I was recently back in Oslo making portraits of orchestral and choral conductors that take part in the Norwegian conductor’s program (Dirigentløftet/Talent Norge/Sparebankstiftelsen).
The sessions were held inside the beautiful Opera House. As a lover of architecture, it was a treat to have the textures and shapes of this iconic building as my backdrop.
Here are a few samples from these sessions.
The talent program for young conductors from, or based in, Norway (Dirigentløftet/Talent Norge/Sparebankstiftelsen) recently hired me to make new portraits of their current roster of talents.
The sessions were held at Sentralen in Oslo. Even with such a cool location, it was still a real challenge to make one location work with no less than 10 distinctive individuals.
Here are a few samples from our chamber music like sessions.
I have a passion for music, obviously, and for photography. When those two worlds meet, then I’m really in my “happy place”. That happened recently in Røros (Norway), a wonderful place in so many ways. It’s a town of great beauty and character, and consequently included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Combine that with just as welcoming and dedicated locals, world class musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker mentoring young talents from Norway and it would be hard imagining a better day out in the field.
The day started at 4AM, catching an early train to Røros and ended back home again at around 11PM. The client, “Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden” (a festival being held in March each year), wanted promotional images of Røros, the people involved locally and the visiting artists. A real challenge fitting all those things into a single day of shooting, but seeing the different images now appearing on the festival’s website and social media platforms, I think that the collaboration went quite well. Take a look at https://vinterfestspill.no and judge for yourself.
I’m delighted to be going back to Røros for the festival in late March.
I had the pleasure of doing a studio portrait and “lifestyle” session with chief conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera, Han-Na Chang, recently.
This session continued our collaboration from last year, when we made a series I called “Han-Na Chang in Trondheim”.
All these images are now the visual backbone of her website and press material:
https://www.hannachangmusic.com
I have now switched to an all Leica-setup, and I am delighted with how this system works for me both on location and in the studio. Like everything, it has its quirks but the gorgeous image fidelity makes it all worth while. I enjoy that the images coming straight out of the camera is so close to where I want them to be, the editing is more about tweaking than completely rebuilding the image file.
Our planned “conductor on stage and in action”-session sadly had to be postponed due to the Covid-situation, but will hopefully happen later this spring.
Gear used:
Leica SL2s
Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm/f2.8-4 ASPH.
Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280mm/f2.8-4 ASPH.
3x Profoto B10 studio strobes with various light modifiers.
A quick group portrait of the Trondheim Vocal Ensemble, after the performance of the Christmas Oratorio. When you have a backdrop as grand as this one, I wanted to incorporate as much of the surroundings as possible. That led to this somewhat unusual portrait at 18mm.
I took my two Leica cameras (M and Q) to the north of Norway this summer, and here are a few of the results. Enjoy and have a great summer!
My two Leica cameras saw a lot of action on our day off i Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. I was especially eager to test the latest addition to my arsenal of camera gear, the Leica M10, in a real world scenario. I’m happy to report that this old school manual camera has been featured numerous times professionally during this tour, which I didn’t expect going into this assignment. The split second images captured with the M10 might not be as crisp and technically “perfect” as those taken by its more modern counterparts, but there’s a special feeling when capturing and looking back at an image that you have taken without any of the modern conveniences. That is very similar to playing a classical instrument, as mentioned before on this blog.
I hope that you will enjoy this little taste of Busan, in full manual mode.
Ole
After landing in South Korea, and spending at least 13 hours onboard airplanes (not including the ground stops ), it was time to hit the streets of Seoul. The body craved some light exercise and a bit of fresh air.
I took my Leica cameras for a walk to capture the contrasting vibes of the city, the serene and ancient temple grounds and the hustle and bustle of a modern metropolis.
Ole
My next instalment is about gear, and the age old question: Does it really matter? And as always, the answer is somewhere between yes and no.
I relate my thoughts about this matter to my background in music as well. The best instrument you have to express yourself is always with you (more or less consciously), the human brain. Without that, any creative tool whether it be a musical instrument or a camera would be of very little help or value.
I have never really cared much about what instrument I’ve played on as a musician. I know many do, but I haven’t been one of them. My focus has been on honing my skills with whatever tool was resting on my shoulder. The few times that I have bought another instrument, was as much due to teachers or colleagues telling me it was time for an upgrade. It’s not always a matter of upgrading either, it can be about looking for a change in tonal color or simply to find a tool that is easier to work with than what you have at the moment. Without the “oral concept” (paraphrasing the great trumpeter Bud Herseth), the concept of sound that you have in your own head before even playing a note, searching for another instrument would be both hopeless and pointless.
That brings me over to photography and camera equipment. What’s the connection between a musical and a visual tool? Basically, you have an idea or a vision of what you want the final product to sound or look like. All instruments can produce sound and all cameras can produce images, but it’s still the person making use of that tool that is the actual creator.
Why is Leica any different, to me? Yes, it’s still just an image capturing device and yet I feel a special connection when holding a Leica. You can of course say it’s all about feelings and I would have to agree with you. Creating and experiencing any kind of artistic expression is very much about feelings. As a classical musician, you tend to spend all your time working with “old technology”. Even if the violin you’re playing isn’t from say 1750, a modern instrument will have the same basic design as if it were that old. The magic isn’t so much in the innovation of the tool as the players ability to bring those basic elements to life.
A modern electronic instrument (i.e. synthesiser) is of course much more advanced and can to a certain degree also have several automatic features. If you translate that into photography, the basic elements of image capturing are still the same. In digital photography: Aperture, shutter speed and ISO. All the other functions like blazing fast autofocus are of course wonderful and highly useful, but the question in my mind is nevertheless: Does this mean that the images themselves get better at conveying an idea or message to the viewer, or that they simply get easier to capture. I originally heard this sentiment from experimental winemaker and art historian/gallery owner, Sean Thackrey, concerning winemaking and modern technology.
So that’s why I love the simplicity of a Leica, the constraints of basic controls and a single prime lens challenges me every time I pick it up.
The first time I tried a Leica, I thought of it as another overpriced lifestyle product. In a way it is, but not exactly like I expected it to be. I can’t tell you the specific technical details behind my affection for a certain camera or a musical instrument. For some the Leica look is micro contrasts and for some instrumentalists it might be a certain varnish used by a famous violin luthier hundreds of years ago. Whatever the technical details might be, you can feel it when they all play together in creating a work of art.
I think it’s about time to stop writing about “musical photography”, and to get out and capture some more images of Berlin before returning home to Trondheim soon.
Bis später,
Ole
