During the student games 2013 (Studentlekene 2013) I was hired to do a promotional clip of around ten minutes showing of what the student games was all about. Personally I don’t really do cross country skiing and doesn’t even watch it when it is world cup and such on TV either, but my costumer was satisfied and I kind of liked the final product my self.
Equipment
For this video clip I used two types of rigs, the Glidecam HD4000 and a modified GiniRig Extreme 17. The Glidecam was used with a wide angle lens and gave some smooth shots running along side the skiers. The GiniRig was modified with a V-mount battery and a D-Tap dummy battery for both the Zacuto EVF Pro and the Nikon D800 giving me power to shoot for the whole day. Some of the telephoto footage was a bit unstable and I should have used a tripod, even though the VRII on the 70-200 helped me neutralize the worst of the camera shaking.
A couple of weeks a go I did a model test with Elise S for Trend Models. I also did a location shoot with her at Øysand the following day, shooting dresses for designer Malin Wannebo Varslott. Helping me out with make-up was Ann Karin Williams Aastø from OurStyle.org. Kudos to Elise for not complaining about the cold weather.
Also for this fashion photo shoot we did a short video teaser, enjoy!
photo: Malin Wannebo Varslott, a behind the scenes photo while shooting the video
Before Christmas last year I shot a CD-cover and PR-photos for the singer Lisa Winsjansen Restad who is a child star known from the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix Jr. She is releasing a new album soon targeted for the younger audience. Fosna Folket, a local news paper published a story of her both on-line and in their hard copy news paper.
Having been on a lecture at the Norsk Fotofagskole by one of Norway’s top photographers, Pål Laukli yesterday, I went to Kultursenteret Isak and filmed a little dance event for youth doing a photo- / video-something. Having not scratched the surface of dance I was introduced to the style Ragga, which I have learned originated from a Jamaican dance style from the 18th century. The instructor, Ida Skaret Fjøseide, has danced for twenty years and had lessons in dance in eighteen, worked both nationally and internationally. The event was arranged by Isak and MUD (Midtnorsk Urban Dans) with the host Tomas Vikeland.
Yet another beautiful model called Elise I’ve shoot during the past weeks. This is more the private types of portraits I do. Using only existing lighting and only Elise’s apartment as a location I found the series turning out quite good. The model was relaxed and we had an informal atmosphere during the shoot that gave the natural feel of these portraits.
Using three types of lenses, the 35mm f/1.4G, 50mm f/1.4D and 70-200mm f/2.8 gave the shallow depth of field shooting at a wide aperture, but I think I need to change out the 50mm f/1.4D anytime soon. It tends to back focus a few millimeters and the sweet spot is way of. I don’t really know if it is because of my D800, the lens it self or if it has been dropped to many times during the five years I’ve owned it.
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Lian Restaurant - Wintertime
This is a practical example on how you can trick people into believing you are a sporty guy doing cross country skiing. My parents has a cabin in the mountains and yes I have done cross country skiing, slalom and snowboarding when I was younger, but the recent ten years I haven’t prioritized those activities to my parents disappointment. Anyway, these are some environmental shots I did while assisting photographer Lars-Erik Berg at a photo shoot for Jekta Storsenter and Centerteam Reklamebyrå and their easter magazine a month ago. The shot was mainly a fashion photos shoot with models in the surrounding areas of Lian Restaurant in Trondheim, but Lars-Erik also wanted some shots of the surroundings that might be used to set the mood for his series, but they were never used. Models used in the shots was Elise S and Henrik from Trend Models.
Lian Restaurant er blant Trondheims eldste og mest særegne restauranter, offisielt åpnet som restaurant i 1933. Før dette var Lian et av mange gårdsbruk i området. Den unike beliggenheten sørget for at gårdens kjøkken kunne tjene noen kroner på å selge kaffe og vafler turfolk. Lian ligger langs pilgrimsleden, så folk tok seg trolig en pust i bakken på gårdstunet for å se ned mot målet, Nidarosdomen.
Da Gråkallbanen byggde neste etappe av trikkeskinnen mot Gråkallen, kjøpe de gården og bygget på den karakteristiske funkis-rotunden. De ønsket en restaurant i enden av trikkesporet, slik at folk skulle benytte trikken og ta en tur i marka. Mange gjenskaper i dag nostalgien med å leie veterantrikk til sitt selskap.
Gråkalbanen bygde også badehus, grillplass og stupetårn ved Lianvannet. Her var det svømmestevner og skolesvømming. På vinteren ble det arrangert skøyteløp, bil-og motorsykkelløp og travløp. De sies at det første travløpet i Nord-Europa som involverte pengespill var på Lianvannet i 1928. Vest for restauranten lå det hoppbakke. Når eldre mennesker tar turen til Lian med sine familier får vi høre mange rørende historier om svømmeknappen eller hopplengden. Dette blir eventyr for barnebarn og oldebarn.
Da Ila skole ble okkupert under krigen ble undervisningen flyttet til Lian restaurant. Området ble også brukt av tyske soldater under krigen. Det ble bygget mange bunkerser på jordene på Lian. Disse står fremdeles inntakte.
Etter krigen fikk Lian en nedgangstid, men i 1953 kom reddningen. Anna og Ingolf Vanvik fikk beskjed av Gråkallbanens direktør Bøchmann; driv ordentlig i to år, så skal dere få kjøpe Lian! De starter en lang og møysomelig prosses med å bygge opp restauranten. Etterhvert ble datteren Helene involvert i driften. Sammen med mannen Jan Schjølberg forsatte de arbeidet etter Anna og Ingolf helt frem til 1996. Vårt hedersrom Schjølbergstua er vår måte å si takk til Vanvik/Schjølberg. Lian hadde trolig ikke overlevd som restaurant uten denne familien.
I perioden 1996-2005 er det flere eiere og drivere involvert i driften. Restauranten lyder navnet Lian Herregård i denne tiden. Ekteparet Elisabeth Skonseng og Inge Johnsen kjøpte Lian i 2005, og tok tilbake navnet Lian Restaurant. Sammen med sitt personell jobber de hardt med bedriftens filosofi om en ”varig sanseopplevelse for en samling med mennesker” og ”Kortreist mat i godt selskap”.
It might be a bit challenging to photograph out in the snow, but a quick and easy tip for doing it is to set the correct exposure at brightest of the snowy parts in your scene, and do a 1/3rd exposure compensation. This will in the shot blow out your brightest parts of the scene, but the advantage is that your darker parts in the shot get a brighter exposure. When you are converting your shots you still have a lot of details preserved in the light areas, and you the darker areas of your shot still has full details without so much noise. This tip can also be applied if you are shooting a wedding, expose the white wedding dress instead of the dark dress of the groom. If you do so, the white wedding dress in most cases are going to get fully blown out and the details will not be as easily saved.
Today I have photographed the premiere of Jag etter Vinden at Nova Kino, a Norwegian drama film shot at Stokkøya. Among the guests was at the event was the Swedish actor Sven-Bertil Taube, known for rolls in big titles like “Män som hatar kvinnor”, “Arn” and “The Eagle has Landed”. Also at the event was the main character of the movie Tobias Santelmann, known from the Oscar nominated film Kon-Tiki.
During my stay in Copenhagen shooting Copenhagen Fashion Week AW2013, in February, I also did a few model testings. Here are some of the Dutch model Kim Van Tuijl at her kitchen in Copenhagen. Helping us out with the styling was Ryanne Sambros who is also Dutch, and is working for Episode, second hand store, in Copenhagen. Kim is represented by CPHWOLVES.
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, 1099 - Release Concert at Blæst
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, 1099 - Release Concert at Blæst
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, 1099 - Release Concert at Blæst
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, 1099 - Release Concert at Blæst
Yesterday I was photographing 1099‘s release concert for their new debut album at Blæst.
1099 are Anders Kalland (guitar), Kristian Krokfoss (guitar, piano), Lars-Erik Berg (bass) and Pål Leer (drums, saxophone). Live and on recordings we invite good friends to play with us.
Having worked all night finishing the Orega-project I did a little photo shoot with fashion model Eva Marie Frisnes from Trend Models and her portfolio. This is just one portrait I just finished up before I go to bed for some hours of sleep. The portrait is shot with natural light from windows facing north west giving quite soft shadows and even lit face.
A few weeks ago I did a model test with actress Elise Strømberg Mærlie for Trend Models. Here are some mixed shots from the test, both natural lighting and a on camera speedlight flash unit. The model test was just a warm up for the shoot we had the day after, to see how Elise did in front of the camera. For a first-timer doing this type of work in front of a camera, I was quite satisfied. Gry Saether at Trend Models have already decided to represent Elise and is now listed under new faces on their web-page. She’ll probably to reach far with a little hard work.
This week I have had a few photo shoots portraying a wide aspect of different people, doing a business editorial / documentary for Orega and Norservice. The shots will be published in a advertising supplement in the local newspaper Adresseavisen later this month and is of kind of the same work I did last autumn, Editorial for Norservice. These type of jobs are quite different from the fashion work I do for i.e. RunwayPassport, in style, preparations and expression, but the similarities are much the same, meeting people and making them look as good as possible.
Another project I am currently working on is a short presentation for NTNUi-Langrenn, the university sports club for cross country skiing and their SL2013-competition in the town center last Saturday.
When I got from Copenhagen a few weeks ago I started up a few projects. The first one was planning two new music videos and cover-shots for two upcoming singles from the band , a new demo video from Charite, two model testings with new faces; Ann-Helen Johnsen and Elise Strømberg Mærlie. Elise is an actress and has played in two Norwegian movies, Til Siste Hinder (2011) and Skvis (2012), aimed at young girls loving horses. I also did a shoot with Elise at Øysand photographing her in dresses designed by Malin Wannebo Varslott.
photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Location, photo shoot for Jekta 2013
In addition to these projects I was working as an assistant for Lars-Erik Berg at Centerteam Reklamebyrå A/S and their editorial for Jekta, a shopping mall in Tromsø. Next week I am starting on a new editorial documentary for Orega which is going to be published some time in March.
Last Saturday I did a model test with Ann-Helen Johnsen in studio. It was a low budget shoot as most of the other series of this type with the speedlight attached to the camera with the model up against a white wall creating sharp shadows. I first shot some photos of Ann-Helen at a runway show at Solsiden last autumn and where she was showing clothes from H&M and I decided to do this test shoot with her.
During my stay in Denmark covering the Copenhagen Fashion Week A/W2013 I did some model testing. These shots are from the lingerie / fashion photo shoot I had with Kim van Tuijl from CPHWOLVES. Make-up and styling was done by Ryanne Sambros with clothes from Episode. Equipment I used beside my camera was a big madras with a white bed sheet as a reflector to lighten the darker areas.
Hi and welcome to my blog / portfolio. My name is Bjørn Christiansen I am a 29 year old and live in Trondheim where I currently I work as a freelance photographer shooting fashion, commercial, documentary and portraits. Enjoy my site!
