Anne-Stine Johnsbråten February 1, 2012
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Norway.Tags: Norway
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Mom & Dad, Christmas Eve. Oslo, Norway 2007
Anne-Stine Johnsbråten (b.1983) has been working as a documentary photographer and photojournalist the past six years, mainly focusing on larger photo essays. She has earned a Bachelor in Photojournalism from Oslo University College, and has also attended The Danish School of Media and Journalism. She received a grant from The Freedom of Expression Foundation for project “The Norwegian Roma”. Her work has been exhibited at the Norwegian Cultural Historical Museum and in Germany and Slovenia. In 2010 and 2011, she received recognition from The Norwegian Arts Council and was given several governmental grants.
About the Photograph:
“This photograph was taken one Christmas Eve, as we are sitting down to have Christmas dinner. Mom leans over to dad, exhausted from all the preparations. Most of us capture pictures to remember the big and happy events in our lives. To me, everyday life is just as important. The project has made me have a new and closer look at my own family. I’ve challenged my perception of something so dear and near that I never thought twice about it being different. I’ve seen the joyful faces of my cousins, jumping on the garden trampoline, with new eyes. How my mom always has bits of toothpaste around her face, after brushing her teeth. For the first time recognizing the colors on the 70’s wallpaper in my grandparents kitchen, as they are consuming the dinner of the day, “Faarikaal” and red hot dogs, a most non-traditional combination. The past six years I’ve documented some big and important, but mostly trivial moments in my own extended family.”
Céline Clanet March 5, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Norway.Tags: Norway
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Ellen watching through the window, Máze, Norway 2005
Céline Clanet (b. 1977, France) lives in Paris. A graduate from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie of Arles in 1999, she works today as a freelance photographer and graphic designer. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally at the Blue Sky Gallery, USA (2009/2010), at the Northern Photographic Center in Finland, at Centre Pasquart in Switzerland, Philips de Pury in London and the Fotohuset in Norway. Céline’s photographs have been published in The Independent (UK), Vision Magazine (China), Libération (France) and others. Her series “Un mince vernis de réalité” has been published as a book by Filigranes Editions (France) in 2005, and her book “Máze” will be released in 2010. The “Máze” series won the 1st “People-Culture” award at the “International Photography Awards” (2009, USA), the “Critical Mass Book Award” (2009, USA), and was a finalist for the Photo forum Prize (2009, Switzerland) and ITS photo contest (2008, Italy).
About the Photograph:
“Ellen is one of my favorite people in Máze, a small Sami village located in Lapland, Norway. She was born and has lived there all her life. She comes from a reindeer herding and farming family. She agreed to pose for me inside her house. She was wearing her usual home clothes, but for the picture, she added Sami traditional silver jewelry to her outfit. Very chic. She actually dresses with traditional Sami clothes everyday when she goes outside. Very few Sami people do that today in Lapland, but in Máze, the indigenous culture is still very vivid. She is the mother of seven sons and when she goes outside, she is surrounded by the silent Máze tundra. When I think about her, I think of loneliness, a serene one. She is not sad in this photo. She is contemplative, thoughtful and meditative. Just like many of the people in Máze. I think that the wide, harsh and desert like landscape of the Arctic has shaped their humble character.”
Knut Egilwang February 3, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Norway.Tags: Norway
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Givær, Norway 2004
Knut Egilwang (b.1974, Norway) is a documentary photographer based in Bergen, Norway, where he works for magazines and newspapers´ weekend supplements and personal projects. He graduated with a BA in photojournalism from Oslo University College in 1997. In 2002 he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Master class, and the same year he received the prize Picture of the year in Norway. He has later won several awards for his work, also for his book Traktorland published in 2008. Knut is represented by Moment Agency.
About the Photograph:
“For more than a decade I have been photographing every day life on the small Norwegian island Givær. This island has only 13 inhabitants, and is not much larger than a couple of football stadiums. There are five cows and some more sheep, and almost every straw is harvested or grazed from the rocky, uneven fields. Givær is located 30 kilometers west of Bodø. Located north of the polar circle with dark winters and the midnight sun in summer. This photograph is from the day after a wedding. The bride is the one with the band aid. I don’t know exactly what happened to her knees. In documentary photography one should know as much as possible about what is going on, what you are photographing, the story behind the event. But what I like the most about photography are all the questions that can be raised from a photograph, all the stories that you can make up in your head.”
