L' oeil ailleurs

INTRODUCING MICHELA HEIM
I am a Swede residing in Oslo, Norway and most of the time feel absolutely lovely living here and sometimes I feel numb. Here are so many opportunities which is wonderful, but they also leave me confused. I am 26. I was getting more seriously into photography, when I was around 19 and bought my first compact camera, I also got a Polaroid camera. I just loved it, in periods there were never any photos of me. I was always behind the camera. My self portrait fascination grew inside me, though. I actually don’t feel comfortable being in front of a camera. Taking photographs has always interested me. Being able to capture a story and making it your own. I was always carrying around the family album around the house leaving traces. Most of my photographs are for myself, for memories. But it is always wonderful and fun to hear that other people like what you do. I’d like to be better at facing myself in front of the camera. I always feel that I don’t know the person in my self-portraits. Look at Annette Pehrsson, her self-portraits are so genuine and beautiful, I feel speechless every time I look at them. I am observing much more, since I started taking pictures, leaving an impression of being distracted while looking around, noticing details and the beauty in flaws. I also met my boyfriend because of photography, and that is big. He completes me. There are periods when I fetisch a camera in my collection and just can’t stop using it beacuse it feels so good, and then the other day a complete different camera it is, and I abruptly change and use it all the time. This is taken by the lake close to my boyfriends parents house. Maybe you can’t see it, but he’s kissing my cheek. I not only love Aphra Natley’s mesmerizing stream, I love her as a person. I met her not long ago and I can say that. We’re so alike. She uderstands me. And I love talking to her. She is humble and genuine in her way to express herself and I admire that. Always and whenever, in lack of inspiration or when I just want to be filled with the most haunting stories, I look at Francesca Woodman’s work. It’s beyond everything I’ve ever seen. My boyfriend Oscar Hagbard. He builds pinhole-cameras and takes the most beautiful photographs with them. He inspires me with his wonderful playfulness every day, he is a big part of my life and life inspires me the most.

I am a Swede residing in Oslo, Norway and most of the time feel absolutely lovely living here and sometimes I feel numb. Here are so many opportunities which is wonderful, but they also leave me confused. I am 26. I was getting more seriously into photography, when I was around 19 and bought my first compact camera, I also got a Polaroid camera. I just loved it, in periods there were never any photos of me. I was always behind the camera. My self portrait fascination grew inside me, though. I actually don’t feel comfortable being in front of a camera. Taking photographs has always interested me. Being able to capture a story and making it your own. I was always carrying around the family album around the house leaving traces. Most of my photographs are for myself, for memories. But it is always wonderful and fun to hear that other people like what you do. I’d like to be better at facing myself in front of the camera. I always feel that I don’t know the person in my self-portraits. Look at Annette Pehrsson, her self-portraits are so genuine and beautiful, I feel speechless every time I look at them. I am observing much more, since I started taking pictures, leaving an impression of being distracted while looking around, noticing details and the beauty in flaws. I also met my boyfriend because of photography, and that is big. He completes me. There are periods when I fetisch a camera in my collection and just can’t stop using it beacuse it feels so good, and then the other day a complete different camera it is, and I abruptly change and use it all the time. This is taken by the lake close to my boyfriends parents house. Maybe you can’t see it, but he’s kissing my cheek. I not only love Aphra Natley’s mesmerizing stream, I love her as a person. I met her not long ago and I can say that. We’re so alike. She uderstands me. And I love talking to her. She is humble and genuine in her way to express herself and I admire that. Always and whenever, in lack of inspiration or when I just want to be filled with the most haunting stories, I look at Francesca Woodman’s work. It’s beyond everything I’ve ever seen. My boyfriend Oscar Hagbard. He builds pinhole-cameras and takes the most beautiful photographs with them. He inspires me with his wonderful playfulness every day, he is a big part of my life and life inspires me the most.

2:11 pm • 9 November 2009 • 5 notes