Photographer Mikael Ackelman considers the images he creates as a major part in his everyday language.
He finds it just as natural to create images as to talk or listen. Originally educated as a teacher in mathematics and natural sciences he was working as a teacher and later as headmaster until his early forties.
Then, about ten years ago, he decided to quit his work in school and follow his need for turning to a more creative field and work as a full time photographer and artist. Besides his own art project his main commercial fields are interior, architecture, landscape and travel photography. Wether working on commissions or on his own projects, his work are often very stylized but still highly recognizable due to a very personal atmosphere to the images.
These images are from Mikaels project ”Passages” which still is to be finished. This project is scheduled for exhibitions during 2018 and in the planning is also a book. ”Passages” deals with the moments of change in our life and in nature. Ackelman finds that his personal and commercial work mutually reflects each other. He finds them equally essential to how he has evolved his style and language as a photographer. Mikael says:
“Working on a project is rarely straightforward. It´s more lika a winding path, full of unexpected turns, hills to climb and high steeps to explore or maybe, just maybe avoid. The different moods I experience alters the state of the images, in the best moments the project grabs me, like a living creature, pushing me to explore new grounds. In part it´s a story of trust, both in myself, the image and the reason. I believe that images without a reason is nothing but a visual nonsense or visual noise. The reason has to be so much a part of myself when I work that I no longer have to think about it. It should just come natural. It´s with great astonishment I found that a great many people think about technical stuff when they do photography. the technical part of the work has nothing to do with the image. But as in any art you have to master your tools like a master and of course it takes a lot of training. I worked so many years with the camera next to my soul and heart that handling the technical stuff is more like a breath or a heartbeat to me.”
To Mikael it is essential to have, what he calls a ”seamless connection” to his subject. He explains it as being 100% focused on the moment with a feeling as if there is nothing in between his eye and the moment. That also means he previsualize every image and knows exactly what the final image will look like before he press the shutter or even raise the camera to his eye. Ackelman is working with leading stock agencies as well as a number of clients. His work has been published all over the world and his art has been exhibited in various galleries in Europe and within the US. [Official Website]
