Monday 28 September 2009

21.0 / Art and audio book addiction / Miné Jonker

What: Illustrator
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
Website: Miné Jonker

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Who...
I was born a 'boere meisie' in a conservative family, in a conservative town called Pretoria, South Africa. Being arty was a good alternative to being boring. I went to a High School for visual and performing arts, which meant I was one of a handful of people in modern history who loved going to school.

After I finished school I went traveling for three years around Europe and the East, which had a huge effect on me. I fell in love with big art museums, old architecture and have continued to be fascinated by different cultures, religions and anthropology ever since I went to India and acted like a real hippy. God only knows why I didn't pick up some strange disease and die from while swimming in the Ganges.

Back home I enrolled in The Open Window School of Visual Communication, but that was dumb, so I moved to Cape Town where I ate very little for a very long time (mainly large amounts of Jungle oats with peanut butter) as I tried to establish myself as an artist and illustrator. I also made and customised clothes for a local boutique and did a correspondence degree in Fine Arts, specialising in Multi-media. If it wasn't for falling into modelling, I would probably never have survived. Nothing glamorous – I did a lot of yogurt and baby nappy TV commercials, which I prayed would never make it to Youtube. My friends still mock me about it.



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24/7...
I'm currently employed by the Am I Collective, an illustration studio which is a pleasant five minute, downhill walk from where I live, slap bang in the center of Cape Town. I bribed them with cookies to let me work there. I have a view of Table mountain from my desk and a little lucky cat from Hong Kong next to my computer, which keeps me lucky and happy.

The fact that Am I is a flippen kick ass place with amazingly talented and funny guys, also helps (they pay me extra to say these things.) My job mainly involves digital painting. I can listen to audio books while painting for hours on end on this amazing Cintique that I cunningly stole from my Creative Director. I convinced him that it was the reason his side of the office was always too hot. And now… The power is mine!!!

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Little precious time...
Spare time... hmmm... not much of that at the moment. I still try to squeeze in a bit of traveling, a spot of modelling and some freelance jobs in between work. At Am I we try and do as much non-commercial work as we can make time for. We are currently working on an African themed T-shirt range and we're having our charity exhibition which has been in the pipeline for over a year, called BARE (the auction is on now!). We sent out 50 vinyl bears to 50 different artists to paint and it looking amazing! I also love doing ceramics and having drawing evenings with friends.

My ideal evening is watching a movie or documentary while drawing, which means that I usually don't do either of them properly.

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Along the way...
My boyfriend showed me Photoshop, which is the coolest thing in my world. I've also learned a lot just from working with clients and other artists/friends/illustrators.

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I started with...
Well, I used to draw all the time when I was little. My pre-school teacher complained to my mom that I drew too much and didn't interact enough with the other kids, so that much hasn't changed. Everyone at our studio complains about my audio book addiction and anti-social behaviour. As a teenager, I wore Nirvana T-shirts and spent a lot of time on the roof of our house – drawing, writing very deep poetry and staring into nothingness. I've stopped that now.

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Big plans...
I'm hosting a big 'Garage Art Sale' with my good friend Mikey on the 3rd of October from (you guessed it) the garages in front of our block of flats. We're made up of about 15 artists selling cheap art, lemonade and pancakes. It's like an informal exhibition-slash-neighbourhood-get-together-slash-garage-sale. Should be fun.

Longer term: I'm planning two projects with my boyfriend, Jannes. We want to do art installation pieces, sculptures and LCD screens for video all over Cape Town for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we also want to publish a book on young South African contemporary artists from all genres. I'm also starting ceramics again and want to improve my cooking.

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Love & hate...
I love drawing all day. It feels like I'm cheating... how can I get paid for this? I dislike the bad posture I've developed from drawing all day.

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Family tree...
What was my family like? Weird and Afrikaans and full of boys. My older brother is a writer and painter (and medical doctor). He tends to tell gross stories about his medical experiences at the dinner table, but he did encourage and inspire me a lot during my developing years. He has an amazing imagination and he taught me how to throw a good punch.

My grandmother was a painter and so is my hermit uncle. My aunt used to run a puppet theatre, my cousin is an actor and my dad has a very good sense of aesthetic. So there has definitely been a lot of inspiration and support from my family. My mom has been amazingly supportive and encouraging since I was little.

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Hurdles...
Mainly my own insecurities about my work. A few years of experience in the ad industry and good feedback has helped a lot. I've also learned how to present myself in a more confident manner – unfortunately you have to be able to sell yourself a bit if you want to convince others that you're able to do the job. I've also learned not to spread myself too thin. I use to take on way too much and then wonder why I'm not seeing more results.

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Learning curve...
I've learned that sometimes all you need to do is to keep going at an artwork. Most of my pieces look pretty shit at first and only starts coming together when I start crafting it. For me, the most important thing has been to trick myself into not quitting.

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Collections...
Ceramic pieces, books of all sort, art work from my friends, pretty glasses, antique pieces and clothes that I will never wear.
To get the mojo back...
I smoke, doodle with friends, take a look at some of my favourite artists' work which usually either depresses or inspires me.

I have just come back from a trip to Mexico – its colourful culture and people has greatly excited and inspired me. I love traveling and hope to one day be able to make it a bigger part of my lifestyle. Places I'd still love to visit include the rest of Africa, Japan, more of China, Burma, Nepal, Argentina and the rest of South America... the list goes on. Juxtapoz is a favourite magazine, as is National Geographic and Visi (a South African interior and design mag).

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Bookmarks...
I love the old, traditional fairytale illustrators you find on artsycrafty. I like the variety of things you see on notcot and I love some of the odd photographs on Fffound. Design is kinky, Deviant Art and We are the Image Makers are nice for checking out other artists' work. Stumble Upon can also be mildly entertaining on Monday mornings.

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Chilling...
I hang out with my man or my friends, drink tea, smoke, draw, walk uphill on a treadmill, visit an antique market, watch documentaries, make dinner or visit my mom.

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If I could turn back time...
I wish I'd never stopped playing the piano.
Inspiration...
Artists Alphonse Mucha, Audry Kawasaki, James Jean, South African history writer Max du Preez, author Frank Herbert from the Dune saga and, off course, my boyfriend. This may seem corny, but go check out their work (Black Heart Gang) and see for yourself.

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The dream...
Owning a guest house-slash-restaurant-slash-studio-slash-gallery-slash-interior décor shop-slash-project space for workshops for fellow artists somewhere in the countryside.
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Wednesday 23 September 2009

20.0 / Brooding and Broody / The Good Count

What: Designer and writer
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
Website: The Good Countsabel Von Trucklove

Bradley_Abrahams
Who is Mr Von Trucklove…
The Good Countsabel Von Trucklove wishes to remain unknown. The Good Countsabel Von Trucklove just is. This seems like a loaded question? Who are you working for? Who sent you!? I am innocent until proven guilty, goddammit!

lomo_capetown
Why design…
It was 1996 and I was on the run after an international incident with some heavy hitters in the underground spread betting world. My only option was to front as a print designer and, better yet, get a job working in the fashion industry. It was at the now disgraced and defunct Storm Models South Africa that I first cut my teeth. Twas a horrid time spent measuring the waists of models and retouching boobs a plenty. I think I am still emotionally and spiritually scarred.
Right now…
Currently, I am employed at Hellocomputer and am based in Cape Town, South Africa. However, I have decided to work for myself and as of 1 October 2009 I will be functioning as a single entity. I am here to provide the universe with uncontrolled misguided apocolyptic awesometicity (TM).

Bare
The Good Countsabel and the Electric Fuck Pirates…
It was 1998 and the so-called punk scene was made up of a bunch of people who (we thought) had no idea! One of the bands that were becoming well-known and labelled punk were an ex-Christian band (later they became the now infamous Fokofpolisiekar).

We were not happy with this whole situation so we decided to start our own band and styled it loosely on everything GG Allin did. Twas a glorious time indeed. People were utterly confused and sometimes would think our shows were some form of a performance art piece – as we were fucking drunk out of our skulls and would, nine times out of ten, attack the audience and end up leaving the stage drunk after maybe three songs, if we remembered. The music was short, fast, loud and fucking rude! We accomplished our mission and terminated The Fuck Pirates in 2002 after spawning numerous young, angry, brutal bands.

Electric_Fuck_Pirates

The name, The Good Countsabel Von Trucklove, comes from the band. We all decided one day – with heads full of brandy – that we needed names that were regal so we became Baron Excelsior (bass, guitar and vocals), Tron McDeath (lead guitar and shredder of doom), The Duke of Wellington (drums) – he was an Afrikaans dude from Wellington – and The Good Countsabel Von Trucklove (me, on vocals and violence). The 'sabel' bit comes from these knives you could buy at all corner stores when I was growing up and I had this hyper gay lumo sticker on my bass that said 'Keep on truckin'. I used the name whenever I wrote stuff or exhibited stuff and it just stuck.

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Childhood…
I am an only child and grew up in my grandmother's garden. Twas a wonderful childhood until I bit my gran's ageing Cocker Spaniel 'Bruno' and she proclaimed that I was a 'Devil Child'. This resulted in my being rather unpopular with the neighbourhood kids who were all really into Jesus and such. So I just chilled on my own and drew sneakers (I was convinced I would one day design shoes for Nike), cars and loads of penises for some reason.

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I grew up in Athlone, affectionately known as 'Die Salon', on the Cape Flats. Everything about it was awesome. The community, the characters, the lifelong friendships, the fights, the hijinx... everything. It definitely moulded The Good Countsabel in every way, shape and form – it is what has given me my 'chutzpa'.
Why he thought he'd be any good…
I tend not to think, really. It's overrated and just results in more questions. Fucking pointless if you ask me.

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Side projects…
I have loads. And loads more in the pipeline. Renovating our house. Running a clothing label with a good friend. Starting a business. Breaking the law. Making mixtapes. Running the Dailyfix. I've got this massive blog collaboration in the works with Gazelle aka my homey Xander a photographer and general all round hustler.

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Pros and cons…
I don't like big clients who think they own you. It really really does not sit well with me and has been the cause of many an altercation throughout my so-called 'career' at various agencies – hence me wanting to work for myself. My terms. My choice. My way.

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Encouraging family…
Yeah. They were always like 'Do it man, set yourself on fire... it will be really funny and such'.

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The greatest obstacles…
My dance moves. They have always held me back. I remember getting a job at a very well known agency, only to be fired one Monday morning after a 'team building' night out on the jazz. I simply cannot help what my feet and body do once music comes into the equation. Call it jealousy or whatever you want but it was just too much. I simply was no longer welcome at that organisation. Sad... but chronically true!

Frog
Important lessons learnt…
Never ever drink metholated spirits. Unless it is first passed though government issue 'brown' bread. Seriously!
Best advice received…
If the shoe fits, don't try to fix it and if it ain't broke, wear it!

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Collector-maniac…
I enjoy stealing family pictures from people's homes. I have a large collection of shoes (I know, very predictable) and Tretchikoff prints.

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The cure to 'no inspiration'…
Music !
Favourite places…
The internet in general inspires. Seek and ye shall find. Engrish.com – it's all I need in life!
Pastimes…
Straight shit talk. The more shit talk the better.
Go back in time…
Hell no! Not ever, never. It is what it is!
Favourite people…
Jello Biafra, Wesley Willis, GG Allin, Mike Giant, Neckface, King Diamond, Workin' Nights Mixtapes.

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Plans right now…
Lots of I4 day weeks! Living life and taking it easy. And making some mini-me's as soon as the missus is ready! It's insane how broody I am. I just cannot wait to make tiny King Diamond t-shirts.
If anyone wants to follow in his footsteps…
Don't… become a plumber!

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Dream life…
I am absolutely happy with my life as it is. Sounds like I'm full of shit and I am but I really am happy right now. I've got all I need. A beautiful lady – Sarah Joy, Alabama our boerboel, Peaches our snooty cat, a roof over my head, Gaggenau kitchen appliances and fresh local produce to cook until I die!

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Monday 21 September 2009

19.0 / I'm not bein' funny like / Andy Mcananey

What: Copy Writer
Where: London, United Kingdon
Website: DDB

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A career in imagineering…
You could call me a copywriter, an art director, maybe even a creative. If you’re feeling particularly wanky you could say I’m an imagineer. But I’d rather you didn’t.

Basically, my job is to come up with ideas that’ll change people’s perceptions of a product, make them think about a brand in a different light, entertain them. Flog stuff.


Just a little bit of this and that…
I work at an advertising agency called DDB. Doyle, Dane, Bernbach as it was back in the Madmen days. DDB has a huge array of really good clients: VW, Marmite, Harvey Nichols, Budweiser. The list goes on and on. I get to work across all those, which is great.

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More specifically…
If I say what I’m working on right now it’ll probably put some kind of voodoo curse on it and it’ll go pear-shaped so I’d rather not.
Back in time…
Well, I took chemistry, maths and physics at A-level and failed my first year spectacularly. Yep, the only thing I have in common with Stephen Hawking is that we both drool occasionally. I was into drawing and art so I decided to chance my arm and enrolled on a graphic design course at Durham College. I did OK, not brilliant, but OK.

After that I moved to do advertising at Newcastle College. Where I met my partner, no, not in that way, my work partner. We moved down to London and started the long, painful process of trying to get a job.


How he knows what he knows…
It’s a strange one really. College can only teach you so much. A few basics but beyond that you just need to get out there and do it. Work your tits off. Or if you haven’t got tits, work your balls off. There’s no real magic trick you can learn. The more you do the better you get.
Mini Mcananey…
I was a pretty quiet kid really. At one point, when I was fifteen, I got ill for a long period. So I spent a lot of time on my own drawing and reading. I think, sorry, I know that lead me down the path I’m on today. Good things came out of it, although at the time it wasn’t much fun.

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Confidence…
I’d never thought I’d be good at what I’m doing. I had a good imagination as a kid I suppose but that’s about it. I still think I’m chancing it to a certain extent.


Nature, nurture…
I grew up in Wolsingham, a village in Weardale, Co Durham. It was, and still is, quiet and green. I really like going back, running in the fields and by the little streams. It’s a great place to grow up. But as soon as I knew I wanted to do advertising there’s only one place to go and that’s London. I suppose I could have done the ads for Peggotty’s the bakers or Wolsingham agricultural show (it’s the oldest in Britain I’ll have you know) but I don’t think there would be much money or creative opportunity in that. Although I could’ve gotten paid in vanilla slices, Peggotty’s are particularly good.
The life and times…
My week normally consists of me sitting opposite Christian, trying to squeeze out a modicum of an idea. If one does plop out and the creative director buys it and the client decides to run it, then I take my feet off the desk and do a little jig. After that we have to decide on which director, illustrator, photographer or designer to use. We have to ensure we get the right person to give it the look and feel we want. Someone who’ll polish that turd until it shines like the sun.
Encouraging family…
Nah, they beat me with sticks and said 'You’ll never make it you are a loser Andrew, a loser I tells ya!'. No, they did encourage me. I think it could have seemed like a bit of a dodge, doing graphics and advertising. Oh you can’t do anything real, so you’re going to do some nice drawing. That’s nice. But my family knew it was what I wanted to do and were really supportive and that did help a lot. Especially since I wasn’t exactly full of confidence when I was younger.
Biggest obstacle…
Being made redundant. Pretty soul destroying, I can tell you. It was mine and Christian’s first job and you wonder what the hell you’ve done wrong. We had to take a job, well a half-job, at a shit agency and belligerently try and crawl our way back to respectability. But we learnt a lot in that time. We became more tenacious, found out that there are people who will take advantage of you if you let them and I think we appreciate things more now.
Important lessons…
We used to have a rep for being the wacky, car-razy team. Give it to them, they’ll do something bonkers mad. In retrospect maybe a 100ft golden statue of Ted Bovis wasn’t such a good idea for Ford Focus. Yes, I think our ideas are more grounded now. In the respect that are actually achievable. But I’m still quite happy to be different. What’s the point in coming up with something that the team down the corridor would? We always try to do something unexpected.

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Obsessions…
I used to be well into electronic music when I was younger. But I drifted away from it when I couldn’t afford to buy the vinyl and I sold my decks. But over the past couple of years I’ve come back to it in a big way. So I spend loads of time trawling blogs, going on Beatport and keeping up to date with what’s going on via Twitter. I’ve just organised a loan, gulp, so I can get the whole shebang back. And be crap all over again.

Sherlock Holmes is not Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr and Jude fucking Law thank you very much. It is Jeremy Brett as the esteemed Mr Sherlock Holmes and, for me at least, Edward Hardwicke as his honourable companion Dr Watson. I’m pretty obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, as you may have deduced. There’s something about that gentlemanly Victorian demeanour, the capturing of ne’er-do-wells and general all round, god-damn suaveness of the guy that’s irrepressible.

Oh, and apparently I’m obsessed with handkerchiefs. In my opinion a modern gent should carry a handkerchief. Just in case there’s a spillage or the lady you are with has a turn and is overcome with sadness. As they are prone to do. Well, at least around me anyways.



Inspiration…
I don’t think you have to go to specific places for inspiration like you used to. Yeah, it’s still awe-inspiring to go to the British Museum or the Tate. But you can find inspiration pretty much anywhere, if you look hard enough.

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In awe of…
George Orwell always inspires me. I hate flowery writing. His style is to the point. But still incredibly evocative. When I try to write I always try to adhere to his rules.

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If he could go back in time…
I wouldn’t be so stressy; it doesn’t really get you anywhere. You make better decisions if you’re not running around like a big Jessie. Oh, and to completely contradict that, I’d kick Steve Dunn, the creative director who made us redundant, full-on in the balls.
Another life…
I’d like to write comedy. Christian and myself have written sketches in the past but we’ve lost the impetus, life gets in the way doesn’t it? I’d like to get back to doing that, even if it’s just to say I gave it my best shot but everyone thought I was about as funny as getting consumption.
Telling it like it is…
Like I said before you need to be determined. I see loads of teams who think they’re going to waltz into a job. Wrong. You need to work like crazy to get a job and work like crazy to keep it. But there’s a flip side to that coin. You’ll have a great, enjoyable, rewarding job. And it’ll probably be a damn sight better than working in Dolcis. I couldn’t say that for sure though because I’ve never worked in Dolcis.

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Optional extra…
Let’s pretend this is the end of Masters of the Universe, I’m Prince Adam and I’m doing the cheesy summing up. What have we learnt today? Apart from I want Whiplash and Battlecat and Snake Mountain and Evil Lynn and, and, and… Well this is a pretty good quote and I think it applies to anyone who works in the creative industries. Ladies and gentlemen I pass you over to Mr Bill Bernbach, take it away Bill:

'All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can lift it onto a higher level.'

Or in other words: you’re in a privileged position, don’t churn out crap.

And that’s all she wrote.
Continue reading...

Wednesday 16 September 2009

3.3 / Shooting with his eyes / Kjetil Hasselgård

What: Photographer
Where: Oslo, Norway
Website: Kjetil Hasselgård

Kjetil Hasselgård
From a little town in Norway…
I grew up in the south of Norway and started doing photography when I was about 16. I had a little trouble figuring out what I wanted to do with my life when I was that age, like many of us, and quite accidentally started doing more creative classes at school and ended up taking photography. I then went on to Oslo Photo Art School. I felt that when I started photography it was something that I was good at. It's something that I get a lot out of too. It's like a drug. I never get tired of it.

My abilities are well suited to photography. I have an interest in the artistic/creative side of life and I am good at understanding the technical side of things. Photography requires both the technical and the creative, which makes it a good subject for me.
Learning from experience…
When I finished school I started working for a professional photographer. That's where I learned a lot of what I know now and the different photographic techniques. That photographer was very into technical photography and combined technique with artistic flair, which was very nice.

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For fun…
I try to do some fun things on the side. I started teaching photography at a private school here in Oslo a while ago – everything from technical to more artistic photography. I do many things but my base income comes from doing photography. I teach different classes and am a creative photographer for enjoyment. I'm getting into doing more side projects. They're kind of in my head right now but I'm planning to save up a bit of money and do them soon.

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Pros and cons…
The thing about Norway that is interesting and difficult at the same time is that the photography industry here doesn't work like it does in other parts of the world. In London or New York, for instance, and most of those cities there are many agencies that work with photographers. In Norway, we have only one big photography agency.

When it comes to being a freelancer, I really like the freedom but it can also be a negative thing regarding when you get work and when you get paid. I like it when I am able to choose what work I do and who I want to work with. I like that the work varies a lot and I'm not doing the same thing all the time. But there also times when I have to do jobs that I don't want to do . When you're a freelancer, sometimes you have to work with people you don't want to work with because you need an income and you have to pay the rent.

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Confidence…
It always varies a lot. When I have a steady stream of work I feel very confident. Recently with the financial crisis or when work is slow, it's harder to feel confident. Everyone has a tiny bit of control over how confident they feel but sometimes it really depends on how things are going at a specific moment.

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As a kid…
I guess I was just doing what most kids do when they're younger. But I really started to enjoy myself when I started doing things that involved creativity. There was a process of trying things out and discovering what I liked. I wasn't one of those people who did creative things all their lives.

My father worked as a painter and painted pictures. I think that might have inspired me to do something more creative. When I was about ten I did a picture that my dad sold through one of his exhibitions. It was bought by a sweet, old woman. That was really nice.

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Knowing how…
I've learnt to structure things and learnt creative ways of working. I've learnt to spend time on improving my techniques to get the feeling that I am trying to convey across in the work that I do. I spend a lot of time working on honing my skills in Photoshop. I also look at what other people are doing and I try to figure out how they do it.

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Inspiration…
When you're a photographer you're always taking pictures with your eyes, atleast it's like that for me. Whenever I travel anywhere it's like I have a camera in my head and I'm always taking shots and storing images of things I like. Sometimes it's a little intense (when you're always studying light) but it helps me to find the right locations for work and for my side projects.
Ideas flowing…
I feel inspired all the time. There are so many ways you can work with photography. If I want to work with a fashion series I can and if I want to just shoot a landscape I can. I can make my life as varied as I'd like it to be. I can do portraits, travel around and just watch people.

If I get tired of walking around with my camera I think it's also important to walk around without my camera. It's important to allow myself to explore different ways of thinking and just see things. I live in Drammen just outside of Oslo and I spend a lot of my time just walking my dog outside in the woods nearby. I spend a lot of time travelling between Drammen and Oslo too and therefore spend a lot of time enjoying the different sights and scenery. When I'm in Oslo I get inspired by looking at people and I enjoy walking around in the town centre, while in Drammen I am closer to nature.

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Hot off the press…
I just finished a catalogue for a small brand in Oslo run by a local designer. We did the shoot on Trollstigen, a road that goes up the mountain in Romsdal. We shot out there for two days, which was great.

Fashion shoot

Since I started doing more fashion, it's nice to do fashion photography that is a little different. The brand makes clothes for women that are not teenagers but are more like 28+. It's very interesting. The emphasis is on trying to show the form and the textures of the clothing. A lot of fashion is very cool and sometimes (as a photographer) you're not able to fit everything into the picture. The challenge is to find a balance and produce something that looks cool but also shows off the clothes and their functionality. The brand I worked with in Trollstigen wanted to capture what we call in Norway 'the national romantic view' that many famous painters and artists have done. Combining the scenery with the clothes was interesting.

Fashion shoot
Favourite photography…
I've been interested in fashion photography for a long time. Before I started doing it, I'd wanted to do it but wasn't really sure about it. When I worked with a fashion photographer I didn't want to be a fashion photographer because I wanted to be 'this artist' who did 'artistic photography'. I thought I had to be some fashionista to take fashion pictures. But I was good at it and now I'm claiming it back. And I'm starting to combine my interest in artistic photography with fashion. Outside of fashion, I enjoy doing creative photography – deadpan photography (that's what I'm really interested in), photographing people, landscapes and all sorts of things.
Influential Norway…
If I was living in a big city like London, which is very inspiring, it might drive me to do more creative things. I grew up in a small town and then moved to Oslo. Coming from a small town and moving to a bigger city made me feel very inspired. But then, after being here for a while I think I've had to work out my own way of looking at photography. Some people try to do what others are doing and be inspired by them but I try and focus on what I'm doing and doing it well.

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Advice…
This is very cheesy but I like the way Charles Bukowski looked at his work. I think he said that whenever he was in doubt of what he was doing or doubted his work, he would just look at what other people were doing and then felt better about himself. It's a little arrogant and maybe cheesy but I like that.

Group portrait
Collections of things…
I've always collected art books. They generally just sit on my shelf and look pretty but sometimes I flip through them for inspiration. They're something that I am always going to collect.

River grass
Admiration…
I check out the Art + Commerce website, Terry Richardson (a great photographer) and Sølve Sundsbø. If there are any other photographers that I admire, I like to look them up too.

There are a lot of people whose work I admire but I don't necessarily admire them as people because I don't know them. Sometimes I get inspired by the work but the person is something else. It's more their work that I admire.

Dramatic sky
Plans for the immediate future…
I'm planning to do a new project with landscapes on large format film. I have some film cameras that I want to experiment with. I'm just saving up some money and then I will start it. I usually shoot digital but it will be nice to use film and work on a more creative project.
Dream life…
I hope to be an artist and just do the stuff I fancy doing. I'd like to not have to worry about getting my next job. The past two years has been quite tight. I decided that I needed to just get into being a photographer on my own and I've succeeded in doing that. I think my next goal is just to have a more constant flow of work and be more of an artist. I'd like to be in a position where I can just work on projects that I want to work on.

Kjetil Hasselgård

Advice…

Be nice and work hard. That's always good. There are lots of people who just bulldoze their way through to get to where they want to go. There are a lot of new photographers who are just starting out and it's always good to just be nice to everyone you meet and work with.
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