Magnum & JP

Two days ago Michael and I had an appointment with the newspaper Jyllands Posten, that we started a co-operation with some time ago. The main idea behind the meeting was to get to know each other and come to an agreement concerning the close co-operation.
Our contact persons on Jyllands Posten are Christian Brinck and J#rgen Schultz-Nielsen, they are both mainly connected to the internet division.
They asked us about the trip, the idea, the photo shoots, the photographers and so on (It didn't take us long to seize the opportunity to tell about our project to two people who were willing to listen:-)
Fortunately they understood the concept and agreed that we shouldn't schedule the entire trip, but instead catch the opportunities that will eventually come in the US.
J#rgen and Christian talked about moving this blog to their website - but it is of great importance to us, having the freedom of being subjective in our posts without considering the rules and censorship of Jyllands Posten. So the plan will remain as foreseen, which means that all the material we offer them, will show a direct link to usphototour.
Christian Brinck has actually just been hired by the newspaper to begin a more varied use of multimedia on the website of Jyllands Posten. He was therefore very fond of us not only delivering text and photos, but also include video and picture series with music or different kind of sound. (several photos from New York could for instance be supported by sounds from the city, to give the viewer a better feeling of the mood and atmosphere in a big city)
J#rgen Schultz-Nielsen was impressed by the project, especially the fact that we are going to meet some of the best fashion photographers in the world - Suddenly he told us that he could make contact between us and a Danish photographer who works for Magnum in New York.
"Do you guys know Magnum?"
(Magnum was founded in 1947 by some of the best photographers, namely Henri Cartier Bresson, David Seymour, George Rodger and the legend Robert Capa who covered both the Spanish civil war, the Blitz over London and the Allies landing in Normandy before 1954 where he died in Thai-Binh taking pictures of the Vietnam War.
The Photo Agency Magnum has grown bigger since Capa and today Magnum has photographers covering all conflicts in the world, but the popular agency still only consist of the best press photographers in the world)
Do I really have to say that we were chocked (not to mention exited) by the idea of us meeting some of the worlds best press photographers!:-)
Later Christian made an interview with us, where we said pretty much the same as we had already explained (Hurrah It's not often we find people who is willing to listen to us talking about this project.. twice:-) when the interview was over he said that he needed a portrait of Michael and me to support the interview.
"Where do you think we can make a good picture of you, do you guys have an idea, you're the creative people"
We were silent, trying to think about a cool location, instead of the thought of us meeting Magnum:-) in the end we agreed about taking the picture when we arrive to New York. So the first thing we'll do in US, is to make this image and mail it to Jyllands Posten. They will afterwards bring the interview and picture, which will be the start of a close co-operation.
... By the way, 8 days left :-)

War & Love

Last week I went to an exhibition in Århus called War & Love, with photos taken by the popular danish photographer Henrik Saxgren.
Saxgren began his career working with the commercial part of photography, but just after he finished his education as a commercial photographer, he started picturing the fight between squatters and the police in the streets of Copenhagen.
He soon got absorbed with using his camera to show injustice in the danish society, a work that often got him into trouble with the law, but his revealing photos attracted attention from other sections of the population.
Since then Saxgren worked full time with using his camera as a media to show injustice in world.
Michael and me were present at a lecture with Saxgren last year, where he talked about the process in making the exhibition War & Love.
The exhibition consist of several portraits showing immigrants that live in Scandinavia. Saxgren is telling the story behind these people and are showing us who they are. The often tragic stories that these vulnerable people has to tell often becomes more relevant than the photo itself.
All in all a good experience. Saxgren is still one of the most interesting danish photographers in my eyes. You should see his photos in Århus, or you can tjeck out this link.

www.saxgren.dk

The stories of these peolpe have to be told, especially in the danish soceity...

We got the VISA

First of all I have to mention that yesterday was my last day as a working class hero at Danish Crown. Nine weeks as a slaughterhouse worker - well it might not sound like much, but it sure felt like an eternity...
No it really wasn't that hard, but it's a meaningless and monotonous job. The tragedy, is the fact that a machine could do the job way better than a person. Luckily I worked with some fantastic people that I somehow came to respect.
I think we forgot to tell you how our visit to the American Embassy in Copenhagen went. Well, we were interviewed for a long time and got the chance to tell them about the idea behind our project and as the headline says, we finally got the visa and are now allowed to stay in the US for 6 months. Hurrah... US here we come:-)

Photographer Peter Hurley

It's time for me to tell you about another photographer who we are going to meet.
This time it is Peter Hurley - He has been working with clients such as Levi's, DKNY and Reebok.
His work includes fashion, glamour and also a lot of headshots for actors, among other things.

Go checkout his website:

http://www.peterhurley.com/

This is another great opportunity for us to meet talented people from the business, so we are very much looking forward(ed. No use of "excited" in this post) to meeting Peter, and afterwards telling you all about it :)

Beautyphotographer Haitem

This time it is another New York based beauty/fashionphotographer who has agreed to meet up with us.
I can't tell you his full name, because I have actually forgotten it the last time I heard it and his webpage only says Haitem. But who cares when you see the pictures he is making - He is an awesome photographer and I love the work he's doing. Besides his awesome beauty and fashion pictures he has also been shooting a lot of celebrities such as 50 cent, Beyonce, Dennis Leary and many others.

I strongly encourgae you to checkout his fantastic work:

http://www.haitemnyc.com/

In his last post, Martin had to cover for me in the absence of my normal comment about being excited - But since I don't want Martin to work to hard, I'd better do it myself this time. I'm extremely excited about meeting Haitem and getting a chance to learn more about him and his work ;)

Ready for the Big Apple

With Richard Warren on the list of photographers we are going to meet in New York, we are just about ready to see the skyline of the city appear below the airplane.
As Michael explained in his post, Richard Warren is really among the best fashion photographers, he has for instance worked as an assistent for Helmut Newton and Denis Piel (do me favour and tjeck them out, especially Helmut Newton, the man is a legend in the world of fashion photography)
It's as sure as fate that Michael mentions the word exited in every comment he posts, but I actually think he forgot to mention the word in the post below. So instead I'll use the opportunity to say that we are very exited about this and hope that you share the same enthusiasm for the project. Because the skyline of New York will soon be in sight..

Photographer Bill Wisser

The second photographer who we are revealing is Miami based, Bill Wisser.
Bill is very versatile in his style and shoots everything from architecture to food and glamour.
He has been working with clients such as Louis Vuitton, Vogue, Sony and the New York times to mention a few.
We encourage you to take a look at his website:

http://billwisserphoto.com/

This will be a great opportunity for us to experience a skilled photographer in action, while enjoying Miami :)

Fashion photographer Richard Warren...

As you all know, we have been telling you that we will be meeting different photographers during our trip, whom we will be talking with, seeing how they work and learn from them.
It's about time we slowly begin to reveal who we will be meeting - The first one we will be telling you about is fashion photographer Richard Warren.
Richard Warren is a very talented fashion photographer who has been working with clients such as Vogue, Cosmo, Seventeen, Vera Wang, Donna Karan and many others.
As an aspiring fashion photographer myself, do I even need to tell you how excited we are about getting this opportunity :)

Go check out his work on his website: http://www.richardwarrenphotos.com/

Gregory Crewdson

In the first days of April I took a trip to Berlin, my favourite city. Berlin is a Mekka for culture and new thinking, the city is growing fast these years and more and more galleries are being built. Me and my friend rented a scooter and cruised around in the streets of Berlin, looking for interseting museums and galleries that had anything to do with photography.
In a gallery called Berlin Hauptbahnhof I found a photobook by Gregory Crewdson, the book contains his most known pictures from 1985 to 2005.
I'm really not the kind of type that buys a lot of photobooks, but the photos in this book were so impressive and full of details, I simply had to own this book..

Gregory Crewdson is clearly influenced by films such as ET, reminding the viewer about cinematic stills. But he prefers still photos because they captures a moment.
"A photo has no before or after"
Gregory Crewdson could easily have been a famous film photographer in Hollywood, but instead he decided to become a teacher at Yale, speaking openly about his work as a photographer.
When you see his work you'll notice the way he uses different methods to shape the light, creating a misterious atmosphere in his suburban motives.
Gregory Crewdson is an interesting character with an impressive view of photography. I especially like the way he seeks the misterious level in a sheltered normal existence
(maybe I could get a job at Yale talking about Gregory Crewdson:-)
Please check out some of his pictures and tell me what you think..

http://www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=artists&object_id=66#

By the way Gregory Crewdson lives in New York, hopefully he is staying in the city between September 1st to October 1st :-)

Photography humor... :)

I just stumbled upon these videos of photographers working - Well, maybe not actual photographers, but at least a pair of great parodies.

The foodphotographer at work

The life of a fashion photographer

I think it's hysterical funny, so I hope you enjoy it :)

Sponsor section online...

Thanks to our new host, we have finally been able to get the sponsor section online and show our support to the people and companies who are supporting us.

We would like to thank our sponsors and partners for making this project a reality. Thank you!

New webhost and video

Lately we have been having some problems updating this page, which is one of the reasons for the lack of updates. We have now switched to a new and hopefully, much more reliable webhost, so you should expect more updates from us from now on.

We are nearing our departure date, which will mean a lot more updates. We can also tell you, that we will be posting videoclips from our trip and among the many ideas we have, we hope that some of the photographers will let us show you how they work, combined with some interviews.