I don’t have favourite photographers as such, but to name few, I really appreciate the works of Sally Mann and Francesca Woodman. David Lynch is also a very big influence for me, even though he is obviously known for many different artistic endeavours.

We had a photography course at school, during late 1990’s, but for whatever reason, I didn’t sign up for it. Two girls from our class did how ever attend and for the rest of the year they wore old Nikons on their necks everywhere they went. It was such an inspiring sight and I really wanted to be like that as well. I regretted that I didn’t sign up for the class, but shortly after I received a Pentax SLR as a birthday present, that launched my journey into photography.

I was absolutely clueless during the initial years. My learning curve was non-existent. I met my signicant other in the year 2000. She was shooting with a Canon T70 and introduced me to the Canon FD system. I swapped the Pentax for a T70 of my own and together we also purchased a second hand Canon AE-1 (with a 50mm f1.8 lens) that we shared. (We still by the way have those T70 bodies, even though both of them are now toast.)

After digital came along, I sort of lost the connection to photography. I dabbled with some of the early digital point and shoot cameras and DSLR’s that I borrowed from school, but the magic simply wasn’t there anymore.

Following a hiatus, I returned to film photography in around 2015 or 2016 after finding the Canon AE-1 from a storage box. I immediately found the magic connection again and started shooting like crazy. The confusion from my early days was now gone and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to shoot only black and white film on a 50mm lens. I had a clear vision of the style that I wanted. I basically had to wait ten years before realising what I wanted to do with the camera. After that i’ve been shooting practically every day and being obsessed about the craft.

I’ll be blunt. I don’t like it and I wish I could return to a time before AI got so deeply integrated in our structures. I’m into genuine intelligence instead.

This isn’t a frequently asked question as such, BUT annoyingly often people seem to assume these days that everything is AI generated. I want to have a clear stance about it.

When I started publishing my own music on Bandcamp, most people who cared to check it out, seemed to assume that it was AI generated, without considering the option that the music is actually just some very simple DYI melodies put together with a MIDI-keyboard.

Same thing with writing. I’ve been writing stuff for about ten years and happen to be really interested in language and creative writing, but for some reason it seems to be hard to believe that anyone would still write with their own hands these days.

It bugs the hell out of me to think that someone probably can’t see the difference between my photography and some horseshit made with AI. Anyone who thinks that even a single image in my photography portfolio could be AI generated, is definitely not going to be welcome at my birthday party.

I use ChatGPT mainly as a Google replacement for researching stuff, but not much for anything creative. I have tried utilizing it for creative purposes as well, but I have come to the conclusion, that I want to do my own writing instead.

I have tried an image generator called Perchance and while I admit that it can occasionally produce some interesting images, I can’t get a kick out of using that for anything seriously creative or trying to pass the outcome as my own artwork. I just don’t see an AI generated image as my own creation.

I have generated some reference images for practicing corquis drawing. I’ve also tried visualising some of my dreams. For my blog I’ve generated few thumbnail images for posts that I didn’t have a good alternative for. That’s about it. In the beginning I was considering the possibility of making AI part of my workflow somehow, but I’ve always had issues with the idea and since then abandoned it.

In short:
❌ Creative work / expressing myself: hard no
✅ Information gathering: yes

So to be clear, I approach AI with extreme caution, with a skeptical eye. I realise that I can’t run away from it, but I’ve made a choice to rely on it as little as possible. I’m open to possibilities, but human made possibilities primarily.

I love collaborating. Some of the most meaningful and best work I’ve ever done, are results of working together with someone.

8 ½ (Federico Fellini)

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)

The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)

Occasionally I draw and paint. Figure drawing is extremely interesting, even though I really struggle with anatomy and poses. Reading and writing are also very important for me.

In very interested in music and sometimes dabble with some instruments. I’m definitely not a real musician, but I do have a dungeon synth (yeah, that is a musical genre) project called Grotto Art for experimenting with the small amount of musical skills that I have.

In addition to creative and artistic hobbies, I also enjoy the great outdoors. I love the sea and I’ve been into ocean paddling for about ten years. I also happen to be a certified kayak paddling instructor. Hiking, camping and generally enjoying the nature are great fun too.

My latest obsession is restoring bicycles. I love riding, but modern bikes just suck, so I got the idea of getting into the the alt bike world and started building my own custom bikes from older frames.

And if cooking counts as a hobby, then I’ll just mention that as well. 😀

Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)

Nausea (Jean-Paul Sartre)

Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut)

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

To be completely honest, nobody asked about my music taste, but I just like to be enthusiastic with it so here goes.

I don’t listen much mainstream music, but practically everything else. I can infact recall one of my classmates commenting my music taste, back in the day, by saying that she’d never heard anyone mentioning Manowar and Blondie in the same sentence before. That being said, I appreciate music that thrives on individuality and has much expressive power, which is why I gravitate towards good metal bands, classical music and alternative/experimental acts. I also enjoy ambient music, soundtracks (especially classical italian & french new wave cinema), dungeon synth (🤷) and sometimes even something like sea shanties. (If that can be catecorized as a genre.)

Nordic metal recommendations:
👌 Havukruunu, Kuin Öinen Meri
👌 Lord Belial, Lamia
👌 Windir, Journey to the End
👌 Dissection, The Somberlain

Classical music recommendations:
👌 Mahler, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
👌 Bach, Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit, BWV 115
👌 Frans Liszt, Consolations, S. 172: No. 3, Lento placido
👌 Henry Purcell, Music for a While
👌 Knaifel, Make me drunk with your kisses

Alternative rock recommendations:
👌 Ween, Bananas and Blow
👌 Morphine, You’re an Artist

Euro cinema OST etc.
👌 Philippe Sarde, Violette…
👌 Armando Trovajoli, L'amore Dice Ciao
👌 Nicola Piovani, Pour Purri del Balletto
👌 Carlo Rustichelli, Traffico
👌 Riz Ortolani, Theme dun Fanfaron
👌 Nino Rota, L’Harem

Goddamn italians
👌 Domenico Modugno, Lazzarella
👌 Mina, Cittá vuota

You may also enjoy my Rancho Relaxo playlist on Spotify.

Ambient & dungeon synth:
👌 Desiderii Marginis, Silent Messenger
👌 Erang, By the Starlight
👌 Fata Morgana, Purple Sky
👌 Metatron Omega, Chalice of Eternity
👌 Mountain Realm, Temple Halls

You may also enjoy my dungeonsynth.exe playlist.