Kavli – Saatchi & Saatchi

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Pressbyran – Åkestam Holst

For this photo/CGI shoot we used tons of bananas, polygons and cinnamon buns. The original idea was to photograph the coffee cups, but by creating them in 3D we had more flexibility. To add some nice natural colour tones to the bananas, Art Director Fredrik Josefsson used a can of glossy yellow spray. The resulting images were used widely in print.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
3D/CGI: Frederik Tennholt
RETOUCH: Frederik Tennholt, Andreas Lübeck & Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Kungsörnen – McCann Stockholm

Images like these speak for themselves.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

PostNord

PostNord delivers world-class communication and logistics solutions to businesses and individuals throughout the Nordic region. In cooperation with PostNord’s Design Manager Tomas Bjällerstedt and Project Manager Karin Cassinger we put together a custom photo manual specifically designed to communicate the new look of the company. With this new style in mind we shot loads of new material for PostNord’s image bank. One memorable shoot included a scary climb on the rocky shores of lake Vättern, chasing the best angle and light; there is no limit to what we’ll put ourselves through to get the perfect shot.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén & Karl-Fredrik von Hausswolff
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Axel Engström

Samsung xCover – Spinn

Wind, snow, rain or mud – who cares about the weather if you have the latest Samsung smartphone. It is built to resist anything, including water, dirt and dust. Markel Ahlenius from Spinn asked us to visualise this, and these images were the final result.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson & Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Coop – Änglamark

Coop Änglamark has Sweden’s largest ecological range with almost 400 products to choose between. Here are just two of them. Yummy yummy!

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Axel Engström

What no chips?

Then how about pommes château from France or boiled new potatoes from Sweden?

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Pressbyrån – Åkestam Holst

If you can’t change the product then why not change the message?

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Frederik Tennholt & Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

SaveMyDay – Morris Pinewood

In order to reach the heights of our creativity (or to get the most bang for the buck as he puts it) Mattias Frodlund and Hanna Moe of Morris Pinewood came to us in the very early stages of the international launch of the new group buying site SaveMyDay.com, owned by Metro International.

New images to relaunch successful ad campaign

As most things in life, two is better than one and that was the driving force behind this highly visual campaign by Fredrik Josefsson, AD at Åkestam Holst. The theme for the campaign was ‘A cup of coffee is seldom alone’ and together with Fredrik we created these twisty, twirly images using a whole mixture of our talents including photo, 3D and retouch. It gave us a lot of enjoyment making these lively and playful images and we hope you like them too – or should we say two.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén, Pekka Stålnacke & Petter Brandt
3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Frederik Tennholt & Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Mixing business with pleasure

This was the first time working with our new client, Kelly and Pling. Under the art direction of Måns Hermansson we set out to produce these images for an in-store campaign showing the Electrolux range of rod mixers and the marvels they can accomplish. This is minimalistic food photography at its best.

Kelly and Pling even wanted moving images to complete the stills on this project. This gave us the opportunity to work closely together with our friends at Snask Film. Using the same look and feel as the stills, Snask produced this beautiful, modern and stylish ad:

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi
FILM PRODUCTION & POST: Snask Film

My 8 favorites – Judit look-alikes

This is the latest instalment in the Com Hem campaign by the people at King. It carries on the spirit of the fictional twin characters Judit and Judit through eight different look-alikes to illustrate the variety of channels supplied by Com Hem. The original campaign, celebrating Com Hem’s 10th anniversary, premiered in 2009 and has been extremely popular, much due to Judit and Judit’s Youtube cameo.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Part 2 of the DIY series – Pro Tips and Tricks

I often get asked the question if shooting food takes a lot of special skills and experience. Well, if you do the following… work with the best foodstylists and chefs, use the best and freshest ingredients, make sure you have a beautiful light, be careful with your composition and framing, use the best lenses and cameras, have access to the most talented retouch artists and some wonderful props and locations… then the answer is: Hell no! It’s a piece o’ cake!

PHOTO: Hans Carlén

Groundbreaking technology for the fashion minded

The renowned ad agency King was looking to design a clothing collection for a new campaign for Com Hem (a company usually associated with broadband). Early on in the process we agreed with King to carry out a 3D/photo production as this would be extremely effective and controllable, and would lead to a perfect result in terms of both esthetics and costs. For this exciting project Com Hem teamed up with fashion designer Sahara Widoff to create this years perhaps most futuristic collection made entirely from Com Hem’s flexible cables and accessories.

The truth unveiled

Together with the team from DDB, AD Jennie Arvenäs, Web Director Jeffrey Salomonsson and Producer Mattias Colden, we made this fascinating documentary revealing the secrets behind the making of some classic McDonalds, the BigMac, the Quarter Pounder, the McFeast… Tickets to Cannes already booked, for sure!

Photo: Hans Carlén
Assistants: Petter Brandt & Olle Kirchmeier
Producer: Akram Janzi

Future Classics

NK was founded in 1902 and is Stockholm’s most famous luxury department store. This latest campaign is all about celebrating the past and the future by collecting previously sold goods to create an exhibition of NK classics. The future classics being this years NK spring collection. The team from Garbergs including Josephine Fahlstedt were the masterminds behind this project.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

We really put our hearts into this one!

Our friends at Åkestam Holst, AD Annika Trangius and PL Agneta Oppenheim, briefed us on an idea for a series of ads, posters and leaflets for the drugstore chain ”Apotek Hjärtat” (Pharmacy Heart). Together with the Nobel prize gala florist Gunnar Kaj we took the ideas one step further for the Christmas campaign. For the following January campaign we teamed up with the talented stylist Malin Thorngren and we brought out the magic once again. Since then this theme has continued to evolve leading to new and fresh ideas. Always from the heart.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Aftonbladet – King

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Frederik Tennholt
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Forget the toaster

And the kettle. This is a wedding present with style.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Power of Cheering

Support our troops in Oslo! Get the app “Power of Cheering by Vattenfall” here.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Welcome to the DIY series – Pro Tips and Tricks

Use your feet, get close, fill the frame and get a nice connection to the subject.Your portraits of friends and family will be more personal and interesting if you put away your 300mm lens, and try not to compose with the point if interest in the center (well, sometimes it´s exactly what makes a picture work…) Keep your backgrounds neutral and avoid harsh lighting.

But primarily, it’s about relation: light, framing, composition, background are all secondary to the relation between the subject and the photographer, the most important task of the photographer is to try to capture the personality of the subject. Every photographer will have it’s own approach,
The only way to learn is by practice, and practiced we have, here are some samples…

PHOTO: Hans Carlén

When Hamza Sabuncu at Sibylla looked for the best hamburger photographers in town, he didn’t need to look any further!

The objektive was to make images of burgers that made your mouth water, and at the same time giving the restaurants the option to compose their own menus and offers; interchangeability, all the different elements had to fit together into a mouthwatering and informative whole. Working with a legend like Thomas Andrén of Åkestam Holst keeps you on your toes! Did we succeed? Judge for yourself.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Bsmart
Art Director : Thomas Andrén / Åkestam Holst
Food Styling: Johan Åkerberg / Måltid

Online shoppings best friend

Posten is one of the Nordic region’s largest operators in letter and parcel delivery services. With online shopping in Sweden increasing by over 10% in just the first half year of 2010, Posten launched a campaign to promote their extensive services within e-commerce. A series of ads were created by AD Olle Mattson och designer Jens Broman from Åkestam Holst and they were published repeatedly throughout the autumn in over 20 high profile swedish newspapers and magazines.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
FINAL ARTWORK: Martin Dickins
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Fish anyone?

Apparently, AD Fredrik Josefsson struggled to convince the customer with this idea, which is understandable… I mean, who wants a fish as a midday snack!?! Finally the Pressbyrån was brave enough to go along for the ride, but on top of everything else the final piece of art needed to look like a
fake. So take a look, its a bit of a scary image… but its cool, so cool in fact that according to Fredrik the posters in town are being stolen right off the walls.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg, Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Cinnamon Bun Day

In Sweden we just love our buns! We have Saffron Bun Day at Advent and Semlor Bun Day just before Easter. Today was Cinnamon Bun Day and art director Fredrik Josefsson from Åkestam Holst was at the frontline in our studio. If you think the raw ingredients look mouth-watering and inviting then we can assure you that the resulting buns were deliciously scrumptious as well.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Bsmart

Well burnt. Easily washed.

Yes! Today we had the opportunity to show off our barbecuing skills – turn on the grill and turn up the heat. A simple mission to bring to life an excellent idea from art director Lars Hörnström at Grey Stockholm.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
Retouch: Anna Nordstedt, Frederik Tennholt
Stylist: Tomas Lestrup
Producer: Bsmart

Samsung Trend & Design Guide 2010

Ulf Öjerbrand, art director at Cab Stockholm, contacted us with a handful of sketches and a headful of ideas. Parts of the final images were photographed in our studios, while some of the elements and locations had to be built in 3D. The foto models were also photographed in our studios and were casted from Mikas.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Big beer bubbles

The back end of a truck is a pretty good advertising space for promoting beer in the summertime. With the ad being in such a large format, our co-creators Fredrik Josefsson and Bella Lagerquist at Åkestam Holst were quite pedantic about the quality of the water droplets. With a little ‘magic’ from our retouch and 3D artists the ice cold beers were soon looking pretty refreshing.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup