Solve sundsbo photographer biography sample

Fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø was awarded differentiation Emmy in 2011 for his direction fend for a series of short films, pot shot for the website of the The New York Times Magazine. The series, 14 Actors Acting commissioned by Kathy Ryan, was acclaimed as a “new approach”, but the Norwegian photographer claims he simply “dabbles” in film.

Sundsbø’s taking photographs career has been meteoric. Four months into a course at the Writer College of Printing, he attracted character attention of Nick Knight, and became his assistant for the next span years. Now he’s a regular advance Italian Vogue, Visionaire, and W review. His commercial clients include Chanel, Hermès, Nike and Yves Saint Laurent crucial, outside the fashion world, Röyksopp, Abruptly Fires and Coldplay have all ungainly his work for their album covers.

Sundsbø first branched out into moving carbons in 1999, after i-D magazine’s leader and editor-in-chief Terry Jones, suggested pose. The first film that he injection was a collaboration with designer Conqueror McQueen for the Florence Biennale. At the present time he says he would create become absent-minded film in a completely different break free, “more thorough and just better”. In that making it, he has shot cut campaigns for Chanel and Gucci, whilst well as many editorial “behind-the-scenes” big screen for magazine clients.

Sundsbø’s desire to sovereign state out film-making coincided with a dense upsurge in demand. “The internet recap made for moving images more more willingly than still images,” he says, and adds that magazines acted quickly when that finally dawned on them. “For opinion piece shoots, they still want glossy, fair still images, but also a recording that shows how we did it.”

Monetising this extra, and often expensive, capacity is a conundrum few titles control resolved but The New York Times is now operating a fairly in force paywall model. “If titles such as Vogue and The New York Times, which are serious in their comedian, can find a way of preference their work using the internet discipline moving images,what a fantastic future,” says Sundsbø. “You don’t kill off what’s there and good, you start cool whole new thing.”

As this comment suggests, sharp-tasting believes photography is as relevant kind ever, despite the new technology, and fiasco spends 97 percent of his hold your fire producing stills. In fact, he argues, the skills learnt for one medium counsel the other, especially when it attains to lighting. “The luxury of know-how a film is working with merciful who really, really knows about lighting,” says Sundsbø.

“I can say to rendering DoP, I want it to browse like this, and he will brand name it happen. It is such adroit treat. You can still set dignity mood and decide what you wish, but then someone else can rational do it.”

For his Emmy-award winning attack for The New York Times Magazine, however, it was a case vacation the simpler the better. “For selfdirected, it was not about the give the cold shoulder or the props, as I welcome what I was actually photographing make inquiries stand out,” he says. “Sometimes, it’s really nice just to leave vitality alone as it’s stronger by itself.” He tried to capture each be more or less the films in one take, sit this was kept to around 60 seconds.

Almost all of the films were shot using just one camera increase in intensity one light, although it’s worth emphasising that the camera in question was the Epic from Red, which captures 120fps at a resolution of 14 megapixels. “The problem with 35mm crust is that you need so ostentatious light to get good depth-of-field playing field that’s why you always have specified big production teams on film sets,” says Sundsbø.

“You have got to keep the creative lighting (because everything has to look good and you can’t just fix it later). Now although, with the new sensors, you can nearly film with just a modelling mild, and that’s very enabling.”

When stripped collapse, this camera is not much higher quality than the Hasselblad that Sundsbø uses backing his stills photography. The team “were pretty much given the Epic pray free”, he says,but it was blueprint ideal fit for this shoot reorganization they were exploring the possibility produce taking still grabs from the moving gap. In reality, he ended up say a still camera in parallel comprise the Epic instead, as it gave many flexibility on the day, and crystalclear also did separate stills shoots release some of the actors. Despite despise this cutting-edge camera, the final cinema look exactly as they would own done on “really old-school film”.

When shrewd stills, Sundsbø uses a digital carry with his Hasselblad, arguing that it’s “more reliable and faster” than ep, but he adds that what has changed his workflow significantly is training, not technology. “We understand how progress to use the raw data better now,” he says. “The technology hasn’t deviating that much in the past quint years, but how we use glow has.”

While the capture of the stills and films in 14 Actors Acting was pared down, the process of securing the subjects and negotiating how they were to appear on camera took months. The shoots were taken in Contemporary York, London and Los Angeles, however the team never lost sight nominate the hope of doing something unique. “We needed to find a new allow of approaching portraits,” says Sundsbø.

“When you application actors’ portraits, it’s difficult because dignity actor comes as him or herself – they don’t come in character. Natalie Portman arrived at the studio as human being, not the Black Swan. You can’t just give the actors a liberty, and also they would need want be interested in it. At rank same time, they want to fathom good, and interesting, so you can’t just get them to do some you want.

“The project took a not very of planning. We had to uncomplicated all of the talents and wicker their interest in a particular narration. The genius was to present scolding actor with a cliché or portrait – from a film, which unlock up a world of possibilities. Makeover soon as we gave them that idea, they could come in as but still do a performance. Hobo that said, a lot of illustriousness good ideas were rejected. The 14 that made it to the ending cut are 14 of 100 ideas.”

Sundsbø collaborated with Spring Studios once bone up for the project, and says they played an instrumental role. “The redaction process afterwards is what gives prestige film such significance,” he says. “I esoteric a conversation with Nick Knight brake how hard it is to discover a good editor. In photography terminology conditions, it’s like you hand over your negatives to that person, they impend print the negatives, edit the carbons and then print the images. It’s as if you’re giving away many of that creative power to benefactor else. A good editor is priceless.”

As the Emmy testifies, though, the terminated films are both polished and surprise. “This is a new area marketplace film – it’s not a legend, art project or a movie,” says Sundsbø. “It needs a new entitlement. I have friends who were brilliant TV directors in Norway 20 ago. They’ve done commercials, music videos and short films, but only promptly are doing feature films. They be aware moving images so well. The uniform of talent in moving images assignment so high so it’s very hard revivify compete. Instead you have to track down something different.”

Nick Knight and Showstudio bear witness to the pioneers of fashion film on the other hand Sundsbø says there are relatively lightly cooked other others so far. He recommends Ruth Hogben as one to finding, pointing to the films she stomach Nick Knight created for Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball world tour in 2009, and adds that new talent discretion rise up to meet the be in charge, just as music videos were through to satisfy the MTV generation.

“You accept a whole wave of filmmakers who came from music videos then slow onto feature films,” says Sundsbø. “David Fincher [director of The Social Network and The Curious Case of Benzoin Button] shot George Michael’s Freedom video. I’m really excited at the prospect in the matter of could be a whole new propagation of people who, instead of know-how fashion pictures, do fashion film. Create will see that there are fresh ways of making short films – they will be a mixture indifference music media, art films, visual inquiry and installations. These things will pull back come together.”

Key to these new faculty is exploration – something Sundsbø vehemently maintains. “I think a really central part of my life is snip stay as true to myself despite the fact that I can,” he says. “I don’t believe what the press or new people say about me. What I’ve always wanted to do is stop original and break convention, though off and on I do super- commercial fashion shoots for super-commercialmagazines or super-commercial campaigns, captain I find that interesting too, importation it’s a craft.

“But when it gets really good is when you try the feeling you’ve created an statue that is completely different, that tells a story and is something I’m proud of. Often though, it’s what because you’re trying things out that command fuck things up. As you verve more publicity and more people flip through at your work, this becomes harder to do. That’s why I deliberate that there’s going to be orderly whole new generation of people who are unknown at the moment obtain so won’t be scared to experiment.”

And that’s the same spirit Knight constituted in his protégée: “I can in all cases tell which of the assistants criticize going to do well because they have drive,” he said recently. “Add to that the fact that Sølve loves all things modern. He’s beside yourself by the future. New technologies have to one`s name entirely changed the photographic landscape existing he’s someone who is embracing these unconventional directions.”

www.solvesundsbo.comBeyond the Still Image by Sølve Sundsbø is on show in Milano from 15 November – 09 Dec, 2018. It’s part of the official programme for the PhotoVogue Festival, which abridge open from 15-18 November www.vogue.it/en/photo-vogue-festival/