ABOUT HANS KEMP,
THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR OF THE BOOK...
...by Hans himself:
" I was born in the Netherlands in 1962. I must have been around
16 years
old when I bought my first camera; a Nikon FE.
Darkroom and lighting techniques were introduced to me in photography
courses given by a local photographer but it wasn't until I started
my travels that my photography started to develop. That was in May
1986 when I bought a one way ticket; Amsterdam - Kuala Lumpur.
18 months later I returned to Holland, with many rolls of film and
a restless heart. My first story - about Tibet- got published. I
landed a job as tour leader with a company in Amsterdam, Monkey King.
They specialized in China tours and in 1988 I guided my first group
from Rawalpindi in northern Pakistan to Beijing. What a job! For
the next four years I travelled all over China, with groups and,
in between tours, on my own.
Hong Kong and China...
Hong Kong became a regular base where it was easy to obtain a new
visa for China and Lucky Guesthouse became my new domicile. The first
story published in the South China Morning Post Sunday magazine was
about fashion models in Guagzhou. It was still not possible to make
a living out of photography but with the guiding and teaching English
I was able to get by.
In 1991 I moved to a house on Lantau Island (one of Hong Kong's
outlying islands). This was better than a bunk bed in Lucky's and
my photography developed with stories being published in Asiaweek,
Sawasdee (Thai airlines in-flight magazine) Asahigraph magazine of
Japan and others in Europa and Asia.
..and then Vietnam
Soon all I did was travel around the region, looking for new stories
(with or without a writer). I stopped being a tour guide. My first
visit to Vietnam was in 1991. I liked the place and came back frequently
to travel and take photos. The idea to use some of that photography
on postcards developed and the first cards appeared in 1994. A year
later I moved base to Saigon.
Since then my photographs of Vietnam have appeared on many postcards
and calendars and in a book published 2001.
Bikes of Burden
Now it's time to finally launch a project I have been planning for
several years: A book about the amazing Vietnamese motorcycles and
their drivers. Without them, Vietnam would stall completely, and
I believe that they deserve this tribute.
If you have been to Vietnam, lives in Vietnam or about to go to
Vietnam, I think you will enjoy it. Or if you know someone who would
appreciate the book as a gift.
Hans
PS. If you would like to contact me directly, either click
here to send an e-mail with your e-mail program, or call me on
my mobile phone +84-(0)90-8466912. And please visit my own website
at www.hanskemp.com"
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