As a photographer, or any image maker, you can choose to sit around waiting for inspiration to pop up by itself. Personally, I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind you can teach yourself to find when you need it. So, what can we do to get started? I’m gathering and sharing my methods and favorite creators as a resource to help keeping our inspirational juices flowing. And I invite you along for this series of “INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS”!
Inspiration for image creators can come from so many different areas. When I saw this series of Short Films, or fables, from Five Knights Productions I just couldn’t stop watching. It transported me to another time and place, but still holding me aware… Short films can just like photography tell a story but doesn’t have hours of the viewers attention to convey the feeling and message it is made to transfer. With these fables, to me it’s especially the sceneries, the tempo, and that magical emotion that draws me in, and spits me out feeling that I want… no, NEED… to go out and continue creating my images. Right away. And that is inspiration at its best.
So here it is, the first of the KIN fabels. Watch the second film, Salvage, here. And the third film, Requiem, here. It’s in this third film the story ties together.
INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS – Digital Illustration Art
As a photographer, or any image maker, you can choose to sit around waiting for inspiration to pop up by itself. Personally, I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind you can teach yourself to find when you need it. So, what can we do to get started? I’m gathering and sharing my methods and favorite creators as a resource to help keeping our inspirational juices flowing. And I invite you along for this series of “INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS”!
Photographers tend to look a lot at other photography to get inspired. Although, I’ve heard so many times from photographers that they feel trapped by comparing their images with the work of others within the same field. Thoughts like “oh, somebody else already did that” or “ah, if I only got to shoot those who Annie Leibovitz shoots” can hold you back rather than inspire. I find that by indulging in art that you simply can’t create yourself can help to open up your mind and let go of any negative thoughts.
Personally I’ve noticed that I more and more look at other art forms. Here are 3 Digital Illustration Artists who keep on rocking my world and give me a huge influx of a desire to create!
Everyone expects me as a photographer only to have photos on my walls at home, but last year we purchased this beautiful, and wonderfully quirky, art piece of Christian Schloe; “Dreaming of Spring”. And it is now inspiring me everyday with its mystique.
Christian Schloe is a digital artist who creates surreal scenes featuring bizarre moments. Realistic elements are blended together to form new possibilities. As a viewer you are transfered from reality into a dreamy, fictional world.
I found that Christian quotes Peter S. Beagle;
“Anything can happen in a world that holds such beauty.”
Other than that Christian seems to prefer to speak through his images, and not through words. So instead of reading text, dive into his very special worlds, and let his art do all the talking.
Maggie is an American artist who works with creating digital images by the use of photographs, scanners, and Photoshop. She has studied photography at Yale and University of Florida, and after more than ten years as a still life photographer, she began to use the computer to create her images in 1996.
Her collaged digital artwork is often created with help of items she finds by frequently searching flea markets, eBay, or nature and she gathers everything that seem to have a story to tell. She also take her own photos with a point-and-shoot camera or use old photos of people. In her studio she makes small pastel drawings as backgrounds and scan each element into the computer separately. In Photoshop she arranges and plays with these layers in much the same way that she earlier worked with objects in her studio as a still life photographer.
In this video you can see a lot of Maggie’s work as well as get behind the scenes of how she creates them:
“I am interested in creating a cohesive, visual, believable space that the viewer can visually enter. So, I do not use a lot of transparency or create a space that is too visually complex. Ideally, I want the images to invite the viewer to engage and recollect, almost like entering a stage set or a scene from a dream.” Maggie Taylor
Maggie, through her surrealistic montages, surely transports the viewer into dreamlike worlds. And I love being in them.
You can find more images from and also articles about Maggie Taylor at the Artsy site.
This German graphic designer lives and works in Malaysia where she creates inspiration tickling surreal digital artwork. Using mixed media Catrin takes vintage photos apart and by experimenting in Photoshop she assembles them again into creating new content and stories.
“My images are all digital made. I collect old images and illustrations and put them new together in Photoshop. The working process is based on combining and the division of photographs, with removing, filling and retouch. Using digital medium I have far more creative possibilities and I can work much faster then on the canvas. Perhaps, my skills have been formed during the long years of working in front of my computer. Thanks to all that I can create my art best in digital.” Catrin Welz-Stein
INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS – How to get inspired again and again..? Reflections from my latest teaching class
~I headed to Fotoskolan Göteborg this week for a full day to talk and teach the class about creating images. The day before I got interviewed by Moderskeppet about my work and I got the question how I approach ‘inspiration’, and if I wait for it to happen before I start to create or if I just start creating, hoping that inspiration will come? And what I do if inspiration doesn’t come..?~
And it hit me. As professional photographers we just can’t sit around and wait for inspiration to pop up by itself. What quality work could we deliver to our clients if we aren’t doing inspired work!? So… what can you do to get inspired, again and again?
“When doing my talks I love if my story inspires the students, but most of all I want to push them to start thinking about their own journey and why they love and started shooting from the start. A talk about me is… well… not about me, not really… I’m more like a channel into themselves. So instead when leaving at the end of the day I hope for the person who I just met has gotten some insight about who THEY are as image creators.”
So during the talk I let them answer some important questions that I’ve blogged about before, 5 essential questions as photographers. To remind ourselves what we actually love about photography, and also to keep pushing ourselves to do even better, be even better. This time I added the question “What environment and under what circumstances do you love to shoot in?”. Because answering those questions about inspiration myself I started to think about how important it is for us creators to just not sit around and wait for a magical moment to happen to us. I feel that instead we have our own destiny in our hands and we should expose ourselves to things that challenge us, that get our mind going, that inspires us. And what that is, is something we actively need to work on finding out.
I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind that you can teach yourself to find when you need it. It might not be easy, and sometimes we fail. But instead of just sitting around waiting for it, if we know what normally inspires us, and know what we like in an image, it is easier to go after it.
“So, what can we do to get started? First, I believe that you should start analyzing your own images. What do you like in the ones you like, and what is it that you don’t like in those that you don’t?”
Is it a specific light at a specific part of the day, or maybe a certain type of location, or maybe a special connection between people? You can also look at other people’s work and contemplate the same things. Start to write down the things that you do like. And answer those 5 (or 6…) questions as well. And as you go along, you will probably will be forming a statement of what you really really enjoy and like to create in your own work, and where.
“Once you’ve started to figure out what you like, it’s time to get moving. What do you think will happen, lets say, if you love shooting by the sea with the salty wind against your cheek and you love the breeze of seaweed… if you go out to the sea every now and then, compared to sitting inside at home in an air conditioned environment? What do you think would inspire you more?”
Maybe it’s time for us creators to leave our computers behind sometimes and just go put ourselves in the circumstance of what we love to shoot. If you find out that you love shooting food, a good idea might be to dedicate some time to cook something beautiful for someone you care about. Maybe sit down in the kitchen of someone else who is a great cook and just smell, feel, and taste what could be in front of your lens. Or lets say you are all into storytelling. Maybe sit down, all alone with headphones, with your favorite music album and listen through it. Not just through one song, but the entire album, and visualize the story told from beginning to end. Or have a long conversation with your grandma when asking her about a story from her youth. Or….
If you are like me, I love the connection between man and nature. I know that I almost always gets an idea for an image if I go out for a walk in the forest or by the sea. So that’s why I truly need to dedicate time to go out there a few times a week, to let those thoughts fly. To actively go out and search for my inspiration. And if I’ve got an assignment I always go out and try to find and indulge in that special location for that shoot, to get that inspiration flowing.
Lastly, I want to lift the questions out of the classroom and ask YOU. Do you know what gets you going? Do you have any great tips for getting your inspiration on? My tips are just the beginning and not the full answer to being inspired.
Please share your tip with the community in a comment below and maybe we can help inspire each other to get ourselves actively inspired. ⬇
Love, Jenny
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HIRING ME AS A SPEAKER, FEEL FREE TO SEND ME A MESSAGE!…
NEW! Commissioned Portrait Photography by JENNY JACOBSSON
Your story is worth to be a piece of art. Portray the unique beauty of what you are all about; RELIVE YOUR PAST, CAPTURE YOUR PRESENT, OR EXPERIENCE YOUR DREAMS!
It’s with the GREATEST of joy I hereby present, my special version of a portrait photography service, now available for you! I’m so happy I could cry. I’ve worked so hard and truly put all my love into forming something really unique for you out there and I deeply hope this will be of pleasure for so many people in the upcoming future.
“A single photograph can truly tell a full story. It holds the power to enchant us; to make us pause and reflect. It invites us to a world of emotion and intrigue and it lets us relive a story of the past or dream of what is to come. It gives us the opportunity to experience the beautiful tale of the one portrayed.”
Wouldn’t you say a portrait should be just like that? I surely do. Therefore I offer a portraiture service far beyond the usual headshot. My mission is to turn you and your story into a unique piece of storytelling art. Why hang someone else’s story on your wall as an art piece when you can hang your own!
For you who want that special something:
THE IMAGE A portrait from me is conceptual, strong in its idea, based on and telling your unique story. I will put it in an environment where it belongs and thrives. Behind every art piece lies careful planning and an advanced digital craftsmanship to create imaginative and extra striking pieces.
A PIECE OF ART | THE PRODUCT Truly I believe that you value quality before quantity, that you want a piece of art. Therefor together we will create one unique portrait, and this portrait will be presented as timeless prints for your wall, that will remind you about the beauty of your story every day.
HOW IT WORKS To create a unique art work telling your specific story, each collaboration needs to be a one of a kind experience. Together we will dive into your story and through 5 clear steps we will move forward. I will use my expertise to make sure you will get a fun, smooth, and exciting experience.
I reside in Göteborg / Gothenburg, Sweden, but I surely work on location without boundaries. Feel free to contact me (in either Swedish or English) if you want detailed information about my packages, to book your meeting, or if you have any questions. And if you think someone you know would love a unique portrait of themselves and their story, please feel free to share these news!
I so look forward to creating your storytelling portrait together with you!
In the spotlight of ‘f11 Magazine’ – 27 page feature and interview
“Jenny Jacobsson is a Swedish photographer from the city of Gothenburg. Her mission is to create a narrative, using expressive and emotional imagery. From concept, through construction, capture and post production, her images hint at stories where the impossible really does becomes possible. It’s a far cry from her previous work in neurobiology and the satisfying result of a decision to follow her heart and embrace her passion for creating conceptual imagery. Jenny Jacobsson – Storyteller“
Tim Steele
That is the description for the big feature and interview in f11 Magazine, written by publisher and creative director Tim Steele. I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to be part of this amazing magazine written all the way from the other side of the globe, in New Zealand. In this October issue the magazine covers images taken from all across Australia (winning work from AIPP APPA Awards 2014), to the desert in southern Africa (Joshua Holko), finding its way to the northern climes of my home in Scandinavia, reflecting the global approach by f11. And it’s exciting!
Some of my favorite interview questions from the feature is
• Your subjects obviously inspire you to tell their stories, but what external sources also influence or inspire you? • I see strong conceptual pre-visualisation in the creation of your images, does the idea always survive the migration to the capture process?
If it’s hard to read from the images, read the full 27 page feature and interview here:
Our wedding – Part II – 9 tips to consider before choosing your wedding photographer
Today is the 1st year anniversary of our incredible wedding day! To celebrate, being a photographer and all, I can’t help myself to share some hopefully useful tips to all of you out there who are going to be married, or knows someone who are, about important considerations and wishes for a bride and groom to be when it comes to wedding photography. Also, don’t miss Part 1 where I share the wonderful images that we were blessed with, to hold the memories vidid and bright of the best day of our lives.
First of all, I want to point out that I do not shoot weddings. So this is not a self promo. But instead of just sitting upon and hiding away some things that I’ve experienced and thought thoroughly about, I can share my thoughts with you all, giving you a helping hand with some things that can be good to think about when it comes to photographing your very VERY special day.
Now I’ve been a bride, and I am a photographer. And I bet that a bride-to-be and a photographer is one of the toughest customer combinations for a wedding photographer to come upon. I surely was concerned about how to choose, how to pass over all the things I was thinking about when it comes to images and style, how to express my wishes, etc etc, before we decided on who we wanted to shoot our wedding. I collected these thoughts and tips for you below, in this “9 tips to consider before choosing your wedding photographer”.
So me being this happy with the images we got for our own day, is almost a miracle. But it’s all thanks to my beloved close friends and fellow photographers Rania and Nadim, who I met through photography school 3 years ago. Because of them I could be completely relaxed and comfortable knowing it would all be perfect. I utterly trusted their knowledge since we’ve studied photography together and I totally know their skills and styles. And they are fantastic! You can view previous wedding shoots (and also more images from me and Andreas’s wedding) on Rania’s blog. So if you are Swedish and need help with your wedding photography, you know who to contact!
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1 Make sure you are hiring a wedding photographer
Great photographers often have a speciality field. And it’s in this speciality they shine and where the heart is. And that’s where the good work comes out.
I often get the question if I want to shoot someone’s wedding. And I gratefully thank them for them asking, but then I give them advice on who they should contact instead of me, since I’m not a wedding photographer (I shoot conceptual imaginative portraits and fashion). Of course a lot of people not involved in the photography business don’t know exactly how it works. Why would they? So keep in mind, just because a photographer creates beauuuutiful children studio portraits doesn’t mean he or she will create the wedding images of your dreams. I will try to explain this by this comparision:
“Asking a photographer who doesn’t shoot weddings to shoot yours, is like going into a shoe shop and ask to buy a sweater. They are both selling clothes… but it’s oh so different!“
You don’t really want the shoe sales person to go out and find you that sweater do you? Well maybe you do. If you are adventurous. But do you really want to be adventurous on your wedding day? Go for the pro. Go for the wedding photographer. There are so much practice and experience going into creating wonderful images in such a special situation as a wedding. Make sure they have that practice and experience so that you can feel safe and comfortable with your choice. And if there is someone new within wedding photography that you absolutely love, they can always be the 2nd shooter! So that they can get more experience and you can still be on the safe side.
2 What style of photographydo you really like?
Documentary, conceptual, romantic, preppy, nostalgic, sweet, epic, hard core… what’s your style? Make sure you and your photographer have the same one.
This sounds like a basic thing to consider, but I’ve gotten so many requests from people who really hasn’t bothered or don’t realize that photographers are not all the same. Take a good look at the photos in a photographers portfolio and/or on their website. If you don’t like what’s up there, you probably won’t like your own wedding images either. If you looooove them, well, then you’ve taken the first step towards finding the right photographer!
2 They should take the time to get to know you
How can the photographer know what to give you and what images you want if they haven’t taken the time to ask you? I for one would choose someone who takes the time to get to know me a little. Who makes sure we are on the same page. So when the photographer offers pre-wedding meetings, grab onto those meetings with both hands!
3 Sure they need to be talented,but also nice!
You’ve taken so much care inviting people that you love and you want them to have the nicest day ever. Why would you invite a photographer who isn’t adding to that loving emotion and adds extra positive energy? A wedding photographer needs to interact with you and your guests, and I surely wouldn’t have wanted a mean person stomping around muttering on our special day! To get people relaxed with someone taking their picture, getting those fun, close and natural moments captured, it actually requires some social skills from your photographer.
4 Make sure you getall the informationyou need
Choose someone who is on top of their game, who explains well how everything is going to get down, and everything you need to know to make you comfortable and eliminate another worry about your big day.
5 Waiting to choose and book untillast minuteis a big no-no
Please…. pretty please… don’t wait to book your photographer. This should be one of the things that you add to your to-do-list together with booking the location and caterer. If you don’t it’s high risk that the fantastic photographer that you like will already be booked for another wedding, or another assignment, if you wait too long. If you are from a country where the most popular wedding season is short, like the summer Sweden, this is of particular importance. You will have to put in the time at some point, why not do it in the beginning and save yourself the trouble of getting disappointed by getting a no or the trouble of trying to find another great photographer with short notice?
6 Yeah you want those pretty portraits, but don’t forget your wedding day is also about…
…the preparations The first part of your wedding day is truly special. My own was a time filled with sooo much emotion, tension, and laughter. And it was a wonderful few hours spent with my dear bridesmaids, remembering times we’ve been through and dreaming of what was to come. Also, going through that transformation together with getting our hair done and putting make up on… I wouldn’t have missed this part in photography for anything. I’ve looked at these images so so many times already. How I want to remember how I felt when my hair dresser finally showed me my hair and my eye’s teared up out of happiness and joy and I saw my bridesmaids faces light up…
…the ceremony This part feels obvious to some, but some also forgets this and mostly think about the portraits that come afterwards. But gee… the emotion that shows in the images in the moment we say “I do”… I could not have lived without them. And be sure your photographer knows about the venue you are using so there is no surprises with light or space for them, so that they have the right equipment ready and don’t have problems moving around during the ceremony (THEY should ask YOU about this).
…the emotions Although these images don’t show the most beautiful me, they are OH so important and special. Those emotions making me burst into tears, they were so intense, wonderful and filled with love. And I’m so grateful our photographer caught those moments. And if you don’t hire your photographer to be there of most parts of your day, you are in great risk of missing them in your album.
…the reception Same goes as for the emotional images above. If you don’t ask your photographer to hang around and also shoot during the reception, are you sure you want to rely on friends and family, that are your guests and being busy with cheering, mingling and eating and drinking, to pick up their cameras to capture all the moments that happen during the reception?
…the dinner Our wedding dinner was absolutely fantastic. It was filled with laughter, hillarious games, wonderful food, fun assignments, and lovely presentations. And speeches that will be in our hearts forever. When I look at the images we got of this part, I can almost hear the voices, filled with love, once more.
…the dance If you send your photographer home before it’s time for the dance… are you sure someone will be alert enough to actually capture that moment?
Reeeeally sure?
If you’re not, please read tip number 8.
…the moments in between The day is filled with so many great moments. Where everyone is participating and with the big cheers. But those tiny special moments, where everything suddenly goes quiet and it’s just you and your loved one, in a bubble together feeling nothing but love for each other, I’m so grateful our photographer snuck around capturing it all without our knowledge.
…and especially, isn’t it also about your guests? Everyone is taking pictures of the bride and groom, but I for sure want to immortalize the people who without them there wouldn’t have been a wedding feast at all. The guests. Make sure you hire your photographer to capture everyone that are there to share your day with you. In this particular subject, also read tip number 7.
7 Consider aphoto booth if you like some fun!
Even though you have the greatest photographer ever, there are something special about a photo booth. It’s in there all the craziest stuff will be going on! I can’t say how much time we’ve spent looking at our photo booth images, laughing our little behinds off. And it’s truly an opportunity for everyone to get a prime moment for you to remember forever.
8Do not cheap out– neither financially or with your time to choose wedding photographer
Think of all the work you’ve put into your special day. The many many hours of planning table settings and flowers and the graphic design for your seating table… or the money and love you’ve put into getting the perfect hair, the rings, the dress, the suit… Why would you ever want to suddently cheap out when choosing your wedding photographer?
You can cheap out by NOT putting in enough time to consider the tips above. Please don’t do that. You have the time, if you want to. Put it into the planning like any other important part of your wedding and you will save yourself a lot of trouble and making yourself more relaxed.
Also, quality often comes with a price. Same goes for photography. I suggest adding the photography to your “must buy” list for the wedding and weigh everything against each other, making room economically for it. I’m not saying that you should spend the biggest part of your budget on it (if you don’t WANT to of course), or spending too much if you have a smaller budget. But compare it to other expenses and ask yourself if you can get it in there as well? Maybe spend a little less on some other things so that you can have beautiful images of your day? When it comes to the choice of hiring a photographer just for the ceremony, or portraits, or for the entire day, I think my Tip number 6 says it all.
9 If you are happy with your photos, from doing the tips above, prepare yourself tospend a lot of time looking at themfor many many years to come
Congratulations, if you made sure to get that fantastic photographer you wanted, you will keep those images close to your heart for a long time to come! And if we are a bit of the same, you will go back to those images again and again to relive and rejoice your special day, filled with so much love and happiness. Make sure to get all those images in a good way that suits you, may it be an album, digitally, or large wall portraits, you will not regret it. The only thing you’ll regret is that if you DON’T have them. So enjoy the process and the love that often goes hand in hand with photography.
Have a WONDERFUL and a very special and FANTASTIC wedding day!! 🙂
“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…
