Visual harmony in beautiful Busan

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

Why Leica?

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

Why photography?

Good evening from Berlin,

Returning to the apartment from a rather spectacular performance at the aforementioned Philharmonie, I started thinking about the need to express oneself artistically and the process of creating.

Why photography? A legitimate question. “You’re a musician, not a photographer.” That’s true, and yet I play and talk “in pictures”. So then, why not take actual images as well. Our life is very much a sensory experience, and that is what I’m trying to bring to life whatever the expressive outlet might be. Sound for a classical musician often starts with lines and dots on a piece of paper, which is pretty uninteresting for both the performer and the listener if it wasn't for the interpretive possibilities of those signs. The same can be said of photography, it’s basically just about the interplay between light and shadow. But when brought to life in a single frame, it can yield wonderful results.

The thing with creating music is that you spend endless hours, if not years, practising and preparing for something that is “lost the moment it’s created”. When the note is played, it’s gone (if not recorded of course). That’s both the magic of a live performance, but also kind of a sad fact if you ask me. Photography is on the other hand something entirely different, it’s about capturing and holding on to that moment. Keeping a record of whatever happened, no matter the significance of that moment.

Going back to music for a moment. Like I said, I just returned for an orchestra concert at the Philharmonie. The Berlin Philharmonic played Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony conducted by Daniel Harding. He conducted the very first concert I ever played with a professional orchestra, close to 20 years ago. Conducting no less than a symphony by Mahler. That was a very special experience for a young music student, being thrust into the overwhelming world of Gustav Mahler without knowing how to make heads or tails of playing in an orchestra. Much because of this experience, Mahler’s music has a very special place in my heart. There’s no record of this, it’s just in my memory and again it is all about conveying and understanding human feelings.

Photography has in a way completed my need for holding on to moments, so that music can stay fleeting and magical in its own right.

Music and photography, two quite different ways of communicating human feelings, but at the same time very complementary looking at the big picture.

Bis später,

Ole

Seeing music.

Berlin, March 2019.

Hello from Berlin,

I’m spending the month of March in this awesome city of culture. The municipality of my hometown of Trondheim (Norway) has very kindly allowed me with to stay in their “artists apartment” here in Berlin for a whole month. This is a rather unique opportunity for an artist like myself, that’s allowing me to get to know the cultural scene of Berlin in greater depth than is possible during a short visit. There’s so much going on at any given time here, which one expects of a world class city. The more you experience, the more you realise the scope of whats on offer, and that you cannot possibly take it all in, in the course of just one month. That’s of course not entirely a bad thing, it just means that you have to return again and again.

The focal point of any trip to Berlin, as a classical musician and photographer, is of course Die Philharmonie. The home of the mighty Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. There are so many great orchestras and concert halls around the world, but can they top this power house of music I wonder? There’s something of a “Gesamtkunstwerk” going on when you visit this place, located close to Potsdamer Platz. You can see the architect Sharoun’s golden and edgy building from afar. When you enter into this structure, you wander around in these angled and quirky shapes. The evident reason for the shape of this building hits you when stepping into the main performance hall. You as an audience member are surrounding the stage and the sound surrounds you. An immersive feeling, if you’re on stage performing or comfortably seated in the hall as a member of the audience. Do make the time to come to Die Philharmonie and experience the true power of the performing arts. If you would like to see more of the hall, the resident orchestra and behind the scenes footage, I highly recommend checking out the orchestra’s own photographer Monika Rittershaus. You can find her work online and, believe it or not, in good old fashioned books. Her book “Moving Music” is a wonderful documentation of Sir Simon Rattle’s tenure as chief conductor of the orchestra.

I still have a few days left in Berlin before I head home, and those days will be filled with cultural activities and of course photography.

Bis später,

Ole

Die Philharmonie