Haje Jan Kamps
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Haje Jan Kamps is a Dutch
photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...
,
author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
, awards photo judge,
freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
,
businessperson A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...
,
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
,
inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
, and
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
. Jan Kamps was the director of portfolio at Bolt VC, a hardware-focused pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm interested on hardware startups and enabling technologies. According to William A. Sahlman and Robert F. White of the
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
, experts on Entrepreneurial Management, Bolt VC resembled a new concept of seed venture capital firm built to serve the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software. Kamps has also been a staff writer for
TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...
and is still a frequent contributor to the news site. His work on
TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...
has been featured on
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
. From 2011 to 2017, Kamps acted as the Founder CEO of Triggertrap. He is currently the CEO of Konf, a platform for small and medium-sized virtual conferences and events. On the blog of the company registered at Medium, an online publishing platform, Kamps himself stated that a permanent behavior change was expected because of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and that people were likely to rely more on virtual conferencing, which may have some positive effects on the environment. As an expert, he has been part of the panel of judges for the E!
People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the fans and general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls un ...
and the Oslo Innovation Award.


Background

Born in
South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...
, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, Haje moved to
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in 1988, and to the UK in 2001. In
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, he studied Journalism at
Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...
, and started a stint working in publishing, media and photography. In 2017, he co-launched Lifefolder, known for having launched Emily, a Messenger
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
chatbot designed to help people with end of life planning in North Carolina. Using artificial intelligence, Lifefolder aimed to normalize talking about death and prepare for the logistics of dying. In December 2017, it was announced that the company was about to cease operations.


Media career

In 1998, together with Martin Lexow Wirak, when Kamps was sixteen years old, he started Digitalkamera.no, a major Norwegian technology news website about
digital photography Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is ...
which later evolved into akam.no. In 2002, while working at
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
, on a
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
specials series, Kamps started a website called Photocritic, which gained notoriety in December 2005, when it was featured on Slashdot, and subsequently got coverage on Digg. In 2011, it was cited by author Jeremy Butler in his book 'Television Style'. The Photocritic.org website was later purchased by
Sterling Publishing Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. is a publisher of a broad range of subject areas, with multiple imprints and more than 5,000 titles in print. Founded in 1949 by David A. Boehm, Sterling also publishes books for a number of brands, including AA ...
, and is now hosted at Pixiq, where Kamps posts regularly. In 2007, Kamps wrote a book on macro photography for
John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...
publishing, entitled ''Macro Photography Photo Workshop'' (). He has worked at
Future Publishing Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson a ...
as a web editor and for Fast Car Magazine and T3 magazine as well. He later started working as a senior producer at Five, the UK-based TV channel. At Five, Kamps was the senior producer of the FiveFWD website. Since then, Kamps is known for working as a freelance ghostwriter and media editorial consultant. He has also acted as a guest in different photography competitions. In 2011, he created Triggertrap, which was his main occupation until 2017, when the company ceased operations.


Product development

In 2011, Kamps created the Triggertrap universal camera trigger, a device based on the
Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...
rapid prototyping platform. The Triggertrap was known for connecting cameras to various sources (light, laser, sound, or any other arbitrary source), and can be used to trigger the camera on a certain event. The Triggertrap project was crowd-funded via the
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
platform in July 2011, raising $77,262 - more than 3 times over its original $25,000 goal. In November 2013, the ''Triggertrap Ada'' was crowd-funded via
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
, raising £290,386 though the original goal was £50,000. On 2 March 2015, Triggertrap announced that they had failed to bring the product into production and that only the remaining 20% of the funds from the
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign would be returned to the original backers.


Awards

*2008: Photocritic's can macro tube was awarded best DIY photography gadget on
Lifehacker ''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on 31 January 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is owned by Ziff Davis. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including Microsoft Windows, M ...
.


Bibliography


Books

* ''Macro Photography Photo Workshop'' ( / Published 2007) * ''Focus on Photographing People'' ( / Published 2011) * ''Creative EVIL Photography'' ( / Published 2012) * ''The Rules of Photography (and when to break them)'' ( / Published 2012) * ''Focus on Travel Photography'' ( / Published 2012) * ''Shooting Yourself: Self-Portraits with Attitude!'' ( / Published 2013) / Published as ''Selfies'' in 2014 with * ''The Ilex Introduction to Photography '' ( / Published 2013) *''Confessions of a police constable'' ( / Published 2013) *Las reglas de la fotografía y cuándo romperlas ( / Published 2013) *''Accelerated Startup'' ( / Published 2017) *''Why Photographers Prefer Cloudy Days'' ( / Published 2018) *''Beginner's guide to photography'' ( / Published 2018) *''Pitch Perfect'' ( / Published 2020)


Other book credits

* Project editor: ''Lights, Camera, Capture! by Bob Davis'' ( / Published 2010) * Technical editor: ''HDR Photography Workshop by Pete Carr and Robert Correll'' ( / Published 2009) * Technical editor: ''Creative Close-ups'' by Harold Davis ( / Published 2009) * Technical editor: ''Digital Field Guides: Exposure'' by Alan Hess ( / Published 2009) * Contributing Photographer: ''Photos that Inspire'' by Lynne Eodice ( / Published 2007)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamps, Haje Jan 1981 births Living people Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Dutch photojournalists People from Leiderdorp 21st-century Dutch inventors