Doors open today for Tobias Björkgren’s fine art series, “Double Exposure,” which he’ll be sharing with the world at Stockholm Scandic Grand Central. Tobias originally started “Double Exposure” back in 2011, but only recently revisited it in a way that he felt brought the project to completion. Now, he is proud to share this series of ten double exposed photos, which he hopes will allow viewers to see his subjects in a less concrete way.
When Tobias started working with double exposures back in 2011, he immediately felt a connection to the process. “I fell in love with the process of creating something that was on the edge of my control,” he says. He experimented with black and white double exposures, but ultimately returned to working with color. When he returned to double exposure this time, he began exploring a different side of his photographic capabilities.
I always look for simplicity and something captivating. I think this project is pushing my boundaries but in a good way; I am working to be more artistic and conceptual in my vision.
For Tobias, a fine arts project like this is intimidating. “It’s just me and my ideas,” he says, noting how everything about the project that works or doesn’t work is on him. Tobias also notes how working with a team is different for a project like this. He had to find a way to get his designers and stylists excited about their artistry in the process, while also not compromising any of his esthetic goals. For this project, he went to “regular collaborators,” hair and makeup artist Johanna Nomiey and wardrobe stylist Qim Claesson. Tobias says he loves collaborating with people who are as driven as he is, and inspiring in their fields. He did one shoot with his stylists, and then a later shoot with just him and his models. At the end of both, he saw the series coming together as a whole. “The exhibition had a coherent voice,” he says.
Tobias’s idea for this project was to create a picture that went beyond the concrete, that evolved past one still frame. In “Double Exposure,” we get to see a portrait that captures the subject in 1-2 seconds, as opposed to the 1/100th of a second that we’d ordinarily get.
In the art of photography we often see the results of a moment captured in 1/100th of a second. That means that photography is just a fraction of a second at a specific place and time. What happens if it’s more than that?
Tobias’s exhibition will be on display from March 10th until July 1st in the Scandic Grand Central Hotel in Stockholm.
To view more of Tobias’s work, visit tobiasbjorkgren.se