Janis Rieksts

Janis Rieksts (or Reeksts; 21 May 1881 – 24 November 1970) was a Latvian autodidact photographer.

Rieksts was born at Iecava Parish in the Zemgalian countryside. He lost both of his parents at an early age and moved to Riga at the age of 17. For some years he worked as a manual labourer, and 1901 he opened his first studio in Tornakalns with his own capital.

Rieksts was a renown photographer, mostly for the documentation of the fights during World War I in Latvia, especially the fierce fights of Machinegun Hill (Latvian: Lozmetejkalns) during the Christmas Battles, but also for the many portrait photographies of Latvian dignitairies (amongst them people like Rainis, Aspazija and Emils Darzins).

After the end of World War II, Rieksts worked for the company Rigas foto until his retirement in 1964. Rieksts died in Riga at the age of 89.