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

Talking Letters

In this digital age there is nothing that quite beats getting a personal letter through the post – unless of course it is a bill. This new and fun campaign for Posten was put together by Åkestam Holst’s AD Lars Holthe, PL Maria Ljung and designer Oscar Gardö. All you need is a computer and your voice – you do the talking, the computer does the writing and Posten delivers your letter.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
FINAL ARTWORK: Martin Dickins
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

Products in harmony

Swissline is a swiss born company providing anti-aging products.The debrief from Swissline’s AD Lara Wyss was to find a creative solution that would reflect the qualities of the specific products. Our 3D artists, retouch artists and photographers sat down to brainstorm some ideas. Some were a little too modern and some were a little too advanced. The final idea and image though was a great success and resulted in an extremely satisfied client.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

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

State-of-the-art skincare

Is this one of our 3D state-of-the-art splashes you may ask yourself? Nope, not this time. In fact its a mixture of photographed splashes retouched together to create this final image which reflects the precision, purity and quality that are synonymous with Switzerland and the Skincode brand.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Front page news!

There was a very nice surprise waiting for us in the inbox this morning. One of our images is covering the front page of the Weekend Journal of The Wall Street Journal. This gives us a great reason to celebrate (as if we need one). So Kalle Gadd (Art Director at Razorfish), when you read this, come on over and join us for some champagne. Cheers!

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Aftonbladet – King

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

Make room for summer

These colourful images were created for IKEA’s little summer catalogue for the traditional little swedish summer house. It was certainly one of the smallest IKEA catalogues we have ever seen – just 88 x 104 millimetres.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

A view from above

PHOTO: Martin Brunn
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

The perfect couple

The brief from Johan Jäger at Jung von Matt was to create an image that embodied the concept of a perfect couple for their client Miele. The idea was born for a washing machine and a tumble dryer holding hands together. Research and various tests were initially carried out to perfect the design of the robotic arms. The two products were then photographed separately and the arms were created in 3D. As always lighting was absolutely essential, and in order to create a perfect match between the photographic studio and the 3D studio, a panoramic shot was created on the set and then transferred into the 3D program. The result – meet Mrs and Mrs Wash’n'tumble.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Oh Thank Heaven! (for slushies!)

How can you resist these deliciously refreshing, vibrant little slushies? Newly dispensed and glistening with ice cold droplets. Similarly, pearls of perspiration were appearing on the brows of our retouch artists as they raced against the clock on this project to deliver these colourful images right on time to AD Lova Bratt at Peacock.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman & Rebecca Gulam
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Historical vacuum cleaners

When did you last go to a historical museum to see a modern vacuum cleaner? Well, head off to the Sjöhistoriska (Historical Maritime) Museum in Stockholm and take a look. The exhibition is all about the plastic waste that ends up polluting the seas. Shame on us all! But congratulations to the creatives at Prime and Electrolux. Well done!

Read more about ‘Vac from the sea’ here

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

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

SL Access

SL (Stockholm Public Transport) is the organisation running all of the land based public transport systems in Stockholm. This was very much a hands on project with a lot of people involved so a big thank you to Eva Håkanson Tell, Fredrik Svalstedt, Gustav Egerstedt, Maria Lindskog Klasén and Yasmin Larsson who painstakingly built the birds nest.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson & Roger Sandberg
3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg, Frederik Tennholt & Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

3D or not 3D?

That is the question. Bas Brand Identity created a design for Garants new coffee series and from their artworks we visualised and styled this image according to a sketch from Olle Olssons at Clara Reklambyrå. Finding a coffee plant in the middle of a swedish winter in is not the easiest thing but as always we rose to the challenge and the coffee plant has now found itself a new home in our kitchen. So come on by and try some of the coffee (or even a cup of tea). You can even let us know that you knew what part of the image was 3D… because you did know that… right?

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg
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

The swedish event of the year

Svenskt Tenn (‘Swedish Tin’) is an interior design shop founded in 1924. It’s famous for its elegant and boldly patterned design style. Svenskt Tenn contacted us for help in producing pictures for the launch of their new web shop. This was to be timely planned just two weeks before the swedish event of the year; thats to say the royal wedding of Victoria, the Crown Princess of Sweden. An enormous production was set into motion to photograph Svenskt Tenn’s extensive product range and meet the deadline. The new web shop was an instant success and since then Svenskt Tenn has become one of our faithful clients.

PHOTO: Rikhard Nelson
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Merry Xmas with love

Andreas Hallgren, project manager at Brindfors, came to us with this project and we were asked to create some good old christmas loving to some of Telenors telephone products. AD Josephine Wallin came up with the original sketches and together we developed these further to create the final images. As always at this time of year the deadlines were tight but we delivered these quality packets right on time. Thats something the big bearded guy in the red suit would be proud of himself!

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

International colour themes and walls with legs

The brief from AD Jörgen Berglund was to create various home environments where the colours, tones and styling would represent the colour range from Beckers. With help from stylist Catrin Spegel we sought out the chosen props, in their various colours, which we could then use to represent an expression of Stockholm, Rejkavik, Barcelona, New England, New York, Paris and Wien. This project required the specific use of our studios for all of the pictures but thats no problem if you have ‘walls with legs’… to explain that, our extremely useful mobile walls within our studios were used to create space for the different environments so that we could uphold the clients time schedule despite the size of this project.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Bsmart

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

Red. Raw. Fashion.

RedDevil prides itself in stocking the latest fashion garments, often inspired by London’s Carnaby Street. You’ll find the RedDevil stores in the centre of Stockholm and Gothenburg. RedDevil has been a welcome client to us for over 10 years and in this case, as the saying goes, “Better the Devil you know!”

PHOTO & RETOUCH: Bsmart
DESIGN & FINAL ARTWORK: Martin Dickins
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

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

A life without limits

Björn Ekdahl from CAB required some major renovation works to the royal palace for this Samsung ad. In real life this would not be quite so easy but after a sunny afternoons photo shoot and some creative retouching we had created a few more floors and a load more bedrooms for the royal family. You can never have too many spare bedrooms!

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Sports and beach wear 2011

The future is certainly looking bright for Björn Borg. We have recently photographed the whole collection for their up and coming Lookbook for this summer. Its time to start counting those calories and head off to the gym in preparation for beach 2011!
If you are curious to see what happens behind the scenes, check out BB’s blogg:
http://blog.bjornborg.com/2010/09/20/12145/

PHOTO: Rikhard Nelson
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman, Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Bsmart

Vac from the sea

We certainly have the honour to work with some very talented people. Carl Fredrik Holtermann and Vanja Bajc from Prime were here for the shoot of the PR campaign ‘Vac from the sea’ by Electrolux. The award for this outstanding work was a Gold prize in yesterdays Swedish PR competition – Spinn ‘10. Congratulations from Bsmart! Tonight we will be celebrating this great news. See more here and here.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi

Visa: (verb) to show

The word ‘visa’ in swedish means to show, therefore it’s seems appropriate to show off an ongoing campaign directed by Gustav Egerstedt and Eva Håkansson at Saatchi & Saatchi. See more at www.visa.se

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Akram Janzi