HEINSIGHT – RECOGNITION OF REALITIES AFTER ITS OCCURRENCE

I recently got to see some amazing pictures taken by a killer skateboard photographer Werner Lemprecht of Hein Kotze’ and I just had to catch up with him and see what makes him shred…

KDT:  Hein Kotze’ can you tell us a little about yourself and your breakdown in the world of skateboarding?

HK:  I guess it’s quite a cliché by now, but one day I saw a few of the older guys in my primary school flipping this huge (back then it seemed huge) 2-stair gap.  I was super stoked, and used to sit there for hours even though nobody ever really landed it.  After that day a few guys and me picked up a “Wasp” setup from Makro.  This was the start of endless Fridays, running over into Saturdays, skating sessions.  Nobody had cars, so we used to walk…and I mean WALK.  Especially when Werner Lamprecht and me started skating together.  Our regular Friday-spot (and closest) was about 4km from where we stayed (seemed like 100km, after having to climb a mountain of a street, to the top of one hill on your way back).  Every single Friday we were in this guy’s yard skating the most perfect box and bank setup.  Even after he had moved we would jump the gate and chill there the entire afternoon.  Since then I couldn’t get over the feeling of landing a new trick, perfecting an old one, or getting excited over a new loading-bay filled with weeds that need cutting and surfaces in need of sweeping.

KDT:  So, how was your summer? What did you get up to?

HK:  It was EXCELLENT!

Had my first holiday for the entire year and caught up on some, really essential, habits; sleeping until 13h00, skating until 19h00, chilling with my girlfriend till 1 AM.  Now that’s the life…ha-ha.

Oh yeah! We went to Margate for a week as well…that was rad.

We got some mad pics, made some new friends and forgot about the reality that is; “the working life”

Now that’s a holiday in its true form.

KDT:  How do you manage to keep on top of your work when you spend so much time skating?

HK:  My work IS skating…or anything that was influenced by it – if I look at it like that I will pretty much enjoy anything I do.

I must admit that 2009 was a mad-scramble of a year.

February I heard that my application for a bursary was denied, and thus ended my student life in one sentence.  I had to find a job, had to start paying my own things etc.  Crazy.   I wanted to do photography.

I decided, as in skating, that it’s something you can pretty much learn by yourself (with some advice from others) - and thus started playing more with photography and design.  Up to the point where, after only one year (and no qualification behind my name), my own business card says; photographer/graphic designer.   And through it all skating has been one the main sources of new ideas/media/inspiration.

You’ll always find time to do what you like, as long as you on like what you do.

KDT:  What’s the best way to go about becoming a good skateboarder?

HK:  Depends on what your definition of “good” is I guess.  To me it’s doing something as simple as a bs-180 off a ramp, landing it 100 times…and then, finally, landing it perfect.  I’d like to think that a good skateboarder does it for himself.

KDT:  What’s the best experience you’ve had while skateboarding?

HK:  To many to count, to many stories to tell, to many great friends to mention all.

Recently: winning the game-of-skate at the Slip Skate Co launch event.  It was the first contest I’ve ever entered, and I was surprisingly nervous.  Me, Werner and two other guys were in the final.  The game went on and JJ and me were the only survivors.  That guy has got some mad style, and it was quite intimidating each time he made my tricks look effortless. We went on for, what seemed like, forever.  The crowd was cheering each time someone set a mad trick, and freaked out even more when the opponent managed to equally nail it.

It was INSANE.

At the end I managed to land the most perfect nollie-bigspin-flip (one of those tricks you “have landed before”, but only hope to land as a last resort). Again JJ got insanely close to actually landing a trick you can see he has probably never tried before…but to no success. I was finally declared winner, and received my first “brand-new” deck in probably a year’s time.  I was super stoked and equally brain-dead after planning what to do next every time JJ missed a set.

KDT:  Your photography is awesome, what advice do you have about capturing that right moment?

HK:  Again it’s about; if you’re doing what you love, it will come naturally.

Each moment is different, and each photo is opinion based. Werner and me will sometimes spend half an hour shooting a pic after finally agreeing on where we want it taken from, how the exposure must be etc. A very important thing is knowing your camera and lenses.  Each one is different, and each one makes an image look different.  In theory they must all work the same, but from my experience this is not the case at all.  My settings/focal length etc. can be identical to Werner or Reuben’s, but you’ll still end up with three images that look completely different.