Having produced a lifetime of captivating images and special memories…

Aug 23, 2009 News

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Photographer Winston Oudkerk is indeed a ‘Special Person’

 

“I never thought that the man would have stabbed Father Darke and I was the only photographer there and I took five pictures. When I saw him (the attacker) coming to me, I decided to turn and run, but the police were barring the main gate, so I ran to the next gate. I was young and my foot was bad, but I jumped over into the police station from there.”

To most Guyanese, the name Winston Oudkerk is synonymous with photography.

For more than 40 years he has been capturing images from the beautiful to the bizarre, from presidents to priests and from sadness to humour.

His work has been viewed all over the world and has brought smiles to many faces, tears to many eyes and the wrath of some.

Oudkerk retired as Chief Photographer of the Guyana Chronicle two years ago and during the period in that position he had the enviable or unenviable (depending on how you see it) privilege of serving all of Guyana’s Executive Presidents from Forbes Burnham to Bharrat Jagdeo.

But Oudkerk, the eldest of eight children, did not have it in his wildest dreams to become a photographer.

In fact, it just happened by chance.

Born while his mother was living on Regent Street, Winston Oudkerk was a real town boy having grown up in Duke Street, Kingston.

He went to Kingston Government School up to sixth standard – had no secondary education, but like most young men in those days, ambition was an inherent trait.

He signed up for an essay competition which required him to write best about reading.

He was not surprised when he got second place in the 14-16 age group.

His gift from Sir Patrick Rennison was an encyclopedia from Fogarty’s.

With no secondary education and having to assist with his seven younger siblings, Oudkerk found himself ‘hustling’.

“I did a little bit of shoemaking, repairing bicycles, I did a little bit of tailoring and block making.”

This is in addition to delivering daily newspapers.

As he described it, the paper delivery with Steve Narine was what gave him his break in life. He related that Narine, a neighbour of his, was working with the Guyana Chronicle on Main Street during that time.

One day while making blocks, Narine called him and informed that the Chronicle wanted an Office Assistant. Oudkerk did not need any prompting and he immediately took the job for six dollars and 30 cents per week.

But his interest in photography was harnessed when he won another trivia prize.

At that time there was a competition to find a hidden box in the city and as fate would have it, Oudkerk’s luck kicked in and he of all persons found the box.

Inside was a camera. The young Oudkerk bought a 120 roll of films for sixty cents and the journey of taking pictures began. At first he experimented by taking photographs of his relatives.

By that time he had already run through three rolls of films. When the films were full Oudkerk sought the assistance of one Mr. McDonald, the Chief Photographer at the Chronicle to have them developed.

“He say boy me ain’t got time, go down in the dark room and see wha’ you could do. Some afternoons I used to go in the dark room and start developing my films by myself. Nobody used to help me,” Oudkerk remembered with pride written all over his face.

Although he had mastered the art of film developing, he remained the office assistant even though some of the established photographers had left the job.

But then two things happened that changed the course of his life.

He remembered that there was a function in the city and the photographer who had covered the assignment had printed the photographs on the wrong side and had left for home.

An editor of the newspaper at the time, Hank Harper, recognized the mistake and was at his wits’ to end get in touch with the photographer to have it rectified.

As fate would have it, the young Office Assistant, Oudkerk was around and since he knew a thing or two about developing photographs, they reluctantly turned to him for assistance and he willingly obliged.

The second significant career-defining event was a fire on Cummings and First Street, Alberttown, at around 11pm.

Again the photographer took pictures and this time the main photographer was missing.

“The child that was saved in the house was the one he did not print and they asked me to do it and I did.”

A week later the newspaper decided that the photographer needed an assistant and Oudkerk was delighted when they appointed him as the Dark Room Assistant.

That was the beginning of a long and distinguished career in photography.

He became more involved in photography and decided that he needed a professional camera.

“I go and buy one from Acme. I throw box and bought that camera. It was forty-four dollars for it and I was now taking pictures for the Chronicle,” Oudkerk said.

Now a rookie photographer, Oudkerk got his recognition when his senior left for Trinidad on an assignment.

“They wanted a picture for the front page, so I go on the road and go through Tiger Bay. I saw some boys playing cricket on the road. I took a picture with these boys batting and falling down and the excitement and so on. When I took the picture in, the man say, ‘Jesus Christ boy, dem other men deh in this wuk so long and nobody never bring a picture like this.’” Oudkerk recalled.

He said that the pictures were shown to the then Editor in Chief, Mr. George Willock, who was so impressed, that eventually Oudkerk found himself being relied upon to bring in the offbeat photographs for the Chronicle’s front page.

At one time, one of Oudkerk’s photographs of a weightlifter grimacing after falling under the weights angered one man so much that the man searched throughout the city to find him.

By now Oudkerk had developed some amount of fame and had become ‘the man’ in newspaper photography to a certain extent.

His career took him through the sixties when there were riots and burnings and Oudkerk excelled as a photographer during that period.

The year 1964 was when Oudkerk’s work began affecting him in a negative way.

At this time he was now attached to the rival Graphic newspaper.

“Man, the things you see and had to go through. The type of deaths that you saw.

He remembered an assignment in Enmore when Dr. Jagan had called a day of mourning.

“We went into BV and one of the deaths, was a man crump up in a drain. He was beaten to death. We did about three deaths. One was a man who was breaking down his house and we heard this gunshot. We see this man falling. And then they had a man walking across a bridge and he was shot and fell into the water.”

“We left and were heading to Victoria but there was some shooting in Enmore. I could remember talking to a lady and she told us that the shooting was at the back. We talked to the lady and by the time we walked away we heard a shot. When we look back, is the lady coming sliding down the steps. That was a shocking experience,” Oudkerk remembered.

During those days also, Oudkerk recalled having to duck from bullets and at one time he had to hide in a toilet.

The photographs taken were published, and according to Oudkerk, the police began harassing him for information on who was doing the shooting.

“I didn’t had nothing to tell anybody,” he stated.

He remembered getting his head lacerated in 1963 during the general strike.

But one of his most frightening experiences as a photographer was when Father Bernard Darke was killed.

Oudkerk was the man who took the defining photograph of the killer with the knife is his hand about to commit the act.

“I never thought that the man would have stabbed Father Darke and I was the only photographer there and I took five pictures. By the time I change the film and was in the crowd going down to Brickdam Police Station, I hear a man say, ‘Winston, Winston, look this man looking fuh you.’ The man that did the stabbing. He knew I had taken the pictures, somebody had pointed me out to him. Boy and this man walked through this crowd like some Special Forces man. When I see him coming to me, I decided to turn and run but the police were barring the main gate so I run to the next gate. I was young and my foot was bad but I jump over into the police station from there,” Oudkerk remembered.

Still fearful for his life, Oudkerk received a blessing when he was sent on a press tour to China where he spent about 40 to 50 days out of Guyana.

When he came back he began covering cricket, which at the time was the enviable assignment.

He also covered several regional Heads of Government Meetings throughout the Caribbean. Later he began traveling with the then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, and on overseas assignments which took him to places such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia among other countries.

He even covered the events at the United Nations Headquarters in New York where he rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s best photographers.

But his constant overseas trips and late hours of work took a slight toll on his family life.

He recalled that every Old Year’s night he had to forego his family commitments to cover the Prime Minister.

He remembered on one occasion when Prime Minister Forbes Burnham did not go out on Old Year’s night but Oudkerk had to remain seated in a car all night in case he needed him.

He also recalled feeling relieved when one year he was able to attend an Old Year’s night service with his wife.

“I felt so good,” he said.

So much was the demand for his time that he had to convince his wife that he was actually working.

Oudkerk told this newspaper that he took her to one of his night assignments and she became so tired that she fell asleep in the car.

By this time he had returned to the Guyana Chronicle.

And this is where he experienced the Jonestown mass suicide first hand.

“I feel so bad that this man could kill so much people. I covered some of his church services where he claimed to heal people. We used to see these people on the road. They used to get pay to say they were healed,” Oudkerk said.

But there was one photograph that photo Oudkerk was never able to take.

“I was heading to the airport when I noticed an accident on the back road. I stopped and I see this car crash into the people yard. When I go, is my mother was the victim,” the celebrated photographer recalled.

He singled out as his major competitor Ken Moore who he stated was one of the best photographers he had ever met.

For his efforts, Oudkerk was rewarded with the Medal of Service and other awards.

He believes that today’s photographers have it significantly easier with the advancement of technology and the digital camera.

However, he said that there is much need for training and suggested that media houses embark on a programme to train their photographers.

The retired Oudkerk is now affected by a stroke and is very disturbed that after giving forty years of his life to the field, his former employers have not had the decency to contact him to find out how he is coping.

He is, however, consoled by the fact of having a loving wife, Carol who teaches overseas and his children and grandchildren to share his Dazelle Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara home. 

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