Nordic Vintage fashion editorial

This is the second time I was so lucky to photograph a fashion editorial with fabulous knitwear designer Linda Marveng, and we had a fabulous team with only the best on this photoshoot. We hoped for a sunny autumn day outside, but we got heavy rain and heavy grey skies instead. So we had to shoot everything…

…inside, in a small 1930s Nordic vintage art deco restaurant. The location was Hvalstrand Bad, located by the Oslo fjord.

Model: Alexandria Eissinger
Knitwear: Linda Marveng
Dresses: Judith Bech
Shoes: Monica Stålvang
Hair & makeup: Sissel Fylling
Jewelry etc: Kaja Gjedebo og Siri Berrefjord

The editor of the magazine, Mary-Ann Astrup was in charge of it all, and Lindas husband Michael was also there helping out. Funny story is he actually ended up buying a Fujifilm X-T1 camera after he saw me shooting the whole thing with it. He claims I made him do it, but I can’t remember twisting his arm. Not that hard anyway… But then again, my wife says I’m good at forgetting stuff.

We originally shot the editorial for a magazine called “Made by Me”, but that mag sadly got cancelled recently. But the editorial is out today in a magazine called “Familien Trend” (“Family Trend”) from the same publishing house (Egmont). It turned out great, and I’m very glad Mary-Ann was in charge of the design and layout of this editorial. I worked with her for many years, and can’t praise her highly enough! Thanks Mary-Ann!

Gear and tech stuff
People often ask me how I decide on what camera and lighting equipment to use for a certain job. Very seldom the amount of megapixels or watt seconds has anything to do with it. It’s all about the look and the feel of the images that a particular camera and type of light can give me. Let me explain…

That day I had my car loaded with equipment that day with 2 x 600Ws studio lamps, a 1200W petrol power generator, 2 x 400Ws battery powered studio lamps, beauty dishes, softboxes, striplights… You name it, I probably had it. And the plan was to shoot everything on the Nikon D810. Big, wonderful and very clean low ISO files.

But the light and the mood of that location on that particular day, told me not go clean and low ISO. Instead, my feelings told me high ISO and a more analogue and organic feel. So I decided on the Fujifilm X-T1, because it delivers beautiful files with just the feel I was after. Even at high ISO. And by high ISO, I mean 800 as the lowest, and 1600 as the highest that day. People add grain and make things look analogue in post, I just decided to get that feel in camera instead.

So I shot everything on the X-T1 and the dynamic lensduo XF35 and XF56. A pair of lenses that belong together like Crockett and Tubbs. Starsky and Hutch. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Yes, the Mulder and Scully of cameralenses. Could it get any better!?

For lighting, I only used available light that day, and shaped it with a few reflectors. A California Sunbounce Pro (130x190cm) with either the pure white or silver side, a Lastolite TriGrip (75cm) with the soft silver side, and a Lastolite TriGrip Large white diffusor (120cm). And some stands to keep them where I wanted them. I never try to overcomplicate things, I do what I have to to get light and mood that I’m after.

I prefer to get things as close to the final result as possible in camera. So when I show images to the client/team/model during the shoot, they get an idea of how the image will turn out, instead of relying heavily on post production. I use Capture One Pro 8 for developing my Fujifilm rawfiles, and Photoshop for retouching and things that can’t be done in raw. For me, C1Pro8 is the obvious choice if you want the best out of your Fujifilm rawfiles. And I’m not talking about pixel peeping! Bit why waste time choosing a good camera, quality lenses, a cool location with great light, and then use software that just isn’t the best?! Just sayin’…..