Today we’d like to introduce you to Edsger Studio.
Hi Edsger, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always had a passion for portrait photography. There’s something magical about being able to capture someone’s true self in an image. When done right, a portrait can allow you to see yourself in an entirely new and deeply meaningful way. As a photographer, you look for those moments where the true self of someone emerges. It can take a few minutes or a good part of an hour, but it always happens. The magic of a good portrait is in the subtleties — something as small as a mere glance, the posture, or a hint of amusement. A good portrait photographer understands that and takes the time for the real person to emerge.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the hardest problems in this field is the understandable desire to please. Obviously, you want the subject of the portrait to be pleased with the result, but that should not mean that you can’t be creative in how you go about capturing that special image. Both photographer and model have to be able to go slightly outside their comfort zones to create the more memorable type of images. I admire this most in photographers who get assignments from big-name magazines to shoot a portrait of someone famous. Most of us would try to play it super safe and come back with somewhat mainstream and boring images. The best photographers though are able to push through that and create something that can stand the test of time. Ann Leibovitz famously asked Queen Elizabeth to remove her crown during a photo shoot. That takes real guts of course, and though Queen Elizabeth did not comply with the request it does show her approach to the assignment she was given. She wanted to reveal the person behind the crown, and not just take a pretty customary portrait. One could only wish to have that level of courage.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a beauty and fashion photographer, but I do often find myself straying into a bit of surrealistic art concepts. I often ask models to pretend to fall or to do a small jump, while maintaining a very solemn composure.. The results are often so unusual that I sometimes think that this is where my real passion lies. I also quite unwisely spend a lot of time pursuing digital image transformations of various kinds. I’ve programmed many effects that the standard image editing tools like Photoshop or Lightroom cannot duplicate. There are wonderful geometric transformations and image composition methods that I find fascinating. In these areas, I can combine a love of programming (yes, I know that’s weird) with my passion for photography (only slightly less strange). And it’s true that I haven’t found many others that are as fascinated by the results of these experiments as I am. It doesn’t stop me for pursuing it though!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Can it be as simple as the feeling that you’re on the right path? Someone wiser than me once told me that you spend your time well you should focus on doing those things that you can do better than anyone else you know. Then there’s also the Marie Kondo principle that if an item does not bring you joy you should get rid of it. That principle also applies to how you spend your time: if there’s an activity that you do that fails to bring you joy, it should drive you to find a way to get rid of it. Some of those things are easier said than done of course, but we can define success along those very same lines. When there’s no major activity in your life that fails to bring you joy and you can spend most of your time working on things that you believe you can do better than anyone else, you are succeeding.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.edsger-studio.com
- Instagram: @edsger.studio
Image Credits
Anya Bond Aiesha Eser Gianna Fung Hendri (Lauren Gerrish) Destiney Raylene
