Isol, publicity portraits

This is my fifth year photographing for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), and the fifth time documenting the Award week in Stockholm.

Isol, the recipient this year takes a small detour to Vimmerby during this week as well as Munich, Germany before the grand finale in Stockholm again, the Award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall, where H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria presents the award. I cover all the events in Stockholm.

It started last Sunday with publicity portraits on a small island in the middle of Stockholm called Skeppsholmen where she and her family stays. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t as good as it had been the last weeks, a little windy with rain. All in all, it worked out ok. I always bring at least one umbrella, this time two.

I came a little early and watched Isol being interviewed for a video, a good moment to take some shots “behind the scenes” that my client can use on their blog. Also a good way of testing the light and exposure, as well as some overall test shots.

As I said, I brought umbrellas, and we used one of them as a prop. It seemed appropriate as it rained, and Isol looked pretty natural holding it. And her hair didn’t get wet.

I mostly used a Nikon D800 and a 70-200/2.8 VRII. Too bad though that the sky was overcast and I couldn’t get any scenic shots with fluffy clouds. That would have been nice.

To get her warm again, we shot some portraits at a café inside the Museum of Modern Art, here I used a D700 together with a 85mm/1.4D. Placing her near the large windows got a nice mix of blue outdoor light and yellow indoor light, I think.

All in all, I delivered around 30 different portraits, trying to get a mix including this tilted portrait that I have found being liked by many clients. I don’t know why, but just taking the same portrait but with the camera tilted makes many feel that you have a really useful portrait. And why not?

Isol is by the way an Argentinian illustrator, author of children’s books, and singer. We are the same age with kids born just days apart. So I could show her the video of my twins dancing Gangnam Style, I felt almost Japanese doing that.