this blog is dead..

Broncolor

2009-12-11T05:21:00.001-08:00

bronc (2 of 10)
Originally uploaded by isker

Cant wait to go back to the Broncolor studio!
it was the best studiolight experience i have ever experienced..

After new year its rocknrolla again!

pakka.

Maria

2009-11-17T12:23:00.001-08:00

Maria
Originally uploaded by isker

Retouching

2009-10-27T06:02:00.001-07:00

layers
Originally uploaded by isker

That’s whats the next upcoming days, weeks, and months is all about.
Retouching, Retouching, Retouching.
Started to work on the photos now for Ellen Xylander and that’s about 40 photos that should be more or less edited.
Also I have some photos for Patrik to edit and there will is another photosession booked on Saturday in the studio.
So im quite busy atleast until new year.
Fun that is.

Gotta go.

Cheerz!
/enikone

Peace!

2009-10-14T00:18:00.001-07:00

15
Originally uploaded by isker

Getting prepared in the studio.

BTSC - Ellen X

2009-10-12T22:46:00.001-07:00

10
Originally uploaded by isker

Just a quick sneak peak of the Behind the Scenes from the studiosession.

Please visit my Flickr for more:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/sets/72157622574894914/

or click on the picture.

/enikOne

The Xylander Photosessions - Rain, cold and Hensel...

2009-10-12T03:15:00.001-07:00

idag
Originally uploaded by isker

What a weekend!
700 hundred photos later and im more tired like a turtle on crack.

Thursday afternoon the norweigan pop-artist Ellen Xylander arrives to Moscow, and came to pic me and
Aida up after work.
Really nice girl and i must say she is kind of brave to come to this city before we ever even met.
But from the mailconversations to judge i think we had a clear clue about what kind of persons we where.
And we dont bite. ;)

Anyhow the thursday evening was all about go through what friday will give, and also to check the wardrobe.
And belive me when i say that she was prepared.
5 kilos overweight and more than 15 clothing changes was more than good enough to get many different pictures.

Day 1, Friday. Outdoor shoot at Archangelskoje.

Annelie arrived with breakfast bread, and after a niiiiiice long breakfast i prepared all the photostuff that we should bring.
The plan was to use only the Quadra, and i also brought a white umbrella to shoot through.
Aida started with the make up and hair on Ellen, and around lunch time we where of to Archangelskoe.
We got frozen quite quick cause it was rainy and wet all day...unfortunately, but i think there was a reason fot that aswell.
And yes we got some nice photos.
In one way the weather was good (cloudy), cause then we got good use for the flashes, wich did alot for the final results.
The last photo i was suppose to take, when i just got a brilliant idea, the Quadra and the radiosync didnt like eachother anymore.
Offcourse. My usual luck.
Though the D3X with 24-70 on it, stood the rain for the 3 hours without any problems.
Just wiped it dry when i came home and it continued to work as nothing had ever happened.
I love that camera...& lens!

Day 2 Saturday. Indoor studio at FotoFabrika.

I was unfaithful with 4 Hensel 500 flashes, unlimited use of a great variation of lightmodifyers, backdrops and some smaller mix of props.
7 hours in this studio was like nothing and around 500 photos is a good result.
Ellen, Aida, Martina, Annelie and Sergey did a great job supporting me this weekend, so thank you so much!!
I appreciate it very much!
I could not really done it without you.
Make up, styling, hair, light and in general great ideas and advice.
You make a great team!

The studio shoot was the most fun and exciting i must admit.
Working with so many light possibillities, experimenting and also for real use the Nikon D3X in its proper envoirment.
And as from fridays adventure in the rain, it did not let me down in the studio either.
So in the future i will for sure try to rent a studio in this place again.

Now Ellen will choose her favourites among the 700 hundred photos, and then another big part begins.
Photoshopping.

Stay tuned for the results and some Behind the scenes shots.

/enikOne

Moscow South-West

2009-10-04T11:54:00.001-07:00

Moscow South-West
Originally uploaded by isker

Pheew!

2009-09-16T02:25:00.001-07:00

cellars
Originally uploaded by isker

Oeppa!

After a couple of weeks with semi hard work ,i must admit, i will have some time now to reflect and plan new stuff....again.
The Gulnaz Wedding shot went well and both her and Yannick where very saticefied with the pictures.
Also i have retouched 8 pics for Ellen Skaug, the norweigan artist. She was also saticefied with the end result so it feels good.
Even though i was abit skeptic first to retouch another photographers pictures, as you can not really control it from scratch, it was quite fun.
He did a good job and there are always a retouch for all pictures.
This guys made quite natural pictures without studiolighting, and using depth of field, so i figured the most applicable style for those where to keep it abit analouge with a twist of vintage/grunge.
Cant post any pics here as they have not been published yet on her site.

Well, the big job is still to come!
Week 41 she will arrive to Moscow and then there will be two very hectic but fun days to just shoot, shoot and shoot.
As i mentioned, one shoot will be outside and the other one in studio.
Now on my "free time" i will just surf around and look for inspiration.
The photographers that brings me most inspiration and ideas right now is August Bradley and Annie Leibovitz.
The studioworks they have is absolutely fantastic.
Im talking about the photos that August Bradley got nominated for the Hasselblad Masters and also the carnevalmask studioshots.
And Leibovitz, well i havent really spend much time to really check out her stuff even though she is the most famous, but recently i stepped over her portraits of the Queen Elisabeth of England and her works with Disney.

What can i say?
Masterclass!
My cup of fucking tea!

And i think i might could offer my left foot, to spend a day or two with the guys who made the postprocessing on those pics.

So whats in the ruff plans from here?

October:
8-12 October - Ellen Skaug Promoshoot
22-25 October - Visit Patrik in Madrid (might be some shots there..)

November:
Photosession with Mascha
Photosession with Misha
Skylounge 22 shoot
Shoot with Sergey and Sveta (rent a studio)

December:
Personal work

//enikOne

Photo-studio rental in Moscow!

2009-09-10T03:16:00.001-07:00

plan3
Originally uploaded by isker

Yo yo!

I was going to write "im so excited" but then that corny disco song from the 80's just pops up in my head..
But i am anyway, cause just now i booked a big fat photostudio here in Moscow!
If you know chiryllic go check out www.foto-fabrika.ru

It placed close to the chocolate factory Red October, just along the Moscow river, so its very close to the center.

So why did i do this?
Well the weekend week 41 ill get a visit from a norweigan girl. Ellen Skaug.
She contacted me and wanted me to shoot her promoshots as she is planning promotion as a pop-artist on Myspace and her own website. Also for future posters and maybe even cd covers for her music album or singles.

We are planning one session outside somwhere in moscow.
Might land at Archangelskoe again, so i really hope the weather is good, but you never know in october..
The saturday we will spend at the studio.
6 hours.

They had a lot of really nice equipment.
Hensel flashes and alot of lightmodyfiers available that you can use for free.
Backgrounds windmachines, lightmeters, tripods, some simple furnitures if you like.
They got alot!

Looking forward to week 41.

enikone

Gulnaz & Yannick

2009-09-02T23:32:00.001-07:00

Gulnaz & Yannick
Originally uploaded by isker

Revelation re-make

2009-09-01T13:00:00.001-07:00

Revelation re-make
Originally uploaded by isker

The Revelation.

2009-08-30T22:36:00.001-07:00

Cinderella
Originally uploaded by isker

One of the results from the shoot this Saturday in Archangelskoe.
One hell of a nice place!
You bet i will go there again to get more of those beautiful and vintage feel enviorments.

This photo consists of three different sources.
First the shot of Gulnaz, leaning against the pillars as one shot.
I deleted the ugly enviorment inbetween the pillars, and added the view.
Then i added the sky and the clouds as one photo.

Combining these three so the would flow, and working with some textures, light and some different filters and effects i pretty much got what i wanted here.

Hope you like it.

Gulnaz

2009-08-30T09:22:00.001-07:00

Rose
Originally uploaded by isker

One of the finished photos from the shoot.

Behind the scenes - Looking for love photoshoot

2009-08-30T04:02:00.001-07:00

Edström's - Getting closer to the final..

2009-08-27T22:50:00.001-07:00

Edström Tiebreak
Originally uploaded by isker

After a long time of rest and such, it was and is, time to start to work and finish up some projects.
The Edström Family picture has been lying around quiet for a while now so i just continued yesterday to work on it again with fresh eyes.

Alot changed.
I reflected all of them so the light is coming from right instead of left.
Also added some more houses, a new sky and a landscape background to create depth.

There are some details i need to correct, add and do more nicely, but in general its getting close to the final image.

Now im looking forward to the wedding theme photoshoot on Staurday.

Stay tuned for these pics!

//enikOne

Coma

2009-08-25T01:30:00.001-07:00

Maria
Originally uploaded by isker

Picture of Maria Stepanchenko, the next model to put infront of the lens.
Maria asked me to help her to get a new portfolio and why not?
Im not sure how experienced she is, but im looking forward to make some photos with her.
This one we took last staurday at our place, but was not very planned in any way actually.

On Saturday, if the weather allows, finally the wedding shoot with Gulnaz will take place.
The location is a big big big country mansion outside Moscow, and we just need to check if we are allowed to take some shots there, then its fixed.
Praise to the weather Gods!

The London trip suddenly didnt happen for some reason.
I guess they where not people enough.
Hopefully it will just be postponed, cause it would defenetly been fun to go.

Thats all for now.

Six Months of winter..

2009-08-06T04:22:00.001-07:00

enikett
Originally uploaded by isker

Back from vaccation, back at work and back in Moscow!
My camera triggerfinger is itching more than ever and there will be, and there has to be alot of things going on in the nearest future.
I have been telling myself that i have to take the step to make that stuff happened.
And i will....got dammit!

I have a lot of personal ideas to fulfill but there are alot more to be fixed and done before i can start to carry things out.
Some location researches, new models, clothes etc etc..
And some of the ideas i might brought water above my head. But "nothing is impossible" as my old employer use to say. ;o)
You just need the right means.

Morris and some other creepy characters will be back, so bite your pillow and get prepared for some scary ass shit!
;oD

Also i will continue my work on the Edstroem family shot.
It might take a while but if thats what it takes...well so be it.

We have a wedding session also in september here in Moscow wich i look forward to.
And if everything goes as planned we go to London to shoot Andrew Martyns friends portraits.
10 people!
Heavy work but it will be mad fun for sure!

Also if we want we could shoot some nice stuff at Skylounge 22 here in Moscow.
A beautiful, yet expensive restaurant with a impressive panoramic view.
This one i might put on hold abit but not let go totally. ;o)

Coming up more is that we might rent a studio here in the city to shoot some artistic nude shots of Sveta (the model from the Samara shoot) once more.
A friend of mine that knows her well, is in Moscow and also Sveta wich what i heard so far was interested.
Nothing is confirmed yet but i hope it will be soon.

The terrace shoot at Barrikadnaya i standing very still.
Need to check that up to see if it is possible or not.

I also will make some updates in my portfolio structure.
Im planning to split up in two portfolios. one with this years pictures, and one with coming projects.
Alasjö, you can expect a mail soon. ;o)

Stay tuned.
Pakka!

/enikOne

No

2009-08-04T03:28:00.001-07:00

no
Originally uploaded by isker

Another one for the dark Aida collection.

Svärta

2009-07-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

Svärta low
Originally uploaded by isker

Portrait of Aida..

...again!

Shadow Testing

2009-06-30T01:35:00.001-07:00

Leo Shadow
Originally uploaded by isker

Just had to try out to do some shadowing on Leo, to see how it would look.
Hmm..starting on the "goodies" allready...even though i have some masking left.

Stay tuned.

enik.

Edstrom Project ; Enviorment WIP

2009-06-25T23:01:00.001-07:00

background
Originally uploaded by isker

Yesterday I continued on the Edstrom Family shoot piece.
After masking and masking and masking and still not completely finished (still have Ebba left) i just needed to do something else to regain some movement in my head.
So i started to sketch on the enviorment and background for the piece.

What you see here is still during process and far from done, but i think the idea is coming forward abit more.
During our visit in Pokrovsky Hills we went for a walk and i took some pictures from different angles around the compound, to get some different elements to put together and work with.
I didn want to just take on picture of a certain enviorment to use in this picture. No, my idea is to build the enviorment with elemtns from the compound, such as houses, cars, roads, trees etc etc..
It will be and look like it does in Pokrovsky but at the same time not. Like a new version of Pokrovsky Hills.
Plus i can decide and feel more free when i compose the image.
I will try to get the perception and angles as good as i can but as this will end up (hopefully) in a more cartoonic style of image, it does not matter that much if some perceptions are not 100% correct. It could be quite cool actually...!

The image you see here is from 4 different pictures.
But all of them except the sky is from Pokrovsky Hills.
Even the fat cat.
The sky is just there to add some feel to it about how it could look, like a measurestick when placing the other components and moving them around.
I might change that one to a more suitable later on.

Also i havent put in the characters yet, but on the picture in the post below you can see them.
And my idea is to get a feel that they are coming up from a hillroad, that comes up from behind the corner of the house in a sharp turn.
I will try to make it more verge and to make the road look a bit more steep hill-like....just havent figured out how yet.

Looking forward to get all pieces cut out and start with the shadowing and lighting soon.
That will be the biggest challenge.

Now i will put on some Michael Jackson music.
R.I.P

//enikOne

Michaela Myers

2009-06-20T01:06:00.001-07:00

Michaela Myers 800
Originally uploaded by isker

Its an Edstroem life....

2009-06-09T11:46:00.001-07:00

Edstroem project sketch 1
Originally uploaded by isker

Yo!

Last weekend we where in Pokrovsky Hills making the familyshoot for the Edstroem Family.
Annelli, Göran, Ebba, Alice and Leo.
Had planned for this a couple of months ago and im very glad i finally did happen, even though we didnt really had the Gods of Weather on our side.
Had planned to do all the shooting outside against the carport, and offcourse just as we where finished with the setup...the rain came.
So in we went with all the strobes, octaboxes etc.
We did improvise a little bit and set up everything in their diningroom with a some white bedlinens. Worked very well.
So here is a preview of what might come.
Just a rough sketch putting together all the components just to have an idea about the composition.
Now the real fun begins.

Stay tuned!

Pakka.

EnikOne.

Coraline Jones

2009-06-02T12:19:00.001-07:00

Coraline Jones
Originally uploaded by isker

The Coraline final.

Coraline

2009-06-01T21:56:00.001-07:00

Coraline
Originally uploaded by isker

A portrait inspired by the movie "Coraline".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline_(film)

Though im not so saticefied with it yet.
I will give it a new try this evening i think cause the burlap texture does not really correspond to the features of the face and the shadows etc..
Also i think the texture is abit to thick and heavy..

Hope you like the concept anyway..

=)

Pakka!

//enikone.

Upcoming Photosessions..

2009-06-01T02:26:00.001-07:00

dark
Originally uploaded by isker

Saturday 6/6:
Familyshoot with the Edstroem family at Pokrovsky Hills.
Im planning to drag all my stuff there, and see if i can manage to work with a three light setup.
Looking forward to this one!

Sunday 7/6: *not 100% confirmed*
Shoot at Skylounge 22 with Andrew Martyn.
Could be that this one will be moved to September.

Week 27 or 28:
Model shoot with Sophia Tupolev.

Week 35: (August)
Weddingshoot at Archkangelskoye with Gulnaz and Janikk.

3-6th September:
Friendshoot in London with Andrew Martyn & Co.

September:
Modelshoot with Mischa.
Hoepfully on this bloody terasse.
Havent talked to the guy who owns it yet...
Gah!!

September:
Some kind of a lovestoryportraits of a swedish couple i met at a party this weekend.
=)

Well the most of it is still under discussion but the jobs starts to roll.

Fun!

Pakka!

/enikone.

Coming Home..

2009-05-28T00:46:00.001-07:00

You Are..
Originally uploaded by isker

Tomorrow my Aida comes back to Moscow after two weeks of training in Delft, Netherlands.

Looking forward to it so much!
I miss her.

//enikOne

The Last Universe - final

2009-05-25T22:44:00.001-07:00

The Last Universe - final
Originally uploaded by isker

and the final..

The Last Universe - idea/sketch

2009-05-25T22:43:00.001-07:00

The Last Universe - idea/sketch
Originally uploaded by isker

At the idea stage..

Is god available?

2009-05-25T03:00:00.001-07:00

is god available?
Originally uploaded by isker

Got hyperinspired during this weekend!
And when i get hyperinspired, i just have to try it and make something!!
So the weekendproject became a manipulation consisted of three different pictures, borrowed from members of Deviantart and their stockgallery.

I was just testing so this one is not that complicated really, but for the future im aiming at making more complicated manipulations and combine far more different elements....and offcourse to shoot the sourcepictures myself.

I chose a model picture of a girl with a veeeery long dress, a dark cloudy sky, and a desertground as my basephotos.

I cut them out, combined the three and then started to pull the strings in Photoshop.

I recorded all of it and put on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UuPXjCIFz4

Hope you like!

/enikOne.

Symetrics

2009-05-22T01:44:00.001-07:00

Symetrics
Originally uploaded by isker

Went back in time and found some really oldish pics from the beginning of days in Moscow.

Octabox 170

2009-05-20T00:42:00.001-07:00

Octa 170 (3 of 5)
Originally uploaded by isker

I just had to assemble my 170cm octabox yesterday to see if the BX400 flashes could take it.
And they could!

So now im looking forward to shoot with it properly to see how it perfoms.

Pakka!

enikOne

The Tverskaya Girl as a Daily Devation at Deviant Art!

2009-05-19T04:04:00.001-07:00

Daily Devation 19th May 09
Originally uploaded by isker

It feels great everytime!
For you who does not know what a Daily Devation is..
At the biggest artcommunity on the internet www.deviantart.com the everyday choose a certain amount of different artworks to highlight during one day.
All kinds of communitymembers can suggest other members artwork to the different admins for each group of art...so to say.
If you get this, wich is NOT easy, your message notifications is just pushed to the sky, and aswell as the favs.
People notice your work and you really feel appreciated.

This is my third DD on DeviantArt within 3 years, but my very first photo DD.
The two others i got on Gradient Mesh pieces.

Pakka!

//enikOne

Herione

2009-05-17T23:03:00.001-07:00

Herione
Originally uploaded by isker

As i had been saying before, when i shoot i often have a vision but this might change very quickly to something completely different during the postprocessing and editing stage in Photoshop.

Me and Aida just had some time to kill and i really wanted to try out the Quadra with a beautydish and the raster on, to see how the light was acting.
So we moved the sofa, and put up the paper-studiobackgound i bought a couple of months ago. Its a bit broken but it works.

So basiclly it was mostly to try the BD with the raster and practice some lighting also.
I found out that the raster gave very hard shadows but aswell a very dull light, that gave a cosy yet mystiqe feeling.
I tried to lighten and soften up the shadows with my bouncer but i didnt really get that one working.

One thing about the Quadra that i was very irritated about is that i had to press the button to start the LED light all the time.
But this was qucik corrected by changing the settings to 60 secs instead of 30.
It takes more batterypower though but it didnt matter that much in this case.
And still, those damn cables are to short!!!!

Anyhow.
This time i really wanted to make just plain and nice portraits of Aida with some nice lighting.
But always when i sit ifront of photoshop, i just cant get my hands of this dirty and gritty textures that adds a gothic/gore and a darker sense to the pictures.
Im just to fond about the look.
Even if a plain portrait can stand out as it is, i still want to add something more to my pictures.
Its not that i believe in them as they are, but for my own "pleasure" i try to strengthen them by adding elements to the photo, that i hopefully think also strengthen the feeling of it.
So yes, it is all fiction.
Aida does not have that big scar on her back, and she is not addicted to heroine.
But its not a portrait of her.
It is a portrait of somebody that i have created, who feels that way and has that scar.
It is my interpretation of how i think the darkness COULD look like.

All pictures has a story, whether it is authentic or not.

Pakka.

//enikOne

scarred

2009-05-17T10:41:00.001-07:00

scar
Originally uploaded by isker

PhaseOne

2009-05-13T04:04:00.001-07:00

Photo Expo (46 of 80)
Originally uploaded by isker

Interesting camera this aswell..

P30+..

Tverskaya Parade..

2009-05-09T07:03:00.001-07:00

Girl 1
Originally uploaded by isker

9Th of May again and the whole Moscow is crowded to the fullest!

Russia tenses its muscles and shows off their cannons.

maid

2009-05-07T07:32:00.001-07:00

maid
Originally uploaded by isker

Hasselblad

2009-05-05T00:30:00.001-07:00

Photo Expo (34 of 80)
Originally uploaded by isker

Im dreaming very serious dreams right now..

...and im not sure i wanna wake up?

A blast from the past...

2009-05-04T01:13:00.001-07:00

Kraznaya MESH (made in Adobe Illustrator)
Originally uploaded by isker

Sometimes i think about how the hell i got into photography?
Where did it start and why?
But if i go back a couple of years in time, it seems quite logic somehow and the pieces comes together.

I have always been a person leaning more to the estethic side.
Drawing and painting filled up my days as a young boy and i remembered certanly the time when i copied and learned how to draw the Ninja Turtles from the comicbooks.

Later in my teenage me and my best friend John started out with graffiti.
I think i was around 14 at that time and as most of the youngsters in that age we just didnt give a shit.
It was cool and we did put our tags on toilets and electricity booths etc around our willage.
The graffiti epok was a great period.
We could spend hours after hours to sketch, and after 4 years, yes you really developed a style.
You created a concept to express yourself, an alterego and you got a more trained eye for styles, colors, composition and perspective etc..

...wich you have a lot use from even today....and even the alterego thing is still rolling. ;o)

But the graffiti interest got more pale and you grow from it a bit.
Sure i could have continued, but i just didnt.
Had a couple of strange years when alot of crap happened.
But as some people does you one day just wake up from the "coma" , thinking you got to get a grip of things and dont spoil what you once had.

This is where i started to learn Adobe Illustrator and got deeply involved with vector graphics.
I was so impressed by a guy from canada, that did those super realistic vectors in illustrator with help from the gradient mesh tool
Basiclly what you do is that you trace a photo, it seems very realistic but there are no pixels involved. Just vector points wich is a totally different mathematic.
How the hell did he do that??
I contacted him and got some words of visdom and alot of helpful tips.

This led to alot alot alot of hours infront of the screen, practice and practice to get the realistic look.
And yes it is very timeconsuming, but after a couple when you get the technique it seems like it was worth it.

Here is my mesh portfolio at IllustratorWorld.com
http://www.illustratorworld.com/users/enikone/

I rarely wisit that site nowadays but when i did recently i saw that some of my artworks had over 10.000 views!!!
Some even had about 20.000 views!!
Jesus!

So just for the curiosity i Googled "Henke Svensson, Gradient mesh" or "EnikOne Gradient Mesh"

http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&q=Henke+Svensson+Gradient+Mesh&meta=&aq=o&oq=

And what did i found?

A number of blogs etc that had me listed as one of the Top 10 gradient mesh masters on the web!

Here are some links:
(copy the adress into the browsers adressfield)

VectorDiary: http://www.vectordiary.com/illustrator/top-10-masters-of-gradient-mesh/

From the Aeron blog: http://alanvalek.com/blog/2008/10/17/someone-knows-how-to-use-the-gradient-mesh-tool/

Blog your heart out: http://pakarooo.blogspot.com/2008/10/masters-of-gradient-mesh.html

Paintalicous blog: http://paintalicious.org/2007/05/02/a-pyrotechnic-showcase-of-photo-realistic-art/

Basang Blog: http://basangpanaginip.blogspot.com/2006/07/worlds-most-photorealistic-vector-art.html

Digital Artist: http://digital-artist-toolbox.com/?p=28

Wilogo: http://en.wilogo.com/blog/2008/vector-art/

Biorust: http://forums.biorust.com/illustration-sketching-vector-art/3203-gradient-mesh-tutorial-enikone.html

Very flattering!
Thanks to all you bloggers and all other people that pushed and enjoyed my meshworks.
WOW!

So what has this to do with photography?
As you trace a photo when you mesh, i usually bought highres pictures from stocksites to use.
After a while i wnated to do my very own stuff.
I could take these pictures myself?
And thats where it begun...

Even the interest for Meshing got paler and paler, the patience to sit for hours clicking these points just dissapeared.

I went from a Minolta G400 to Nikon D50, to Nikon D80, to Nikon D3 and Studioequipment in 5 years.
Now it is about three years i did a mesh (see picture on top..) and im not really planning to go back there.
Maybe one day ill do one... ;)

So here we are.
Trying once again to develop my own style and expression, but with photography instead.
What will be next?

Pakka.

//Enikone.

HipShots!

2009-05-03T22:48:00.001-07:00

nice bike duuuude
Originally uploaded by isker

It is quite fun...
Why?
Well, it is as spontaneous it can get.
You have no clue how the picture will look like when it comes to composition or angles, nobody knows you are taking the picture so their poses and faces is what it is in just that moment.
I was out this weekend and i think i got some succesful hipshots..

...but in one way it felt like a bad excuse to not really dare to steer up the moment and be more aware of what i wanted to capture.

hmm...
gotta work on that one.

pakka.

/enik1

Check out my set with hipshots from this weekend at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/sets/72157617510111657/

Quadra Outdoor

2009-04-27T11:59:00.001-07:00

Quadra outdoor 2
Originally uploaded by isker

Shooting Pontus at the playround and testing the Quadra flashes.
Must say this kit is extremely portable and light!

Very saticefied so far!!

Pakka!

//e1

West

2009-04-26T07:24:00.001-07:00

West
Originally uploaded by isker

Empty handed...

2009-04-24T03:18:00.001-07:00

Photo Expo (44 of 80)
Originally uploaded by isker

Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

Today is the day!
Yesterday was suppose to be the day but everything screwed up.

I was on my way to the Marco ProPhoto shop here in Moscow to buy and pick up the two Head Elinchrom Ranger Quadra A-Speed set.
So exciting!
It started with that i offcourse got on the wrong bus.
So i had to go all the way to Metrostation Planernaya, take the purple line to Barrikadnaya, walk over from purple to brown line, from there go one station to Belaruskaya, go from brown line to green line, then go three stations to Aeroport where the shop was located, INSTEAD of taking the right bus, go to metro Rechnoy Voczal take the green line four stations directly to Aeroport.
It would have saved me some time you can say..

I was sooo mad at myself, but i managed to go there before 19.00, when they suppose to close.

When i came there they packed the set and they told me they couldnt take VISA.
WHAT??
As i was suppose to pay with my swedish card, the bank has to approve the transfer and nobody works at the bank after 19.00.
So i went out, across the street into a shoppingmall and basiclly empty one of the ATMs there....as good as it gets offcourse.
The limit was 6000rub and i needed more than that.
After 10 withdrawals it said stop.
SHIT!
hmm..

I just went back and said i will come back tomorrow before 18.00 and pay the rest with my card.

So i went home emptyhanded.

So in two hours i will go there again, pay the stuff and go home with a shiny new strobe set and a new Manfrotto tripod!

May God bless this Friday.

Have a nice weekend!

Pakka!

//enikone

Beautydish and Octabox!

2009-04-22T00:40:00.001-07:00

Photo Expo (9 of 80)
Originally uploaded by isker

Woooho!! Finally!
Today i got new stuff fro my studiolighting.
Smuggled by my working colleague Annlie from Sweden over to the russian border.
Its one Beautydish 42cm, Silver, with raster (its not exactly the one on the picture) and one huge Octabox 170cm.
Really looking forward to try these new accessories out.
Though i need to get my strobes at Martinas place first...

Im in a serious buying process right know.
Everyday im thinking about photography, how i can improve my work and getting some new ideas for themes etc..
Some say its not about how much or what gear you have, and yes partly i can agree.
But it depends on what level you want to put yourself and your work at.
At the direction that i strive against, these kind of equipment is relevant for me.
Not super proffesional, but on a level that suits and pleases me.
I love the work and the feeling of the whole photosession process.
And then when you look at the pictures, you get much more saticefied but yet you discover new things you really should have thought about. Then you bring those to next one.

Had some new ideas i wnat to try out aswell.
Im having a weddingshoot this summer and for this i wanted to learn how to shoot decent panoramas.
Not like 360 degrees panos, but maybe 10 frames that catches a little bit more of the enviorment.
And i want to blend in the model in these aswell shot with studiolighting.
Looking forward to try this, either it works or it will get screwed up completely.
We will see.
Anyhow, this panoramastuff is a very new area for me and it seems very interesting.
So..hehe...i will meet a guy on Saturday and he will show me a Nodal Ninja Head.
Its a panoramic head that you fix to your tripod, then fix the camera, wich makes it possible for you to take panoramas around the nodpoint to avoid paralax misstakes.
It basicilly means that you can turn your camera in different angles, but the focuspoint of the lens stays on the same place, just to get the perception correct.
This head is unfortunately quite expensive..

Another buy i just HAVE to make is a new tripod for one of my strobes.
It was broken last weekend during the Andrew Martyn shoot...
I think i found a place where to find tripods for elinchrom....otherwise Manfrotto is an option.

As i have mentioned in previous texts in this blog is about my interest for the new portable studiolight kit from Elinchrom. Elinchrom Ranger Quanta A-Speed.
Cant wait until they will start to sell this one!!

So i guess this summer i will have to feed on hardbread and water..

pakka!

//enik1

Martyn

2009-04-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Martyn
Originally uploaded by isker

Andrew Martyn Photoshoot

2009-04-19T22:18:00.001-07:00

Andrew Martyn 1
Originally uploaded by isker

Privjet!

This weekend was hillarious!
Actually me and Aida had nothing planned, wich is nice, cause then there are plenty of space for spontaneous things to happen.
So, Saturdaymorning, during the weekly appartment-cleaning, i get a text from our friend Andrew Martyn.
Andrew is a entertainment TV presenter at the news channel Russia Today.
http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/On_Air_Talent/Martyn_Andrews_.html

"Are you in Moscow?" the text said.
Yes where else should i be?
;)

We have been talking about to have a photoshoot together for a while now, but the time has never really been right.
Andrew is traveling alot, and during this year me and Aida has also been away some, but now all of us had a spare Saturday to do what the hell we wanted.
So in 30 secs the decision was taken and we invited ourselves into Martinas place (Barrikadanya, Stalin scraper) for a photoshoot, Andrews famous and super duper tasty Chicken Curry and alot of champagne and red wine.

We packed all the camera and studiostuff, grabbed a cab on the street and off to Barrikadnaya we go.

To approach this huge Stalin building always gives me goosebumps.
Im so impressed by its characteristics, so stable and its so unreal in one way.
Well, more about that one later.
(Im planning a really nice photoshoot on one of its terraces this summer.
Stay tuned for that one! It will be a blast!)
;)

Martinas livingroom became a homemade studio with a basic Twolight setup.
It was perfect as she had a big white wall and more than enough space around it.
The lighting equipment used was as usual my Elinchrom BX400.
For mainlight i used a softbox 70x70cm and for fill-light (from left) i shot the light thru a white umbrella 60x60cm.
Worked really well i must say.
In some cases i had Martina or Aida to hold a silverbouncer just underneath Andrew to lighten up shadows even more in his face.

To shoot Mr Martyn is really a pleasure. Very easy to work with.
And it is not that hard to capture his personality, wich is energetic, spontaneous, hillarious, fabulous yeat warm and goodhearted.
And i think he liked to be infront of the lens. =)
(Well, as a TV presenter i guess he is quite used to it..hehe.)

Hopefully we will have more shoots together with Andrew.
I really hope for the shoot at Skylounge 22 here in Moscow.
The place itself and the view from there is.....simply stunning!

More pics of Andrew you can find at www.enik1.se

Enjoy and pakka!

//enikone

Late PS

2009-04-03T14:57:00.001-07:00

hair2
Originally uploaded by isker

Im tired..

Audrey

2009-03-23T04:53:00.001-07:00

Audrey
Originally uploaded by isker

A weekend full of retouching.....and antibiotics.

Photosession at DUDO, Costya's Saloon.

2009-03-16T00:06:00.001-07:00

Costya
Originally uploaded by isker

What was planned to be a simple photosession outside on the streets, with just a camera, SB600 flash and a bouncer, ended up in something completely different.
Patrik, our friend that moved to Madrid, came to visit Moscow for a couple of days, and the days before we decided we wanted to have a photosession somehow.
But as things not always turned out as you have planned, we ended up at Patriks friend Costyas beautysaloon instead, and i brought all my lighting gear there.

It couldnt get better.
Costya is a very inspiring, yet relaxed and great guy that knows what he does, with alot of great ideas.
Very creative!
He cuts hair, he design clothes, shoes, jewelry and do make up etc.
A stylist!
(Check out www.dudo.su for more info)

And it didnt take much time until he started to style both Patrik and Martina.
And as he has designs clothes and shoes, there was great collection of different garments to choose from.
Dresses, furs, blouses, skirts, shirts...you name it!
A huge wardrobe...or should i say a corridor with clothes!!!
Martina was in ecstasy!

His saloon has a very personal style.
It is in a basement of a older brickhouse, and the enviorment is kind of vintage stylish, with old paintings, grungy brickwalls and vintage wallpapers, candelabras, wooden flooring, and antique furnitures.
Alot of stuff, but everything goes with everything.

As the plan from the beginning was not to have the session here, i didnt had much time to spend on brainstorming ideas.
But to be honest is was not so necessary, as this guys place just screams inspiration!
So we took it from there and the whole session became very spontaneus.
(Wich i do like)

We did take a lot of shots that night.
around 380 RAW files i have to go through this week.
Allready started as you can see with the portrait of Costya above.

I will update soon with more pictures and also with some "Behind the scenes" shots that Martina took.
(Meanwhile check out my portfolio at www.enik1.se)

Thanks alot Costya, Martina and Patrik for another great evening with alot of laughs, champagne, makeup, clothes and doo deli doo-music.
I really hope we will do this again.

Stay tuned for more.

//enik1

EnikOne goes portable..

2009-03-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

Recently i noticed that the need of a more portable and smooth studiolighting solution has grown stronger.

At the moment i have the Elinchrome BX400 studio kit, wich im very saticefied with offcourse, but the negative thing is that they are not compatible with any generators or batteries on the market.

Wich means that im depending on fixed powersources at every photosessions.

Offcourse you can draw looooong chords, but even that gets limited and it is not so smooth.
So i have been researching and looking on different solutions, and offcourse the money plays a main part in this aswell.

Im ready to put some into it, and im also planning to sell my BX400 strobes, so what i get from them will support the next buy.
The best solution that i found was from Dynalite. Its small, lightweight and has a good amount of components that i was wishing for.

The Two-Pack/Three-Head Location Kit. (Two batteries and three flashheads)

Perfect!

One as mainlight, second one as fill light and the third one as backlight or whatever.
But i had to slash that solution quite quick, as Dynalite first of all only sell their products in USA and Canada.

Also the chords does not fit into the sockets in Europe..etc etc..
Aswell i had a glance at the Alienbees.

Same there. Only in the states.

I got a tip regarding Elinchrom.

They are releasing a new portable pack, salestart in March-April.
The Ranger Quanta Assymetric.
Looks really interesting.It has the same power as my BX400. 400W.

Its small and lightweight. The only sad thing is that you can only connect 2 flashheads into one battery.

Also its asymetric, wich means that you can not reglect the effect on one strobe only.

Both flashes has the same effect all the time.

The only solution to change effect is to place the strobes on different distances from the object.But that shouldnt be such a problem?
Two strobes works well and atleast you can bring them anywhere smoothly. Inside and outside any time!
Looking forward to some reviews of this package when they have started sell them.
///enik1

Get my mojo working

2009-03-04T00:27:00.001-08:00

Panoramicz
Originally uploaded by isker

After a while of silence i finally found some time to sit and do some processing.
And as i didnt have any new pictures i had to go through the archive and found and older picture from last summer.
Not sure yet if i should put it up but for the blog...here it is.

I downloaded some fun brushes from Deviantart that i wanted to test.
On this picture i have added the clouds, the smoke from the ciggarette, the sun and the twinkle in Daniels sunglasses.
After that some basic personal processing as usual.
Im still not conviced about the cropping...?

What do you think?

//enik1

Home Sweet Home..

2009-03-02T02:54:00.001-08:00

profilez
Originally uploaded by isker

So after 7 weeks in cold Siberian town called Omsk, im finally settled again for a couple of weeks in Moscow. (Yes i might go back for short visit...not confirmed yet though)

I decided not to take my D3 with me, cause i knew i wouldnt have that much time to spend on photography, as we where working alot.
Though we had some freetime during the weekends, but also it was very cold and i had a lot of luggage allready packed.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice something.. :)
Anyhow, as the photo-nerd i am...i cant travel without ANY camera so i had my Lomo camera and some film with me.
Its nice with som "Point & shoot"-rumble sometimes without thinking so much about it. Just Point and shoot! What you see is what you get.
I will turn in and process a couple of rolls this weekend and will get back with the result.
Interesting!

Even if the Lomo is a fun camera, it doesnt fullfill the nerd-needs 100%.
It really itches in the fingers after 7 weeks without the D3!!
So during this spring there will be alot happening.
So far just rough plans but it will be confirmed as time passes.

Here is a small rough update of what photoshoots i have been planning for this spring:

Wedding shoot with Gulnaz. (May-June)
Modelshoot with Andrej. (March-April)
The Two-Face project with Andrew Martyn (March-April)
Barrikadnaya Terrace shoot (maybe in combo with the weddingshoot) (May-June)
Modelshoot with Mischa (April-May-June)

So far there is alot going on and im looking forward to it!
Have alot of ideas and got alot of inspiration lately, that has to be put infront of the lens.

The Nikon Acquisition Syndrome..

Yes i got hit by the NAS again!!!
Im starting my buyingprocess-research for the fantastic NIKKOR 24-70 f/2.8 lens!
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/24-70mm.htm

*drewling drewling*

//enik1

After rain comes...

2009-01-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

Hi!Wow its been a long time since i blogged about something now.
Well the reason is that im working alot now and the time is really not enough at the moment.
For now im back in Moscow but will be travelling back to OMSK (Siberia) tomorrow to continue to build up Kamprads blue box there.
Have decided to not bring the camera there, cause i will not have much time to take photos.
I kind of taking a break from the photography for a moment.
But i still will continue to work with alot of postprocessing instead.
Have around 500 photos from Vietnam that needs to be "flagged and processed".
I will be back in february and then i have some new fresh updates/ideas to come.
New crazy pictures and challenges are planned (to still my own needs..hehe), for example to see what it takes to fill up that terrass in Barrikadnaya building with balloons,
can the russian masseur Grisha really become the Hulk and will Enik succeed to turn the english TV presenter Andrew Martyn into Two-Face?
Stay tuned for the spring.;0)

Aswell i got one more "serious" photojob from a russian model.
A guy this time, but im looking forward to it!Also in february.
There is also ongoing discussions and brainstorming about "The Nine pictures"-event.
A vernissage project showing off nine pictures, inviting chosen people, eat, drink champangne and just mingle with great music.
New pictures with or without themes, every month or every second...its not decided yet and the whole idea is still on the idea-level.

But for now....silence.
Keep looking.
//enikone

Morris - disturbed and scarred

2009-01-07T22:12:00.001-08:00

Morris
Originally uploaded by isker

Yesterday we where home early from work, so after been watching SAW 5 i still had some time to practice some postprocessing and try out some new ideas..
Saw 5 by the way was just as disgusting as the rest, its just that now the story of it starts to get really boring and overbearing.
So for that matter i was not very impressed, but as a movie, with the dirty effects and enviorments i just loved it!
Got a little bit inspired yesterday by this Jigsaw character, and wanted to develop and spice up my own recently made up fiction psycho murder clown character abit..
The previous picture i made with him felt to "fresh" and i wanted him to be more scarred, dirty, and messed up.
So i found a more straight on picture of him, portrait style, and started to work on the physical features, if i can call it that, on his body.
Found some interesting textures over at Deviant Art that i borrowed, that made the skin look really hollowed out or melted, like burn damages.

I really hope that i get the possibillity to create more images with this character again. (Tomas are you up to it again?) ;0)
I have some ideas but i would like to work more on a solid story around him.

We will see.

But for now..
Here you have him - Morris.

Enjoy....if you can..? ;)

Morris says: DIE!

2009-01-04T23:51:00.001-08:00

Morris Final
Originally uploaded by isker

I have always been fascinated and inspired by surreal, dark, dirty and kind of Slipknot-gore stylish expression-like pictures.
And a few years ago i came over this Clown mask, wich i still think looks quite creepy, in Thailand..
The idea i had for this was to try to create a psychodisturbed individual ala Mike Myers goes "I.T" (Stephen King) and to create a scene wich expresses "No mercy here. I have a knife and you WILL die!"
Got it almost as i visualized it.
First i was thinking that the clown should be inside, chasing a girl in a sort of a hotel corridor. But that scene i just couldnt find. So i took a scene from a shot i took in Saigon instead in a dirty worn out alley.
I also wanted the clown to wear a trashy boiler suit (quite slipknot like actually..) but when i found the perfect model for the clown (Tomas Jacobsson, Sweden) i just didnt have that boiler suit.
But Tomas had the perfect body profile that i was after for the clown.
Well built and big.
Anyhow he ended up wearing baggy pants and his own tanktop wich will suit him good aswell.

The girl model is Louise Brädde, Sweden.
And that pose is basiclly exactly how i imagined it.
Torn up pantyhose, and the hand blocking with some blood.

What i still need to continue practice is the lightning and also how to get it even more realistic in the postprocessing.
Cause when you choose to shoot all elements seperately and put them together, you need to really be more accurate with the details, cause in these cases it much easier to find the "errors".

Thats something to work on.

Until next time..

..Pakka!

//enik1

Wai in the small desert..

2008-12-30T23:57:00.001-08:00

Wai
Originally uploaded by isker

A smaller update..
Been quiet for a while but i have been travelling abit.
First home to sweden, then two weeks in beautiful Vietnam.
Now im back in Moscow again and have about 500 pics from the vaccation to go thru.
Have started a little bit and at www.enik1.se you can se atleast one photo from Vietnam so far..hehe.
On my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/sets/72157611743173923/ there are some pictures from Saigon.
Well its not much yet but much more will come, its just that there are so many i barely know where to start...pheew.

This picture of Wai (a different version at enik1.se) i took when we where visiting the great sanddunes in Mui Neh.
Wai is 17 years old and making extra money out of showing tourists around in the sanddunes. Also show them how to sandglide in the dunes.
It was a fantastic place. Almost like desert but not so wide and big.
You could still see the ocean and the Mui Neh city from the top of the dunes.
We where there for a couple of hours in the evening between 16.00-18.00 wich was perfect cause the evening light over the small desert was just stunning and very good to shoot pictures in.

More to come.

Oh..happy new year by the way..!

//enik

Back to Patrik

2008-11-24T00:10:00.001-08:00

Polapan effect

This angelpicture project really took the energy out of me..
Exhausted!
Strange, cause when i had it finished up, this weekend became empty somehow.
It felt like i had pushed out what i could from my "old" photos and i realized it is really time to pack up the D3 from the backpack and shoot some new stuff.
(yes i havent touched my camera in almost three weeks....scary huh?)
=/
I use to sit a couple of hours with Photoshop everyday, and if i dont work on something that really becomes something i usually just playing around with old stuff, just to keep it going.

Im thinking about in the future to open up a new section in my portfolio for only Black&White pictures.
Not with the "look" my coloured pictures have, but more to an analog feeling.
Noise, contrasts and that ruffy feeling but also to try to get a fine art touch on it.
Im very weak regarding BW..

Yesterday i found an old picture i took of our friend Patrik, shooting in his apartment long time ago.
This guy is very pleasant to work with as he knows what poses he can do etc..
He is an experienced model.
It makes it easier for me as a photographer, as im not so experienced in that feild yet (how to move, pose etc..)
He moved to Madrid a couple of months ago, but i really hope we will meet up again sometime in life to shoot some more.

Enjoy the picture.

These Evol Streets - final!

2008-11-20T22:43:00.001-08:00

These Evol Streets
Originally uploaded by isker

So, one step further it was..
Total of 9 hours in Photoshop and it came out like this.
Quite saticefied, but (there is always a but..) there are and i guess always will be some technical details...small ones...that you can do better.
At the same time you need to quit in time and i think 9 hours is enough.
Those small detials you might not react on but for me they are quite clear.
It might not be just visible stuff in the picture itself, but also the working process..."I should have done that, before i put on that one etc etc..."
But i will leave them here and for the next one, i will it in mind.

Hope you like the final!

...and thank God its friday.

Pakka.

//enikOne

St Pete Suburbian..W.I.P

2008-11-19T23:34:00.001-08:00

These evil streets..
Originally uploaded by isker

6 hours...
And my eyes where like pinballs yesterday evening..
Well, i got so inspired yesterday, that i almost didnt know what to do with myself.
Ever felt that?

Getting one step closer to the approach im looking for, with this picture i made yesterday. Hmm i think so atleast.
It contains of three components from three different photos.
(unfortunately i dont have the un-edited pictures right now so i will post them later..)

1. The background of the empty streets. A photo i took back in the old Nikon D50 days. Its thaken somwhere outside St Peterburg, when me and some friends where on our way to some palace, but the driver drove us to far. We ended up at a abandonded university area..
Quite creepy. Felt like Prypiat in Chernobyl almost. Not so ruff though..
On this picture, the sky was totally burned out, so....

2. ...i took another picture i shot at Hovs Hallar last winter.
Adjusted some exposure levels in RAW to make it abit darker and to bring our the texture/highlights and shadows of the clouds.
I cut it out and pasted it into the streetpicture.
This is always followed by a quite detailed maskingjob, but it was ok. (HAIL WACOM!)
I survived..
;)

3. Last but not least, i added the picture of Madame Martina.
A basic cut out and then i mirrored her to fit the light falling on her more to where i decided the light comes from on the picture.
This is the hardest part i think, to decide the lightsource/sources and make it look natural when combining different pictures.
So this i will get back to and practice ALOT!
I think it came out quite ok anyway?
Please let me know what you think!

The best is when you do manipulaitons offcourse is to plan the picture and take all the pictures yourself. This could make it more easier to steer from where the light is coming.
For this picture i was still basiclly practicing and testing to see if i could make it atleast a little bit realistic with "un-planned pictures". For sure there is some details if you really dive into it..
But the totality? As a whole picture?

Anyhow i posted it in Portfolio allready (Impatient AS I AM! *sighs*), but when you leave it for a couple of hours, wake up the next day and look at it with fresh eyes, im still not convinced that im fully finished with it.
I could take it a step further and add som more details.
Wings on martina maybe?
A car coming on the street somewhere?
Birds in the sky?

And i also see some technical misses i need to do better.
Lighten up some to dark areas etc...
As we say: "Do it again, and do it right"

Going straight back to i do.

Keep in touch.
/enik1

Change of Skin

2008-11-18T22:12:00.001-08:00

Skinchange
Originally uploaded by isker

Earlier this week i realized that to really achieve a good result for one of my photoideas (will not tell you what yet..;) ) i have to sacrifice alot of time to study tutorials with different techniques. No shit you say. Quite obvious huh?
Well yes but what i mean is that if you dont find a direct answer, tutorial or guideline for what you want to acheive, you need to find the way yourself and that takes time!
Therefor im now playing with new tools and functions, and try to combine it with what i allready know in Photoshop.
Getting to know them and try to figure out if i can use them to make my idea happen.
Well..its getting closer i can say...

Here is my playaround from yesterday.
This one has still some technical details that could be better executed, but as this is still just pure practice to learn technique, quality may lack abit..
For this i used Displacementmaps, masks, textures, blendingmodes, dodge&burn etc.
I must say that if you learn the basics to master masks and belndingmodes, that will get you quite far..

Enjoy..

Photoexhibition Älvsjö 2008

2008-11-17T02:57:00.001-08:00

From Nikon D70 Forum Sweden there was 20 members that got woted for, and i was one of the lucky that got to show 2 of my pictures among many other great ones.
This is the wall from the exhibition.
To bad i couldnt go..and unfortunately i will miss the one in Gothenburg aswell. =0(

Well well..."what is a prom at the castle.."

Thanks to Bengt "Blue" Bjervik (http://www.pbase.com/bjervik) for letting me blog his picture!

//enik1

Guestblogging at Buchwalds corner!

2008-11-16T23:40:00.000-08:00

It is really an honor to be guestblogging at my friend Johnny Buchwalds blog.
What im talking about there is that your pictures often never ends like you thought from the beginning.
Well atleats not alot of my pictures.. ;)

And i would also like to advice you to have a look at Johnnys blogg in general.
He is a fantastic writer and have many interesting thoughts around photography, his own and others.
There is also alot of other guestbloggers, interviews with interesting photographers or people involved in photgraphy somehow. The blog is in swedish.
Make sure you pay him a visit!

Thank you Johnny for the oportunity, and good luck with you photography and blogg in the future!

//enik1

enik1.se is up and running!

2008-11-11T11:25:00.001-08:00

I would like to introduce my new portfoliosite - www.enik1.se

A big THANK YOU to Alexander Alasjö (www.alasjo.se webdesign) who managed to survive my demands and changes during the process.

Feels great to have a decent and personal site to collect my work at.

Welcome, and keep watching!

//enikOne

Moscow

2008-10-28T03:38:00.001-07:00

Moscow
Originally uploaded by isker

This photo was taken thas summer...late summer.
From my Lomocamera LCA+ and of 36 pictures this was basiclly the only one that came out quite ok.
I just cant remember the exact moment when it was taken?
Where exactly am i here?? Hmm..

Der Schmutz

2008-10-25T15:09:00.001-07:00

Der Schmutz
Originally uploaded by isker

danne

The Silence

2008-10-24T06:25:00.001-07:00

The Silence
Originally uploaded by isker

Martina

Madame

2008-10-21T11:18:00.001-07:00

Madame
Originally uploaded by isker

Aida

Ballerina

2008-10-20T00:03:00.001-07:00

....Thin..
Originally uploaded by isker

Shadows shadows shadows...

Shadows or not shadows..thats the question.
Or is it?

In one way we want them to create a mysterious light, to create a nice flow in the picture, a play.
I still need to practice how to control the light better to avoid the most disturbing shadows. Lighten them up in the right places, make them smoother..
Like those frikking nose-shadows...

Can someone buy me a ringflash please!!!??
;)

Here is Martina again from the shoot this weekend.

enjoy.

/enikOne

Tattoo´d..

2008-10-18T15:21:00.001-07:00

Tattoo..
Originally uploaded by isker

One of the results after the evenings photoshoot with aida and martina...
=)

Scarface

2008-10-14T12:40:00.001-07:00

Scarface
Originally uploaded by isker

Had a little bit different idea of this photo of christian than the other more stylish photos..

;)

Grey

2008-10-13T06:23:00.001-07:00

Grey
Originally uploaded by isker

Another one..

christian

2008-10-12T13:14:00.001-07:00

Co
Originally uploaded by isker

Another photo of Christian from the weekend.

enjoy!

Vougez

2008-10-12T04:38:00.001-07:00

Vougez
Originally uploaded by isker

Some results from the photosession this weekend.

Christian, Aida and Martina.

Wacom madness

2008-10-10T02:10:00.001-07:00

martina
Originally uploaded by isker

So to get to know my new friend i was just getting loose on one of the photos of Martina.
Just for practice and getting used to the pentablet.

I must say you get used quite quick when you know what you need to do with it.
To remove blemishes and work with the Clonestamp/Patchtool or Healingbrush is a pleasure.
The process becomes much more precise and you can really go into detail and control it.

Enjoy.

An early appreciated present...

2008-10-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

Yaaayh!

Yesterday my lovely girlfriend Aida bought me an early birthday gift (my birthday is not until november 15th...) and im really happy about this one.Its a Wacom Intuos 3 A5!!!!

This is great and i appreciate it so much.

Im looking forward to get used to it and learn horw to work with it when i postprocess the pictures.Its more ergonimic and will make alot off retouching issues alot easier to get control over.

Thanks Aida, i love you.(and i do even if you didnt get me one.. ;o)

Josefine ; Before & After

2008-10-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Took a picture of my brothers other half this previous summer.

It was one of the first tries with one of the Elinchrome strobes i just bought then.

As you can see i didnt have much of a control of the lightning at that moment.

Though i liked the picture and just how the almost burned out light was falling on her face.

This i tried to take advantage of and after som adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop the result came out quite well anyway.

So i guess you can save a photo in PS...atleast a little bit??? ;)

Klick on the pictures for bigger views.

Notice You..

2008-09-27T15:01:00.001-07:00

O-eppa
Originally uploaded by isker

Dont know what to write really..

Sliding Stairs

2008-09-26T14:17:00.001-07:00

Klick the pic for bigger view...then "All Sizes" on Flickr.

What if.....???

Perception of Perfection..

2008-09-25T02:20:00.001-07:00

Why is everybody chasing perfection, when the perfect picture doesnt exist??
Or is it just a big fat excuse for not thinking about doing everything perfectly yourself from the beginning??
Or is it just because it doesnt exist, that people are chasing it..?
Has anybody managed to execute the perfect picture??
What criterias makes it perfect??
How do they measure perfection?

But as everthing else within photography...i belive its individual.
So even if its hard, i guess all have to accept the fact that when you have done your thing, with or without all the ingredients that includes, those who likes it...likes it, those who doesnt...they just dont.
And those who has to much to say about it....are they right or wrong??

The Dark Knight is dead.

2008-09-24T11:42:00.001-07:00

Just practicing around with my Joker stuff..
Here is one more and the last result from this shoot.

Klick the picture for bigger view.

Enjoy.

Lipz, Bloody Lipz..

2008-09-23T04:55:00.001-07:00

Klick on the image for bigger view.

Just a quick show off from previous weekends photoshoot with Susana.
More to come soon.

enik

The "Not all jokes are funny" - project ; The pre-session.

2008-09-23T02:27:00.000-07:00

When the new Batman movie came, it released a kind of Jokermadness.

I still havent seen the movie. (Im waiting for it to pop up on the russian market in english language!!! Grr..!)

Even if i havent seen it you still are quite familiar with the Joker.

You grew up with the classic/kult (though very very corny) series about

"Läderlappen & Robin" as we say in Sweden.

(Directtranslation: The Leather-patch and Robin..)

But in this TV series the Joker was not so scary as todays Joker is i suppose.

I have seen tons of pictures based on the Joker interpret by others.

Photos, Digital artworks, sketches etc etc. So what i have done is nothing extraordinary or rare, but i still wanted to interpret the Joker my way.

The make up is quite easy to do as it is so smudgy and trashy and contains of basic colors, you can buy in any toystore or whatever.
The idea from the beginning is to portrait a friend here in Moscow as the Joker.

He has a very characteristic face with a white big smile and sharp eyes.

I think thats partly why he works as a Entertainment presenter on the channel

Russia Today (http://www.russiatoday.com/en).

Mr Martyn Andrews http://www.martynandrews.co.uk/.

What we will do now, is to find some more propping and clothes to make the photo more alive and try to find a suitable enviorment aswell.

Not just a headshot.

Last friday when we celebrated Aidas 24th birthday, Daniel and Martina came over.

First we had some dinner, and then we suddenly, quite spontaneous started to play around with some terracotta-clay that Aida got as a present.

It was fun....but i will not tell you more.

After talking about this Joker idea we finally also persuaded Daniel to act as a

make up model, to try out the Joker makeup, and also to test some lightning.

And the result came out quite allright i must say, though it could be more

developed.

I have posted the result for critique and got some good feedback what to do and

not to do when we go for the real Joker shoot.

The result:

Two sessions coming up!

2008-09-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

G'day.
I think this week must have been the fastest week i have ever experienced in my whole life.

Monday...then SWOOOSCH....friday...well tomorrow it is.
Anyhow i have some great news!
Got two photojobs this week.
Happy i am! =)

One session i have on Saturday, its a female model called Susana (russian) who needs some shots for her portfolio.
Looking forward to it and yet another great opportunity to practice and test out some lightning setups and to remember all the critique i got on my previous work.
Also there is some preparations to be done before Saturday.
I need to find a one color backdropisch kind of paper or whatever.Hmm..thinking of wallpaper.We will see.For sure there will be "Behind the Scenes" shots (as they so nicely call it..sounds cocky..) and some other stuff updated here after the shoot.Keep watching!

Then! On Monday, i have another session wich is quite new for me but im looking forward to that one really much aswell. Product photography. Food that is... Baguettes, Sandwiches, vegetables etc..For a newly started Baguette/Sandwich delivery buisness started in Moscow.The photos will be used for flyers, menues and graphics..kind of.

So those days i have left before Saturday i'll be in front of the internet and behind the camera
studying and practice some lightning and so on. Hopefully i will learn and use some of it.

Pakka!

"I drank, passed out and that bastard stole my woman!"

2008-09-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Postprocessing ; Before & After.

Just updating the previous post. (wich is deleted now..)

Found this picture from the Barrikadnaya photosession. (scroll down to see "Behind the scenes" etc from that shoot).

There are some technical mistakes in this one and if i really would have sharpen up my sense behind the camera at that moment, i think the composition and placement of the models could be more improved. So what im saying is that this was a quite spontanteous shot and it is what it is.

Here is the before and after postprocessing in Photoshop.

Hope you like it!

Klick the images for larger view!!

85mm

2008-09-03T10:59:00.001-07:00

85mm, originally uploaded by isker.

AAAAAH!
Bought a new lens last weekend!
85mm f1.4 IF

Cant wait to get home to Moscow and try it out on the D3.

Now my batteries are getting really bad in my laptop.

Goodnight.

Saint Peterburg ; SFX and Zenit

2008-08-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hi there..

This freaking hotel-lounge-WiFi makes me cry...
When you are used to faster connections this can break you into peices.
Its barely working to surf with so im a little bit doubtful if this blogg entry will show...but lets make a try..

Been here in St Pete for almost two weeks now and have one left.
Work work and work...

But the weekends are still holy! Thank god for that!
So last weekend i took my old Zenit camera (though im in love with my Nikon D3 im sometimes unfaithful and go analouge) packed it with some Ilford SFX black and white film and just walked around in the suburbs to start with. I had to get to the metro.

I think for some reason the suburbs in St Pete,
well in Moscow also actually, are very interesting.
As i had mentioned before im pretty dazzled by grungy, trashy and worn out buildings and enviorments. Its dirty in a beautiful way and it has become like that by nature, and it makes it more exiting to view for the beholder. Its sad and depressive visual impact tells you a story, and makes you think "How did it look once upon a time"? It feels very Sovjet and it is (or was...)

St Pete citycenter is really nice aswell with its fascinating arcitechture, but as i have heard its only a shell from the outside in most cases, and the city was built in a hurry by some Peter the Great.... ;)
Constructionvise, the buildings needs alot of reparation and some can fall appart any minute.

Anyhow i was not so pleased by the endresult of the analouge pictures.
Im not sure what really happened, if im just not thinking right behind the camera or this guy who processed the film for me, did a very bad scanning. Could be both though...hehe.
I was also in the citycenter taking some shots, but one roll is still under processing so soon i will be up with more pictures from the same kind of Ilford film and also i have an AGFA APX coming up.

Pakka!

Before & After ; Postprocessing

2008-08-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Pictures directly out of the camera, i rarely dont post.
Im also a Photoshop addict and love to do some sort of postprocessing before im satisfied.
Its not about saving a picture, for me its more to put a touch into it and to make a good picture better, so it stands out abit extra.
Here is a "Before & After" example.

Before:

Large view: http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/2760001597/sizes/o/

After:

Large view: http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/2760845206/sizes/o/

Dirty and decadent ; Potoshoot

2008-08-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday 9th August, Barrikadnaya Building, Moscow.

Later on that Same saturday i had an idea to drag the strobes out in the mystique hallway of the Barrikadnaya building. But i had to be right outside Patriks appartment as i needed powersource nearby. (well, i had bought 30metres of cord, so i was well prepared and we could move around a little bit.)

Hallways in russia is actually quite interesting i think. In basiclly every building you enter the hallways are worn out, dirty, grungy, smells like shit and even in some theres been a fire sometimes and nobody cares to fix up the aftermath. In Barrikadnaya its not that bad but still quite dirty but in a kind of charming way. With this enviorment it was the perfect place for my photoideas i had past weeks. Dirty, decadent and to much to drink, but in the same way a slice of stylish...

So far i only postprocessed two pictures i was really satisfied with, from this shoot. A couple of weeks earlier me and Aida did a shoot in our guestroom that was suppose to be on the same theme, but at that time the ideas was not so very well rooted. Those pictures will maybe come up later.

*Behind the Shoot*

This floor you really want to lie on, Daniel..

Aida polish Martinas makeup, Patrik & Daniel drinks, and Enik passing in the mirror...

More makeup...

Aidas resting and the guys shapes up a bit..

*The Result*

What was most difficult with this shoot was to find a good angle to avoid getting the flashes reflection in the mirror and at the same time, to not to get the strobes in the picture. During the postprocessing i anyway had to clone away cords and beerbottles.. ;)

Here is two end results from the shoot:

Bigger versions at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/sets/72157606661411774/

Hope you enjoyed!

Please, if you like, leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Thanks!

Pakka!

Top of the World ; Photoshoot

2008-08-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday 9th August, Barrikadnaya Building, Moscow.

Last Saturday me and Aida met up our friends Martina, Daniel and Patrik at Patriks appartment for a photoshoot, that we all just did for the fun of it.
Its a great opportunity to really try out your strobes, test different setups and get to know and learn your gear, BUT offcourse allso meet friends and have a good time!

I brought my Elinchromes with me, aswell as the Nikon D3 with fullloaded batteries and an empty CF card.
We had a heck of a time i must say, with alot of Prusecco and when those bottles where empty, Martina put her Bacardi bottle on the table.
Wooha!

You can say that we managed to take different pictures in three different sessions with different themes. To be honest none of us really knew exactly what we wanted to achieve, but we had some ruff ideas.

The first pictures out from one of those sessions will be the ones we took on the balcony.
Patrik has an exquisite view over Moscow from there and the weather was not a shame either this day.

Here is the lightsetup i used for the shoot.
I had one person holding the softbox almost infront/above the models.

To work with strobes is not that easy as it seems. Well, the technical things is not a big issue, that you learn quite fast, but how to light an object and how the strobes behaves in different setups and directions takes a while to learn.You also see after a while where and what kind of areas of the object that are in lack of light and could need improvement. (Wich means sometimes you need/would like to buy more accessories...*sighs*)
Anyhow we had a great time and those guys has really great personalities and are suprisingly talented infront of the camera.

Martina took some "Behind the Scenes/In action photos wich you can see below.

Thanks Martina!

Thank you Aida also for helping out with make up, holding the bouncer sometimes and ordering the food. ;)
Love you!

So, here is a few results from this balcony session.
Postprocessed in Photoshop PS CS3.
Hope you like them!

(More to come and also, soon an update from the shoot we had in the hallway!
That one was great, and sweaty!)

For a closer look on all images please visit my Flickr account.

*Recomended as the pics look about strange here.. =( *

http://www.flickr.com/photos/enikone/

Pakka!

Fashion shoot for Kak Potratitj

2008-08-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after work, i met up with my buddy Patrik at Sokol metrostation.
We where on our way to the fashionshoot i mentioned earlier.
The location was in the English House wich is a interior boutiqe so to say, where they show and sell those very typical english dark and heavy kitchens, offices etc.
Mahogny fur alle! Not our taste exactly and we had time to make some ironic comments about the style.
In the corner of the store there was this office interior and thats where the session where taken place.
The Photographer was allready there and had started to rig up his gear.
And DAMN IN HELL what gear he had!

He must have rented it because after a quick counting i estimated the total sum of his gear up to about 200.000SEK.
Hensel Pro 3000 strobes and ringflashes, and upon that softboxes, batteries and all that stuff aswell.
It got my Elinchromes look like a fart in space in comparsion.

The camera he used was a Nikon D2X and for this one he had a nice setup with primelenses aswell.
As i could see during the shooting he used 50mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.2.

I could have asked him thousands of questions but they DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH IN THIS COUNTRY!
Well, i know it might be the one who needs to adapt to them, but anyway...
Why i was there was mostly, offcourse to keep my friend company during the shooting (that according to him, apparently was a fast one,...only 4 hours!..) but also to check out his gear and most of all study how he work with the lights.
This fashionshoot was for a enclosure to Vedomosti (Russian version of Financial Times)(http://www.vedomosti.ru/) called "Kak Potratitj" wich means something like "Time to spend".

And with that said, you can imagine the brands of the clothes the where suppose to market.
Ralph Lauren, Boss, Gucci and many others and to that a special setup of expensive watches.
They even had a guy from the clockstore that was supervising the wacthes all the time untill the shoot was over.
All the stuff was reeeeaaalllyyy nice!

The photographers task was to create and also strengthen the natural light and to bring out the shine of the clothes, cause that was what the client requested.
I was acctually quite impressed how he managed that. First i found the pictures quite boring and abit to dark, but after while when you looked at them and understood the purpose, it became a total different feeling.

He using a big softbox as mainlight over the models head all the time at quite a low power.
The he mounted a ringflash with an octabox on the camera. That was all he used during the entire shoot. Nothing for background or no bouncers to light up shadows etc.

What bothers me most is that i was not allowed to take any "Behind the scenes" pictures.
Hmm i can understand it aswell cause of publishing and legal rights of the photos etc etc..
(And i didnt really wanted to crush him with that fact that i had a D3 in my backpack..MUUUHAHAHAHAHA! ;))
No serisously, it was not the most appropriate moment to take other pictures so offcourse i respected that.

But i got alot of inspiration and ideas for my own future sessions with me and also to get the chance to experience a pretty nice and serious photosession, that im glad and thankful for!

So this saturday we will have a shooting at Patriks place.
Keep wacthing.

Pakka!

Late night postprocessing...

2008-08-06T13:23:00.001-07:00

Its Wednesday and far to late to sit up and do this stuff.

But, once you start youre stucked..

Here is the result anyway.

Hope you like it, and if you do...or not... feel free to comment.

Click on the image to get a bigger version..

Sleep well!

Russian Fashion Shoot

2008-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Patrik, does modelling sometimes here in Moscow,
and tomorrow Thursday he said he has a shoot for a russian fashionmagazine.
Dont remember the name?...hmm..
He calls me from the airport on his way back from vaccation, and said that he could check if its possible for me to join the session if i am interested. Hell yes! Hell yes and Hell Yes again!
And ok it was! I will also bring my camera and take some Behind the scenes shots...if i get the chance offcourse..
The photo-nerd in me is quite exited. ;)
This will be very interesting to experience as i have never been on a "real" photoshoot before.
Especially a fashion shoot wich is draws my attention a bit extra.
This means i can check out the gear like strobes, cameras, lightning etc, and also get a chance to see how the stylist does and how this photographer is working in general. Maybe ask some questions, get some good advice or whatever....if he speaks english.
I hope to pick up some things that might could be applicable to the session on Saturday that we are planning.
This i will come back with later on.

Anyhow for this Thursday my expectations are farely on top....and maybe a little bit more. =)

Thanks Patrik, for pimpi'n my Thursday!
Pakka!

Its on.

2008-08-05T01:49:00.000-07:00

G'day.

Finally punched up with a blog.

Never been a blogisch man but why not?

Could be nice to share some stuff, you know.

And i need to get my big fat thumb out of my butt and start to write a little bit more...

This blog will be alot about photography.

Whats behind, in front and beyond.

From my own perspective offcourse.

Ideas, brainstorming, lightningsetups, Photoshop, sneakpeaks of what might will come up in a future portfolioproject, features of other photographers, inspiration, behind the scenes-shots (from my personal sessions...so far.), daily thoughts, friends....yeah..you name it.

For fun..yes!

But anyway with a twist of seriousness, to develop, learn, collect and present something i will hopefully be proud of....one day.

To be able to look back and reflect, and also continue.

To start with, here is some black & white photos of my eternal model Aida.

(Also my fiantzeeey...engaged one that is..;)

We had a session in the apartment, testing out my new strobes Elinchrome BX400.

Great ones i tell you. Wow!

I just need to use them abit more, get to know them and maybe complement with some stuff aswell...time will tell, and the money aswell.

Anyhow, for this session it was mostly a try out, and i believe there will be some more sessions of trying before i feel comfortable enough to claim that i know what im doing.

Smell you later.