Earlier this year I was asked to photograph an ad for Johnnie Walker’s red label.
The idea was to create exceptional experiences where a special whiskey would savor and seal that moment at the end of the day. This done in a setting as golden as the liquid itself…
The process starts with finding that golden hued landscape.
As we did our research we looked at places as far away as Namibia and locations like Sedona and Valley of Fire in the US.
We ended up with a combination of locations photographing the landscapes in Nevada at the Red Rock Canyon National Park and the tent and its people in London.
My own Johnnie Walker moment however was not in the evening…
Waking to the day while it’s still dark outside, heading out to location in anticipation of what the sun will bring when rising is always a thrill. After 20 years as a photographer the sensation of a sunrise has yet to wear off.
I often think about Homer’s Odyssey when I stand in the quiet moments of morning. He over and over refers to “dawn with her rose-red fingers” painting the landscape. Dawn represents the start of Odysseus’ journey and throughout the story the metaphor of dawn, and how it’s described, symbolizes his transformation/odyssey from immaturity to maturity and then fulfillment.
Dawns Rose-red fingers could not have been more apparent than when adding a pure red glow to those mountains at Red Rock. For me, it was a couple of exeptional mornings in Nevada, and if I didn’t have to drive back home, I would have savored that moment and, with a big sense of fulfillment, poured my whiskey …
For every commercial assignment I take on I try to make the photographs captured personal. I try to find a viewpoint that is honest and relatable to me so that I can stand in the location as the sun comes up, or in the studio in front of the talent, and be emotional rather than practical as I press the shutter.
This way I connect to the purpose of the ad in a manner meaningful to my longings, desires and dreams and hopefully make the images captured convey a part of me that aligns with what the advertising agency want the images to say….
The idea behind these ads done for AndersonDDB out of Toronto was to tell the story of a longer path to recovery. A journey more than something immediate; about taking the long road…
We ALL want instant gratification so in this case it was easy for me to relate.
With all the distractions of our fleeting mind, doing the small things every day that will eventually lead to deep gratification in the long term is really hard. I struggle with this every day in the decisions I make. After passing 40, staying in shape has become an increasing effort. I often order French fries for dinner and ice cream for desert even though I know the saying: “Nothing tastes as good as being fit”. It’s that instant gratification getting to me…
I also want to deepen my craft of photography but I still make lousy decisions when it comes to managing my time, spending it on social media or watching a movie I have already seen, rather than editing images or shooting new ones.
I am aware of my mind seeking immediate gratification and I try my best every day to steer it in the right direction.
So the indecision of those moments of the immediate versus the best long term was something I could relate to and really cared about when shooting this assignment…
To stand at the crossroads of that every day decision where the immediate gratification is pulling at you, but then committing to taking the journey of the long road was what these images were about.
Both for me and for my client…
And Please check out the Behind the scenes if you want to see how this came together.
Last May I traveled to Nepal with Norwegian clothing designer Leila Hafzi.
She had decided to become a designer at the top of the mountains in Nepal 15 years prior and wanted to return to that very place of her commitment as a location for her anniversary collection look book.
For our second collaboration Leila wanted to shoot home in Norway with the archetypal Norwegian woman as her inspiration.
Leila describe this archetype that inspired the collection and designs done for knitwear company Sandnes garn like this:
“She is a young Krisin Lavransdatter, the singing Kari Knutsdotter and the Viking chieftain’s only daughter.
She is a wood nymph and a Birkebeiner on the ice – but most of all she is the Norwegian / Scandinavian woman: Strong, proud and fearless.”
(These are all mythical female characters from Norwegian tales, both historical and fictional…)
So solidly grounded in both our Norwegian heritage I started to think about how and where to take these images.
Norway is one amazing country but there truly was just one place for me this could be photographed: In the area around the village where my father grew up.
Sitting among the dramatic mountains and fjords of Norway’s West Coast is this extraordinary place called Flo…
In a visual career one can look back at the work produced and see how it has drifted and how upbringing and heritage have shaped the artist and his or her esthetic.
In looking back at my own career and the images I have produced it’s easy for me to see in the photographs I have taken where and who I was as a person through out these 20 years. It’s all reflected in the subject matters I chose to photograph and how I chose to depict them at the time. The longings, the ambitions, the insecurities, the times I were restless, the times I was calm the times I was seeking and the times I felt at home.
In all these variations though there’s a very singular visual backbone that carries through all the work I do. This thread is my visual heritage and, to me, so undeniably Norwegian. It’s influenced by these amazing landscapes of Norway, the bigness of the mountains coming straight of the water and the vastness of the land. All this enhanced and shaped by the low laying northern sun.
So here I was, going back to Norway to photograph in the environment I knew had greatly influenced both the way I see things as a photographer and the values I carry with me…
I’m excited to share with you the work I did with Leila Hafzi and Sandnes garn this past June. A combination of inspired Norwegian Knitwear, the Archtype of the strong Norwegian Woman and me going home…
Too see how all this came together check out the Behind The Scenes.
Again I’m in such gratitude to Leila and her inspirations for giving me another adventure and set of experiences.
A big thanks to Monkey Productions and the locals of Stryn and Flo for graciously helping with all our odd requests…
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