King Magazine

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

RBK – Civil Rights Defender

A pro bono project for the campaign for Human Rights. The film says it all.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén & Petter Brandt
EDITING & MOTION GRAPHICS: Robert Fransson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Pressbyrån – Åkestam Holst

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

SBSeating – A plus M

We were entrusted by the agency A plus M to photograph some chairs, both in the studio and on location. The client SBSeating, along with the brands HÅG and RH, are well known for their distinctive chairs so we also filmed an instructional video to show the specific core functions of the chair. To be as effective as possible for the client, we gathered all the necessary resources within our studios so that we could both film and photograph on the same day!

PHOTO: Hans Carlén, Martin Brunn & Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt & Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

King Magazine

Here are five ways to go for a healthy lifestyle… Stone Age, Weight Watchers, ISO, GI or LCHF.
For more details check out King Magazine. Coming soon to a news stand near you!

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
AD: Niklas Wendt
STYLIST: Johan Åkerberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Did you know that in Sweden alone McDonald’s has a staggering 157.000.000 visitors each year? Is it due to their hotly debated images, or a universal taste or a competitive pricing that McDonald’s remains so popular? Indeed, the question is highly interesting. I would claim that the images in the highest degree help create hamburger success in Scandinavia. For we scandinavians like it sleek and stylish, simple and uncluttered. If we compare with the clothing fashion, the intensively retouched fashion images of clothing brands absolutely contribute to the fact that we buy their clothes. In our daily lives we use makeup and hair combs and we dress nicely when we are going out on the town. So what’s the Big Deal? We will continue to create appetising and colourful images. Even if we cheat, just a little. Because we know its how you like them!

In October 2002 we carried out our first job for McDonalds via their former agency Leo Burnett.

Here you can see a film showing how McDonald’s hamburgers are made. I bet you are wondering how we create our hamburger shoots?

Pressbyrån – Åkestam Holst

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
3D/CGI: Bsmart
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Axel Engström

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 & RETOUCH: Bsmart
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: 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: 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: Bsmart
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