Portrait and documentary photographer Anne Helene Gjelstad on the Be Inspired Photography Podcast.

 

In this week’s show we chat to portrait and documentary photographer Anne Helene Gjelstad about her background in fashion, what you can do to find your own photographic voice and telling the full story.

 
Anne Helene Gjelstad’s Bio:
 

Anne Helene Gjelstad is an award-winning photographer and her work has been published in books, magazines and newspapers. She has held solo exhibitions and participated in collective exhibitions locally and internationally.  Anne Helene had a long career as a fashion designer before she followed her childhood dream and became a photographer. She is educated at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and at Bilder Nordic School of Photography. Anne Helene is also a licensed teacher and hosts her own workshops in portrait photography and postproduction.

 

Anne Helene Gjelstad loves photographing people the most – honest pictures of unique individuals. She especially love photographing the young because they are being who they are in front of the camera: No fences, no pretensions and teaching us that it is enough to simply be who we are. She aims to capture our inner landscapes and to take portraits that mean something to the person themselves as well as the viewer. Everybody deserves a really good portrait and this is her goal. To Anne Helene the eyes are the most important in a portrait: ‘The eyes reflect our truth, gains and losses; they mirror our inner being, our souls’.

 

Since 2008 Anne Helene Gjelstad has been documenting the lives and heritage of the remarkable elderly women on the small Estonian islands of Kihnu and Manija in the Baltic Sea. True to tradition, they still live the old-fashioned way by wearing traditional costumes and by passing handicraft skills down through generations. Her solo exhibition ‘Big heart, strong hands’ is still on tour in Estonia after four years. It was even been exhibited in the National Museum in Tartu and the lobby of Parliament in Tallinn. Two of her images were also part of the exhibition Intangible Cultural Heritage in National Art Museum of China in May 2014 and Anne Helene was invited to the grand opening, which she describes as ‘huge’.

 

Anne Helene Gjelstad’s official site, 500px and Facebook.
 
Be Inspired Photography Podcast with Anne Helene Gjelstad.

 

00:00 Welcome to Episode 25 of the Be Inspired Photography Podcast.

00:38 Introduction.

00:58 Click here to sign up and get your FREE Monochrome Photoshop Actions.

01:12 Leave us an iTunes review.
 
Anne Helene Gjelstad on the Be Inspired Photography Podcast.

 

01:52 Anne Helene Gjelstad interview.

02:40 Anne Helene Gjelstad’s ‘breaking in’ story.

04:55 Becoming a professional photographer.

07:35 Learning from the best photographers in the world.

11:21 Being happy with yourself to become a better photographer.

12:22 Anne Helene Gjelstad discusses here style of photography.

14:07 Passion for photographing people.

16:31 Anne Helene Gjelstad’s background in fashion design and time in Estonia.

22:29 Staying creative in diverse disciplines.

24:04 Anne Helene Gjelstad’s typical camera setup.

27:57 What inspires Anne Helene Gjelstad?

28:58 Where did the idea of ‘Big Heart, Strong Hands’ come from and was was the eventual goal?

36:06 Anne Helene Gjelstad’s advise for finding your unique photographic voice.

39:29 How Anne Helene uses the Eleanor Muslin Backdrop Designed by Emily Soto.