In summer of 2025 I started experimenting with analog photography and now it has grown to the start of a new project where I will try to do a series of images depicting the city I live in and its surroundings. It is still very early stages, but I feel that I at least now have a somewhat clear picture of where I want to end up in terms of story and aesthetics.
I have not really done any "pure" photography since I started with my montages - but before that it was a real obsession and I miss the creative joy it gave me and the thrill of being out and about "finding" pictures. In some sense the advent of digital cameras and workflows cheapened the medium for me, since we now have near infinite resolution and dynamic range coupled with bursts of several images per second - everything is fixable in post and you don't really need to make any choices before pressing the shutter - all creative work can be done in front of the computer instead. By contrast I find that the limitations of shooting film on an old camera forces me think beforehand - a workflow opposite of that with my montages. It's more tactile, mindful and slow and somehow also gets me closer to the rhythm of nature - observing light, movement and seasonal changes.
I guess it is also some sort of reaction to the development of AI. From generating complete images to now creeping into the digital workflow with "Content aware fill" and AI noise reduction it starts to blur the lines between my digital (but very manual) montage work and pure AI work. Its hard to describe, but negatives have a connection to a specific time and place - something my montages have not.
Finally it's a way for me to rediscover my surroundings. When I first moved to Nyköping about 15 years ago I was very inspired by my new surroundings - the fantastic nature, the ocean, the city itself with beautiful old buildings - and the other creative people I got to know here. But with time this faded and it all became normal and boring, and I want to change that.
I will of course continue with my montages, and I hope that these kind of creative project will help me elevate that work further.
Östra Storgatan, Nyköping - Hasselbad 1000F/Zeiss 80mm. Fomapan 400 film. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
Västra Kvarngatan, Nyköping -Zeiss Ikoflex. Fomapan 400 film. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
Stockholmsvägen, Nyköping - Zeiss Ikoflex. Fomapan 400 film. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
Kanotstadion, Nyköping - Hasselbad 1000F/Zeiss 80mm. Rollei Infrared 400 film. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
Kalkbrottet, Runtuna - Hasselbad 1000F/Zeiss 80mm. Kentmere 100 film at ISO 200. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
Hamnen, Nyköping - Hasselbad 1000F/Zeiss 80mm. Fomapan 400 film at ISO 800. Developed with Rodinal. Camera scanned with EOS 5D. Curves, levels and exposure adjusted in Lightroom. Dust removal and sharpening in Photoshop.
