Ozarks Artisan: Tim Zikowsky,
A remarkable Photographer.
An interview by Alice Chambers, Editor,
Life In The OzarksTim Zikowsky is a photographer living in, Pyatt, Arkansas, in Marion County, just northwest of Yellville. He has lived there since spring 2004. He was born in Dallas, Texas and raised in Plano, Texas. Plano was a city of about 25,000 during Tim’s growing up days but it quickly grew and by the time he left the area it had grown to a city of over 90,000 in 1999. Tim had a chance to visit the Ozarks, in particular, the Yellville, Arkansas area, in February of 1999. He instantly feel in love with the area. "I mean c’mon now. You grow up in an area built with concrete and vehicle traffic everywhere. Then you visit an area like Yellville and see nothing but trees and NO traffic jams. Who wouldn’t fall in love with an area like this instantly," says Tim. So in March 1999 he decided it was time he left "The Big ‘D" area and so he did.
First moving to Mountain Home, then living in Yellville, Summit, and now in Pyatt. Since moving to Pyatt, Tim says many good things have happened to him. One was the inspiration to do photography. "I am so glad to have made the move to Pyatt," he says.
Shortly after Tim moved to Pyatt, he received a very simple Polaroid PC640 Digital camera as a birthday gift. Most of the photographs he took with that camera he says were "okay". "The resolution wasn’t grand, especially pictures taken inside with the built in flash," Tim says. But one day while out on a joy ride and checking out Baxter County, Tim made a stop at an unofficial overlook area above the White River just before entering Norfork. He stopped and looked out over the bluff and saw a beautiful spring view. The White River was below him with nothing but "pure, sweet, and beautiful greenery everywhere on either side of the River," he says. He snapped a photo with the Polaroid and didn’t think anything of it, knowing how the other photos had turned out using that same camera. When he got home later that evening he was amazed. This same digital camera he had been using had taken the best shot taken yet. It was then that the photography bug bite Tim, now he was hooked. A while later he got a Canon S1 IS, 3.2 megapixel, Digital camera. "I started playing around with that
camera and yet again I kept amazing myself at the pictures I was taking and the depth of quality these pictures were," he says.
So he kept snapping away. He started showing his photographs to his neighbor and landlord who lived across the street. She just kept trying to tell Tim he was now a professional photographer, even though he kept telling her he wasn’t. With her encouragement he kept snapping away with the camera. Later while having lunch on the square in Harrison, Arkansas, he saw a poster about a photographer by the name of
Tim Ernst, who was having a slideshow presentation at The Lyric Theater in Harrison.
He told his landlord about it and she said he was a well know photographer and that Tim should go to the presentation. "And am I so glad I did. Since then his work has inspired me more and more. Every chance I get, if he comes to either Mountain Home or Harrison, I make plans to go see his work. One time he did a presentation in Mountain Home on a Tuesday and another in Harrison on a Thursday and I went to them both. He recognizes me now when I show up at his shows," says Tim.
At the Harrison presentation at North Arkansas Community College, Tim took several of his photographs and had a chance for
Tim Ernst to critique them. He told Tim about " The Thirds " rule, putting the point of interest in the photograph into certain areas within the photograph, and was that ever a valuable critique for Tim. It has helped him improve his ‘eye’ when he tries to capture something in a photo. It’s been a lot of self teaching and learning since that spring day drive in 2004, and with help from people like
Tim Ernst of Jasper and Boxley, in the Newton County area and
Glenn Wheeler of Harrison. Tim says he is slowly getting better at his photography. "I have a million more miles to travel and so much more to learn and way better camera equipment to get before I get anywhere close to Ernst and Wheeler. But they inspire me to continue with their work," said Tim.
So now that he has a Canon Rebel XT and his exploration continues. Though he still considers himself an amateur, his photos have been on television stations in Springfield, Missouri, such as KY3, for broadcast during their 5 p.m. weathercast, or on KOLR 10, during their morning show. It pleases Tim to hear their compliments about his photographs and then to have some local people say, " Hey Tim, I saw your picture on TV last night/this morning. That was a great picture."
Much of Tim’s photographs are in wildlife and outdoors, when asked what inspires Tim he replied, "I never really plan to capture any one thing when I am out with my camera but every day that I get closer and closer to Jesus, this world amazes me. I have learned to set my focus in life at anything and everything around me and not just working and trying to make those big bucks in a job that can be stressful or consume a lot of your time and life." He sometimes says to people, " How can you not believe in Jesus? Have you really taken time out of your fast pace, make the bucks lifestyle, and just stopped, and looked at things from the ground we walk or to the sky above? "
"I mean, look people, really look. Stop and just look at what your passing by. From the wildflower that struggles during the heat in summer, to the trees, to the animals grazing on the land to survive and giving birth to keep the lifecycle going. And then to the amazing blue sky above. Knowing that just past that cloud is a world we are still exploring with the space station. And then from the space station, the views that they show on
NASA TV of the clouds below. We see a peaceful planet. Yet we know things are not so peaceful or happy where we are or in other places of this planet. So what inspires me or catches my eye? Everything God made for us to cherish, nourish, and take care of. It is slowly coming into realization that it just may be my calling to capture that which God gave us and to share it with others so that maybe they will slow down their lives enough to realize what they really are missing out on. What I have been missing out on. You know, photography of nature isn’t really considered a manly thing.