One of the things I’ve struggled with lately is what I called to myself “the trap of meaningfulness”. I need to put names on things to think about them, even if it’s not the right one others use, don’t judge me.

One of the things I’ve struggled with lately is what I called to myself “the trap of meaningfulness”. I need to put names on things to think about them, even if it’s not the right one others use, don’t judge me.
I took this photo in 2008 with my 5D. I was on my way to the West coast of Scotland with a friend of mine (in the photo next to the monument) and we stopped on the way when I saw this monument away from the road on top of a hill. We walked to it and took some photos.
I remember it had a long list of names on a plaque, so I’m assuming it was a war monument, but I now can’t remember exactly what it said.
I’ve watched, and sometimes was involved in, countless conversations about creativity that devolve into the same tired refrain: “Quality matters more than quantity”, “creativity can’t be controlled”, and my personal favourite “I prefer creating high-value work rather than churning out rubbish”.
This thinking is nonsense.
When I lived in Scotland, I’d spend a lot of my weekends across the country on the West Coast. Especially in the winter. The scenery is spectacular there, and very sparsely populated.
Since I restarted photography after long hiatus, I decided to concentrate on monochrome. For some reason, it came naturally to me to not produce colourful images anymore.
Sometimes, you take a photo not because it’s well composed, but because its meaning strikes you.
I’m a technician. Not an artist. I have no doubt about that. So why do I pretend to make photos? (in the Ansel Adams sense)
When I was in Oslo early June, I tried to spend as much time as possible in the streets taking photos. For me, as I was there for work, it meant mainly in the morning on my way to the office. Which was good: the light was great. High enough to go between buildings, but not above them.
There is a scene in the animated series Archer where everybody is stuck in the elevator. Krieger, the mad scientist, is holding a Thermos bottle. Someone asks him: is that soup in there? And he answers in an enigmatic way: define “soup”.
It took a while to have all the elements I wanted in the right place. This is all sooo pink!