the pleasure of discovering something new

(from Kjell Ivar Lund's website. Click on the image to go there.)

I love the feeling I get when I discover something new – a new musician, a new writer, a new band. Or, as in this case, a new photographer.

Today was the last day of Risør International Festival of Photo, and I finally got the chance to walk from gallery to gallery, looking at the most extraordinary work of some of the greatest photographers in Norway, and also some big, international artists.

(Roger Ballen. Neo Ntsoma. Jim Bengston, Dan Young, Jamie Parslow. Just for the sake of namedropping.)

But I think the photographer who’s work impressed me the most, was Kjell Ivar Lund, a 37 years old Norwegian chef, musician, student, economist and photographer.

As a student at Bilder Nordic School of Photography, he has taken part in a project where the objective was to capture the life on schools in six countries widespread over the world. These photos were amazing, but even more amazing was the work Kjell Ivar Lund has done by himself.

As a photographer with a special interest in music, he has cooperated with the gituarist in the Norwegian metal band Dimmu Borgir. After reading the lyrics and listen to the songs, he has taken photos describing his impression of the music.

The results is absolutely magnificent.

Raw, brutal, controversial. Scary. Dark. The dark side of humanity. Absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately, the photos is not on his website yet, so today’s picture is another one by him. As you can see, Kjell Ivar Lund is a talented nature photographer as well.