Page 16 - Cape-Camera-June-2023

Cape Camera June 2023

Member profile

What inspires Heiko Denker’s work

Heiko Denker recently joined CTPS all the way from Windhoek, Namibia, after club mem-
ber Dieter Bütow recommended that he become a member. It is the first photographic
club he has joined, Heiko explains.

exhibitions, books, calendars and a photographic book, One
Hundred Shots, he published.
After we had each acquired a camera, we had the good fortune
to attend a course offered by Hannes Lochner in the Kgalagadi.
That certainly was a huge inspiration and Hannes is still my fa-
vourite wildlife photographer. We did a few photographic trips
with Hannes and one with David Lloyd to the Mara.
My biggest inspiration these days is my wife, Anja. Together we
go out into nature as often as possible and inspire each other
to take better photos each time. I am most comfortable with
wildlife photography because it takes me into nature, where I
just love to be. The Kgalagadi is still my favourite go-to place,
with Etosha and the Okavango Delta not far behind!
I am a mechanical engineer by profession and have my own
Heiko and Anja Denker inspire each other’s photography.
company where we sell pumping and mining equipment to
The main benefit of club membership for me is that because it industry. I live in Windhoek Namibia when not out in a nature
is difficult to objectively know if your own photos are good or park somewhere.
not, I love the feedback one gets from the judges in the monthly My preferred camera nowadays is the Nikon D5. I also use the
competitions. From that information I hope to get better and D750 a lot. In addition, I shoot some videos where I use the Can-
better at photography. It is also great to be part of a community on XA30 and GoPro equipment with the Nikons. View Heiko’s
of photographers. Life Videos on You Tube (www.youtube.com/@lifevideobyhei-
My first encounter with photography was when I got an old kodenker9436).
camera when I was twelve or thirteen. I started taking photos,
but growing up on a farm in Namibia, other things where more
pressing, so I did not go far with it.
Then, while studying in Australia, my brother Helge Denker and
I went on a trip to Tasmania. He was studying fine arts, was into
photography and took a lot of photos in that beautiful wilder-
ness.
I admired his photographs and therefore, when I finished my
studies and had a bit of spare cash once I started working, I
bought myself a Pentax P30 and resumed my photography. I
experimented a lot with slides and was quite happy with the
result. Eventually I returned to Namibia, where the camera was
stolen from our home. For the second time my photography
came to an abrupt halt.
In 2010, on a family holiday to Australia with my wife Anja and The Kolmanskop wild horses in silhouette.
daughter Alexa, we bought a Nikon D5000. On our first trip to
the Kgalagadi we had to share the camera between the three
of us. It was very interesting: everyone had a go! When one of
us had taken a few shots and the subject of interest was still
around, the camera was given to the next person to take pho-
tos. Obviously, that was a rather ridiculous set up and we quick-
ly changed that.
On the next trip we each had our own camera, and we are all
three still keen on photography. One could say that we have be-
come a photographic family, because Alexa took photography
as a part of her studies in Germany and is now the photographic
specialist at the company she works for.
Much of my inspiration comes from Helge, who is an accom-
plished photographer whose work has been featured in many

Cape Town Photographic Society 16