About the Artist
“People will be surprised to see my work on the cover,” says Heine. He is no stranger to Diabetes Care; the first scientific paper he ever wrote was published in the journal in 1983, and since then the journal has featured >90 articles that he has authored or coauthored. As the founder and director of the Diabetes Research Centre at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and since 2008 at Eli Lilly, Heine has kept his focus on science. He never considered himself an artist.
However, a few years ago, inspired by editing software gifted to him by his children, Heine began to revive a dormant interest in photography, an interest that began in childhood.
“When I was 8 years old I made a photobook with thread and glue. My first black-and-white photos,” he says. Even at a young age, he had a keen eye for overlooked details. “One picture I remember very vividly—I was behind an old man at the zoo, and I thought it would be interesting to photograph the wrinkles on the back of his neck.”
At the office, Heine always keeps his camera, a Canon EOS R6, on his desk. “Just in case something goes by my window,” he says. But the bulk of his photography is taken during family trips.
“My wife and I love to travel to places few people visit. Northern Vietnam, near the Chinese border. Bhutan. Cuba. Dog mushing in the Alaskan winter,” he says. “I try to learn from other cultures and other peoples, and capture the beauty of nature with my photographs.”
On the Cover: Cattle Herder in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia
A 30-h flight from Indianapolis by way of New York, then Seoul. One groggy night in Ulaanbaatar. Then a small plane, 1,100 miles to the small town of Ulgii, surrounded by the Altai Mountains near the Russian border. An ideal base for exploring the natural beauty of western Mongolia.
“We visited 2 years ago,” Heine says. He was accompanied by his son, who recommended the destination, and daughter-in-law.
They had gone to attend the Golden Eagle Festival, an annual event honoring the heritage of Mongolian Kazakhs. Photographers flock to the event every year to capture dramatic shots of eagle hunters on horseback, but Heine’s eye was also drawn to a quieter moment on the festival’s outskirts.
“It’s cold and windy. In this barren landscape, there’s nothing. It’s an overwhelming experience, providing a sense of vastness and solitude. Then I saw this cattle herder on his horse,” he says. Heine captured this instant, a lone figure at peace amid such inhospitable beauty, with a Canon 24- to 70-mm telephoto lens.
At the time of publication, Heine will be on his way to his next adventure, a holiday trip to Ecuador, hiking the northern Andes before descending to lower altitudes to explore the Amazon.