My Life in Photography

By Binge Eliasson

I have always been guided by feeling. In surfing, skiing, aikido, motor-cycling I have always been on the look-out for the wonderful feeling that appears when everything falls into place and you suddenly manage to do that special turn that you have been trying so long and so hard to achieve.

Timing, rhythm and balance, they only happen through intuition. Reality is much too complex to be grasped by logic. Early on I realised that it is only when you come to the very limit of your training and knowledge that the miracle can happen and you can find that magical moment. It is the same thing with photography. Taking photos is for me a way to keep the miracle of a moment so that you can experience it over and over again. 

I got my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic 100 on Christmas Eve when I was twelve years old. I remember my great expectations when, the next day, I walked out into a grey damp Gothenburg. I found marvellous colours in the melting snow with its clear green patches of grass. My disappointment was overwhelming when, some weeks later, I received the developed pictures: small square pieces of paper in black and white.

 I started taking photos in a more serious way after I bought my first real camera, an Olympus OM-1, one of the first cameras that could take five pictures per second. This was something that interested me in my work as a professional trainer at Malung´s skiing gymnasium in the late 70´s. In my spare time I walked around in Malung and took photos of everything I saw and then I developed and copied the pictures in the bathroom of my small apartment. One of the first photos I took was of a snow-covered field outside Malung. The snow had blown into small drifts, like waves in the snow. In the drifts long blades of grass could be seen sticking up and the balance between the different lines caught my eye. I was so happy when I developed the picture that I decided to make an extra large copy. In the photo shop “Expert” they had a sale of salmon coloured 30 by 40 cm paper, something I could afford. A bit later I showed the photo to the famous photographer Lennart Nilsson who was visiting my parents. He thought the photo was OK but advised me to take photos of things that could not be seen with the naked eye. In a way I have followed his advice. What I try to catch in my photos is certainly visible to everyone but almost nobody sees it. 

 In the late 70’s I felt that it was time to take a step further and learn to take photos in earnest. I was lucky to get a job as assistant at the “Studio Tranan” in Stockholm and I started working with Svante Fischerström, one of the best photographers in Stockholm at that time. Svante was incredibly clever in photo technical matters and he had a fine feeling for light. Through him I learned the photographic craft, which was necessary knowledge in order to progress in the world of photography.

At first my aim was to take sports photos and work as a press photographer, but during my time as assistant I came to appreciate more and more the creativity and the challenges of the advertising business. I am happy to have been part of the Swedish advertising scene during the 80’s when everything was possible and money was no limitation as long as you delivered what was demanded. It was a big challenge to be working with so many gifted and demanding art directors. The pictures were always scrupulously examined through the magnifier on the light box. 

 However, this happy period did not last. The first change came in 1992 when Sweden entered a deep recession. It was at that time I began to ask myself what it was that made a good picture. After ten years as a professional photographer I saw the powerful changes in the trends governing advertising photography. These changes were quite confusing. How come a picture that was considered good last year is not considered good this year? Our vision has not changed! I also began to wonder about the type of pictures I was asked to take. In my wish to make progress as a photographer I asked myself: – How could I possibly achieve something permanently good when ideals were all the time subject to change? That is when I understood that I had to find my own expression, which is not easy when you are constantly influenced by your surroundings and by current trends.

 There is a Japanese saying “when the pupil is ready the teacher appears”. In my case it was the poet and jazz musician Olle Orrje. We did aikido together for several years and after the training sessions we talked about music, art and photography. During one of those conversations I described my frustration at the current photographic trends, which were mostly about conceptual aspects and not visual ones. With “visual” I mean the feeling you get when you actually look at a picture without anybody having to tell you about the idea behind it. I like visual pictures that speak to you purely by their form and expression. No explanation is needed.

 Olle told me that he had books at home with some outstanding photographers that I ought to see. When he showed me books with photographers like Alexander Rodchenko and László Moholy–Nagy I discovered that there had been people before me with the same visual expression I was looking for. After this I began to collect photo books and my library with inspiring photo- and art books grew. Also, I got more and more inspiration from painted art and from modernism, which by its direct approach explores our visual experience beyond conceptual boundaries. Olle also introduced me to Curt Asker. When I saw his art and realised his visual mastery, especially in the photos he made in order to show his work I felt that I had found someone with a similar way of seeing.

In Search of my own Expression 

in Fine Art Photography

I started my career as assistant to Svante Fischerström, the well-known photographer and master of photographic lighting, at Studio Tranan in Stockholm. Fifteen months later I set up my own company. After ten years as a photographer I began to look for my own genuine expression, outside the prevailing trends.I also wanted to exhibit my pictures but I soon realised that my work did not fit into the Swedish gallery world, which at that time was almost exclusively  oriented towards conceptual art.

 Fortunately, however, I made contact with some people who responded to my photographic work. The poet Olle Orrje and the artist Curt Asker supported and motivated me to go on exploring and discovering my own expression. 

 In the early 2000´ s I started the photo gallery FB+ in Sveavägen in Stockholm, where, during four years, I arranged exhibitions and various projects with photographers from all over the world. Together with Olle Orrje I also set up my first own exhibition at Galleri Hantverket in Stockholm. I have also taken part in many different group exhibitions.

 At the gallery FB+ I also had the privilege of exhibiting Curt Asker´s photographic work and I am still responsible for his collection of photo art.

Running a photo gallery was extremely interesting and rewarding, but financially I found it rather difficult, as at that time people were not yet ready to pay for photographic art.

What interests me most in photography is our way of seeing and responding to photographic pictures. The big question for me is whether there are universal norms for good pictures or if it is all a matter of subjective taste. Trying to find an answer to this question has been the subject of many lectures on photographic art that I have given, e.g. at the Pittsburgh Institute of Art in the US and also to several private parties.

I had the possibility to develop my own photographic expression while working with travel photography round the world. This work gave me the freedom to take photos that really interested me and during many years and numerous journeys I put together my portfolio of Fine Art Photography. During one of my commissions I got the possibility to exhibit my pictures in the town hall of San Vicente in Rioja, Spain. This exhibition was written about in the big Spanish dailies.

In 2014 I had a photo exhibition at the gallery Mood in Stockholm with pictures taken on Gran Canaria. The exhibition was sponsored by the Gran Canaria tourist council and was covered by a Spanish film team and mentioned in several Spanish dailies.