‘SHE WALKS WITH COLOURS’ – Changing summer into autumn
“When Rania showed me the dress I knew instantly where to shoot her portrait. I had been walking by this forest path so many times, loving it but knowing that this place required a medieval or fantasy theme. And oh how that theme suits Rania.“
The dress have been in Rania’s possession for quite some time and it means something special. We had been talking about capturing a story for her with her dress for a while and suddenly we felt a sense of urgency. Why wait and not take the opportunity to capture the memory of a beloved garment, representing a special time in life that might never come back?
Also, Rania’s hair is a true symbol of this time, right now. Her dreadlocks feel so natural with her and her personality, and hair can truly be a strong expression of identity. Who knows what will happen. Some day the dreads and the dress will be gone. Why not immortalize them now and keep the memory of this time intact forever?
“The story took a while to develop, but when finalized, it feels so right, natural and obvious. Rania is a true autumn lover. Her whole appearance goes hand in hand with that wonderful time of year. And when that time appears, she truly shines.”
I still can’t help but get a huge grin on my face when thinking about the discussion we had when Rania almost… aaaaalmost… convinced me that autumn IS better than summer. And oh, I love my summer time…
So the hair, the dress, the location, the theme, the season, it all came together. Rania, with an essence of nature, of warm tones, of heart and spirit and earthiness. A person who spreads warmth and colour to everyone around her. Here it is. ‘She walks with colours’.
MY TIP FOR FURTHER READING Get Behind the Scenes of the making of the ‘The storm starter’, another fantastical portrait of Rania where her hair truly is the focus of the story…
Winner of international One Eyeland Awards, category Advertising – Fashion
I’m deeply honored to announce that I’ve won my first international award in the fantastic and prestigious One Eyeland Photography Awards, 2013. My image participated in the category Advertising – Fashion and I won Silver (no Gold announced). The images of my fellow finalists were absolutely stunning, so a big congratulations to all of you!
One Eyeland Awards is one of the largest photography awards and the standard is incredibly high, so I’m very proud that my work was chosen by the international community of my peers from around the world. Thank you so much.
Also, a HUGE thank you to designer Emelie Arvidsson, model Ellen Brantemo and to Make Up Artist Linnea Arvidsson for your amazing job!
Behind the Scenes of ‘SEEKING NEVERLAND’ – a sister portrait session
“The strong bonds of sisterhood inspired the sisters Kristin and Ellinor and myself to go into the forest one sunny summer’s day. We wanted to capture moments that speaks of memories and closeness between sisters, and combine that with celebrating the imagination and innocence of a time past.”
This is a tribute to all of you that at some point were split between adulthood luring in the distance, and at the same time didn’t want to grow up. That found comfort in the idea of a never-ending childhood, protecting you from the world beyond. To you who let your mind be occupied with imagination and dreams of magical, more exciting worlds filled with adventure and innocence.
“This is a reminder that that magical place is still out there. It is never too late to visit that fantasy land, protecting you, even for a little while. This is to you, who is Seeking Neverland.”
‘Seeking Neverland’ is part of my in progress series ‘Parallels’ where the stories unveiled are parallels to the ordinary world we all can see. I would recommend to check the images out in their full glory and full size at the site of the series.
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Last, but not at all least, I want to give my love to you Kristin and Ellinor. Not only are you remarkably sweet, kind, and funny, but your positivity, generosity and helpfulness has no limit. I’m so grateful to have you in my life. Love, Jenny
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DEAREST SISTER
MY TIP FOR FURTHER READING Curious about futuristic fashion photography from Göteborg? Check out this “alienesc” editorial, taking you to The space that is and isn’t…
The making of the fashion editorial ‘END OF LINE’ in Unfolded Magazine
I’m excited to present to you the editorial ‘End of line’ (larger images), created for the fashion collection made by designer Emelie Arvidsson and published in the London magazine Unfolded Magazine. After the successful collaboration with the fashion story for Emelie’s previous collection ‘The space that is and isn’t’ the aim was to create a new story, strong on its own but with an alluding connection between the two collections.
CONCEPTUAL BRIEF AND PLANNING
Two months before the planned shoot I met up with Emelie over a cup of coffee to talk through the background of the collection, discuss the brief and to settle on a creative goal. Emelie showed me the artistic development for her concept and we talked through inspirations and important things to highlight.
The focus of the collection is lines that are a fundamental part of visual perception and Emelie’s aim was to investigate the dynamics of straight lines through experimental construction of dress. It is obvious how lines are a crucial part of the construction and the striving and direction is truly important. I picked up on Emelie’s explanation that line compositions can provide strong dynamics given it’s put in relation to body and movement and I wanted to incorporate that into the story.
Emelie’s moodboard
The brief had similar grounds as for the previous ‘The space that is and isn’t’ project and a futuristic setting with clear visual space/void, concrete/asphalt and strong shape was once again incorporated into the moodboard. Playing with the name of the collection, ‘End of line’, investigation of the dynamics of straight lines continues through the editorial, transferring the collection and the story into the futuristic setting that alludes to what inspired the collection. Bringing the characters and clothes into a somewhat post-apocalyptic setting, the search for the end of line continues.
After thorough location scouting and scetching and approving image ideas, the fantastic team met up early one summer morning for prep and make-up before taking off to the old abandoned airfield of ‘Torslanda gamla flygfält’, just outside Gothenburg (Göteborg):
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Photography | JENNY JACOBSSON Designer and Styling | EMELIE ARVIDSSON Model | from MODELLINK Hair and Make-up | LINNEA ARVIDSSON Assistant | JOHAN TORSELL _____________________
For the story, a harsh sun leaving no mercy for the long walk ahead, was what I wished for so I was really pleased with the weather that day. Especially considering that you can never be sure what our west coast city will bring. Although, it was windy as usual, but of course we were prepared with cover ups to resist the cold. While the girls were preparing the final things before the first part of the shoot….
…Johan got some time to enjoy the sun 😉
The story begins with the two characters leaving a city, now completely abandoned and empty, on their journey searching for the end of line. For the first image we wanted a bit of a birds eye view, later on making the city visible in the far distance. I must say I’m no fan of heights or ladders, but by getting absorbed by shooting I completely forgot about my fears and instead I was having a lovely time up there.
Johan did a great job with directing the light with the reflector and Linnea and Emelie were constantly on their toes, trying to fight the effect of the wind on hair and make-up.
The result of the day, and thereafter the many many hours of image processing behind the computer to enhance and convey the story we had planned for, has gotten such a wonderful response and I’m so grateful of the team, together making it all happen. I surely hope you will like our fashion story!
The team! From left: Linnea Arvidsson, model from MODELLINK, Jenny Jacobsson, Emelie Arvidsson, Johan Torsell
I had two cheerful announcements about getting published last week! First up, in the lovely Golden Age Magazine I was featured with an interview and images from my portfolio and my series Parallels.
A late summers day I gathered a fantastic team to make an image for my conceptual portrait series ‘Parallels’. I had been inspired by Rania’s (previous studio portrait) dreadlocks and her dark features for some time…
“…I wanted to create a portrait alluding to greek mythology characters and their features, like Medusa and her hair and the sirens and their manipulative powers. Being from the windy southwestern parts of Sweden the image was created on the concept of the ocean and storm, and the power to control it.“
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Photographer | JENNY JACOBSSON Make Up Artist | MARTINA SÖDERLUND Model | RANIA RÖNNTOFT Assistant | ANDREAS SKOGLUND Behind the Scenes footage | JENNY, MARTINA and ANDREAS ____________________
Martina got the task of keeping Rania’s natural beauty but at the same time turn her into a vicious sea creature. I had the task of making Ranias dreads stand up like they were floating and moving by her powers. To do this I needed to twist steel wires round every one of her approx. 40 dreadlocks and then sew sewing threads to the tips that we later connected to a wire ring crafted by Andreas.
We attached the wire ring to a long stick that Andreas used to lift up the dreadlocks above Rania’s head. Thank you so much Andreas, for patiently performing the odd task of standing out in the cold wind holding a stick attached to hair.
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A huge thank you to you Rania for your radiantly positive attitude, even when getting wet and cold. And to Martina for your creative vision and also shooting BtS footage. We sure had a fun time, fighting against the sunset!
‘The sentence’ is part of my series ‘Parallels’ and was shot in Sälen, Sweden. We were there on a skiing holiday with my family, but being me I just couldn’t let this breathtaking landscape be out there without being photographed.
“The cold got me thinking about for how little time you would actually survive out there without any cover or extra warmth. And this story came to me about an entity, light as snow but with a deadly darkness, executing a sentence leading to certain death.“
It was oh so cold outside (about -15° Celsius) so to be standing still or to take off your protective clothing was not a nice experience. So the day before the shoot I planned the story carefully, making my doodle sketches with the composition, placement of the woman and in what direction she should be releasing her butterfly.
On the day of the shoot we set out to find the right location. I wasn’t completely happy with the first test shoot location so we went higher up on the mountain and found this desolate vast expanse of snow. The sun was shining while setting up, Andreas being very helpful in letting me know when I was at the planned position, but before I even got my protective clothes off the clear weather changed to overcast. And actually, I liked the mysterious feeling that was created in the shift. All the planning in the world can’t master the weather so instead I let the story form around what was provided.
I hope you enjoy the portrait! X Jenny
PS. I must say this hot chocolate and waffle treat was well deserved after getting back into a warm house!
I was happily surprised, and proud, to have my piece “The fall” chosen as Picture Of The Day (October 19th) over at the fantastic One Eyeland! Not everyday that you see yourself next to a portrait of John Malkovich…
MY TIP FOR FURTHER READING A great way to learn more and see selections of images, and if you’re interested in me getting fried for answers, is to check out the features and interviews in the Features & Publications category!
“The girl and the secret within” – This video is a Before & After as well as an accelerated showcase of my post-processing of several files to a finished conceptual image in Photoshop.
The world can be so much more than what first meets the eye…
2011’s Christmas and New Year we took a trip around the world to something very very different from a windy and dark Gothenburg. 17 days in Malaysia were just what we needed to thaw our frozen winter spirits and to relax, just enjoy life, each other’s company, and experience new things everyday. Of course this beautiful country offered many opportunities to pop out your camera and shoot things that you normally don’t find back home. The image above, “Man of passage” was one of those. And I just want to share with you a few behind-the-scenes shots around the session.
This gorgeous view is of course from the plane when going in for landing over the archipelago around Langkawi. Langkawi is actually made up of 99 islands on Malaysia’s west coast where the bigger Pulau Langkawi is the main island.
The beaches were covered with white sand and this spot is part of the beach lining the wonderful resort we were staying at. During daytime it got really hot, but even so I asked Andreas veeeery nicely if we could go and do a shoot that I had been thinking about for a week when constantly watching palm leaves lying around. And of course he approved :). I promise you, after 3 minutes on the hot beach sweat was pouring down our spines (even though we prepared by taking a long soak in the pool beforehand…) so the session was actually really quick and effective, maybe 10 minutes in total. Counting from when the other tourists (some more tanned than others) had left the crime scene… Luckily I had a very planned image in my head and I knew exactly how I wanted Andreas to hold the “wings” and what pose I wanted his body to have.
Andreas did an excellent job, giving me exactly what I wanted. Although… the jumping was not ALWAYS graceful…
…but we surely can blame that surprisingly heavy palm leaf that were the size of me! That’s our resort in the background.
Afterwards Andreas got some well deserved rest in the shade. Oh how I miss that place…
And finally, a goodbye from the partners in crime. I think I’ve never looked more beautiful 🙂 Again, keep your eyes open for my planned upcoming blog post with a bit more processed shots from both the island as well as Kuala Lumpur. Until next time, enjoy life!