Nordic Light in NL3 Magazine:
It always starts with the Light: Photography & Words by Lina Östling
It always starts with the light. Always present in my awareness and follows me all the time; when i walk over a crossing, when I order coffee, when I look at my kids while they explain something to me.
And, right now at 23.38 pm when I see shadows from the streetlight dancing, standing still, dancing again over a shelfs locker here at home. It does not stop just because it hit my eye, the light is more than that, it’s an observation of how to technically capture reality in a certain amount of pixels. It happens all the time, it has become who I am. And right now I am thinking what the shutter would need to be and where the best place to put up a camera without giving disturbing shadows on my shelf locker could be.
And I love sounds. There is no social media for captured sounds (well I don’t mean produced sounds) yet. When I hear wind in the trees or wild water that hits a rock I stop and hive it with a notice that this is just for now, it’s nothing you chase to get credit for on internet.This is right now without leaving a memory of it to the world after. What a liberating thought! And an opposite to what I am filling my days with while working.
I love using my home as a scene where I can build and create without showing consideration to anyone else. That was also a goal when we left Stockholm and 64 sqm for a big house outside the capital with a big garden and 200 sqm for me and the kids to play in. This house was going to fill two purposes, a new life and a place that I could use for work.
It turned out there was a lot of work to do in the house and we decided that this renovation would have to take time and we were ready to give it fifteen years.
Our inspiration has always been the house itself, we always try to find traces of how it had looked like hundred years ago.
As my job takes me to wonderful places I bring a lot of inspiration with me to our home. I think it made me more brave when it comes to make choices at home, I mean, mixing two colors on one wall is a gift I got from someone I met at work. And hopefully someone brings a gift with her when leaving our house.
Now nine years have walked by since we moved in, we raised two kids and have spent every spare hour off fixing with the house. A few jobs has been produced at home and in a way it has ended up as I dreamed of. But everything has taken far more time that I ever could imagine.We have seen shadows come and shadows go, unwittingly of what is to come.
It is nothing unique with the light itself, but you can applicate it and make it yours if you combine it with what is personal to you. A new painted wall could be ”just a wall” or something thrilling if you look at it at the right time, the right moment.
So let it take the time it needs to create a great picture. Let everything take time. Light is your friend and will not let you down. Play along and live life as if the last shadow is the one you see right now.
© NORTHLETTERS