A dog day.

I came across an amazing picture story via Magnum Photos. Basically, this guy did a snapshot series when he was in Bogota to adopt his daughter. Such a great concept, I wish one of my parents had done a picture story when they acquired me. There's one thing that I find fascinating about his images. His portraits of people aren't anything special, it's his portraits of Botoga dogs that are amazing. His dog-portraits are way more genuine than his people-portraits, which is something I haven't really seen before.

Alec Soth

Akbar the baby & Au Revoir Simone

I may be mean, but I give credit where credit is due. If someone does something worthy of praise, I'm not one to deny it. Therefore, I would like to give a big thumbs up to this lady:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/wendela/barn/article5845966.ab (Swedish)

I couldn't find the article in English, but essentially, some woman in Indonesia just gave birth to a child that weighed approximately 8.7 kilos. His name is Akbar. Akbar the baby. Akbar the baby who weighed 19 pounds, and still decided to thrust his way out of his mothers vagina. I guess it's her own fault, for having a placenta that's made of mayonnaise, but still, if giving birth to something the size of a small pool-table isn't worth a bit of praise, then I honestly do not know what is.

Also, here's a great song:

Au Revoir Simone - Another Likely Story(Aeroplane Remix)

Studio playlist-additions Part I

I'm going to start adding studio-playlist songs spontaneously. Just because a song is #1, it doesn't mean it's my favorite. Starting now.





1. Fleetwood Mac - Little lies
2. Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere

A day at the bookstore

pic: dunno, new years 2007/2008

Today I went to the bookstore inside the Helmut Newton museum. I'd be pretty confident in saying it's the best bookstore I've ever been to, when it comes to photography books. It's not so much the quantity of books, but the selection. Everything's amazing. Here are a few gems I'll be looking to buy whenever I get some cash:

I, Tokyo by Jacob Aue Sobol 40 €
Nollywood by Pieter Hugo 40 €
Hannes Killian 40 €
Immediate Family by Sally Mann 25 €
An Aperture Monograph by Diane Arbus 30 €

Total: 175 €

That means I'll be able to afford these books in about 400 years. Neat.

I know it's relative, ok?

Two things are currently on my mind. One: Since my ipod broke, I need to compile a new studio playlist. This got me thinking about the criteria for a good studio playlist. Of course, this is something relative(which is what point two is about), but having a finely tuned studio playlist has always been very important to me. Especially when you're a person who doesn't know what he's doing in studio, and needs to win respect on other fronts when working in one. I've always been of the opinion that it should be a mix between songs that everyone knows and likes, guilty pleasures, new versions of old songs, and songs that nobody's heard of. It sounds easier than it is. Therefore, any suggestions are welcome.



The other thing I've been thinking about, is how much I despise when people answer random questions with "But that's relative, it's different from person to person". For instance, I really enjoy asking strange questions that are not related to anything or anyone. If you socialize with me, it's not uncommon for me to ask something like:

-So, If the world had to decide on a world capital, what would it be? Keep in mind cultural, economical, political arguments etc etc, and come up with a solution.
-Well, I don't know... I mean, that's relative. It's different from person to person, you know.

Do you take me for a fool? Is that it? Have you ever gotten the impression that I am a moron? It's pretty obvious that everyone has their own opinion, the point of the question is not to underline the fact that we all have different cerebral activities. The point is to argue and get try to get somewhere, even though the topic in itself is not relevant. When someone answers "It's relative" it must either mean that this dumb fail of an argument has worked in the past, that the person is a little bit dumb, or that he/she thinks it's not even worth discussing things that are not directly linked to our lives. Possibly all three.

It's like when you ask someone what their favorite song/movie is, and they say "I can't say, there are just too many". Seriously, just.name.one. Please. It's as if you think I'm going to judge your entire character, simply because you said your favorite movie is Reservoir Dogs. Loving film so much that you can't name your favorite one, does not make you cultivated. It makes you a coward.

So, if you want to be my friend, just walk up and ask me something like, "If you could combine any two animals, which would they be, and why?" If you don't want to be my friend, I can understand that too.

Random Stills That I Like Part VI

Beach invasion fail

Happy birthday ME

Detta är första gången jag bloggar på svenska. Och jag gör det för att skriva hur full jag kommer bli ikväll. Klass.

djur i hatt.

Here are some pictures from the past week or two. This included swimming next to Alexanderplatz, dressing the same as all other Swedes at a social gathering, and a relaxed walk over to Berghain. Among other things, of course.

pics: robbz
charles on fb

Hi, I have pictures of animals on my website.

I came across some photographer who had a category on his website that said "Animals". Just "Animals". I know what it sounds like, and it's exactly that. He had a whole category dedicated to four or five random pictures of animals; lambs, puppies in the park etc. And he wrote little captions for the pictures. Like "Greg playing with his ball in the park".

Now, either he is the funniest person ever and I want to marry him, or he's an idiot. I would place my bets on the latter. Therefore, this post will be dedicated to people who think it's a good idea to have pictures of animals on your website, and then write little captions for them. Amazing. I'm considering something like this for my website:

This is Archibald sleeping. Look at him go!

Here's a picture of Lenny sneaking out for a morning swim, even though it was Sunday! Chill out, Lenny, it's Sunday! Haha, what a goofball!

I took this one when André had just woken up. He was so mad at me when he realised I had just taken a picture! It was so funny!

This is actually my friend's dad, Mr Hermanson, at our graduation party. You can't tell in this picture, but he was getting down with us later in the evening! Right on, Mr Hermanson!

Here's Auntie Carole last christmas. She thought she was going to get a new sewing-machine, but her husband got her a margarita maker instead. As you can see, she was furious! It was so funny!

Come on, don't dedicate a whole category on your website to random pictures of animals. It can be perceived as quite dumb.

Still amazing.

Random Still That I Like Part V

Sometimes, I feel really proud being Swedish. Is that strange, considering the cirumstances? It might be ridiculous, but I decided to analyze this feeling anyways. In most instances where this feeling occurs, it's regarding something creative. I always see things from Sweden(clothes, pictures, movies etc) and I'm always struck by how tasteful and fine-tuned everything is. That, of course, would be a consequence of Sweden's general wellfare. A self-made wellfare, mind you. Every single person I know has been able to try pretty much whatever hobby they were interested in. I probably went through twenty of them before landing on photography. I could do that, because there was never any direct pressure on me. I didn't have to provide for anyone, and I never had to achieve anything in particular by a certain age. Only if I wanted to. I think that's what I'm actually proud of when I see something creative from Sweden. My mind knows that all that stuff comes from diversity, that people are fusing 15 old semi-hobbies into their main passion. We were given those opportunities by our parents, and their parents. I didn't help build that. Hence, can I still feel proud of Sweden's creative encouragement, even though I'm too young to have helped build it? And you guys thought I had doubts because I'm black. Shame on you.

Anyways, all stills this time are from "Let The Right One In" or "Låt Den Rätte Komma In" from 2008. The book is better, but the film looks fucking fantastic.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Things I like

Updates: Last night we went out, drank Jägermeister, and ended up swimming in the Spree. I bought my ticket and will be going to New York on October 21st. Hopefully, two more fashion shoots before then. Other plans in the making: January, and possibly February in Buenos Aires. North Korea, Mongolia and China next fall when my buddy Mattias is done with school. Anyways, I came across this photographer today. His work isn't very extensive(yet?), but what's on his website is great:

Kaj Lehmann

Oh, and I already posted it, but this might be one of the best fucking songs ever. Ever.

Watch his face at 0:32

People change. Thank god.

Have you guys ever heard the song "People Are Strange" by The Doors? What if they sang, "People Are Change" instead? Then the song would probably apply to more people, right? Hence, more people could relate to the song, because they "are change", and would therefore buy it. To me, that makes perfect sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is, people change. Thank God. See, this is what my friend Ghazal looks like now:

And this is what she used to look like when she was still a young Iranian boy. This boy had nothing but dreams, endless potential, and his unique resourcefulness. The village folk always said he'd amount to something big, and they were right. Like a delicate, yet magnificent swan, this little Iranian boy managed to go to Sweden and later transformed into a beautiful girl. Very few people know this, but Paulo Coelho's book "The Alchemist" is actually based on little Amin's coming into adulthood. Oh, what a glorious tale.

Here are some other people that decided to shape up, change out of their purple jumpsuits, and see what they were capable of:

Marilyn Manson:



Halle Berry:



Avril Lavigne:



And last but not least, Adolf Hitler:

I, on the other hand, have gone straight downhill from this state. I will never be as cool nor as attractive as I was when I was a kid. I'm telling you, being 22 and over the hill does not feel good. Not at all. Especially not when you've got Adolf Hitler just above you in a blog post, described as someone who managed to explore what he was capable of. Fail.

Me in S Journal

S Journal, the great blog of S Magazine posted some of my pictures today. Head over there and check their blog out. I love that magazine, seriously. If you're reading this a couple of days from now, you might just have to scroll down a bit to find me.

S Journal

S Magazine