Life isn’t always that Instagram-perfect picture. Now that we’ve all become photographers thanks to our smartphones, and images are edited on the spot to look more beautiful than they actually are, life has become quite artificial. Rarely is anything what it seems, we present ourselves as better and more beautiful than we are, all for that extra like.
In Sweet Desolation those ‘other’ places are captured. Not the overcrowded, pristine white beaches, but rather the more remote, often desolate spots that at certain moments bring harmony to the soul and can soothe your mind. Places where solitude is welcome, but happiness can also be found.
These photos are mostly panoramic shots, meaning they consist of several images which were combined in post processing, as a way to capture more detail in a higher pixel count. By doing this, another dimension is added: when these pictures are printed on big sizes, they still offer the initial feeling you get from them if viewed from a distance. While getting closer is somehow like stepping into the photo and often reveals details that will otherwise go unnoticed, you might for instance suddenly discover a lonely soul somewhere in a landscape, or some leftovers from human interference of some kind. By coming closer I want to achieve that you can somehow walk into the picture and immerse yourself in that spot like I did when I was there to capture it.
About the people in the photos: I do not tell the story of those individuals, those are all people who just walked into the picture or took place in it while I was capturing it, I never had a conversation with them (often they probably didn’t even notice me), nor do I know anything about them. I can only assume that they might have been looking for the same thing I was searching for at that particular moment.
Often, I make field recordings of these places while photographing them, these recordings are used in soundscapes and music productions which capture the feeling of the place in another way. Together they create an audio-visual experience to further immerse yourself in the place and the feeling of the moment. However, due to the fleeting nature of the internet, it isn’t possible to present this combo effectively on a website. Therefore, the audiovisual aspect is exclusively reserved for exhibitions, where it can be fully appreciated.
Did you ever have a conversation with a little kid? I mean a real conversation and not just children’s chatter. You can talk about almost anything with them, even it being some of the fundamental problems the earth faces today as well as other things like art, scientific facts or simple day to day problems that require a solution. They very often have a surprising view on these topics, an insight that is so pure, so uncompromised and often so right on topic that it is really refreshing for your own state of mind, at least if you open up for it, which generally we just don’t.
Instead, we built an education system for them where we feed them with an immense amount of information and knowledge, which at the same time kills their pure way of thinking, their creativity, their view on the world from that other, extremely fascinating angle.
Once our kids reach a certain age, it is as if we shut them up, we block them from thinking and saying things from that pure uncompromised perspective. We silence them, we just make them shut up!
For this series I am still looking to photograph kids. If you have children who would be suited for this and are of an age where they are still in primary school, you can contact me or keep an eye on my Instagram page where I might post what I’m searching for when the time is right for it again.
Need a photographer for your event photography? Or are you in need of a corporate profile? Maybe some portrait pictures? Hold your horses! I might just be the photographer you are looking for.
Take a look at my portfolio, if you like what you see you can contact me for a quote. Just head over to the contact page and provide me with the necessary info, I will come back to you as soon as possible.