BJØRN CHRISTIANSEN | Photographer

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Katarina Fossum

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Katarina Fossum

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Katarina Fossum

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Katarina Fossum

Here are some photos of Katarina Fossum from a model test I did with her recently. With her cool tattoos and funky hair her style is rock-chic-ish. These shots are from the first out of three outfits we tested with.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Eva Marie Frisnes

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Eva Marie Frisnes

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Eva Marie Frisnes

Here are some studio shots of Eva-Marie from Trend Models.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Elise Strømberg Mærlie

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.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Rachel Nordtømme

Having a double booking because your brain sometimes overflow can happen. At this shoot with Rachel Nordtømme I had just did that. To maintain the pace and production in addition to studying, I had a goal to have at least one extra photo shoot a week so keeping track on what deals I had done with what models was a bit of a challenge. The other model I also had made a deal with that evening was Trine Eide. Luckily for me Line Sofie Steinfinsbø was up for the challenge doing hair and make-up on both models. I remember Rachel was a bit of an underdog when she discovered that Trine also was going to model at the same time, but I calmed her down telling her to watch Trine and she might pick up some tricks. I believe Rachel did great on this shoot showing of a more bad ass attitude than she does in for instance Adressa’s Advent Calender with Rachel Nordtømme;)

Keeping the cost reduced by having the model bring some of their own clothes is a great way to practicing photography. My main goal in having to do photo shoots, or something with photo each day, even Sundays or in the holiday is to get better at it. One cannot get any better without practice. By doing shoots as often as you can, the different techniques you obtain can be applied when it really counts, both when it comes to lighting your scene and setting up your camera, but also the experience by directing a model finding out what works and what not to do. The look it self on the final result does not really depend on what the model is wearing or what make-up he or she has put on, it is what you manage to have your model to express that gives the image interestingness. Okay, you need to have some idea of what clothes to bring and what to put together, but all in all for practicing, it doesn’t really matter. Rachel had an okay wardrobe and we stuck with what she had.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

Finishing up three more photos of Gentiana Dobra from the photo shoot I did with her in March 2012. Stylist on the shoot was Valona Shala from Oi Hår og Velvære.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

In March this year I shot a series with Gentiana Dobra, but it might be that I am a bit slow with my post production. Anyways, here are some of the shots from that shoot. Helping me out was with the styling was Valona Shala from Oi Hår og Velvære.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Animal photography

As a photographer you sometimes need to face something uncomfortable and do jobs outside your comfort zone. Apart from my slightly allergic reactions in my eyes and itching of skin, I like dogs, when they aren’t to large, the race has a malicious history or straight up look frightening. Reading about dogs that have attacked their owners doesn’t help much either. This was one of these outside of comfort-zone-times. I had a customer who wanted to surprise her boyfriend with a photo of their two dogs as a Christmas present. What I didn’t expect was two huge, bad ass looking dogs with a metal chain to restrain them if they were “to happy”. Some of you might consider me a sissy, but my heart level rose and my palms were getting kind of sweaty. They can smell your fear. What I ended up to do was to go into character. I played the role of a professional photographer on the outside dealing with the two dogs as they were props to a photo shoot rather than the main subject. It might have helped a lot that the owner had strict control and with an ever so slight tug on the chain made them sit still, and that I in my head pictured the dogs to be dressed up in ballerina costumes having a tea party.

What I am really trying to say is whatever types of photo you do with a bit of challenge, stay focused, concentrate more on how to get the shots you need rather than you balancing on a line stretched across a 1000 meter fall. Lock in your scary little, scared boy or girl inside of you for a while when doing the shoot and let it out when you are done. Everything you might think inside reflects on the outside reflecting in your shots.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Pepsi Raw - Advertisement - Kristine Hove Røsok

Ideas is what I usually write about when explaining photo. You need to have an idea to make your shots more interesting. When I photographed this shot of Kristine Hove Røsok didn’t really have an idea. At school, Norsk Fotofagskole, we had this assignment where we were to shoot an advertisement with a bottle and a person in it. We could do whatever we liked, but one of the main goals was to shoot a nice looking bottle, I thought the assignment was a bit boring and didn’t really want to do it. At that time, I believe it to be late winter, early spring of 2011, the Pepsi Raw was released and I found this bottle to have a nice design to it. Along with quite a few other soft drink bottles, 20 in total, I worked in the studio shooting all these bottles before I had an impulsive photo shoot with Kristine. She had brought some clothes that she liked and we really just photographed for fun. Since I had this bottles in the studio from the earlier work I asked Kristine to do her fashion jumps with the bottles in her hand. Some cutting and pasting in post production I got this “advertisement”.

When photographing glass, that is, bottles, vine glass or other similar objects made of glass, there is some precautions you should keep in mind. First of all, clean the objects of any dust and pick the objects with the less scratches on them. This saves you a lot of time in post production. The other thing is to never light the objects directly, but have the light bounce off reflectors and black cards to make out the details of the glass. High lights such as the one in the middle of this bottle is made by a big Styrofoam board right behind me. Might be you can make out my reflection? The surface of the table you put your object might in some cases be reflected inside the bottle so be sure to have a nice, seamless surface to put your object. The cheap surface is a large piece of paper, the more expensive might be cabinet doors or table tops you can find at IKEA. Easiest way to shoot this kind of shots is to have your camera on a tripod and have only the modeling lamps on, this way you can make out any reflection and almost do a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get).

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

A few shots from a model test I did with Gentiana Dobra earlier this year. Stylist was Valona Shala from Oi hår og velværesenter

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

Earlier this summer I had a photo shoot with Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen. With me on the set www.ourstyle.org did hair, make-up and styling for me. We did some shots outside, but these shots are from the studio. I believe it I just used a single light source with a P70 refelctor hood giving a roughness in the mood.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Gentiana Dobra

A huge, white photo studio wall, a Broncolor Minicom 80, a P70 relefctor and Gentiana Dobra, styled by Valona Shala from Oi hår- og velværesenter AS. One photo series from the model testing I did with Gentiana this winter.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Merethe Rosvik Granhus

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Merethe Rosvik Granhus

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Merethe Rosvik Granhus

Ida Helene Almås from Art Complexion Makeup School helped me out laying make-up and doing the hair for my model testing with Merethe Rosvik Granhus from Trend Models.

The light setup in these photos are fairly simple. I have one fill light, large softbox aimed towards the ceiling and another I believe to be a P70 reflector or a beautydish high up in the air facing the model from six meters.

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen

Last Thursday I had a fashion inspired test photo shoot with Fredrikke Rennemo Johansen from News On Request on a rooftop. Helping me out with hair, make-up and clothes was Ann Karin Williams Aastø and Lina-Therese Schiager Brækkan from OurStyle.
I worked with a late afternoon sun, experimenting shooting the model facing and having it behind her. I should have brought reflectors to dampen the contrast a bit, but it was quite windy that evening and the model was getting goosebumps so I figured we should be quick. The whole scene is therefore natural lit. Both photos are shot with a 35mm f/2.0 at an aperture of f/4.5 and f/3.5. Enjoy your Sunday!

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Ida Botterli Andresen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Ida Botterli Andresen

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Ida Botterli Andresen

A few weeks ago I had a test shoot with Ida B from Trend Models doing something completely different than the usual still-life- / product- / pack-shots I do for Centerteam Reklamebyrå. Helping me out with hair and make-up on this shoot was Linn El Ri Flatås (web page is coming soon).

I’ve lit these pictures with only one giant softbox in a white studio. I’ve also built a box of black flags around the model to prevent reflections scattered light hitting the outline of the model.

Nordic Light Events

I also learned this week that I was the third runner up in a competition, NETTsidePRISEN 2012, at Nordic Light Events. Among 88 other websites my page got 123 points, 9 points from first place. I didn’t know until a friend sendt me an MMS of the score board. I`d just want to thank the persons who had me nominated. Thank you!

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Charite Viken

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Charite Viken

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Charite Viken

photo: Bjørn Christiansen, Charite Viken

I thought the last post was the last for a while, but then I got a little time before my flight to Denmark too off and then I could post some more pictures from the photo shoot I had with the Charite Viken (DP Models). Here we are in a fairly narrow elevator. Nikon 24mm f/2.8, SB-900 and Orbis Ring Flash is the extra equipment I used in addition to my trusty Nikon D700. Make-up and hair was done by Ann Karin Williams Aastø from OurStyle.

Well, now I’m leaving on a jet plane, leaving the snow, rain, ice and cold. 2 degrees Celsius and sun is a fairly good upgrade.