Carpe Naturam

Carpe naturam, photo taken with my Samsung NX300 with 30mm glass - completed using Lightroom.

Composition, lines and the virgin Mary

I created this image, in which we see Jesus and the virgin Mary, an image resting inside an ornamental brooch. It was made to illustrate the point of framing, of diagonal and dynamic lines in photography, of circles and rectaungular shapes within the framing of the image itself.

According to the English writer G.K Chesterton, "The essence of every picture is the frame". The frame here has is a proportion of 16*9, instead of the usual proportions that are often associated with modern 35mm photography, both film and digital.

The diagonal rectangular shape creates dynamics and intererest, tension which is added to by the ´"new moon"-shape of the shadow created by the tilting light source. The outer part of the ornament creates a cicle within the rectangular shape, and yet another circle, the inner border between the metalwork and the glass protected image of Jesus.

The image is a unification between dynamic movement of the rectangle wihtin the frame, the added movement of the new moon and the "circle within circle", which pulls the viewer in, into a classic despiction of grace.

In this image we may yet consider the circular shape of the halo, which draws out attention to the face of Mary!

A Photo from the Theatre Stage

A photo I recently shot, that I am particulary pleased with, despicting that of the artist Johanna Lillvik, reaching for the audience with her voice and keyboard, at the Putte i parken festival - theatre stage.

I used Pentax K5D with DA 70 Ltd lens at f/3,2, ISO 1600 - and retouched the colors using Adobe Lightroom.

Trädstudium

I found this picture while browsing some of my older works. This is one image in a series of mine, a kind of photographic study that I've come to deeply enjoy. If you've read this blog before, you've probably seen similar images posted.

I haven't had the chance to update this blog lately, and very few words have found its way here. This does not however reflect the amount of activity that is going on in my life, lots of things are happening. But I believe precisely because of this that this will continue to be a more sparsely updated outlet. And the slowness involved has also been great in a way, the texts are after all not dependent on their newness. So feel free to browse the archives, and pop in from time to time to see what happens.

There will still be life signs here. Traces of activity which does not fit in any other medium. Music & images and otherness involved. Thanks for coming here.

Two Images of Summer

I'd like to share two photos I took yesterday, with my modest cell phone camera. I and two dear friends travelled to beautiful Näs, to visit an older couple whose garden was a cornucopia of berries, flowers among other things. Some post-processing was involved. Thanks for passing by.

Moss on a Tree

For this photo I used a quite modest Sony compact camera, while standing on a ladder next to one of the trees in my family's home in Gaperud. The colors of autumn becomes more and more apparent as each day goes by.

Featured on Kahvi once more

One of my photographies can once again be found on one of Kahvi Collective Audio Sculptors releases. This time it is Jim Black's new six track EP Yoctosecond which has one of my photographies taken early 2007 featured. Earlier contributions by me is found on Polaski's Bendii Syndrome and Acrilic Colors Yves Klein Blue.

Yoctosecond can be downloaded here.

The Snow Abides

We have had so much snow lately. And with days such as these: when the sun paints everything in colors upon a brilliant and yet cloud free sky, I see little reasons to complain. Yet, many are longing for spring to make haste and travel to this part of Scandinavia.

I am starting to feel this longing too. I cannot say that it has yet resulted in what the author of the blog The Word Cellar describes: namely the want for clementines and exotic fruit. But this is perhaps not far off. Even in my winter loving world, I am starting to long for the next phase of the cyclic seasonal evolution.

Moving light, captured 2010 in Gaperud.

While I am writing this I am happy to announce that I am working now. Full time. I landed the job as a writer about things concerning social psychiatry and have just written a contract that lasts six months from now to august. Although I am hoping to be able to work an extended period of time, I try to remain in the 'here and now', which is always easier said then done.

My Design in a Field of Motion

Motionfield - Under the Stars

The ambient artist Motionfield has recently released a new album of his: the soothing record Under the Stars. The music is a blending pot of warm ambient and mellow electronica. I would go as far as saying that this has some strong references to the great pioneer's of syntheziser music.

I designed the cover with the basis of a photograph I took this spring. The first cover entirely done by me. So this is somewhat different then the covers which I have contributed my images to.

It is available for purchase from many venues, such as Emusic and Record Union. For those who have an account at the streaming e-music service Spotify, you are also able to listen to the album there.

On the Cover: Reprise

A second photography of mine has found a home with one of the netlabel Kahvi's releases. The first one was Polaski's Bendii Syndrome. This time around it is Acrilic Colors ep Yves Klein Blue. It was released on the netlabel Kahvi Collective a couple of days ago and is available for free.

Gardening for the formerly Homeless

Tomorrow I will work a couple of hours in a city run home for people who have lived lives in homelessness. It is one of several homes run by the city in which I live, and I cannot stress enough that I think that they are doing a very important job. Before I had only read about these projects. Now I have seen a little with my own eyes of the conditions they are living under, and worked on gardening the surrounding area.

The work I do is not spectacular. It consists of trimming overgrown bushes, taking care of the fallen leaves, getting rid of the immense amount of weed that has grown there, etcetera. Later we may go further into replacing or repairing a small wooden fence that has since long seen its best days. And I must admit that the work I do there every Friday fills me with a sense of satisfaction.

Summery Son, captured 2009.

The feeling of doing something good for people whose lives have been filled with hardships is very rewarding in itself. It is no understatement that I am thankful for being able to do this work. A gospel kind of thankful. Having gotten the chance to eat dinner and talk a little with a few of them also gives interesting perspectives on things.

I also have a few more or less visionary ideas involving art and this group of people. Wouldn't it be fantastic if there was a direction towards establishing more artistic projects with music, photography, painting and whatever sparks their interest and curiosity available for people who have lived or live under these conditions? It could be a way of regaining hope in yourself and realizing your own potential which may have been forgotten. Time will tell if or when I will put forward these ideas and what kind of response it will gather. I have a voice in the local section of the green party now after all, as I have written about before.

On a personal level I am also happy to tell that I am going to have a few of my photographs on exhibition in a café hopefully not long from now. I have refurbished a couple of frames I got from second hand to go with them. I also got it clear today that I will have the opportunity to exhibit my photography in another café run by a city supported non-profit organization next late year. Something I wouldn't have believed of myself doing not long ago. But I am determined to continue my life towards a positive path.

On the Cover

The DJ gone artist producer Polaski just released a new free EP on excellent net-label Kahvi Collective, a great source for independent electronic music . I am the man resonsible behind the photography for the cover, which I am very happy to see together with the very soothing and relaxing music of Bendii Syndrome which is currently playing in my headphones.

You can download the release here.

That is not all though. I have just finished designed my first record cover for ambient artist Motionfield which is due release on Itunes and other spaces within two months. Seing as I am very much fond of his Laponia LP, it was quite an honour that he contacted me to ask me if I wanted to do the cover for his yet to be released album.

Waves of Wind

It has been quite windy lately. I think I have mentioned on this blog that I like windy days before. It is true, I like them very much. Everything seems so much more alive and less mundane when the wind is moving things around in its unpredictable ways.

There is something powerful when you are experiencing the forces of nature first hand. It takes me out of the kind of everyday thinking where I may be just kind of passing time. It also opens up my imagination to the less then ordinary sides of life and I feel connected to my surrounding in ways which makes me feel alive. Wind makes the surrounding dynamic, moving and alive. Trees bend, leaves and dust scatter around, and if you are outside it is impossible to ignore it.

Taken a sunny day during spring 2009

When I am outdoors these windy days I like to use my camera. It seems as if I am able to go further into the experience when I use photography to help me, as if I allow myself to pause and take the time to actually see that which is around me. If I have had a day which I feel kind of miserable and isolated, this can break that spell and replace that with a sense of connectedness.

At the precise moment when I press my shutter I find myself reflecting a world which is bigger then I might feel spending to much time alone with my own thoughts.

Some Valuable Recognition

The life of a Horse - 4 July 2009

Hello fellow traveler. I hope summer is treating you well, it certainly has been very warm lately this part of Sweden. I must have taken more baths outdoors the last two weeks then I took during 2008 in its entirely. I have some happy things to share with you this fourth of July. Things that I look forward to and a couple of very positive personal achievements.

In august one of my photographs are going to be used as a record cover by the excellent free net-label Kahvi Collective. I have written about their releases both on this blog, and on Original Sound Version. I have been listening to their artists since the very beginning and safe to say I am quite honored. I definitely look forward seeing my work together with music on a label that has affected me personally to a great extent.

Another thing I've been meaning to write for quite a while is to tell you that I have been accepted with a song of mine into a compilation that is going to be released for free later this year. Since the track list isn't official yet and I submitted it as a part of a contest I don't think I should write more just now...

Musically I will soon hopefully be able to delve into a new inspirational fields. I have recently bought a used Sony Minidisc and have ordered a small stereo microphone of good quality to connect to it. While I was pondering the alternatives I was looking for much more expensive options like the Zoom H4, but settled for what in the rapidly accelerating field of technology is an almost dead format. But that matters little to me, I am happy just as long as I can work with it as I intend.

What will I be able to do with my new Minidisc then? I will basically be able to record and collect my own sounds anywhere and then use it in musical projects. Imagine the possibilities. Nature is its own symphony which easily lends itself to musical ambition.

It will be very interesting to see where this will this lead me. I hope to find this out in a not to distant future.

A fairytale celebration of life

This weekend has been amazing. I didn't take a lot of pictures, sorry folks, but I can honestly say that if you want to go to Oslo over a weekend and want to see thousands of flags waving all over the place. Then 17th of may it is.

A lot of people were playing or singing the song Fairytale I mentioned in my previous post, which actually managed to win in Moscow! This likely made the day even more of a joyous occasion for the millions of Norwegians who celebrated the day in some manner.

To top it of Alexander Rybak encouraged people to go and meet him in the airport where my brother works. My dear brother wasn't quite as exited as the people who heeded Alexanders call. Roughly 5000 of them came according to Swedish paper Aftonbladet. This process repeated itself when Alexander returned to his hometown of Nesodden. Not bad for a 23 year old who as a child originally came to Norway as a refugee.

"I'm in looove in a fairytale, the women sang."

Something I'm not used to was the amount of people who chose to dress up in folk costumes. Often these creations are very impressive and beautiful, mostly weared by women and children, with the addition of a couple of brave men. And I tell you, seeing muslim woman passing by wearing the Hijab and then the next second moving past women wearing norwegian folk costumes is definetly something out of the ordinary for me.

Sometimes you need to go away to see life from a different perspective. This weekend helped me a lot to do this. Meeting my brother and seeing seeing how he lives was fun. Then I got the chance to experience the next day being guided by I girl I haven't met for a long time trough the streets of Oslo, where tens of thousands were celebrating. When I eventually had to take the bus home I felt revitalized and happy, a feeling that lasted all the way home.

Being there and experiencing the Norwegian national day my friends, fellow blog readers and writers, were nothing short of fantastic. I also would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your comments. I read them all and they really make writing these words so much more joyous.

Kissing the Sun

Yesterday, 2007

Today, 2009

Tomorrow the twin birch in my back yard will be cut down due to it being rotten in the stem close to the ground. I've grown very fond of this specific birch, which has always stood there reaching high up for the sky for as long as I've lived here on Norrstrand. But tomorrow is another day.

Today she reaches for the sky.
Today she kisses the sun.
Soon she will welcome the moon.

So today I want to dedicate this post to a tree that learned me to see nature with different eyes then I used to.

Sign of the Times to Come

Taken today, the sixth of April next to Klarälven and the Karlstad Theatre. These crocus have now finally spread their wings into beautiful; although still small and fragile, flowers.

Equipment used:
Pentax K100D, using my FA 1:1.4 50 mm lens. I originally bought the lens from greenland resident talent Thomas. This is my most common set-up, since I really love the results that I am able to produce with this lens. Thomas work can be seen at Duplo Photography. I especially recommend people to look at his arctic imagery.

I am also happy to tell any readers out there that I have reviewed the free EP A resonant discovery for Original Sound Version. Today they also published my review of the deeply haunting soundtrack for the game Dead Space. For those who happen to be swedish or speak the language, I also would like to mention that I have been published on Yelah, reviewing the excellent record Guaranteed Niceness by german super-band Sonar Kollektiv Orchester.

Rediscovery

I have been more forward-thinking about my photography lately. It has been my conscious decision to let my arts manifest more in my life. My life is moving in the right direction in a lower more thoughtful pace that I can control.

Photography has been a positive form of expression for me. Recently I decided that I should print larger copies of my nature photography. I will sell these to affordable prices that still allows me to feel that I am not giving them away for free. Some can be found on my flickr.

A couple of days ago I sold a portrait of a young girl named Nenna printed on matte paper to a proud mother. A photograph I rediscovered as her parents requested another copy. I decided to give it a black and white treatment. Sometimes looking at photos on the screen does not make them justice, even though it gives you a great preview. This is one of those times.

Here she is:

Nenna, Robert Halvarsson 2008

"Quit the night and seek the day"

"Quit the night and seek the day"
Photo art @ Robert Halvarsson 2008

Kroppkärr Remix

A photo heavily I took today of a graffiti tag in Karlstad, afterwards remixed and edited with the open source program Gimp 2.0.