The Wonderful Walkabouts of Harmen Hoek | Jeff Polman
The Internet can be a maddening, toxic place at times, but there are plenty of safe, relaxing spaces on YouTube to escape to—or as I like to put it, floss your teeth to. The second post I made on this blog site nine years ago was about my addiction to the hypnotic, front-seat train ride videos of Europe, and I have since added the perfectly filmed plane rides of Skylite Productions to this floss-worthy festival.
Then a few months ago, I came across the extraordinary one-man, “silent hiking” videos of Harmen Hoek, and trust me, they blow away any short travel films you will ever watch. Hoek, a former physicist from the Netherlands, assembles beyond-gorgeous footage—often using staggering drone views—shot in numerous amazing places—the Himalayas, the Dolomites, the Balkans, the Pyrenees, the Wadi Rum Desert, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite backcountry, and even Iceland (where he camped by an active volcano). And that’s just for starters. Each video runs between 25 and 45 minutes and is put to soothing, unobtrusive music from a subscription service called Musicbed. Hoek’s camera shots are long enough to savor the natural beauty yet clipped enough to keep each journey fresh. Without one word of narration and plenty of natural sound, they seat you on a peaceful earth train and just pull you along.
When I ask him if he takes a camera operator with him on his hikes, Hoek says “Everything you see is recorded by me. No one has ever touched my camera during a hike.” My only response to that is: Holy. Crap. Meaning in addition to having an incredible eye for nature’s beauty, Hoek is also a drone master; many shots float from thousands of feet up, his hiking figure just visible below on the trail.
Each video includes a few signature Hoek habits, like fondly patting direction signs he walks by, or making morning coffee and healthy meals over the same little gas burner. Everything is shot in pristine high-definition, and when you fill your computer screen, you really feel like you’re joining him on the hike.
Hoek tells me his personal favorite video so far is of the 21 days spent on the John Muir Trail (at an hour and eleven minutes, it’s his lone “epic”), due to his love for the Sierras, and he has plans to do some hiking this summer in Banff and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest. His work is truly an Internet gift; when life gets too crazy and stressful, Hoek is more than happy to immerse you in his Great Outdoors.
Harmen Hoek’s YouTube home can be found here…
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5 thoughts on “The Wonderful Walkabouts of Harmen Hoek”
thank you for answering my number one question about was he bringing a cameraman with him on his hikes? It’s hard to believe that he can do all that photography by himself including the drone work but if he does, he’s more incredible than I know…
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To be with oneself in the solitude of nature with its stunning beauty –what a gift to one who has eyes to see. Thank you, Harmen.
–JH
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I stumbled upon a first video on YouTube coincidentally. Thereafter, I watched the others. As a nature lover, I was amazed by the quality of these videos. I liked the fact that they are “silent” and you get to be immersed in nature and there are no distracting/unnecessary sounds. I also had the same question: Is there a crew filming his hikes? Now that I know there is no crew and he films everything by himself, I am even more impressed.
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we are watching them all and they are a gift
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I found Harmen while watching video treks to Everest Base Camp and I am so glad I did. Absolutely stunning artistry, thank you , Harmen. What a gift, something beautiful to look forward to watching at the end of the day.
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