one of the most down to earth talented female photographers I know,
feminine, soft and dreamy... a whole new world where everything look dream like!
closer look to Hannah,
Introduce yourself ,,,
feminine, soft and dreamy... a whole new world where everything look dream like!
closer look to Hannah,
Hi ! my name is Hannah and I’m a
passionate photography rookie
from the land of milk and nordic light;
Sweden.
Who has inspire you the most in terms of photography?
* i take inspiration from so many things, ~ & as i lived for
30 years before starting doing photography it feels like,
as a complete image, ~ & photographyamorado, i have
collected a lot of inspiration, more or less consciously
for a long time, so it is really hard to pick one person that inspires me.
but today i marvel over, ~ & love the work of paolo roversi and
i’ve always felt very connected somehow to the work of sally mann.
What is your favourite style of photography?
* i would say portraits in general, ~ & the style of those
mentioned above in particular. like roversi who, for me,
takes fashion photography to a whole other level;
giving it more soul, i think.. perhaps by his vintage kind
of style combined with modern fashion; that creates a depth
& personality beyond the clothes, for me. perhaps it is his own
soul that comes through in his work. i believe a lot in that, ~ & if
i were to narrow this answer down; that pretty much sums up
what style of photography is my favourite; soulful. carrying a story
beyond the image.
What style of photography do you find challenging?
* i find food photography truly challenging.
as i have grown up in a food, ~ & wine loving family
i would love to do more of it ! the challenge is to make
it look as tasty as it does in real life; bringing in the
scents & the flavors as much as possible into the
photograph.
What do you look for in a model?
* connection .. that’s key, i think.
and to connect we both need to be open.
open to possibilities & chance & serendipity
in the shoot we do together.
Name other photographers you admire?
* besides paolo roversi & sally mann
i truly love the work of francesca woodman,
~ & think anton corbijn is another that can
bring out soul in a person and into the photograph
in an amazing way.
i also love old school photography like the work
of jaques henri lartigue, ~ especially the portraits
of his muse renée perle.
Who are your biggest supporters?
* that brings us back to muses, my muse lina
is one. she claims i’m
"one of the few who can manage to scrape brain slime
from a reindeer skull, build a device that looks
like some crazy experiment, and then make it workand look completely natural." *smiles*
my family is really supportive, ~ & my man as well.
I love them for that.
What do you enjoy doing other than photography?
* there’s other things than photography ?!? *smiles*
no, but really it takes up so much of both my time
& mental activity that i don’t know where photography
ends & i begin anymore. i love spending time with my
beloved ones, ~ & i am passionate about books and movies.
lately i’ve also come to realize how much spending time
outside means to my well being .. and even sanity.
nature; the ocean or a deep forest, birds flying;
those are the only truly perfect things there are, i think.
What are some of your favorite films, books and musicians that keep you inspired?
* i love love love typical British caper films like
’snatch’ and ’lock, stock and two smoking barrels’
& also American ’o brother where art thou’ by the coen brothers.
i also love almost anything mafia; the godfather films and
also kind of neo-noir stories; like ’bound’, ’the usual suspects’
& ’seven’.
i grew up with a film lover father; with fellini
for everyday food, ~ & still find his schoolteacher scenes
of ’amarcord’ to be some of the best person’s portraits ever.
’cinema paradiso’ by giuseppe tornatore is another
Italian gem.
we also always read a lot in my family, and i matured in
the company of roald dahl, virginia andrews & françoise sagan.
today i am inspired a lot by poems & lyrics; especially sylvia plath,
virginia woolf, anaïs nin, & mary oliver.
music i devour in diversity. at the moment i am very inspired
by angus & julia stone and ben howard.
In your photos we see soft tones and femininity. Would you call that your personal signature?
* it is only lately, as people; especially strangers, amazingly enough
always seem to define my ’style’ or signature with more or less three words,
soft and feminine being two, dreamy being the third, ~ that i have even started
to think about that myself. i only try to create photography that is
as close as possible to my inner images, ~ & the ’product’ of those seem
to be in that style, so yes, in a way i guess that has become my personal
signature. but it makes me truly happy when i receive comments & mail
about people "being able to spot a photo of mine from just a thumbnail-size"
{over on flickr’ for example} even when i do ’darker’, and a bit ’heavier’ things.
that is my hope; that i have a voice of my own, and a language that is
distinguishable. my red thread.
and i think the fact that i myself haven’t labelled my work is because
i want to leave the door open to evolve & change, be open to new things.
in photography as in life.
i have no idea where it’ll all end up.. and it is not so important; the way there
is more significant, however clichéd that may sound.
What scares you the most?
* darkness, in the sense of .. not living,
~ be it death or just standstill in life; that there are places
or times {concerning death certainly a time}, ~ somehow
out there in all our lives, where there are gaps, darkness; where i or we
might loose our way. i fear that for me, for the ones i love,
~ & for mankind on the whole; that we don’t use life
in the manner that we truly should. that we are so blind
sometimes. darkness, blindness.
Tell us a weird fact about you?
* ha! i love that .. um..
i have ’associative movements’ which my mum the
psychologist says ought to disappear at an early age
{on which i can conveniently put it back on her; raising me *smiles*}.
this means i for example turn my head when i turn the
steering wheel of a car {i am also speed-blind so you should all be
very happy i don’t have a drivers license.} i have made quite a few
people laugh, and my baby sister anxious, innumerable times when i spill
yogurt, expensive lotions etc etc as i turn to look at something.
What is your definition of beauty?
* soulfulness
If you could create the perfect camera what features would it have?
* time travel possibility, indestructibility, ~ & a special,
optional setting for unpredictable flaws like light leakage or grazes
that would take me by surprise every time.
Do you recommend any websites for photoshop tutorials?
* i don’t do them much myself, so that’s hard, but..
i like ’sanna's photoshoprecept’
[http://www.photoshoprecept.
though.
Do you read books about photography? if you do, what's your favourite?
* not so much about photography .. i’d rather read, or look really; at
images, so photo books of that kind then.. on my wish-list are;
’on verra bien’ & ’les amies de place blanche’ by Swedish photographer christer strömholm,
’architecture’ by hiroshi sugimoto, ’backstage dior’ by roxanne lowit,
jerome gautier’s ’chanel, the vocabulary of style’,
mike disfarmer’s ’disfarmer : the vintage prints’,
mary ellen mark’s ’seen behind the scene’,
sally mann’s ’the flesh and the spirit’ & many many more ..
What is your favourite photo taken by another photographer?
* oh this is just torture. *smiles*
it’s impossible to choose one.
but if i’m gonna try to narrow it down it probably
would have to be one of sally mann’s photos of her children.
i feel so close to her vision somehow, ~ & those photos
could be from my own childhood, so almost anyone in her
series of family pictures.
don’t make me choose. please. *smiles*
What is your favourite photo taken by you?
* almost equally as hard, as i see my own photography
much more as a journey; and i leave the images behind
somehow.. and i am so self-critical; i find it hard to
enjoy my own photos as i tend to just see the flaws & what
i would have changed, perhaps that is why i prefer to move
forward instead..
.. but i like ’roots and wings’
which is a simple self-portrait in a way, but says something about me.
i like ’unison’
& ’n° 68’
from both from a shoot with a friend of mine, for it’s bit of mystery. those come close to
from both from a shoot with a friend of mine, for it’s bit of mystery. those come close to
the kind of photography i’d love to do more of.
i like ’behind the wings’
a portrait of my friend dennis getting ready for stage for .. just that i got to be there
for his seeming ’transformation’ from man to woman, ~ & that one particularly because that face is really his.
.. and i like some of my portraits of my family, but that could also
be because of my love for them of course, sometimes it’s hard to tell..
my baby sister
her son
her daughter
and my mum and i have had some great, spur of the moment collaborations.
she has such beautiful hands, ~ & we have often simply put an object in them
one of my raised butterflies
pinned butterflies
yarn
ivy
hope
and many more .. and they always seem to be popular,
for art prints and book covers.
Do you think its hard to be unique and have your own style in photography? how do you manage to stay creative?
* the hard part is the same as in life itself, i think; sometimes it’s a challenge to stay you, you know?
but no, not so much with my photography. there it seems i have more determination & less insecurities
than in other parts of my life, i believe in my language & voice when it comes to photography, i think.
and if, or when there are things surfacing that could mislead or delude me, i literally talk to myself;
and simply say; keep following your own vision. that is so important, i think.
creativity is another matter .. *smiles* but i think perhaps i am blessed with quite a lot of creativity
in the sense that it is not often that i don’t have ideas or inner images
.. but i think perhaps i am blessed with quite a lot of creativity
in the sense that it is not often that i don’t have ideas or inner images
to draw from. for me the frustration lie in not having the person
or the place to realize the idea, ~ as i preferably want to do jump right
at it as i think of it.
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You take a lot of black and white pictures, why is that?
* it’s simply because i love black and white photography.
perhaps for its timeless feel.
that being said i actually most often ’let the photograph decide’
& try to find the time to experiment with every image i edit,
~ sometimes a photo, when converted into black and white just
feels right; like that’s the way that photo is supposed to be.
and sometimes i feel it before i click the shutter;
that this is a black and white one.
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. if i get to choose i want to leave
for example scars as they are; as i find that so beautiful
on a body or as face. like a map of that persons life.
the 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 am working on evolving with right now.
i am autodidact in photography & editing, and
i find my learning curve to be very steep and also think
that it can be very deceptively tempting to go over the top
with retouching, as it is even suddenly possible to ’perfect’.
for me it is also a question that has me feeling a bit
contradictive in myself, as i truly think it is the imperfections
that makes people especially beautiful.
right now i am in the place of wanting to do less of it, and learn more about it.
Where do you get most of your textures?
* from flickr’ or i scan them myself
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 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 recognised a lot easier than male photographer, 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 about the imagery.
perhaps i’m naïve, but no, i don’t see that as an issue.
Any new project you're working on?
* mm, i have some conceptual shoots planned
with my favourite girls, that i really hope to
realize this summer, ~ & an idea that is forming
for s series of photos that need some more
intricate costuming. and i’m working on a
exhibit scheduled for Stockholm in the fall.
Is there a photo you regret posting online?
* je ne regrette rien. *smiles*
Links you should know ...
Hannah's blog ;
flickr’ ;
søciety6 / shop ;
