LoosenArt Mag / Gallery

Henriette Heimdal

Posted on July 31 2016

The entire work of Henriette Heimadal, is a reminder of the culture and places of the country of origin, very noticeable are the influences that come from the 19th century  icon artists  paintings and Norwegian illustration

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I'm searching the darkness for the secrets that are hidden around us. And once I find them, and shine my light on them, they become creatures of the uncanny. - H. Heimdal
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Henriette Heimdal is a young Norwegian photographer from Skien, her studies led her to move to South Wales, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts at Swansea College, and where she still continues her studies in the field of photography and visual arts.
 

The entire work of Henriette Heimdal, is a reminder of the culture and places of the country of origin, very noticeable are the influences that come from the 19th century iconic paintings and Norwegian illustration, interpreters of Nordic legends, where the environments are those of a Norway realm of nature, and where silence is also a protagonist. We are able to recognize an attachment to her roots, especially through the approach that she has shown towards the natural world, a place through which the photographer, using her own words, looks for hidden secrets around us.

Immersed in her nocturnal environments Heimdal literally highlights, with the use of an external lamp, not only aspects of the natural world but also the traces of an industrial civilization, traces extracted from their context through which the photographer explores the notion of the uncanny and pareidolia.

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L.A.: Henriette, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What inspired you to study photography?
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Henriette Heimdal: I got my first camera when I was 15. Back then I mostly photographed around a lake near my house. I started going out at 4 in the morning to take pictures of the sunrise from woods nearby or viewpoints around the city. These experiences were sublime to me and made me extremely happy and motivated to continue. 
I decided to do a year of photography and travelling after High School, and this was when I discovered my passion for photography. I got accepted to study Photography in the Arts at Swansea College of Art after a portfolio review in Oslo, and I have to say it is the best decision of my life.
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L.A.: Is there any photographer that inspired you more than others?
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Henriette Heimdal: Since last year it has been Trent Parke that has had the most influence on my work and the method I use to take my photographs. His images are magical and he is a master at turning everyday sceneries into something dreamy and otherworldly. For my last project, I got a lot of inspiration from Mårten Lange’s series Another Language that focuses on shapes and natural phenomena in a very beautiful, but strange way.
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Untitled #18

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L.A.: All your photographic repertoire seems to include only black and white images, is there any particular reason that takes you to work in this way?
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Henriette Heimdal: For the last two years I have only shot in black and white. I haven’t really given it a lot of thought as to why I only include black and white images in my projects. Mainly I guess it is that it enables me to highlight shapes, forms, and patterns in a way I feel like coloured photographs can’t contain. I also feel like I have a lot more control over light and shadows, which is a huge part of my images. With black and white there are no distractions, and one can focus more on what elements the picture holds.
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L.A.: How do you choose what to photograph and when, what are you looking to capture?
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Henriette Heimdal: This is a difficult question. But I usually have an idea for a project, and then I purposely go out just to take pictures. I don’t carry my camera with me everywhere, although I am considering getting a smaller camera I can have with me at all times. For the past two years I have focused on nature, shapes and structures, and I simply wandered around at night and looked for strange shapes to photograph against the black sky, with no distractions in the background. I wanted to look for structures that resembled creatures or beings of some kind. I used a torch or a flash to highlight these shapes in the dark, to create something otherworldly and weird.
These days when everyone is constantly on their phones looking down, I think it's very important to look up. I always look for fog in the mountains, amazing architecture, birds and trees. I look for moments I can magically capture in a way no one else has seen. 
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Untitled #7

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Untitled #13
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L.A.: Can you take one of your works from those presents at LoosenArt Gallery and express a personal comment about meanings or concepts?
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Henriette Heimdal: When I started the project where these 5 images originate from, I was mainly inspired by the Norwegian painter Theodor Kittelsen. He depicted creatures from old, Norwegian folklore and myths. I wanted to take this idea and modernize it. My image “Untitled7” is inspired by an old story about a water spirit that lives in a lake that was said to lure people into the water to drown them. As a child I was extremely fascinated by this story, and this is one of the first images I took for this project. Not long after I captured morning fog up in the mountains in Norway, and the photograph (Untitled15) is very similar to Kittelsen’s paintings of trees and mountains.
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L.A.: Hopes and projects for the future?
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Henriette Heimdal: I haven’t decided what my next project will be, but I will probably be continuing in the same style as I have for the past two years. I am starting a master in Photography this fall, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
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Untitled #5
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Untitled #15

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Henriette Heimdal www.henrietteheimdal.com
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