From Iceland with love.

Hi again. Where do we get the ball rolling here? I've been up to my ears in getting things in order for the next couple weeks, months, lifetimes. But apart from that, I have also been shooting, editing and producing far more than usual. Things are moving at light speed right now. Just they way I like it. I have so many ideas for cool posts, marketing, nerdy-tech talk, and loads more stuff that I cant give away right now... Stay tuned.

As much as I would love to rattle on about this and that and seduce you into reading my carefully worded and somewhat condescending bullshit, there is a point to this post. Read on.

What is at stake when you ask a stranger if you can shoot pictures of them? I think I should refine this a tad. What is at stake when you ask a beautiful young woman if she is comfortable in front of the camera in her underwear? Everything and nothing. I have the "no dignity, no shame" approach to this. If my game is right on the day I can walk into almost any situation and make something interesting happen. Especially if you involve people. I love people, and taking pictures of people is by far the ace up my sleeve. On the other hand though, if my game is off on the day, I can blow it big time, and I have before.

I sit down for lunch at a swish cafe in downtown Reykjavik. In between the insane days of shooting for my friends at Elite Model Iceland, the last thing I can think of is doing personal work in my precious, sleep deprived spare time. I see her immediately, she glides through the room like a figure skater on ice. She is tall, strawberry blonde, with glacial blue like eyes. I think its the eyes that did it. This is a headshot waiting to happen, a flick of the hair that needs to be captured. Natural beauty that is staring me right in the face. My mind starts racing to figure out how to "document" this. Concepts, colours, tones and textures are vivid and not the primary focus of what I want here. I lost track of this thought process as soon as my food arrived. Anything with meat and mushroom sauce will stop me dead in my tracks. A few mastication cycles later I finish my steak sandwich and double thick chocolate milkshake.
On my way out I ask the girl that ruined all hope of focusing on doing anything productive that day if I can shoot pictures of her. She smiles, laughs and asks me if I'm serious. An brief exchange of telephone numbers and a few text messages later we have a date.

I wanted to shoot this outside of the studio, somewhere easy, chilled and "contrasty". After much thought and unnecessary stress, I did something I usually never do. I walk in to a situation basically blindfolded. We shot this around my subjects house, a place I have seen or been to before. I had no idea what I was getting into. After surveying my current surroundings for a few minutes, I had my plan. Out come the umbrella's, the speedlights, radio triggers and whats that thing called again? Uhm, that clicky-button wotsit... CAMERA! Yes! that came out.

About halfway into the shoot, me hustling gear back and forth and chopping and changing things out, she says: "I think my brother is looking for me". Completely oblivious to the fact that I am standing in a small forest with a woman in her underwear, this blew straight over my head. A few seconds later I wake up to the potential danger I am now in. Best figure out who might be chasing me through woods in a few moments. "How old is he and what does he do?" I ask with a tone that hopefully doesn't  reveal my true fear of getting pounded by the over protective Icelandic big brother. "He's 31 and he's a hardcore electro DJ..." Fuck. Great. Sounds like a nice guy.

I'll cut to the chase. He turns out to actually be the most chilled and well travelled, well read Icelander I have met to date. You know who you are man! I hope you read this and remember that the offer still stands to drop in when I'm in Cape Town, both of you are most welcome. I must squeeze a quick thank you in here to both my model for the day, who is absolutely STUNNING! and to "big brother". Thanks for not remixing my face. I know your names, for anonymity's sake, I won't drop them here.
Here are some pictures, much love, N.

Some news... And some other shit.

WOW!!! People in Russia read my blog! People in Australia read my blog! Iceland, Sweden, The States, Holland and Brasil! THANK YOU INTERNET!!! Thats amazing. This little rant space that occasionally has some photo's on it was read by more than 800 people last month! Thats really cool for me to know that I'm doing something right. If you are reading this now, thank you very much. If you wanna be awesome you could link my blog on your FB, Twitter, Myspace, Soundcloud, or whatever the cool kids are using these days. I would appreciate that most definitely.

Also, I guess this is worth mentioning, this blog will go from SFW to NSFW with immediate effect, so if you view this at work, dont lose your shit if one day you logon and theres a naked woman on the homepage! Basically it means this space will feature a bit of language and some tits and ass. You have been warned.

Here is something cool though and something that I'm fizzing about! I just did a deal with a web design company to build a website and rebrand my online stuff. I wont give too much away, but I can let you in on this much: Its going to be slick, website for my portfolio and personal projects, a login area for client's, where you or they can rate and proof images, a brand new blog that will run with the theme of being clean, elegant, simple and easy to navigate. Thats all you get for now but I can say we will be having a BIG party for the launch, if you are in TRD, it goes without saying you are invited. Some guerrilla marketing will be chucked in for good measure. The company that I have entrusted with this mind boggling task is a local group by the name of Creatur Media. You should check them out here:

http://creatur.no/

This bring me to my next point. What a joy it is to be surrounded by likeminded, willing, energetic, creative people. Web designers, 3D animators, producers, art directors, models, actors, stylists, artists, and musicians. There are plenty others that deserve mention, but you know who you are! After being in a relationship with the closed minded, creatively impeded spawn of Satan that I foolishly called my partner  my dreams were crushed and my inspiration drained for over two years. (Yes, that was a cheap shot, but its true.) Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm not being narcissistic or a chauvinist, I love and respect women and the female form for what is is, the female spirit is a beautiful thing. It really feels like I was being completely static and held back not only with the way I was shooting, but my thought process with regards to concepts, art direction, ideas and finding inspiration, that now when I wake up, I have an idea, I write it down, brainstorm for a bit, and I'm making phone calls and, planning and fixing things within 24 hours. The weight of being in an abusive relationship will kill your creativity, your inspiration and your soul. I have so much love for all the people around me at the moment, my new friends in Iceland, my old friends in Trondheim, my family in Cape Town, my recently re-found family in Holland, and my superstar #1 Linn Sara. All of you mean the world to me. Thank you for all you support, affection and inspiration. 

Ok, now for some more news. I found my old iPod. And got it to work! This fossil has music on it from 4 years ago. So interesting to see my playlists from 4 years ago. I was so stoked to hear The Great Unknown by TonightWeDie. One of my all time favourite SA bands. YOU WILL NOT FIND THAT SONG ONLINE!!! I know this because I have tried with many hours of frustration. News?! YES! Something actually sensible now. I have been shooting! Some very cool stuff too. Im busy flipping pictures with my retoucher from Iceland, so you will start seeing those pretty soon. But what you are going to see now is the beginning of a series of work I have been planning for a while. This is just a teaser, and I dont have a name for the series yet, but if you got suggestions, throw them in the comment box! Here is a vivid description: 

"The setting is a hotel room, its warm, spacious, and vibrant. She is in a pair of knee-high stockings, black underwear with lace. Her make up is natural, her features shine through. Her eyes are a piercing sea-foam green. She lies on the floor, calm, her eyes are asking me to take pictures, her body is moving gently from side to side. I shoot and shoot. I am right here. I am focused. The direction I'm giving her is not needed, each time I begin to open my mouth to ask her to do something, she already starts re-adjusting. A few hours later, she is in the shower, the make up runs down her face.  Her hair is wet, the soft, gentle curls are now a mess. Her eyes are no longer on me, they gaze into the infinite void of a reflection of the mirror above the sink. I leave the bathroom."

More to come over the weekend. Stay cool. N.