Your Own Voice

Yesterday, in a dimly lit room in the center of Oslo, I was brought to faraway places like Greenland, Tokyo, Guatemala and Bangkok by the Danish Magnum photographer Jacob Aue Sobol. On his first trip to Greenland, Sobol was only 23, and yet to discover the what and the where and the how of photography. After several months of seal hunting and photography, he arrived home with a bag of films to develop. Only 5 images survived his critical eyes. The rest he considered overexposed and clichéd.

But in these 5 he discovered what he saw to be a kernel of his own expression. And from there he started to build a kind of language. Or possibly, to understand his own voice. Being aware that he is seeking a reflection of himself in the world about him, he captures images that intuitively appeals to him. He has realized he is unable to make any conscious decisions about his photography, they have to agree with his feelings. I would never be able to think trough what I wanted to do, he said, photography is a process. As you change and develop, your photography changes with you.


Photography intrigues me.
Voice mystifies me even more.
I have often wondered about my own language.
Sometimes I feel I´m searching and searching and searching with my eyes wide shut.....