Elly is standing on her tiptoes. A Guitar World Magazine in her hands. Inside a kitchen designed in a thinner industrial style. Her eyes wander into the distance. Net stockings dancing in front of our eyes.
Ever since Jonas Nordqvist picked up a camera and started doing photography he always knew he wanted to shoot people. “But I tried out everything; landscape, buildings, pets and eventually shooting weddings. A photograph can really become alive and emotional when there’s a human face in it. Its natural, we are all drawn to people’s faces, emotions and beauty.”
Shooting fashion was always a dream back in his head, “but it was just that, a dream”. he tells. “But of a pure coincidence I was asked to test-shoot with models at my agency. I learned a lot. Everything from understanding light, to getting a perfect portrait and eventually posing to enhance beauty of a model. Everything is not up to the model.” Photos can be snapshots. But also perfect stagings, gimmicks with light, works of art. “A photographer can make it so much better shooting from a different angle and with the flattering focal length. It takes practice.”
And Jonas decided to make a risky move; putting his engineering career behind and moving to the other side of the globe. Bali. “Such a beautiful place! Me and Elly Sharp of Balistarz wanted to do a raw story but had a hard time finding a suitable location in this paradise, where everything is either luxury elegant or very jungle-ish styled. After a while we ended up shooting at Elly´s place which worked out very good”. They both did the styling together and Elly did the natural make-up herself. “We wanted it simple. I brought my Profoto B2 flash system and got some straight on flash shots but most of the shots we took in natural light.”
