j.h.andersen | emotion.pictures' photostream  

Commercial photographer located in Denmark. Born 1974. Addicted to the beauty of life and death and the emotional moments in between.

I specialise in emotional portrait photography, commercial stock photos and conceptual art.

I take a lot of dramatic stock photos for magazines, newspapers etc., and enjoy creating unusual conceptual storytelling photos. I have a passion for the genre that is best described as “dark art”.

I LOVE photos of people - they are in fact what motivates my work. You’ll only find a few photos in my portfolio without them. I’m passionate about emotional expressions - both facial expressions and body language - and a great deal of my work is to find models with the ability to express themselves the way I like. I have chosen to specialise in children and young people as my subjects in both stock and artistic photography. Mainly because I think they are really fun to work with, but more specifically because they are really good at expressing exactly the feelings and emotions that I want in my images. And I’m really good at capturing these on camera. In my photographic eye there is nothing deeper than the pensive look from a depressed boy, and the joyful face from a child at play.

I’ve been working with kids for two decades, have a degree in child care, and have spent quite a bit of my life working with troubled kids in Denmark and abroad. That’s why many of my photos are melancholic, dramatic and even morbid as I try to tell the stories of children and young people in agony and despair. That actually goes for portraits too, because I get bored with the classic style portraits. I want to make people stop and think and maybe even cry for a second.

The combination of young people and my addiction to dramatic images results in many strange experiences. The images often turn out as very unusual with a strong emotional impact, and I have experienced being called ugly things, being “yelled at” and threatened by e-mail because of this. I’m not easily scared, in fact I’m actually very confident about what I do, so threats from ignorant people are usually answered promptly and politely.

Sometimes people get angry at me for making photos of troubled kids, dramatic moments and even death. Consider if it’s the issue itself or me taking pictures of it that bothers you before you write to me. Please keep in mind that the people in most of my photos are paid actors and not harmed or abused children. No one was harmed before, during or after the shoot. It’s all lights and makeup.

I have a large studio in the countryside where I work with around 20 models in ages from 8 to 25 years. I usually work with studio lights but actually prefer reflected natural light and it will always be my favourite. I love emotional, outdoor B/W photos and clean, minimalistic studio shots.

I started with SLR photography more than 20 years ago, but I never tire of experimenting with the camera. Today I use a Canon 5D II and a variety of lenses, mostly my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS and my Canon 24-105mm f/4 L.

You can buy most of my photos at major stock companies, or at my online store at: jhandersen.photoshelter.com

You can also read more about me and my work on my blog at www.jhandersen.com or in Danish at www.jhandersen.dk

Please feel free to comment any of my photos – I’m always open to opinions and suggestions. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m usually very friendly :-)

Finally I want to thank all my friends and contacts around the world for taking the time to discuss and write critique. The dialogue is of great importance to me and I always wish that I had even more time to do this.

Kindest regards,
Jan

More about me and how to reach me:

Stock photo shop: jhandersen.photoshelter.com
English blog: www.jhandersen.com/
Danish blog: www.jhandersen.dk/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jhandersen
Twitter: twitter.com/janhandersen
Vimeo: vimeo.com/jhandersen
Behance: www.behance.net/jhandersen

Company website (in Danish): www.emotionpictures.dk

WARNING!
If you add me as a contact, favorite any of my photos or make comments on them, you WILL be blocked if your photostream is empty, you don't have a profile description or if the content of your photostream or favorites makes you look like a creep (my definition of "creep"). So please just stay away if you are!