some kind of blog for friends and likes

Have been super busy shooting the last couple of weeks (months really). Will update the site with a lot of new work after the holidays. Thank god those are only a week away.

Noticed with much pleasure that Romain has his new site up. Be sure to drop in, he is a very good Art Director / photographer and a really good guy.

I took some time this morning to put some new personal work on the CameraLink site. Hope you like it.

Some personal work I have been doing at night lately. Photo collage and ink on paper.

I’m in Copenhagen. Shooting. Sleeping.

Rock on!

By the way. Mily has a blog now, go have a look.

From a recent still life series I did.  I’m really into simplicity at times.

Its been a very busy period, and still is. Wonderful. I took the time update my site last night. Have a look. Here are two images from a recent shoot.

Balenciaga perfume

Styling: Elin Edlund / Link Details
Hair: Catherine Lehtonen / Link Details
Make: Nina Belkhir / Link Details
Model: Vicky / Stockholmsgruppen

The world through a Sinar, upside down.

She fell and lost her arm. Poor girl.

I have a new front page collage up on the CameraLink site. Feels sort of late summer doesn’t it.

The view from dear Olofs office is as close as a view gets to being cubistic.

Just updated my portfolio at CameraLink. Have a look, call Alice and set up a meeting, lets do something really nice together. Yes?

I used to cut things out of magazines and shoot with my old Mamiya RZ II, with one desktop lamp as the only light source. I tried to do it on the balcony, for the light, but things would always get caught in the wind. Damn, that was a long time ago now. I sort of miss it.

Just finished reading the biography on Man Ray. Oh, so inspiring and so good. Quickly moving on to Magritte.

They say its going be all lightning and thunder this weekend in Sthlm. Sweet.

From a shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. Styling by Joanna Lavén.

Model: Tilda D / Stockholmsgruppen
Make: Sophia Eriksen / Agent Bauer

Model: Tilda D / Stockholmsgruppen
Make: Sophia Eriksen / Agent Bauer

Studio floor

This weekend was very intense in a lot of ways. All of them very positive. On friday evening we had a daughter, Erika and I. She is so small and delicate and beautiful. We will name her Edith Isca Vallin. There are so many inspiring and beautiful Ediths throughout history, the Beals, Sedgwick and Piaff to name a few. She will be in good company. I really only know about one Isca though, although a very good one. Isca Greenfield Sanders. A couple of years ago we would sit in Björns gallery and put a couple of her swimming pool paintings in front of us. They represented so much. The media itself, the feelings of nostalgia and in some way sort of a common goal. Even though neither of us pursued painting as a career at the time. When we got married I bought Erika one of her pieces. I think its a good name to grow in.

I had a hard time sleeping this weekend and took the opportunity to read Just Kids, the new book by Patti Smith, about her life, and of course, the life of Robert Mapplethorpe. They both had a big impact on me when I grew up. Patti as an inspiration through her words and music and Robert of course by his photos. Come to think of it, his book Some Women, with the foreword written by Joan Didion, was the first photography book I ever bought. I found it while going through one of the two used book stores in the small town where I grew up. It was a hard time convincing my first subjects to pose for me with that as inspiration.

Just Kids is amazing and so inspiring. Their relationship is one of the most beautiful I have ever read about. The way they pushed each other creatively, gentle, but precise. Patti brings to mind something I have forgotten and will hopefully pick up again. The way music and words can interact. I have always loved to write but find it very hard at times. Strumming the guitar while writing poetry releases everything.

There is also a cute quote from Pattis mother, who says that what you do on new years day defines the rest of that year. Since the last couple of days have felt like the beginning of something very good I have spent some nights making collages and preparing for upcoming shoots. Its going to be a good year.

Now some sleep. Tomorrow a fashion shoot.

One of many left over polaroids from a project I did in December.

Oysters

Mouths, eyes, letters and butterflies.

Spending the day at home, waiting. Making collages, eating oysters and listening to the Magic Numbers.

David&Martin, who I have been working quite a lot with recently, have designed a piece of jewellery for Barncancerfonden (foundation for helping kids with cancer) as a part of their Give Hope movement. We shot it last week to help spread the message. Its a nice piece and 200 Sek are given to the foundation for every sold item. You can order through their website or buy them at jewellery stores throughout Sweden. I know for sure they are sold at NK. Go buy some!

Necklace by David&Martin. Image retouching by Anders at Retouch Stockholm.

Finally done moving and fixing for this time. Well, there are of course always more to do at home. Done enough maybe. I have a lot of new editorial and commercial work in the making, will be out soon. I also have a really strong urge to do more collagework. Will post a preview as soon as I have time to scan them.

Wetterling are doing a new exhibition with artist Nathalia Edenmont starting tomorrow. Went in for a preview of the show today and it is looking amazing. We have one of her earlier works, really love it.

Another image for David&Martin

We just relocated, E & I, to a nice apartment in a house from the late 1890s. Finally have a home office!

Old fashioned photogram I did a while back while teaching an intern about darkroom techniques.

I really miss waiting for polaroids to develop… Its not really the same anymore since we do most light tests with a digital camera even if the shoot itself is sometimes analogue.

Gagosian Gallery London are showing the group exhibition Crash (from the JG Ballard novel) that closes on April 1. Its one of those exhibitions I am really sorry I missed. Hans Bellmer, Richard Hamilton, Damien Hirst, Edward Hopper and Cindy Sherman are just a few of the artist in the show. The works on the site look amazing and I would have loved to see them together. JG Ballard will continue to inspire for some time. So if you are in London, hurry up!

CRASH: Homage to JG Ballard, Installation view, From the Gagosian Gallery website.

Jana K

Went to the opening of the new Frank Stella show at Wetterling Gallery some weeks ago. Damn. Stella is one of the biggest sources of inspiration I have. Both in terms of the actual artworks and their quality, and in the way he has let his career and ways of working evolve throughout it. To travel from the Black Paintings to where his works are today is an amazing journey. Its all about the evolution of thought, at least for me. I remember going from The Modern Museum in Stockholm, which has one of the older pieces, to Björns gallery to look at some of the prints (Imaginary places). And then came Matah in 2005 and just blew me away. Truly amazing.

K.43 lattice with nickel coating 2008 , image from ArtNet.

The exhibition is hanging until the 10th of April.

Photographer: Martin Vallin / CameraLink
Hair & Make: Nina Belkhir / LinkDetails
Model: Haddy / Mikas
Model: David N / Stockholmsgruppen

Found this cover the other day. Its Ponytail magazine in NY, with their S/S 2010 Iconic / Eras issue. It makes me very happy the way they use of movement and other media in the image. Nice thinking, well done!

On a completely different note, I have come to realize how much books mean to me. As we are moving soon our bookshelves are packed into boxes, and I cant find any calm at home. When doing research one might assume the internet would be equally good, or better. In finding quick references and quantity, sure. But it doesn’t inspire the way a good book does. A lot of times I don’t even have to open them. Just by seeing them I remember how they effect me. And by rearranging the shelves I get new ideas.

To some extent this ought to translate into the whole printed vs digital magazines discussion. I am sure that digital will never be as good as a nicely printed and bound magazine. On the other hand, who says feeling is everything. Maybe I just have to change the way I consume media.

Photographer: Martin Vallin / CameraLink
Hair: Dejan Cekanovic / LinkDetails
Make: Nina Belkhir / LinkDetails
Model: Jana K / Modellink
Model: Kilijan / Mikas

Another recent image for Weekday

Had some trouble sleeping last week and decided to use the extra time to write a new site. Not that many things are as relaxing as writing good old fashioned html. Anyway, have a look at it here.

Listening to Dinosaur jr and drinking coffee. Preparing for a long night of research.

Recent image for Weekday

New shoot with Weekday. Have a look on their site, or at CameraLink:

Three of my favorite things:

Erika, Il Café & spring light. All at once!

Another sketch. Photo collage & ink

I suddenly started painting again after giving it a rest for a while. Figured it could be a good idea to start slow, working of photographs. Will move on to good old fashioned oil next week I think. Its one of those things that I find very hard to find time for. Then again, its so relaxing and inspiring that I think it comes out on the good side.

Photo collage, ink and gouache.

I am working a lot with Swedish jewellery designers David&Martin at the moment. They have an amazing sense to design and skills to match. I’m guessing we can expect great success from them. They have already attracted attention from some of the biggest magazines and personalities in the fashion industries. They did a project with Karl Lagerfeld a while back to name one.

During Paris Fashion Week, David&Martin will exhibit a piece of unique jewellery at Colette as part of the exhibition for the launch of the book ’Fashion Jewellery Catwalk and Couture’. The piece entitled ‘Fauna Futura’ takes the form of a skull in moulded gold and is available for purchase at €25,000. Here is some of the material I shot for the release:

Found a new home for Charles in the corner of my office:

In the office printing new books. Its going to be amazing. Call me or my agents to set up a meeting soon! While the printer is busy I decided to clean my desk and have a look at all the stuff lying around. Decided my good friend Charles needed a bit of a brush up. I should have stopped sooner though, its gonna take month for him to dry now.

Old Charles

New Charles