Once Upon A Time
Education is dangerous for curious people who dig into history and like it there. I studied myself in depth about subjects without a great future. The silverlining was a rich creative cognition but a very poor bank account. I was at the end of the road when i started to use my camera as a tool to handle my social phobia. And then it became a tool to find out who i was, who i am. Art does that to people. Forcing us to identify ourselves without blind spots.
The model and i must connect and that they must be able to feel what i feel to be able to translate it into art. That’s why i mostly use non professional models or models that are artists themselves.
Memories mainly that i do not want to remember. What i am afraid of manifests in my dreams, and that in a way directs the sessions. All those sensitive areas that i have and give me heavy feet that can be translated and set free when i make them reality.
I started with portraits of monkeys, after a while i moved onto portraits of people...then i started to using models and often people that had never modeled before. My vision then was murky water in nature with beautiful nymphs that represented both the call to the water and also a warning. John Bauer, a swedish painter, really touched me and made me feel things, some pictures are directly inspirated by him, especially with the colours. After a childhood trauma, I was scared of water. But the images i wanted to create demanded that i be in water and made me deal with my fear. I then started exploring closeness to people and at last nudity. I wanted the nudity be innocent and not at all sexual. Siblings was my thing for a long time, but then i started to direct my models. That’s when I realized that I wanted my subjects to have a personal relationship in real life as well. I wanted real couples or people with a easygoing feel about nudity and sex. I wanted to see how far i could push the limit before pics got too much & i think i found exactly the right amount of love to make it very personal or very lofty.
My series ”Our Hippie Moments” was the happiest concept that we’ve done. It was about all those things i wished i had when i was little. A liberated view of nudity, countryside, animals, hugs and sunkissed skin. It was my Eden how i wished all kids could grow up. ”Stor Och lLiten” ”Big and Small” was another extremly good session we pushed when we were in milan. I had this perfect model, linni and an italian model meli both so extremly different in size but exactly the same in inner beauty.
When things do not go well, i try to sustain and try not ending up blaming oneself. It’s hard getting to a place and stay yourself without the added stress that someone else is going to be the next big artist. Also resisting the easiest way in finding models (agencys) and to find your own muses. My muses essence is what i am searching. They need to want to share. They have to have a dark side and humor! Humor is damn important for a new photographer.
There’s an ongoing debate between digital and analogue. We see many photographers going back to film. Well i prefer digital without any doubt. I use what i call the ”kamikaze way”. It means that i do not work in layers that are static. I do one layer and when i am done i put the layers into one layer. It means that when i work on the images, afterwards they are always different. I make other choices and have other moods. To be able to do that i can not make the surface perfect (freddi will trip into it anyway) . I do not make 200 clicks a session ... but maybe a thousand. The best pictures i get is if i talk to the models when we work and we joke and laughs and forget about the posing.
I have no idea where my art will lead, because i never know what it will be even when i am photographing. I fish the digital cards afterwards and see what i have caught and I love it!
I plan everytime we photograph. I don’t think one of my favorite pictures are from the original or set plan. Its amazing and exciting.
“ Ideal Is Bulletproof “
CREDITS
Photographer | ELINLETICIA HÖGABO