We sat down for a one-to-one interview with Malmö based photographer David Möller. Working out of his studio, Möller is known for his portraits of people from many walks of life as well as maintaining his commercial portfolio. He discusses his career to date, working as a DJ in Helsingborg, where he finds his inspiration and plenty more…
BTC: Beyond The Crane, DM: David Möller
BTC: What is it that you do?
DM: I make portraits. Fashion portraits mainly but with some kind of artistic approach. And then, to make money, I do a little bit of everything really. It can be product or food photography.
BTC: Where did your interest in photography come from?
DM: My sister, who now works as a hairdresser and stylist in London, when she was 12-13 and I was 10, she bought UK Vogue and other fashion magazines. I then became interested in photography when I was 13-14 and my parents backed me financially to do it.
I was so tired of school before I started high school; I went to do a one-year photographyeducation course in Helsingborg. I was supposed to invest in a career as a photographer but somehow I ended up working as a DJ in Helsingborg for 8-9 years! I did not take pictures of anything at all during that period.
Then digital photo technology took off and I didn’t know anything about it. For the past five years I have tried to learn digital photography but I’ve also returned to the analogue style too.
BTC: Has it always been fashion and portraits?
DM: It started with the first film reels that I photographed of a little roe deer up in our summer house. But it became portraiture and fashion very early.
BTC: What drives you today?
DM: That’s a really difficult question. It is difficult to see the basic motivation. I was a bit of a mess in my teens, so my grades were disastrous and I didn’t carry on studying. Then, as I said, I worked as a DJ for a long time. I was about to leave the DJ work around the time when I moved to Malmö.
I desperately needed another job so I worked for a while with my father who has a retrofurniture store in Höganäs. It was nice but in the meantime I realised that I wanted to do something different.
It almost started as a joke at first, I thought – should I start taking pictures again? Do I even have self-confidence to begin with? Then it just went on; that’s the way it is. I went to a one-year photography education (at Östra Grevie) to learn photograph completely without the stress and demands of making an income. I just kept taking photos for a year.
BTC: Why do you do what you do?
DM: Basically, it’s because I know nothing else. Besides sitting and amateur philosophising and complaining about today’s society (laughs).
BTC: What is the goal with your photography?
DM: Surely it is hedonistic? I really enjoy being creative; it feels very natural and simple to me. I think I have some kind of talent for it. I don’t think I have any world-changing approach or anything. I like image and form and beauty.
BTC: Is it about the interaction that comes with your work?
DM: I like every aspect of the photography process. I like to sit alone. I like the technical, geek reading about a lens. I like to meet people. I like to walk around and have a constant creative process in my head. To think about what to do, what will be the next thing. To take it further and develop.
I am a very poor careerist; I do not think strategically that way. But I always want to prove something to myself that I can develop and get better. I’m pretty harsh on myself in that way.
BTC: You’re pretty consistent in your style. Is it a strength?
DM: I don’t know how conscious that is or if it’s just a limitation I have. Maybe it’s both. As I said, I’m not that strategic. I can’t just do what is contemporary and mainstream. When I played records, I was pretty hardcore underground. I come from that world. And already there, I was annoyed at how mainstream everything sounded and I became discouraged. I just have to go with my instinct.
It is a more open world within photography. It is more accessible. You can have integrity while you still have many that appreciate what you do.
BTC: You say you are not that strategic. Can’t it be about not daring?
DM: Now you found a sore spot. It might be so? In a way, it is tempting to become a very successful photographer but I don’t even know if I would want that life. Work 200 days a year and live in it. I don’t even know if it’s something to strive for. Maybe I am more along the lines that if I’ll just be able to take great photographs then I am satisfied.
BTC: What is your work process?
DM: Of course, it depends on what the client wants. Sometimes the client gives a lot of freedom, sometimes they want me to just reinforce the little niche that I have. Much of what I do doesn’t end up on my Instagram or portfolio. With my own stuff, there is a constant dialogue in my head.
BTC: When you work on your own thing, how do you get those you work with tosee your vision in it?
DM: It has been difficult here in Malmö to do what I do. It has taken some time. There are not so many fashion and portrait jobs at all. I am considering moving to Copenhagen in the future.
BTC: Do you take individual pictures or do you work on series/projects?
DM: Often I have improvised quite a lot. I might choose a model and then someone helps out with clothes and make-up and then I usually just pick out the photos I like. Sometimes one. Sometimes three. Sometimes none at all.
I feel that I am still in a phase where I consider myself to be learning a lot of things. I still find it difficult to call myself a photographer, in a way I’ve “played photographer” and am still try to figure things out.
BTC: How do you know when a photograph is finished?
DM: When I work and browse through the photos quickly, I usually feel quite quickly when we have good photos or not. Afterwards, it’s easy for me to make a selection. It’s intuitive. I rarely have problems with that. I always go for what I like.
I almost always choose other photos than the people I work with. Often, there issomething small that’s affecting the pictures I choose. When I edit, I find the process to be so much fun that I lose track of time, but it feels like it is going very fast.
BTC: In the selection, are you releasing images you don’t like yourself?
DM: If the model or make-up artist wants photos, I usually edit 20-30 photos of maybe 200. Some sort of filtering is done by me. Then they get to choose their favourites from them. I am very careful about sending extra photos to the client. I want to keep on doing this with some kind of integrity.
BTC: What’s your stance on the analogue vs digital debate?
DM: I’ve now bought the digital cameras that I think most closely can compare with the analogue. They are slightly older cameras because I don’t like the new digital look. It’s not so well thought out, with some stuff I just want a nice analogue look. It is not a matter of nostalgia but sometimes I think that look is better.
If I had been able to simulate it fully digitally, I would have thrown away all my old analogue cameras and just shoot digital. On the other hand, the digital look is sometimes unmatched. It depends on the photo and the context.
BTC: How to you get yourself into the work you do?
DM: It’s probably there when I shoot my own projects. There is still a pattern in what I do. Then I also like to just make a customer happy; take the photos just the way they want. I can separate the two.
BTC: You have photographed some famous people. How did they find you?
DM: I found them. In some cases they are people I have contacted, some exciting artists. I just tried to be smooth – “Can I shoot you for 3 minutes outside the lodge, then I’ll disappear.” To set it up so that it is not a problem for them. Some have since wanted to be photographed again; they’ve contacted me subsequently.
BTC: You said before that you can hardly call yourself a photographer. But maybe actually being a photographer is what opens the doors?
DM: Well, I probably exaggerated a bit before. When I look at my photos I think that I can probably call myself a photographer! But it took a long time. Just a year ago or so when my friends introduced me to others as a photographer, it echoed within me. Can I call myself that or am I just a fake?
With younger people, I can envy them. They take a few photos and posts on Instagram and write photographer in the profile. It’s courageous. Pretentious. I do not know? Do I have a trait of working class?
It has been five years now of intense shooting before I slowly begin to identify myself more as a photographer. I have had a huge fear of appearing as a fake. A control need that I must be able to know all kinds of lighting, every picture I see in a magazine I need to know what light the photographer has used. To try to learn the craft fully. And I still think I’m only at maybe 40%.
BTC: Maybe you put “photographer” on a pedestal?
DM: I think it was that in the late 90s, when I was little, it was a very good era in photo history. Many of today’s influential, legends, photographers were big at that time. I’ve always had a high level of ambition – to take photographs like Helmut Newton, not like a local photographer.
I get nice criticism and praise and such. But I feel have only come a little bit down the road. If I’m allowed to be a little eccentric, then I’m the one to judge myself. I’m a hard judge on what I am doing and I think I know where I am in the process. If I’ll end up becoming successful, that’s another thing. Now it sounds like I have really high thoughts about myself!
BTC: Male lone genius vs professional photographer – what are your thoughts?
DM: I think there is some strange tension there between wanting to be an artist and doing something artistic and that at the same time it is a craft and a profession. It’s a hard question. Let’s put it on hold.
BTC: Where do you Iind your inspiration?
DM: I am very interested in history. There is some kind of unconscious retro in what I do. I like lighting, to set up advanced lighting. Then it’s a lot of 30s/40s era photos. The lighting in old Hollywood movies. Pop culture from the past. Trying to do a new twist on something.
I don’t have much faith that culture can change that much. I’m pretty cynical about whether art can affect society. I am too agnostic and whimsical in my political thoughts to make political photos.
I appreciate beauty. Both my mother and my sister were open to the fact that they liked beauty – nature, beautiful women and men – when I was little. It was obvious in front of the TV. I grew up with high appreciation for beauty. Perhaps it sounds a bit superficial?
BTC: Do you have any dream person you wanted to do a portrait of? Or any specific environment you would like to shoot in?
DM: There’s not that many great environments in Malmö. I would like to have free access to old beautiful hotels.
BTC: No speciIic person you wanted to take a portrait of in your way?
DM: Hmm. I’ll think about it a bit.
BTC: What is it like to work in the creative field in Malmö?
DM: Specifically within portraiture and fashion, there is not much here. I have been thinking about taking it further and moving to Copenhagen. Make more contacts there.
In Malmö there is a lot of commercial photography and many who are good at it. But there is less in fashion and art photography.
It is cheap to live in Malmö. For better or worse. You can relax and spend more time (doing things). It’s not that stressful. But on the other hand, it requires that you create your own projects.
BTC: If we look ahead. Where are you going with your photography?
DM: I do not really know. It is always an ongoing internal process. It is only months ahead that I think about the photo. I have no long-term plan. Often, the inspiration can come from me testing a lens. Then the rest comes gradually.
It has always been a game in a way. I test and test and in that game there is a bonus. Wow, I got some really nice photography. I learned something and got nice pictures. I think I have a niche style that isn’t relevant all the time.
BTC: Integrity. Tone. Success? Words that often pop up with me during the interview.
DM: It has to do with someone kind of honesty. I value integrity on many levels. I’m not a big materialist. Money and success as such, it is not very attractive. It’s probably wonderful to have a lot of money, but it’s not something I think about.
I have lived a simple life during many periods of my life. My focus on photography is not so much about everything around it. I should probably be more focused on reaching out with pictures.
BTC: Do you have a favourite place in Malmö?
DM: Do I? There are some nice environments. But if nothing else, you have become a good studio photographer. I have a compulsive walk down towards the harbour, which I always walk. Down to the docks area. I like Malmö. But favourite place? I can’t think of one so spontaneously. Many places have some kind of character.
BTC: Why are you still doing what you do?
DM: It’s so much fun! Every aspect of it is enjoyable. It is a pleasure. I’ve always done something creative. I always need to be in some kind of creative process. To be in that flow. Otherwise I feel bad. It’s so natural. It’s just there. And it should continue.
BTC: What advice would you have given to yourself Iive years ago?
DM: I wish I had known the answer to that question! Haha! In concrete terms: I should have taken my driving license five years ago.
BTC: Tips for a young photographer at the start of their career?
DM: Technology is important! Do not show disinterest in it or disdain for those who are interested. Question the traditional view that women are not interested in technology.
LEARN MORE
You can follow Davids’s latest work on Instagram @david_moller_photography
Also, check out his website for more info: https://www.davidmoller-portfolio.com
We sat down for a one-to-one interview with Malmö based photographer David Möller. Working out of his studio, Möller is known for his portraits of people from many walks of life as well as maintaining his commercial portfolio. He discusses his career to date, working as a DJ in Helsingborg, where he finds his inspiration and plenty more…
BTC: Beyond The Crane, DM: David Möller
BTC: What is it that you do?
DM: I make portraits. Fashion portraits mainly but with some kind of artistic approach. And then, to make money, I do a little bit of everything really. It can be product or food photography.
BTC: Where did your interest in photography come from?
DM: My sister, who now works as a hairdresser and stylist in London, when she was 12-13 and I was 10, she bought UK Vogue and other fashion magazines. I then became interested in photography when I was 13-14 and my parents backed me financially to do it.
I was so tired of school before I started high school; I went to do a one-year photographyeducation course in Helsingborg. I was supposed to invest in a career as a photographer but somehow I ended up working as a DJ in Helsingborg for 8-9 years! I did not take pictures of anything at all during that period.
Then digital photo technology took off and I didn’t know anything about it. For the past five years I have tried to learn digital photography but I’ve also returned to the analogue style too.
BTC: Has it always been fashion and portraits?
DM: It started with the first film reels that I photographed of a little roe deer up in our summer house. But it became portraiture and fashion very early.
BTC: What drives you today?
DM: That’s a really difficult question. It is difficult to see the basic motivation. I was a bit of a mess in my teens, so my grades were disastrous and I didn’t carry on studying. Then, as I said, I worked as a DJ for a long time. I was about to leave the DJ work around the time when I moved to Malmö.
I desperately needed another job so I worked for a while with my father who has a retrofurniture store in Höganäs. It was nice but in the meantime I realised that I wanted to do something different.
It almost started as a joke at first, I thought – should I start taking pictures again? Do I even have self-confidence to begin with? Then it just went on; that’s the way it is. I went to a one-year photography education (at Östra Grevie) to learn photograph completely without the stress and demands of making an income. I just kept taking photos for a year.
BTC: Why do you do what you do?
DM: Basically, it’s because I know nothing else. Besides sitting and amateur philosophising and complaining about today’s society (laughs).
BTC: What is the goal with your photography?
DM: Surely it is hedonistic? I really enjoy being creative; it feels very natural and simple to me. I think I have some kind of talent for it. I don’t think I have any world-changing approach or anything. I like image and form and beauty.
BTC: Is it about the interaction that comes with your work?
DM: I like every aspect of the photography process. I like to sit alone. I like the technical, geek reading about a lens. I like to meet people. I like to walk around and have a constant creative process in my head. To think about what to do, what will be the next thing. To take it further and develop.
I am a very poor careerist; I do not think strategically that way. But I always want to prove something to myself that I can develop and get better. I’m pretty harsh on myself in that way.
BTC: You’re pretty consistent in your style. Is it a strength?
DM: I don’t know how conscious that is or if it’s just a limitation I have. Maybe it’s both. As I said, I’m not that strategic. I can’t just do what is contemporary and mainstream. When I played records, I was pretty hardcore underground. I come from that world. And already there, I was annoyed at how mainstream everything sounded and I became discouraged. I just have to go with my instinct.
It is a more open world within photography. It is more accessible. You can have integrity while you still have many that appreciate what you do.
BTC: You say you are not that strategic. Can’t it be about not daring?
DM: Now you found a sore spot. It might be so? In a way, it is tempting to become a very successful photographer but I don’t even know if I would want that life. Work 200 days a year and live in it. I don’t even know if it’s something to strive for. Maybe I am more along the lines that if I’ll just be able to take great photographs then I am satisfied.
BTC: What is your work process?
DM: Of course, it depends on what the client wants. Sometimes the client gives a lot of freedom, sometimes they want me to just reinforce the little niche that I have. Much of what I do doesn’t end up on my Instagram or portfolio. With my own stuff, there is a constant dialogue in my head.
BTC: When you work on your own thing, how do you get those you work with tosee your vision in it?
DM: It has been difficult here in Malmö to do what I do. It has taken some time. There are not so many fashion and portrait jobs at all. I am considering moving to Copenhagen in the future.
BTC: Do you take individual pictures or do you work on series/projects?
DM: Often I have improvised quite a lot. I might choose a model and then someone helps out with clothes and make-up and then I usually just pick out the photos I like. Sometimes one. Sometimes three. Sometimes none at all.
I feel that I am still in a phase where I consider myself to be learning a lot of things. I still find it difficult to call myself a photographer, in a way I’ve “played photographer” and am still try to figure things out.
BTC: How do you know when a photograph is finished?
DM: When I work and browse through the photos quickly, I usually feel quite quickly when we have good photos or not. Afterwards, it’s easy for me to make a selection. It’s intuitive. I rarely have problems with that. I always go for what I like.
I almost always choose other photos than the people I work with. Often, there issomething small that’s affecting the pictures I choose. When I edit, I find the process to be so much fun that I lose track of time, but it feels like it is going very fast.
BTC: In the selection, are you releasing images you don’t like yourself?
DM: If the model or make-up artist wants photos, I usually edit 20-30 photos of maybe 200. Some sort of filtering is done by me. Then they get to choose their favourites from them. I am very careful about sending extra photos to the client. I want to keep on doing this with some kind of integrity.
BTC: What’s your stance on the analogue vs digital debate?
DM: I’ve now bought the digital cameras that I think most closely can compare with the analogue. They are slightly older cameras because I don’t like the new digital look. It’s not so well thought out, with some stuff I just want a nice analogue look. It is not a matter of nostalgia but sometimes I think that look is better.
If I had been able to simulate it fully digitally, I would have thrown away all my old analogue cameras and just shoot digital. On the other hand, the digital look is sometimes unmatched. It depends on the photo and the context.
BTC: How to you get yourself into the work you do?
DM: It’s probably there when I shoot my own projects. There is still a pattern in what I do. Then I also like to just make a customer happy; take the photos just the way they want. I can separate the two.
BTC: You have photographed some famous people. How did they find you?
DM: I found them. In some cases they are people I have contacted, some exciting artists. I just tried to be smooth – “Can I shoot you for 3 minutes outside the lodge, then I’ll disappear.” To set it up so that it is not a problem for them. Some have since wanted to be photographed again; they’ve contacted me subsequently.
BTC: You said before that you can hardly call yourself a photographer. But maybe actually being a photographer is what opens the doors?
DM: Well, I probably exaggerated a bit before. When I look at my photos I think that I can probably call myself a photographer! But it took a long time. Just a year ago or so when my friends introduced me to others as a photographer, it echoed within me. Can I call myself that or am I just a fake?
With younger people, I can envy them. They take a few photos and posts on Instagram and write photographer in the profile. It’s courageous. Pretentious. I do not know? Do I have a trait of working class?
It has been five years now of intense shooting before I slowly begin to identify myself more as a photographer. I have had a huge fear of appearing as a fake. A control need that I must be able to know all kinds of lighting, every picture I see in a magazine I need to know what light the photographer has used. To try to learn the craft fully. And I still think I’m only at maybe 40%.
BTC: Maybe you put “photographer” on a pedestal?
DM: I think it was that in the late 90s, when I was little, it was a very good era in photo history. Many of today’s influential, legends, photographers were big at that time. I’ve always had a high level of ambition – to take photographs like Helmut Newton, not like a local photographer.
I get nice criticism and praise and such. But I feel have only come a little bit down the road. If I’m allowed to be a little eccentric, then I’m the one to judge myself. I’m a hard judge on what I am doing and I think I know where I am in the process. If I’ll end up becoming successful, that’s another thing. Now it sounds like I have really high thoughts about myself!
BTC: Male lone genius vs professional photographer – what are your thoughts?
DM: I think there is some strange tension there between wanting to be an artist and doing something artistic and that at the same time it is a craft and a profession. It’s a hard question. Let’s put it on hold.
BTC: Where do you Iind your inspiration?
DM: I am very interested in history. There is some kind of unconscious retro in what I do. I like lighting, to set up advanced lighting. Then it’s a lot of 30s/40s era photos. The lighting in old Hollywood movies. Pop culture from the past. Trying to do a new twist on something.
I don’t have much faith that culture can change that much. I’m pretty cynical about whether art can affect society. I am too agnostic and whimsical in my political thoughts to make political photos.
I appreciate beauty. Both my mother and my sister were open to the fact that they liked beauty – nature, beautiful women and men – when I was little. It was obvious in front of the TV. I grew up with high appreciation for beauty. Perhaps it sounds a bit superficial?
BTC: Do you have any dream person you wanted to do a portrait of? Or any specific environment you would like to shoot in?
DM: There’s not that many great environments in Malmö. I would like to have free access to old beautiful hotels.
BTC: No speciIic person you wanted to take a portrait of in your way?
DM: Hmm. I’ll think about it a bit.
BTC: What is it like to work in the creative field in Malmö?
DM: Specifically within portraiture and fashion, there is not much here. I have been thinking about taking it further and moving to Copenhagen. Make more contacts there.
In Malmö there is a lot of commercial photography and many who are good at it. But there is less in fashion and art photography.
It is cheap to live in Malmö. For better or worse. You can relax and spend more time (doing things). It’s not that stressful. But on the other hand, it requires that you create your own projects.
BTC: If we look ahead. Where are you going with your photography?
DM: I do not really know. It is always an ongoing internal process. It is only months ahead that I think about the photo. I have no long-term plan. Often, the inspiration can come from me testing a lens. Then the rest comes gradually.
It has always been a game in a way. I test and test and in that game there is a bonus. Wow, I got some really nice photography. I learned something and got nice pictures. I think I have a niche style that isn’t relevant all the time.
BTC: Integrity. Tone. Success? Words that often pop up with me during the interview.
DM: It has to do with someone kind of honesty. I value integrity on many levels. I’m not a big materialist. Money and success as such, it is not very attractive. It’s probably wonderful to have a lot of money, but it’s not something I think about.
I have lived a simple life during many periods of my life. My focus on photography is not so much about everything around it. I should probably be more focused on reaching out with pictures.
BTC: Do you have a favourite place in Malmö?
DM: Do I? There are some nice environments. But if nothing else, you have become a good studio photographer. I have a compulsive walk down towards the harbour, which I always walk. Down to the docks area. I like Malmö. But favourite place? I can’t think of one so spontaneously. Many places have some kind of character.
BTC: Why are you still doing what you do?
DM: It’s so much fun! Every aspect of it is enjoyable. It is a pleasure. I’ve always done something creative. I always need to be in some kind of creative process. To be in that flow. Otherwise I feel bad. It’s so natural. It’s just there. And it should continue.
BTC: What advice would you have given to yourself Iive years ago?
DM: I wish I had known the answer to that question! Haha! In concrete terms: I should have taken my driving license five years ago.
BTC: Tips for a young photographer at the start of their career?
DM: Technology is important! Do not show disinterest in it or disdain for those who are interested. Question the traditional view that women are not interested in technology.
LEARN MORE
You can follow Davids’s latest work on Instagram @david_moller_photography
Also, check out his website for more info: https://www.davidmoller-portfolio.com