Trading his kayak for a camera was probably one of the best decisions freelance photographer Mike Holtby has ever made. Fifty-eight years later, no wall is large enough to display the over 30 years of portraits he took in 47 different countries, so he will try to choose his best ones to display at his exhibit “One Planet, One People” at the Oak Harbor Library this month.
Some might remember him from the Whidbey Beard Project, a collection of portraits of people with unique facial hair, which will soon become a book.
The Freeland-based photographer said “One Planet, One People” is a combination of his passion for photography and his fascination with anthropology, subjects that he studied in college in the 1960s.
Most of Holtby’s photos depict a wide variety of African and Asian cultures, which he is particularly interested in as he finds they are most different to mainstream Americans. But even under all the colorful face-paint and clothing — or lack thereof — Holtby recognized similar traits and behaviors in every culture, and he hopes to convey that through his collection.
“I hope that they will see our common humanity,” he said. “Even though we don’t look the same, you can see in the pictures there’s an emotional commonality that we have.”
Holtby’s interest in people has also shaped the way he travels. While most people travel with the purpose of seeing places, he does so to meet people and learn about their ways of life, which he said gave him very enriching experiences. Over time, they made him more open-minded and appreciative of people’s differences.
“I think we need to be open to meeting people that are different than ourselves,” he said.
Inevitably, Holtby bonded with many people he’s encountered in his mission to document humans.
He once traveled to a remote area in Tanzania as part of a non-governmental organization sponsored by Nikon, the camera brand. There he met the Hadzabe, one of the last hunter-gatherer people on Earth. According to the National Geographic, they count about 1,300 tribe members.
“We didn’t speak the same language, of course,” Holtby said. Even though his interpreter wasn’t fluent in Hadzane, Holtby was amazed by how he could still communicate with the people. Two years later, upon learning about his return, the same group he met walked over 40 miles to greet him and see the photos, which they were very excited about.
This bond made leaving harder for Holtby, who had grown fond of their sense of community which he said is uncommon in his own country, where one can spend years without ever interacting with their neighbor.
“I felt a great attachment to them, and it was pretty mutual,” he said.
In Papua New Guinea, Holtby witnessed a ceremony where boys were scarred to replicate the skin of a crocodile, representing their passage to adulthood. He met the son of the village’s chief, Jonah, and helped pay for his education. When he returned, Jonah gifted him a penis gourd — a traditional penis cover.
By meeting indigenous cultures, Holtby witnessed first-hand the struggles of preserving language and traditions in an ever modernizing and growing world. And while in some communities culture is dying with the elders, in others it’s being systematically eliminated by oppressive regimes, like the Uyghurs and the Tibetans in China — both of which Holtby has met. This gives him more reason to immortalize these people.
“I think the experiences that I’m having now, my grandson won’t be able to have,” he said.
The community is welcome to admire Holtby’s exhibit during library business hours until Nov. 30.
A a dancer at the crocodile festival on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea. The headdress is made from the skin of a cassowary bird and bird of paradise feathers. According to Holtby, the only way to the festival was through a dugout, and less than a dozen outsiders attended. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
A member of the Hadzabe tribe, which Holtby visited twice in Tanzania. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
A member of the Huli tribe photographed in Papua New Guinea. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
A member of the Maasai tribe, an ethnic group that lives in Kenya and Tanzania. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
Nuns in Myanmar on their way to collect rice from townspeople. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
A Tibetan man. Holtby said he met him when he didn’t have an interpreter, but they communicated through gestures, admiring each other’s facial hair. (Photo by Mike Holtby)
