Featured Photographer: Karl Schoemaker

Karl Schoemaker. Picture: Donna van der Watt

Karl Schoemaker was born in Dublin, Ireland lived in Hong Kong and briefly in the Seychelles before moving to South Africa, “and although the rest of my family eventually moved all over the world; I stayed!”

“I love this country,” he says. “Sure we have our problems, but so do all countries to varying degrees. Still, there are none better than this one!”

Karl did a successful year of a BCom at Rhodes University before changing to to a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in which he majored in photography.

“After varsity I did my National Service (as we had to) in the Air Force at Waterkloof airbase in Pretoria, where I was part of the photographic unit. I learnt a wealth about aerial photography, which was not covered at varsity.

“I then worked in a photographic studio where I was hired to be the assistant for a few years before I set up and ran an advertising agency within an IT company.”

But Karl missed photography and so applied for, and got, the job of in-house photographer at Gold Fields of South Africa. “I quickly learnt all about underground mining. But then I discovered the Internet and it sucked me in, threw me around a bit, drugged me, brainwashed me and spat me out a glazed-eyed convert.

“I was then head-hunted by Anglo American to join their Corporate Communications Department. Not long afterwards I was ‘stolen’ by AngloGold Ashanti where I worked for for over 10 years, ending up heading their Knowledge Systems / Management portfolio for the globe.

“At the end of 2008 I moved away from Johannesburg to PE in search of a better quality of life, and to return to my passion of photography.”

Karl now run a commercial studio in Port Elizabeth, specialising in commercial and industrial photography, while still travelling globally on assignments in the mining industry.

1. Who are your heroes or role models in photography and why do you admire them?

Obie Oberholzer taught me photography. He is a master of composition and lighting, but more importantly, he taught me how to really LOOK at things and see them differently.

2. Where does your inspiration come from?

Other artists inspire me, especially interacting with them. Since moving to PE I have made friends with extraordinary people; street artists, tattoo artists, rap artists, B Boyz, DJ’s. Their work has added a new grittiness to mine, in the way I light, edit and see.

Picture: Karl Schoemaker

3. If you were given the opportunity to photograph something you haven’t done yet, what would it be?

I would love to do a photographic odyssey for National Geographic, photographing people from a multitude of cultures all over this planet of ours.

4. What is your favourite subject?

Professionally, mining/industrial and people, preferably both! Personally, people and landscapes.

Picture: Karl Schoemaker

5. What camera do you use?

A Nikon D3s and a D700 as my backup.

6. What are your preferred lenses?

On assignment I always carry three lenses with me, a 14-24, a 24-70, and a 70-200, all 2.8. My favourite though has to be my 105; it just rocks, is nice and crisp and perfect for any type of portraiture shot (I find the 85 too short…)

7. What do you pack into your camera bag and can’t do without on assignment?

Lol, zip lock bags for wet and underground work to protect my pocket wizards, and in the back of my cab, sand bags to weigh down light stands… after all, this IS PE!

8. What would you consider a gimmick in photography?

On lens filters. Grads, star bursts, horrible things like that.

9. Do you think digital photography has given you more creative freedom?

Without a doubt. Or rather it has made creating a lot easier… in the past I would have had to have my trannies scanned on a drum scanner, then edit what I wanted to, then play out back to neg to print. Sjoe, it was a long process and not perfect.

Picture: Karl Schoemaker

10. Does it bother you that photography is not as specialised as it was a decade ago, and what advice do you have to make your images stand out amongst the millions floating around cyberspace?

The advent of digital photography made taking pictures easier for a far wider range of people, but what makes a great photographer is the ability to SEE the shot, compose, expose, light, and in-camera crop a perfect image without having to think about it. It just comes naturally. The majority of people out there just photograph what they see. Photography is an opportunity to force people to see things they would normally not, to see things from YOUR perspective. So stop looking with blinkers on, look up, look down, look inside, see things differently.

11. Which part of the Eastern or Southern Cape / Garden Route do you most enjoy shooting in?

To be frank, it does not really matter. You can find a shot anywhere, you just have to find it; find that awesome pic nobody else thought of and nobody else saw. That is the challenge, and I LOVE a challenge.

Kelly Slater. Picture: Karl Schoemaker

12. What assignment was most memorable to you and why?

I have been very fortunate in that I have a couple of large mining clients that send me all over the place, from East and West Africa, to Australia, North and South America and Asia. However the most exciting and interesting was in the Amazon; I spent a week in an exploration camp in the primary jungle in the Amazon – what an experience!

13. Do you have a favourite image that you have taken?

Yes, actually I took it early last year. It is an image I took of my nieces seconds after they had scattered their parents’ ashes. It is a very emotional and important photograph to me. I remember when I was editing it later that night, I was in tears and elated at the same time… if that makes any sense.

Goodbye. Picture: Karl Schoemaker

14. What is the most important lesson you have learnt in your photography?

Funny enough it is not about photography, but it impacts immensely on it: Respect. Respect the people you work with and photograph, respect the environment you are working in and respect yourself. Treat everything with respect and as equals and you will get it straight back, because with an attitude like that you can only be chilled, and that gets you awesome pix.