The creation of "Path".

I wrote a guide in how I created this photo, entitled Path. With this blog post, I want to show you how parts of my creation process looks. I haven´t included every step, because it would have taken much longer to write and I didn´t want this post to be too long. But I hope you will at least get an idea about how I work!

In Mars, I visited my friend Victoria in Norrköping for a couple of days to work and photograph together. One day we went to a national park to photograph, and we got there at sunset. The light looked amazing on the fields, and I just felt that I had to catch it in some way.

I used Victoria as a model for some test shots in order to get the composition right, and then I ran out on the field myself to pose in front of the camera, since I already had a black dress on for another photo that I had planned, and I thought it would suit perfectly for this picture. I used Victorias 130 mm lens. This meant that I had to stand quite far away from the camera in order to get my whole body within the frame, and so the remote for the camera didn´t work on that distance. Luckily I had Victoria!

While I tried a lot of different poses, Victoria was my assistant and pressed the shutter. I knew that I wanted some kind of sad and melancholic feeling in the pose, but I wasn´t sure how to get it.

This is the photo that I ended up using.

In the editing process, I work a lot with curves. When I work with curves, I always create a new curve as an adjustment layer.

How to create an adjustment layer:

Go to Menu. Choose Layer and New adjustment layer. You can choose different adjustments, like Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation and so on... I work a lot with curves, so I choose Curves.

You can also create a new adjustment layer by clicking the small circle in the Layers window.

By creating an adjustment layer, you can choose to delete the changes that you´ve done to the image anytime, because the actual changes are only saved in the adjustment layer. The changes you do in an adjustment layer never affects the original image. Because of this, you can easily see how the image looks with or without the adjustments you´ve made. By clicking on the symbol that looks like an eye, the adjustment layer will either be visible or invisible.

I usually work with several adjustment layers (mostly curves) to get the right feeling in my image. Many times I need to try a lot of different adjustments in order to get it right.

Here you see two of the curves that I´ve created. Nothing special at all. The one to the left is a classic "s-curve", where you lighten the highlights and darken the blacks. This gives the picture more contrast. In the curve to the right I´ve darkened the blacks a bit more, and also added more blue into the picture. These curves are quite modest. My curves can definitely look more crazy!

Then I realized that I wanted to turn the scene into night. I felt that this suited my original idea for this photo. I also added in a picture of the stars over the black sky. I shot the image of the stars some time ago, and it´s the first time I´m happy with an image of the stars and actually want to use it!

Here is the finished image with all the layers that I´ve used. You can see that I´ve added two different Photo filters and also worked a bit with Vibrance.

In the final image, I added more light so as to make her seem blinded by headlights. The meaning of this picture grew deeper as I worked with it. I ended up writing these words for the picture:

Walking through life, navigating between the stars through darkness. To be blinded by spotlight, the harsh reality that doesn´t allow you to be lost in the unknown night, in your own secret world. A black dress, as a mourning dress to mourn life while we´re living it.

Forgotten images

I´m writing a blog post about the creation of my picture Path. It´s always fun to show some of the outtakes from a shoot. So many pictures that ends up on the computer without ever being seen!

I´ve been wanting to write more tutorials about my working process, and invite you to take part in my process. This is what I want this blog to be. An opportunity for you to get a glimpse of my life as a photographic artist, as well as an art student an a passionate creative person. Since this is my world and I love it, I want to share it with you, with the hope to be able to teach you something of value along the way!

You can see Path on my flickr.

What life SHOULD be

I usually put on the water boiler right when I get home to get a nice cup of tea. Since I´m drinking coffee every day, I´m trying to choose herbal teas when I´m drinking tea to be a bit healthier. Today I choose the little stronger Yogi Tea with a lot of good spices in it. I love that they always have little quotes on them. I´ve been saving some of the quotes that I like. Here are some of my favorites:

Give up the need to impress others.

Give up your excuses.

Give up your past.

When you let go of what you think life should be, life gets clear.

I especially like the last quote. I think it´s so easy to be stuck in the thought of what life should be, and actually miss what your life is or what it could be. It´s so easy to fool yourself, chasing what everyone else is after, trying to fit into a norm, trying to fulfill the dreams that commercialism gave us. It´s important to take a look at your own goals and dreams from time to time. Are they what you really want, or are they something that you should want? If you´re uncertain, try to start listen to yourself more, and everytime you want something (like travel to a warm country, get a better career with a higher status, a new sweater, and so on...) ask yourself why you want it. Do you feel like it´s something that is important for you in order to live a fulfilled, happy life, or do you feel that it´s something you want because it fits in perfectly with your own expectations of what your life should be, how it should look? I don´t say that it´s wrong if you want something, but I believe life gets shallow if we can´t understand our deeper needs and who we are as a person. Everyone is different. All our roads should look different. They may cross or share the same direction, but they should always be unique. Only you know what you need from life. Take that seriously. Take yourself and your needs seriously. Let go of what you think life should be, see what your life is like now and what possibilities you have to make it your own.

Serenade for solitude

About one year ago, I listened to a song named The Room by the swedish singer and musician Miss Li. The song starts with these words:

There is a room where no one can hurt us.

There is a room where no one can get us.

and continues like this:

There is a place where the wolves can´t harm us.

There is a place where the darkness can´t reach us.

Let´s go there now.

These words made a huge impact on me. The whole song is dramatic and dark and beautiful, like a lullaby for grown ups. This image popped right into my head the first time I heard it. It´s not often that a song or an artwork hits me like this, but I´m so happy when it does. Ever since I started producing images for my series Finding Peace in 2011, the topic of finding your own space in a chaotic world, finding the right balance between integrity and isolation, and feeling safe enough to be able to relax, has been the most important topic that I´ve been working with so far. This image is a step in a new direction, away from my series Finding Peace, in which I use a big bubble to symbolize what separates us from the world. I wanted to take one more step and let the whole body be surrounded by this reflective surface. I wanted the character to be wholly enclosed by a wall of glass.

When I got the chance last fall to inherit a huge fish tank, I didn´t hesitate for a second. I heard about this huge tank and that it was actually going to be throwed away. I couldn´t let this happen, ofcourse :D as I had this image all planned in my head, just waiting for the right circumstances to start the process of creating it. So I got my parents and amazing boyfriend to help me transport this heavy fish tank to my familys country house, where we used a LOT of tarp to protect it from rain and cold (we had to put it outside). Since then I´ve been doing three different photo shoots, trying different lenses, costumes and angles. I finally found the right feeling in the picture, and when I photographed the starry sky to composite into the picture, I could complete my vision!

To me, this is an incredible important image. It´s about finding sanctuary, a small safe place in a troubling world. It´s about protecting yourself, taking care of the treasure that is you. You have only yourself. You have to take care of that self. Isolation as a condition for being left alone, in peace.

You can listen to the song here.

Some behind the scenes photos:

The luxury of coaching

Today I met up with one of my teachers for coaching. I showed him some of my latest pictures from my new Sleep Project that I will work on when I travel to Iceland next week (I´ll write more about that, I promise!) Since I´m going to Iceland, I´ve been very eager to decide one project that I´m going to work with. I´ve been to Iceland once before, and the environment is simply breathtaking. I know that I will be carried away by the beauty and drama of it all, which is why it feels important to have decided beforehand what I´m going to photograph on my trip. I want to be sure to stay focused and do my absolute best to capture what I want to capture.

Lately when I´ve had coaching at school, I´ve been showing my work on my iPad, and I actually like this form of presenting my work very much. The pictures look absolutely stunning on the screen, and especially my work since I use a lot of strong colors and blackness in my photos. I also bring my cute notebook with the artwork from the Moomins by Tove Jansson. This notebook is only for my coaching meetings, and nothing else. I have to write down some of the thoughts that comes up during these conversations, because otherwise I know that I will forget the words from my teacher later. I love to talk to one person at a time about my work. It´s such a luxury to have one whole hour dedicated to nothing else than your own project and your own art! To explain to someone else what you want to create is a very good way of learning to understand yourself and your process better. When you´re forced to describe your thoughts, you will reveal how much you´ve actually thought you project through or not.

I´m very excited to start working on this project and share my thoughts about it with you all!

When is the best time for learning?

Good morning! I´m soon off to school for a two hour long meeting. Every tuesday we have a class meeting, where we talk about a lot of things, like stuff that´s going on in the school, coming lectures, eventual problems with a course, thoughts about art and photography, and so on. Since I´m attending an art school, and it´s university, we don´t have many scheduled hours. Some weeks we don´t even have any lessons, except for this tuesday meeting. This suits me perfectly, as I love to decide over my own time and I prefer to work with my projects in my own pace. I know that this doesn´t suit everyone, and it depends on how far you´ve come in your own development and how much you know about what you want to do. The last couple of years I´ve explored my own artistic voice very much, and now I feel like I know what I want to focus on and what kind of art that I want to create. This is a lovely feeling, as it gives me the opportunity to actually focus on creating, rather than searching for something to create. Some people may say that you don´t need to go to a school if you already know what you want to do and isn´t prepared to change. Well... I do believe that I would have been more open to change and new thoughts if I had started this school some years earlier. But on the other hand, I might have gotten lost. Now I know myself better than before, and I can tell which critique to listen to and which critique I should just ignore. I feel like I´m strong enough to stand up for myself, while I´m still able to listen to the opinions of others without being lost. You can read more of my thoughts about going to art school here! What are your experiences from going to art school?

Easter weekend

I had a wonderful weekend, celebrating Easter in the countryside with my boyfriends family. We went on several walks with Tjorven, our miniature poodle puppy, and it was wonderful to see her enjoy nature so much. She was perfectly happy lying on the ground, digging in the garden and eating grass! We went to the ocean that lies close to the house and it was so beautiful with the sun reflected in the small waves. We had lots of coffee on the porch, and I felt that I could sit there forever, looking at Tjorven and listening to the loud noise of all the birds singing. I am so incredible grateful to have a place like this to visit. Being in nature makes me feel whole as a person and I always feel that I´m more content and happy when I spend a couple of days near nature.

Morning beverage

Good morning! I´m having coffee with orange juice today. Lately, this has been my favorite beverage in the morning. Something with the fresh juice and the strong coffee is perfect for me when I want to wake up and feel less tired. I´m always very tired in the mornings. But I constantly wish that I would be one of those people who wake up right when the alarm clock rings and jumps out of bed. One of those who wakes up before everyone else is awake and makes coffee all alone and have hours left before the day starts. It sounds so romantic and peaceful! I´m always so dizzy in the morning and I need time to wake up. The only times when I´m waking up fast is when I know that I need to do something very important that I can´t miss, like an interview or an important meeting. When I´m nervous about something the next day I sleep quite bad and I actually like that. I´m always sleeping so heavy that I feel knocked out when I wake up, and sleeping light can actually feel good compared to that. I wonder if it´s possible to actually change and turn into a morning person? I´ve been trying for long and I´m still trying!

100 years and beatiful pastel tones

Yesterday I went with my boyfriend and his family to a small village in Dalsland, where my boyfriends grandmother celebrated her 100th year birthday! Everyone gathered in a beautiful hotel with decorations and wallpaper from the early 20th century. I realised that I love that style. The colors are bright, as in the light blue chairs, and the sun that shined in through the big windows painted the wallpaper in a beautiful, soft light. I love pastel tones, such as light blue and light pink. Sometimes I try to get these tones in my photography as well, and the best time to get this kind of tones is in spring time, when the fields are dry and yellow, and the day light is bright but still a bit chilly. I love the clear but still soft feeling that comes from that light.

The birthday party was amazing with A LOT of cake, coffee and even some sparkling wine. On the picture you see my boyfriend next to the birthday girl. She definitely looks younger than her age!

Exhibition at Österlen

During Easter this weekend I´m exhibiting my image Void at gallery Blåherremölla at Österlen in Skåne, southern Sweden. My classmate Camilla owns a beautiful gallery inside an old barn and she asked our class if we would want to participate in the yearly Konstrundan (art walk). I said yes immediately. I want to take every chance that I get to show my work! We ended up being nine people from the class that exhibits together. This morning I got an email from Camilla saying that I had gotten a lot of nice response for my image and that some people seemed interested in buying!

To say that I´m having an exhibition at Österlen sounds very good to me (this is a truly beautiful place in Sweden). Something with that name and what I associate it with just feels so beautiful!

You can read about my series Finding Peace here.

The art of going to art school

Well, here I am. An art student since september last year. I´ve now been a student for 8 months, studying to get a Bachelor of Fine Art in Photography. Ah, how beautiful that sounds! Bachelor of Fine Arts. It´s like cotton in my ears. It´s like a feeling of working towards acceptance, a feeling of comfort knowing that I will be able to say that I have a BFA in Photography- I am no self confident artist who just decided to follow my dreams and work with my art without anyones approval. I am an approved artist and you can trust me and my art. I will even have a paper when I´ve finished school that I can show you. Look! I´m an artist!


"Stuck" from 2012. There´s a lot of thinking when you go to art school. A bit too much.

To be honest, this is one of the reasons that I applied to this school: I wanted to feel accepted and get the benefits that can come from an exam. After applying three times and not getting in, I decided to give up the idea of going to school and work on my own. But then I got in because someone dropped off. I think it´s been extremely good for me that I didn´t get accepted at once. I had to learn that I can create anyway. I learned not to wait for anyones approval, I learned to create what I wanted to, and I learned that you actually don´t have to go to art school in order to be an artist. You can be an artist how much you want anyway! I still believe this to a 100%. Only YOU decide if you´re an artist or not. In some ways, having a paper to prove that you´re educated within your field, can be a good thing and maybe give you a short cut. But it´s not necessary for you. If you don´t want to go to school, can´t afford it or didn´t get in, I would advice you to find your own path and go for it anyway! To me, school is mostly a piece of paper. I´m happy that I got in, but I still have to work as hard as before for my art. And I´m happy that I found my artistic voice before I started this education.

Well... here I am, in school. And it´s such a transformation. I used to create on intuition, sometimes doing a lot of thinking beforehand, sometimes not. I used to only care about how I felt about my work, not what anyone else thought. In art school there is a lot of focus on the process of creating and on critique. You quickly get self-consious. I´ve also started to feel anxious about what I create. My education is more focused on theory than practice. It´s more about the why than about the how. This sometimes leads to over thinking an image or a project, and you may never even start with your project because you feel like you haven´t thought it through enough and maybe it´s better to not do it at all.


One great thing about art school is that you get many possibilities to exhibit your work. Here I am next to one of the images that I applied with, at our first exhibition in school.


Another great thing about my school is the resources. We have access to a lot of equipment as well as studios. I´m not complaining about this :)

I have already heard a lot of peoples thoughts on my sketch (that I usually never show to people). I have thought this picture through and talked about it in class. Because that is what we do in school. And I get more and more anxious that someone might not like the finished picture, because there are so many perspectives to see it from. I´m sure someone will feel it´s cliché (a lot of things are cliché when you go to art school). Someone else is sure to feel it´s too beautiful. Sadly, many people in my class seem to think that a beautiful image is only beautiful because the artist had no idea when creating it, which in my case isn´t true at all. Beautiful art seems to mean shallow when you go to art school. Someone else is bound to feel that it´s too symbolic, it tells too much. I should be more difficult, maybe remove the person in the image, make people think a bit more. In art school, creating art because you want other people to feel better and get to know themselves, isn´t a very "fine" purpose. I want to create art for as many people as possible. That isn´t a noble goal at art school. In fact, it almost seems as if it´s better if only a few people appreciate what you do, which I guess means that you´re not mainstream. And, of course, selling your art CAN´T be a goal. That automatically means that you created that art only to sell it, and that it´s shallow and only a product of our modern, capitalistic soceity. Not real art. I haven´t created one single picture with the purpse to sell it. My purpose is to visualize inner worlds, to interpret human emotions and transform them into a beautiful and thought provoking image. I want my art to inspire someone to look inside herself and maybe get to know her inner world a little bit more. This will always be my goal with my art. This is the reason why I create. But I still want to sell my pictures. In art school, this seems to be a contradiction. You have to choose. Sell or starve, basically.

I have licensed one of my images to a card company in USA. I had no thought of this when I created the picture, but I was so happy to get this request!

In 2012, I was contacted by a record label who wanted to license one of my images for an album cover. Again, I didn´t think one second about selling this photo when I created it, but I was SO happy when I got this request!!!

Happy with my printed image "The edge of itself". I love seeing my images in real life!

One thing that I´ve started to understand is that it´s common to have mixed feelings about going to art school. Many people seem to start doubting themselves and the art they´re doing when they start a higher education in art. And this can actually be a good thing. I believe that I will be stronger and more self-confident in what I´m doing, when I graduate, because I will have had many talks about my art and why I create it. To question yourself and be forced to explain what you do to others can only make you grow. But what I don´t like about my school is that there seems to be a bit of a lack of respect for the photographic craft. Theory seems to be very much respected, and the aesthetics isn´t discussed very much. I almost feel that it´s wrong to be focused on the idea AND the aesthetics. It´s as if you´re shallow just because you´re focusing on the aesthetics. To me, the best art is art that can be both beautiful and painful at the same time. Art that makes you feel small, art that makes you look inside yourself, maybe understand the world and your inner self a bit more. I don´t want to be clever, I don´t want to fit in to the norm of the minimalistic art at my school (yes, there is definitely a norm there, even if no one talks about it). I don´t want to create art for the small "art world". I want to create art for the world! I want anyone to like my pictures, it doesn´t matter if you´re from the art community or not.

I´m always thinking of this quote by writer Jeanette Winterson when I´m creating: "In order to criticize something you don´t always have to go straight to the problem. You can do it by offering something else." I have so much to say about society, about what I feel is wrong in the world. The lack of human rights, the lack of equality and how we treat the earth we should be so grateful for living at. But my way of doing this is to create worlds where people can get lost, where people can put themselves in and feel better because their imagination is awakened (I will write more about this later.)

What I hope the most, is that I can stay true to myself and my inner voice while I´m attending this school. I still want to grow of course, and I want to learn, but if I loose my own voice, I loose everything that I have.

Do you go to an art school? Even if it´s a course, or a higher education- what are your experiences with this, and how did it affect your art?