apart from Photoshop?

That differs from school projects when approaching deadlines, to a good book, to a busy mind, to my girlfriend, to nothing at all.

I have to ask this…. What photographic gear do you own, and what software do you use for editing?

I started about two years with a Panasonic Lumix fx35 and a simple tripod. Now I have a Canon EOS 400d with a Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC.

I bought the Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
Canon Speedlite EX 430 II.

Then I have some UV and CPL filters and a 10 stops ND filter.
For editing I use mainly Adobe Photoshop CS5 extended and ACR 6.2. For HDR processing I use Photomatix Pro 3.2 and Neat Image 6 Pro+ for noise reduction.

It’s a tough one to answer, but how would you rate your photographic skills and ability?

My photographic skill mostly lie in my curiosity and inspiration I can get from what I see. As I’m only photographing for about two years I think I developed a solid technical base but that’s about it. More challenging techniques as long exposures, working with depth of field, creating motion in a photograph by using shutter speed (like panning or relatively long exposures) and multiple flash photography are still above me on the learning curve. Though I think one of my abilities is willing to learn these things and feeling challenged to do so.

The creative side of photography is rather difficult to master and I feel I scarcely can use it in my photography since I have to develop the creative side much more. But most of all the joy I take from photography will be the skill that gets me far and will be the engine behind al developing.

What will the digital camera be like in 2020? And will you still own one?

Colin posted a video some time ago about a Canon concept camera. As I mentioned then, I think such a camera development will be killing for photography as an art, at least for the majority. When you’re walking through a big city like London on a sunny day you’ll see hundreds of tourists (most of them Japanese) with expensive DSLR’s around their neck shooting like a mad man using the auto program, because that’s the way the majority handles a camera nowadays. The more the camera does itself, the less the person behind it puts into the photograph, and that’s absolutely crucial to a good photograph.

I think compact cameras like the Olympus Pen will be the standard for customers majority around 2020. For more professional photographers full-frame will be the way to go.

Are you in a position to help or encourage others in their photography?

Well, I’m only photographing for two years and as I have to learn a lot myself there is no more than a little advice sometimes to a friend.

Another tough one for you…do you consider photography to be art?

As technology advances and more and more people have to ability to take snaps of whatever they like the less photography remains to be an art but it can certainly.

As hard as it is to define art I think it has all to do with emotion. Emotion from the artist and emotion from the viewers, caused by the piece of art. You can compare it with painting for example. Painting can be an incredible art, but if you painted your fence absolutely spotless and perfect it still isn’t art. As hard as you might try and as technically perfect it might be.

To me, art is one thing that photography in the broadest sense can be, among being a hobby, a craft, a way of earn living, a way to fill your Face-book page to illustrate a party you had, a passion and decoration for inside the house. The only difference is that making true art out of photography is only for the absolute best photographers out there. How import and difficult the technique is, it’s the sense of art what makes a photographer really one of a kind.

How do you feel about having your own shot taken?
A bit nervous to be honest. I hope people find my story more interesting to read.

What single piece of advice do you think is most useful to someone starting out with photography?

As interesting as all the technique and equipment is, it’s not important to start with. Buy a compact camera (they are good and flexible enough anyway) and shoot, talk to people about photography, about their shots and your shots and read a lot. And very importantly let you be inspired by the awesome photographers walking on this earth. Learn from how they see the world and analyse how they do it.

Can we see two of your shots that mean something special to you, and could you explain why.

Certainly, The first one is this shot from the stairway of my former school. I walked that stairs every day, and with me hundreds of kids every day. It’s the school where I grow up, learned a lot, graduated, started photography, had my first, little (and for now only) exposition, made friends and fell in love. At about the last day I was there and got the opportunity to do some photography. That day I did this shot of which I think it’s one of my most beautiful B&W shots in this a bit abstract way that I like.



The second photograph I really like is my PAD entry “Two Guitars”. To me the guitar is one of the most beautiful instruments in the world. I have two of them on which I really love to play, and what is better than combining two passion in one beautiful photograph?



Finally, can you give us one interesting/weird/silly thing about you that we probably don’t know?

Quite regularly I’m the one who laughs loudest about my own jokes.

That's all we have time for, Jeroen, but I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us. It’s been a real pleasure, and I'm sure others will enjoy it. I wish you well with your studies.

Thank you for the opportunity Rob. Now I have one question for you. When will you appear in the “In conversation with...” series? I think you definitely shouldn’t be left out of it.

[carregwen]

Please post any questions and/or comments here relating to this conversation. For example, you could ask if Jeroen's arm is recovering after having it twisted?

[Donald]

Excellent Jeroen. A considered, thoughtful and thought-provoking interview that reveals great maturity for one so young in years. My compliments to you, along with my good wishes for your continued success in photography and at university.

[Clactonian]

Congratulations Jeroen, particularly on your ability to express yourself so well in a foreign language.
I did try learning Dutch a few years back as I had several friends in Het Westland, but I gave up when I met a Dutch couple on holiday. They laughed and told me it was a waste of time, as most Dutch people spoke English anyway.
I look forward to seeing more of your excellent photographs and wish you well with your studies.

[Katy Noelle]

What an interesting interview! You're only eighteen??? Gosh, you're awfully mature and accomplished for one "so young". I think that's great that you're a musician, too. Perhaps, it won't be hard to tap your artistic side to photography, at all. Best wishes with your studies at the university. It sounds like your in a wonderfully awe-some/filled time of life! Super!

[Katy Noelle]

BTW, I love how you say that you "pretend" to be a chef. Of course, I know just what you mean but I bet that no one needs to "pretend" to eat your food!

[Wirefox]

getting filthy working on a farm and serving grumpy Germans their drinks

Wow. You work at Balmoral?

Jeroen I would never have put you at 18. You are way to sensible, go out immediately down a crate of Carlsberg Special Brew and annoy the pensioners outside the off licence....say hello to Donald for me while you are there. Only joking, you have obvious talents and are directing it in a very positive way. I am looking forward to seeing your photography develop.

[JK6065]

Thank you all for your wonderful comments.
I feel (especially because of the "In conversation with..." series) that there are so many wonderful people out here on the forums. If any of you would spend a holiday in Holland, close to where I live, I would love to do a photomeet .

@ Mike,
Maybe it's because The Netherlands is such a small but fairly internationally intended country but we all speak some foreign languages. It's quite usual for foreigners to speak their own language in The Netherlands when asking a local, and usual for us the answer in their language.

[Donald]

Wow. You work at Balmoral?

I say, that's treason. I'd have his head off, Ma'am, your Majesty, Mrs Queen... if I didn't disagree with capital punishment. But's it's this sort of subversive attitude that would make me change my mind.

I've said it before .... we should never have stopped sending them to the colonies!

[carregwen]

Jeroen

I was reminded of your shot of the old man (above) today. There's an article in November's B+W magazine which I was reading, about Christophe Agou, the French photographer. He did a project of street shots on the NY metro. You should try some more, especially if you can combine it with necessary travelling. Site is http://www.christopheagou.com/ then click on pictures\life below.

[wilgk]

Jeroen
Thankyou - that was so interesting to read a bit more about you.
Your story has revealed that you have many special gifts and I join with the others in wishing you well for the remainder of your studies.
And there was something in there for the the romantics amongst us as well
Nice work and we look forward to hearing more of your journey as time goes by.

[Camellia]

I'm also surprised that you are only 18 - 'only'. Glad you like you an Aussie guitarist in Tommy Emmanuel. I love the photo of the bike. Keep up the good work!

[JK6065]

I'm also surprised that you are only 18 - 'only'. Glad you like you an Aussie guitarist in Tommy Emmanuel. I love the photo of the bike. Keep up the good work!

Thank you Raylee,
About Tommy Emmanuel: he truly is one of a kind. He did a concert in Holland early this year, and off course I had to be there. It was absolutely astonishing.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks for sharing yourself with us Jeroen. Your openness and mature thought are a credit to you and your development to date. With your attitude I am sure you will succeed in all walks of life. The shots chosen have a lot of meaning and I love the one of the stairs. Frans Lanting is a wonderfully insightful nature and wildlife photographer and if you get a chance to read his story about why he took shots it is quiet eye opening.I look forward to seeing your photography develop and I wish you all the best in your studies.

[mythlady]

Jeroen, great to get to know you a bit. I'd love to get to the Netherlands some day for a photo meet -- My son has gone there twice in the past two years for a business convention, and said that Amsterdam was really wonderful. And of course, everyone would like the opportunity to see those tulips in bloom --

I think you have a very bright future ahead of you. You've accomplished a great deal already. Keep at it!