Inspiration and photography; The creativity of Sonja Hesslow

My name is Sonja. I’m 25 years old and living in Gothenburg in Sweden. I bought my first camera 3,5 years ago and then I was stucked.

I had not enought time to work all day long and then have photography as a hobby. It took way too much time so autumn 2010 I made the big decision to move to Denmark and study photography at Medieskolerne, Media College. Photoshop became my best friend and I found out that it wasn’t “normal” photography I wanted to work with. I wanted to engineering my dreams and my crazy fantasy by using Photoshop as my most important tool. I spent a lot of time in school and after school I spent all my time in Photoshop, so I felt that I developed really fast and it just became even more fun to be a photographer.

When I’m not working with my personal stuff I spend my days as a photographer assistant in advertising agency to get all the experience I need to start working for myself. The assistant period is a part of my education (I will have three years practice in total) and I will finish school in february 2015. Until then my goal is to make a really good portfolio and make as many people as possible see my work and of course learn as much as possible by assisting other photographer. [Official Website]

I often got my inspiration from my dreams, music, second hand stores, people or from other photographers/painters. Frequently I have the idea in my head for a while and developing it during some weeks or sometimes even month. I always write my ideas down to not forget them. When I start with the process to make a picture I use to have a quite clear picture in my head of what I want the finished picture to look like. I start by photograph all the things i need for my picture (or sometimes I find it in my own picture library where I put pictures I think I may will use in the future). When I photograph it it’s really important to think of the light and angle so it will look realistic when I’m later put it together in Photoshop. I really love the time in Photoshop and I always use a lot of textures in my picture to get a feeling. It can for example be metal, light, scratches or canvas textures. I think it’s really hard to say that my picture is finished because I always find things that I want to change or do better. I’ve have found a way to be satisfied with my result by working some hours with the picture, then take a pause from it and continue the day after. After some days it’s easier for me to be satisfied because I’ve seen the picture with “new” eyes a couple of times.

I think I have found my own style and my dream right now is to have a exhibition somewhere this year. In the future I will work together with someone or close some sort of team because I’m a really social person. I also think I want to work through an agency because I just want to be creative without thinking of money or other things that just kills my creativity completely.

An advice for other photographers out there is to listen to you own hunch when you making your pictures. Don’t think of what others will think about you if you make something odd. I think that the more original you are the bigger are your chances to be a famous photographer.