At last some new photographs

After all those weeks with pneumonia and with the changing of studio and all, I have not been able to produce a lot of pictures lately. That sucks and brings me into a bad mood(sorry Trine). But now I am settled into my studio which I love and I´ve been able to start photographing again. Did the Natt & Dag shoot last week, took some photos of Flying Fellinis yesterday and today I did a beautyshoot with Nicoline. The shoot today went perfect, I am very pleased with the result, the lighting and the model. Will post them as soon as they are retouched, that goes for the bandphoto as well. But the Natt & Dag photo is the one below here, guess I can post it now since the new issue hits the street as we speak.

Bonsai 2000

Bought myself a superb little bonsaitree the other day, love it. I´ll take care of it as I would a baby. When I get around to photograph it I´ll show it to you. But such a tree deserves more than just a snapshot so I have to make a photograph that pays it respect.

My blog just passed 2000 visitors by the way. That´s cool.

Borat

Went to the movies sunday and finally got the see the much talked about film with Borat. I really liked it even though the story itself was quite thin, felt more like a collection of clips. But it´s impossible not to burst into laughter tons of times during the viewing.

Tomorrow I´ll be shooting The Flying Fellinis and thursday I´ll be doing a beautyshoot with Nicoline from Top Models before heading to the annual Natt & Dag christmas party at Blå.

Who needs the originals anyhow?

I mean, why listen to the original version of your favourite songs when there are cover songs out there to kick their ass. You´ve already listened to the first version a couple of hundred times, it´s time for someone elses take on it. Here are two examples that blew my mind. Earcandy for the advanced listeners. Perfect. It´s not the best sound quality but you´ll work trough it. Piz.

Blur - Song 2


Bob Marley - Redemption Song

Flood

Took a photograph for Natt & Dag yesterday, I´m pleased with the result and the feedback I got from the magazine was really positive as well. The new issue will be out on thursday and I´ll post the picture here then as well. Went to a thanksgiving dinner yesterday with some of my old classmates, had a good time even though I stayed of the alcohol cause of my recent pneumonia.

Been raining crazy these last days and I saw some of the effects of it earlier today. This is a picture of Akerselva.

Im In

All my stuff along with myself are now inside the new studio of mine at Grunerløkka, I love it here. Even though I had a great time the other place as well this one has a much cosier atmosphere, a place where I won´t mind spending 10 hours a day. And the odd fella I´m sharing this place with is a really nice guy as well.

My most regular stylist/makeup artist Oil visited me in the studio today and we had a meeting concerning a beautyshoot we´re having either next week or the week after. She brought lunch from the fantastic Nam Fah restaurant.

It looks like I´m shooting a portrait for Natt & Dag tomorrow.


Some pictures from my new studio

NEW STUDIO !!!

I got the message today, I´ve moving in to a new studio tomorrow. After only beeing in the last studio for a couple of months I´m moving. There are several reasons to this, the biggest one being the fact that anyone who feels like it can just walk in and steal whatever they might want now that the bars covering the windows have been removed. The second reason being the fact that with the bars or not, we could only hope to have the area for like 6-12 more months. So then I figured I might as well start looking for something else and I found a superb place at Grunerløkka that I will be sharing with only one other photographer. It´s much cosier, much safer and it has everything one might want in a studio like kitchen, sofa-area, recordplayer, a comfy desk and a spacious place to photograph. Moving in all my stuff tomorrow and really looking forward to it, I´ll post some pictures of it tomorrow I guess.

Growing up in a leftwinged home with my parents being former hippies and myself being somewhat radical I must say I feel some shame about this super-conservative move I made the last post with the McD-advertising and stuff. And I apologize to Marius being all innocent and ending up in a McD commercial, sorry dude. I blame Miss Tiana for introducing me to the whole thing.

By the way, if you´re bored, hates the fall and have nothing to do while staying inside when it rains. Buy the series The Wire on dvd. The first two seasons are out now. It´s superb. The story going down in Baltimore City involving everything from narcotics, dirty cops, gay africanamerican snitches and topless chicks, and can a show with those ingredients fail? No, it can´t.

Sunday Morning

Hang out with the famous Marius today. Went to Birkelunden to look for some antiques, too bad it´s only shait up there. I suggested that we might grab a bite at the ecological foodstore Godt Brød but Marius just laughed at me and we ended up at MiccyD. After a quick coffee at Qba discussing how to take over the world of fashion & photography I had to leave for dinner at my folks place. It was time for the first meeting with my brothers new girlfriend, she turned out very nice and my brother seemed happy. That´s nice. Although noone can compare to my superstar girlfriend Trine.

Marius The Carnivore

120 Days

How much they will sell is hard to determine but that they will become on of the most sought after exports from the norwegian music scene in a long time is without a doubt. The fact that they are one of the most exciting bands ever to come out of this tiny country is also a fact, at least if you are listening to the cred/underground people of the industry. I myself have huge respect for this band, I´m good friends with Ådne(vocals) and Kjetil(synth), but that´s not the reason I´m a fan. They are extremely dedicated and they listen to alot of the same music as I do, lots of inspiration from the british postpunk scene and the german krautrockers. But then again, who doesn´t like Joy Division and Neu.
If you´re not familiar with the band, they were called Beautiful People in the beginning, producing two highly acclaimed Ep´s. But when released internationally they had to change name and even though they were called Sex Beat for about 15 minutes they are now the 120 Days.


Check out their first brand new video below. Directed by Lasse Gretland.

Snapshot Superstar

Everybody has heard of snapshot photographers as Terry Richardson and Juergen Teller but one that might not be as famous is the islandic snapper Magnus Unnar. 32 years of age he is becoming more and more popular working for clients such as ID, Dazed & Confused, Vogue, V and H&M. He has come up with a very recognisable style using different snapshot cameras and I must say I really like some of his work. I´m also extremely jealous of photographers with the kind of success like Unnar. As stated on his website he is currently living between Paris, London and New York. Poor guy. Here are some pictures stolen from his agents website. He is represented by Untitled, the same agency that has Benjamin Alexander Huseby among their photographers, a norwegian photographer I´ll get back to on a later occasion.

Buttons

A huge part of the pop-culture, and since I am such a hip, trendy and up-to-date photographer how can I not have my own buttons. As of now I just have 4 different designs but that will of course increase as time goes by, I also have plans of printing some Heia Espen t-shirts that I can put on people and photograph them with. If you were to pass me on the street, feel free to tap me on my shoulder and ask for a button, I will happily give you some. For now the designs include a squirrel, a seagul, a dog and a pair of tits. As shown below.

The Clash

Are in my mind the coolest band ever, my all-time favourite group although very closely followed by The Jam. But if I were to pick one band in the history of music that I could see live in their primetime it would have to be The Clash. Have all their records on both vinyl and cd and their first and their third albums are huge milestones in the history of rock. The first album just entitled The Clash while their third album is called what? London Calling of course, one of the greatest and most influental albums of all time. If I were to go to one of their shows I would have looked extremely forward to see this song performed live.

1000

My blog just passed a 1000 visitors. That´s cool. Thanks for the visit but please keep on coming back.

Irritated

Been ill for a month now, only worked like 20% of what I should have been doing, that upsets me. Fuck pneumonia. Now they are going to change windows in the studio which means I´ll be out of my workplace for almost two weeks. Finally feeling healthy but still can´t go to work. Arrg.
I´m sort of looking for a new venue anyhow, so if you know some place that would be a suitable photostudio then let me know.

The superb band Flying Fellinis is this weeks Ukas Urørt. And they have used some pictures I took of them for like 4 years ago as press pictures, guess I have to do another photoshoot with them soon. They sound great though, check them out.

Went to a musicquiz at Cacadou last night, and guess who kicked ass? Well, we did of course, won it all. Felt good, I have a huge hunger for competitions and especially when it´s about something I care about. My winnerinstinct is almost a bit extreme.

Later tonight I´m heading to Sentrum Scene for a concert with the superb Sufjan Stevens, can´t wait. I have such huge expectations.

Movies & Music

My two biggest hobbies, the things that take up most of my time. Beside photography of course but that has gone from hobby to work. Went to the movies thursday with some friends and saw the new Scorsese film, The Departed. I loooved it, fantastic acting, great plot and hardcore action. All the ingredients that´s needed to create a superb gangstermovie which is what this is. Recommended big time. Check out the trailer below.



Went to Tiger yesterday and found a couple of gems, five actually. I know my mom reads this blog and that´s a shame because I don´t want her to see that I spend quite a bit of money on records instead of "important" things. Well anyway, this is what I got. All on vinyl of course, what else.

Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go
Junior Boys - Last Exit
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Coco Rosie - La Maison De Mon Réve
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette

Mixtape - "P"

Yepp, here it is everybody. The eagerly awaited followup to last months superbly arranged mixtape with artists starting with the letter R. This time I have moved one letter backwards and have searched trough all my records with artists starting with the letter P. I must say that I am very satisfied, I actually think it kicks R´s ass, even though I really like that one as well. Had to leave lots of cool tunes behind just because there was not enough room, but that just means that the 17 songs on this cassette are all fantastic. This cassette travels from indiefavourites like The Pooh Sticks and The Pastels to rockstars like Iggy Pop and Primal Scream, stops to say hello to the crazed Pere Ubu and Public Image Ltd. and still has room for the french geniuses in Poni Hoax and the cute little dwarflike creature we all know best as Prince.
Feel free to get inspired and buy or download the music from wherever, I guarantee that you will like it. If not, get your ears examined.



Mixtape - "P"
Side A:
1. The Pooh Sticks - Indiepop Ain´t Noise Pollution
2. The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes
3. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes
4. Pauline Murray - Dream Sequence
5. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
6. Poni Hoax - She´s On The Radio
7. Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version)
8. The Pastels - Classic Line-Up
9. Pylon - Feast On My Heart

Side B:
1. Pretenders - Talk Of The Town
2. Prince - Starfish And Coffee
3. Pulp - Disco 2000
4. Primal Scream - Country Girl
5. Iggy Pop - Some Weird Sin
6. The Ponys - Glass Conversation
7. Pere Ubu - (Pa) Ubu Dance Party
8. Public Image Ltd. - This Is Not A Love Song

I am sad

The reason for that is because I just finished watching the final episode of the fantastic series Six Feet Under. In my eyes, the best thing ever shown on television. Yes, that means even better than Sopranos. I had to really work hard so I´d not burst into tears during loads of the episodes, but the ending of the whole show killed me. Won´t tell anything since you´re all going out buying it and watching it, but it´s really sad. If you don´t know what I´m talking about, please do yourself a favour and buy all the five seasons on dvd, you won´t regret it.
It´s funny how well you get to know people in series rather than in movies. I have watched about 60-70 hours of Six Feet now during the weeks I´ve had the dvd´s, that´s more time than I spend with some of my friends during a whole year. It´s just sad not to be able to spend any more time with them, it´s like getting a new friend during a holiday and then having to leave and not being able to see him or her again, ever. It sucks.
I might sound a bit pathetic now, but I´m just melancholic. I have treated myself with something of superb quality and it´s over, time to move on. Time to move on to the five seasons of Sopranos I have laying in front of me. No more philosophical thoughs about life, love and death, gimme some hardcore mobaction with guys killing each other. Make me a man again, make me stop crying like a baby.

Iselin & Ola

Found this series of the norwegian model Iselin Steiro photographed by the swedish photographer Ola Bergengren. I must say that I find these pictures astonishing, really like the concept and the technique, might wanna try something similar myself one day. If I´ll manage without being just a pathetic copycat.

Pneumonia

I´m afraid it´s been a while since my last post, for the three steady readers I have, I´m sorry. I blame my illness.
Got sick monday three weeks ago, finally went to the doctor yesterday and he would happily tell me that I have a powerful case of pneumonia. Yeah, at least now I have the answer for why I have been coughing my brains out for a couple of weeks. Went to the pharmacy and bought some pills that I hope will work.

Managed to have quite a nice weekend even if my healthsituation got me closer and closer to visiting grim the reaper. Had dinner at Kai´s place at friday, then went for a beer afterwards at Internasjonalen. Saturday evening me and my girlfriend spent at Eirik´s new apartment that he rents with his cute little thang, a.k.a. Stine. Eirik is a splendid cook so obviously the food was delicious, even though he claimed to have overcooked the meat a bit. Vanilla Ice Ice Baby and some brownies for dessert finished it off.

Extremely tired of being tired now, so hopefully I can get well soon, wanna start to play basketball again and I really need to get some serious work done or else I won´t have any money for christmas. Have to take some more rounds around town with my portfolio. And have to take some more photos so that this blog can get some interesting posts to work along the boring ones.



The dinnner from saturday

Friday Night Live

Had a very lovely evening last night with dinner at Mother India followed up by some beers at Verkstedet, we ditched Blå since it was empty. Retouched the pictures from the shoot yesterday and delivered the pictures as well, had lunch at The National Gallery, cause my main man Kai is assistant manager of the cafe there. Had a superb Chicken Sandwich, recommended. Heading back up to Kai now for some austrian food made by his girl.


Fiona at Kai´s cafe.

Art Recommendation:
The famous norwegian photographer Knut Bry is opening a solo exhibition at Stenersen Museet tomorrow at 14.00. Go check it out.

Thursday Night Fever

Did a photoshoot today in the studio, took some packshots for a magazine. Still feeling a little sick, been almost three weeks now. Got an appointment with my doctor monday, hopefully he can give me some WillyWonkapills to make me feel superb in a second.

Going out now, to the superb restaurant Mother India at bislett, I should get a discount there for bragging about it to everyone. Me and Trine is having a romantic doubledate with Kai and his austrian girlfriend, a beautiful model with the cute name Fiona. We might take a trip to Blå afterwards for a beer or two.

Record Recommendation:
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards; a fantastic indierock/soul album filled with superb tunes. If you mix Spoon, LCD Soundsystem, Walkmen and include some hiphopbeats along the way then you get something like this album. Buy it at Tiger.