Creating images that make a positive difference to the person(s) portrayed, is the goal for Jørgen Brandt, who loves to make (and not take) images of personalities. The images are always the final goal, but really he enjoys the process of image-making just as much as the final work. It is in the making of images that the basic ‘soul’ gets into the images, he thinks. The interaction with personalities, the gentle coaching that takes place in a session, fascinates him. It is always a great joy when a baby, child, adult – and also a nude – responds and works along in making great images that have a ‘touch’ of the person’s personality in them. In a session, Jørgen claims, he can always feel when the great work starts to flow – and it is when he and the sitter both relax and start creating together. It is actually a very private experience for both sitter and photographer – it is a shared moment of connecting. The photographic technique is of course the photographer’s responsibility, but that is a different story. “We all need to find our individual way of working, that suits us best,” says Jørgen, “and to me that is a route based very much on educated and trained intuition. ‘Intuition’ in being open to and responsive of the ‘moment’. ‘Educated and trained’ as in deliberately exercising your skills and techniques for composition, lighting, subject handling, moods, exposure, Photoshop, etc. To me Photoshop is a tool that has set image making free – I can do things to images that can emphasise or deliver the message – but it is, and will always be, just a tool.”
Inspiration
Mainly his inspiration comes from the sitter – being his clients or models –
as lots of it emerges during a session. A session starts off as a ‘frame’ of
ideas, the evolution of the session might ‘just’ give images within the
‘frame’, but when the ‘connection’ gets warmer the frame might get bend or
break. That’s a hope – and a joy, when it happens. But of course it is
always a joy and inspiration to look at and admire the work of great
photographers and other image-makers – as you can enjoy, appreciate and
learn from (reflections on) that.
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