Astrid in the place where I grew up

Combat Lover

Sometimes I just get bored with being so romantic and arty farty. Then it's a relief to break it of with a studio shoot and some kick-as ladies.  
Styling:Emilie Riise Lantz
Makeup: Jenny Beckman (www.jennybeckman.se)
Model: Gabriela Calheira Diestel (http://jesushasherpes.blogspot.com)

Ida in grandma's dress

I was only 12 when my grandmother Astrid past away. She had been sick for many years and sadly I can't really say that I got to know her. I still have some vivid memories of her like the first time I was able to see over the sink in her kitchen, her making pancakes or the time when I asked her if I could get all the toys in her house when she was dead (which made my mother a bit angry with me, grandma said I could). Astrid was a beautiful woman and in her wardrobe you could find many wonderful, handmade dresses. Today I and my cousin Ida have most of them. I have used the 4 that I have in many of my self-portraits. For some strange reason that I don't know I love wearing them. I'm not religious but I beleive in energy and maybe there is still some of grandma left in them. In the photos below Ida is wearing one of these dresses. My favourite picture is the one where she is dancing and it looks like the sun is pulling her in..

Exhibition time!

 Next month I will exhibit photos that I took for the fundraising organisation Barnfonden (www.barnfonden.se) in Mali some years ago. Together with photographers such as Ann McNab Törnkvist and Jake Lyell we will try to show the everyday life of children around the world. I spent 10 days in a boiling hot Mali and I had so many intense experiences and I saw so many different things. I was there mainly to photograph 3 campaigns and during one of them I met my now sponsor-child Madioba. She is such a happy little girl and I'm glad to support her and hopefully provide her with a brighter future. For 230 Swedish krona every month you can change both a community and a persons life for the better...what are you waiting for ;)
If you are in Malmö during the big festival in August I highly recommend you to see the exhibition. I will there for the vernissage the 17th and it would be wonderful if you could stop by and say Hi.
Klick on the link for more information: http://ec2-176-34-181-105.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com/konst-design/foto/ogonblick-fran-barnfondens-verksamhet---foton-fran-bland-annat-mali-och-indien/

New Home

Yesterday I moved into a new flat here in Malmö that I will share with a guy from Colombia, I wasn't allowed to stay longer where I lived before. It broke my heart a little bit because I loved that tiny flat. I have recently realised that I haven't lived more than 1 year at the same place since I moved out of my parents like 8 years ago. I have lived in Kristianstad, Sunne, Malmö, Stockholm, Malmö, NY Berlin and then back to Malmö again. I still feel like I haven't found one place to stay longer yet. The main reason why I'm back in Malmö is because it's close to my clients and my family. It's a nice place but still a part of me is longing for something else. When it comes to literature I love things that was written around the 1800 century, in the romantic era. I like how it revolted against rationalization and how it validated strong emotions and connected with nature in a magical way. As a little girl I was enchanted by Caspar David Friedrich and John William Waterhouse paintings without knowing why. Today I'm more aware that I have this inner longing for things that are far far away, things that I haven't discovered yet. So I guess I have the answer to why I still haven't found a place and maybe never will. I think that my love for the romantic era also shines through in my photography. I focus on emotions, I see nature as a magical thing and I have a need to escape the boredom of reality.

I want to be your medicine, I want to feed the sparrow in your heart

Midsummer

I live in a country that has not been to war for several hundred years. I think that is the reason why the national day is not really something that you celebrate that much here. If there is any day that we think of as Swedish, it's midsummer eve where we come together to eat traditional food, sing, drink snaps and dance around a flower-tree for ancient reason connected to fertility. I totally understand how strange it must look for foreigners. This year I celebrated midsummer at my cousins place in the countryside. It's very beautiful there and even if it was cold we could not help ourselves from getting into the pool. Thank you Ida and Andy for your great hospitality.

 

Land

How I wish to find land that has not been taken or trampled on, land where I can find peace and stand still.
The older I get the more impossible it seems to find, I'm starting to think that it does not exist and never will.

Golden

It's not often that I plan a hole photoshoot with the goal to get just one picture. In Sweden we celebrate the 1 of May with big bonfires all over the country. Camilla Jönsson, who is a great hair stylist and make-up artist came up with the crazy idea to have a photoshoot in front of a fire. I loved the idea and said yes right away. This was to take place in Lund where thousands of people come every year to celebrate this day. With so many people around the fire, many of them drunk, it turned out to be quite a tricky shoot. The model Marika (Sweden Models) was really courageous and how she managed to focus with so many people starring at her was very impressive. When drunk boys started to harass her we thought it be best to get out of there before something bad happened. I got like 15 frames but I knew that there would be one really good one and that would be enough. Since the light was magical that evening, like it was on fire, we also took some extra pictures that you can see here. To get some privacy we hid between some trees. Photographing in park with several thousand of people is an adventure, it's not something I'm planning on doing again, but it was totally worth it to get that one great picture.

Published in #Photography magazine

Some time ago I was contacted by a new British online photography magazine called #Photography magazine. Today I saw the result of my contribution and I really love it! I highly recommend you to have a look at it. There is so much talent and it's very inspiring. They picked two of my absolute favourite photos and I'm exited to see them in a magazine. Click on the link find the site... http://www.hashtagphotographymagazine.com/