Vintage Beauties 1909

via

Waiting for the Sun in Sarajevo

It seems as spring just won't catch up to the rest of us. The days here are still rainy, gray and drained of hope. A light breeze during a sunset on a summer day, like in the image that follows seems like a distant memory. 

But as it is every year, spring will eventually come around the corner. Peaking its head at first, waking up the trees and surely bringing the sun with it.

Piccadilly Circus 1963

via

Romy Schneider

via

Romy Schneider

Fixing Romy Schneider´s wax figure

via

Romy Schneider (23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982) was a film actress who achieved success in Germany and France. She started her career in the German Heimatfilm genre in the early 1950s when she was 15. 

From 1955 to 1957 she played the central character of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the Sissi trilogy. In 1958 she met Alain Delon and they became engaged; Schneider moved to France where she made successful and critically acclaimed films with some of the most notable film directors of that era. Her engagement to Delon ended in 1963 and Schneider subsequently married twice. 

The son from her first marriage died in an accident in 1981 when he was 14. In May 1982, aged 43, Schneider was found dead in her Paris apartment.

Starting afresh

Last week, I made a huge step in my career and left my job to pursue photography as my full-time profession. I have given myself no choice but to throw myself wholly and wholeheartedly into my career and although it is most possibly the scariest thing I have ever done, I feel genuinely inspired, excited and thrilled by what's to come.

I stifled my passion to get on with my day job and my life, and in the process I broke my own heart. And in one week I already feel as if I am returning to my former self, by allowing myself to cave in to the bursts of inspiration and opportunities to shoot that I have ignored for so long. And it feels amazing.

THIS WEEK IN PICTURES

Yesterday morning, we woke up to snow. Again. At the end of March. I knew immediately I wanted to go out and shoot in it, and despite my brain's urges to stay at home, be lazy and watch TV, I took the burst of inspiration and ran with it, and for that I couldn't be happier.



On Wednesday, my sister showed me my self-portrait portfolio full of sad and sombre faces and challenged me to try something new: a picture of me smiling. Challenge accepted!



Kaytii, a local photographer, offered to help me out if I was ever after someone to shoot with, so I took her up on her offer and shot a little portrait session with her earlier in the week. She was absolutely lovely and as always, it is a pleasure to meet and socialise with other photographers - it makes me realise I am not alone in this madness! ♥

Adrienne Ames

via

Village Landscapes

As the sun was setting over the hills of Bivolje Brdo, I snapped these landscapes. It was harmonious and calm, and that certainly came through in the images.

Adrienne Ames

via

The Secluded Village

The sun has been way to shy these days. We managed to sneak a trip to a far off secluded mountain slope over the weekend and took these images. After only a couple of hours in the sun, dark clouds started to cover up the sky and heavy rain started to fall. It hasn't passed since.

Adrienne Ames

via

Adrienne Ames (August 3, 1907 – May 31, 1947) was an American film actress.

The Last Days of Winter Sleep [Video Inside]

Here is the promised video. It's called "The last days of Winter Sleep". In this video you will see a sleepy little valley in the last days of winter. As the days are getting longer, nature starts to awaken and the frosty, cold and barren landscapes begin to fade. Please view in HD and Full Screen for full effect!

Shooting the video has been quite a challenge. As I have previously written, the locations for this video have been photographed many times by me, and I wanted to avoid repetition. That meant finding new angels and viewpoints in order for the video to look right (at least to me). A tripod was essential here, since I wanted to convey a calm atmosphere.

The shot of the valley in the beginning of the video was actually a high-speed shot. The sun was slowly getting out behind the clouds, lighting the valley. In editing the footage was sped-up to create a sense of motion that was larger than life. I think it turned out quite well!

The areas depicted in the video had been victims to a massive fire-blaze at the end of last summer. At one point it seemed that nothing would be left over. But as you will be able to glimpse, a lot of the trees and flora managed to stay alive. Spring will show these landscapes in their full glory again, but until then everybody is still enjoying the last days of quiet before having to wake up.

In the Autumn Colored Countryside

Today I went back to some of my old stomping grounds, where I have taken a lot of images. Actually the ones below was taken there. But today I decided to do something different. I didn't take my dslr with me, but my HD camera instead. The goal was to capture a familiar place from unfamiliar angels and try to evoke something new. The footage has been shot and I plan to edit and post it tomorrow, so stay tuned for a big nature and landscape video. The theme of the video is "The last days of winter sleep", because nature was still sleeping, with one eye starting to open slowly.

I just wanted to let you know about the video, and hope to read your comments on it tomorrow.

Margaret Livingston

via

George O'Brien & Margaret Livingston in Sunrise 1927

via

George O'Brien (April 19, 1899 – September 4, 1985) was an American actor, popular during the silent film era and into the talkie era of the 1930s, best known today as the lead actor in F. W. Murnau's 1927 film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

Margaret Livingston

via

A Closer Look at the Rural Portraits

This portrait (as well as the rest in the recent rural portraits series) was taken in an abandoned transmission station in the hills. I guess it's not the most unusual thing to come across in the countryside, but it was still odd. Nevertheless it provided a great backdrop for the portraits, because the back-wall was lit by natural light. An entry is on the left side behind me, and through it the warm glow of the sun illuminated the cracked wall with its golden light.

This next image was taken right at that door. While the sun outside provided light that was too harsh, standing in the doorway proved just the right thing, since the window to the right side (the one through which the previous photo was taken) gave light to the wall in the back.

The next portrait was taken on the bare hills, with the wast never-ending mountain landscape in the background. It was a little before the golden light of sundown, so I had to cheat a little bit with the colors in post, and added a retro-red-tint to the image. This is quite handy when you need to restore an image that wasn't taken in perfect light.

The last portrait I want to talk about is this one. I love the composition of it, with the sky so open, and the hills in the background. The light was still a bit too harsh for my taste, but it passed. 

Margaret Livingston

via

Margaret Livingston (November 25, 1895 – December 13, 1985) was an American film actress, most notable for her work during the silent film era. She was sometimes credited as Marguerite Livingston or Margaret Livingstone. On screen she resembled actress Mae Busch.

Rural Portraits and Landscapes (Part Two)

Part two of my recent country portraits and landscapes.

Vintage Beauties

via

Mikhael Mordkin and lovely dancers by Nicholas Haz c.1920

via

Rural Portraits and Landscapes (Part One)

We had a lot of fun while creating these landscapes and portraits. The portraits were taken in an abandoned power station.

Twiggy

via

Phantasialand (Part Three)

In this last part of the Phantasialand series, I'll take you to the crazy Hotel Tartüff attraction, where nothing is as it seems!