an interview | part 3

In skin retouching, when do you think enough is enough ? 

the short version answer would be that enough is enough when,

- or rather before {!}, you take something away from the

expression of a person or from the personality.
and if i get to choose i want to leave for example scars alone;
as i find them so beautiful on a body or a face.
like a map of that persons life. 

the longer, - & more self-revealing answer is
that this topic is quite a hot one for me at this very moment,

- & the very area of editing that i’m working on evolving in right now.

i am just a few years in to this and am autodidact
in photography as well as editing, and find my learning curve
to be very steep. with retouching i also think it can be very deceptively 

tempting to go over the top with retouching, as it is suddenly 

even possible to ’perfect’.

for me it is also a question that has me feeling a bit contradictive

within myself, as i truly think it is the ’imperfections’ 

of a person that make them especially beautiful.

and on another note, i know that, with lina for example, 

there have been photos where i didn’t even touch her face, 

but i even think myself that it looks like i have. 

for example with her eyes; i’ve gotten a comment on flickr’
about them being ’too photoshopped’ when in reality i did
n o t h i n g to them.
we actually even laughed at that on our last shoot,
that she looks like she has a permanent & self-acting refill of
’clear eyes’ or something, as her whites of the eye 

are always so white. and having jossi doing make up,

there’s another aspect; she has magic hands. 

let’s leave it at; 

i’m in the place of actually wanting to do less retouching, 

- & also wanting to learn more about it.

Where do you get most of your textures ? 

mostly from flickr’, some from this lovely woman,

 and i also scan myself a lot. old stuff. *smiles*

Do you think photography websites such as flickr’ can be unfair in terms of 

comments and followers to some people sometimes ? 

i don’t think it’s my place to determine what is unfair regarding popularity,

- & i don’t give it much thought. i always focus on what i am doing, 

and comment others in an honest way in the sense that i don’t 

comment just to comment. 

Some people say that female photographers can be recognized a lot easier 

than male photographers, what do you think ?

i’ve never heard that, and haven’t thought about it. 

i think i want to stay in the belief that that is not a gendered issue,

but that it is indeed about the imagery.

perhaps i’m being naïve here, but no, i don’t see that as an issue.

Do you prefer shooting indoors or outdoors ? 

equally, i’d say.

or rather, - it’s all depending on the light. 

Is fame important to you ?

yes and no. 

no as i’ve never had fame as an aspiration. 

yes as fame can be an opportunity to affect people

in a positive way, - & also if fame would mean money,

as money would mean freedom. 

freedom to create some of the crazy, elaborate, 

time-consuming & / or demanding ideas one gets, 

or be able to choose to do some work for free for example. 

yes also because fame can open doors to the possibility

of shooting some extraordinarily great faces out there, like 

some actors for example, that has great presence 

for photography and portraits.

In your early years as a photographer, what was the mistake you made a lot ? 

i’m still in my early years so i make mistakes all the time!

perhaps {& maybe hopefully? -} i always will too..

.. but one that i think i’ve moved passed is not taking the shot.

some, or most moments you never get a second chance with in photography.
today i am more secure in shooting strangers for example.
you can always ask, is what i try to think.

so the mistake i perhaps used to make was not asking, 

not seizing the moment.

Name people you enjoy working with, models or other photographers,

or people you wish to work with both models and photographers ? 

i haven’t worked that much with models at all yet,

but consider my first one to be a very lucky first; and that was lina, 

who i met doing the first shoot for swedish clothing brand called spira,

- & she became my muse right then and there.

we’re really connected and i often don’t even have to talk 

for her to know what i want her to do. 

i also love working with jossi, a make up artist & hair stylist,

- & it’s the same thing with her. we’re connected. 

i haven’t worked alongside another photographer,

but if i really get to wish and dream, i’m going right back to

my two favorites; paolo roversi
{if i’ll ever do real fashion photography, his is the way to do it, i think,
- & for sure the man to learn from}

and sally mann .. oh, just the thought of getting
under the fabric sheet of her 100-year-old 8 x 10 bellows view camera 

gives me goosebumps..!

the list of dream ’models’ to shoot is considerably longer.

bob dylan, audrey tatou, mads mikkelsen, salma hayek, 

morgan freeman, aishwarya rai, and many more.. 

.. and when it comes to actual models.. 

arizona muse, alyson le borges, amber valetta, 

natalia vodianova, daria werbowy, 

tasha tilberg, tiiu kuik.. i could go on forever.

{part four}

i sista lilla delen av intervjun, den 4e; 

mer om kommande projekt, - & om det finns 

något jag ångrar att jag publicerat.. 

.. & här började det hele. 

hoppas Ni mår riktigt bra,
- & att en inspirerad vecka just tagit sin början.

kärlek,

h