Hello Espen, thank you for taking your time to answer our questions. Where are you and how are you?
Hello, thanks I am fine and alive. I am at my office or "the freestate of Ixtlan", as my wife calls it.. I like it at the office,its totally me, a place where I can do as I please, smoke a cigarette when I want, play loud music, conspire against the state, or maybe work...haha! Its full of photos, posters and stuff I collected from bands I have met through the years. My favorite Boca Juniors shirt is hanging next to a drawing made by Courtney Taylot-Taylor from Dandy Warhols, if he was inspired by the big joint he smoked or not capable of writing is yet to know...

Could you please introduce yourself to our readers...
I am a norwegian photographer, based in Frxta, a city 100 km south of Oslo, Norway. Born in 1966 and educated at the Faculty of Photojournalism in Oslo. I bought my first camera at the age of 13, and became very fascinated by the power of photography, art and music. I started my career as a professional photographer in the press, freelancing for different newspapers. Since 2005 I have mainly been working with the music scene and different bands like Ministry, Satyricon and especially my loveaffair Apoptygma Berzerk.

Photography is for you...
Photography to me is perception.

Is the world through a camera lense different than the view through a normal human eye?
Absolutely. When behind the camera, I sometimes feel protected from what I see. Its hard to describe but the camera can absolutely work like a filter. I had expiriences with accidents and dead people during my time in the press and must confess that my behaviour sometimes were totally different with than without the camera.

What is your favourite camera/lens, and why?
At the moment, my favourite camera is the camera I am using now, an Canon Eos 1D with EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM. I like the wide angel zoom-lenses, you can never get too close.

What makes photographs unique?
Probably a million things. Photography is one of mankinds greatest inventions ever.

How important is Photoshop/digital manipulation to your work? Do you think a photographer "should" use these tools, or are too many photographers "dependent" on them?
Photoshop is a wonderful tool and a must for every photographer. In the press, manipulation of photos (Adding or removing vital information to give the photo a different or new meaning) is totally banned. In other genres of photography, manipulation can be pure art. By choosing black and white images, reality is manipulated according to some . There will always be photographers using shortcuts and twisting the truth, may they wander in shame. If someone publish a manipulated photo I think its a gentlemans agreement to notify the viewers about it.

In general...what inspires you? Are there any influences on your work from your surrounding?
Interesting people is always inspiring.

How do you feel your "style" has changed/evolved over your career?
I really can't explain my style, its just the way I do my photos. I hear all the time from other people opinions about my styleand this and that. I still believe that less is more, I dont like to complicate the images, and one should never underestimate the viewers, you are never better than your last shot.

Did you already shot "the photo of your life"? If yes: which one is it and why?
I like to think that the shot of my life lies ahead of me.


-> APOPTYGMA BERZERK - EVOLUTION HAS LEFT THE BUILDING ...thank God! <-

What made you decide to take on such a big project as a photo book totally about APOP?
Apoptygma Berzerk is one of Norways biggest bands of all times and they did it their way, with attitude, innovative music and the capability of reinvent themselves when needed. A band unknown to most Norwegians, and neglected by the music press at home, but made it really big abroad and especially in Germany with 80 billion people. So there is a million reasons to do a book with Apoptygma Berzerk. And I am sure I find another reason to make a new one in the future.

Where did you take all these pictures?
The photos were taken during the eruropean part of Rocket Science Tour 2009 in nine different countries.

How long didi it take to get all the material for the book together? I can imagine that there was a lot of good photos. Was there any specific criteria for the pictures that made it into the book?
During 24 days in February and March I took 12024 photos (rawfiles). Together with a designer called Vegar Bakken (Griff Design.no) a good friend and a briiliant designer I started working on a very demanding project. To select and prepare the photos for the book, I think we spent almost a year. A year with endless discussions about almost every detail in the book, trying to find the right photos to the different chapters and the right story. Our main concern was to make the viewer excited and curious to turn another page in the book and expirience the tour by the photos. There is very little text in this book, I say it all in the introduction. Fredrik Brarud (drummer) is also a competent photographer and I invited him to contribute with some of his photos. So, he got a chapter called "Drummerboy 808". No photo is manipulated or cheated with. We wanted to make the photos look very natural and so we spent more time with Photoshop ever, and without overkill. Some of my absolute favorite photos were rejected because they din not fit in the context. "Killing your babies" is a tricky part of photography, but very necessary.

How much influence had Stephan on the selection of photos that were used at the end?
I informed him when we started to work on the book, and he was involved in our discussions along the way, occupied with estetics and details that is so important. We could not let him be the photo-editor this time as you can see..haha! He rejected two photos only, and saw a tree in the forest that we did not see. So the process of making this book was a good expirience and useful learning in every way. When we had finished the book, there was a an emptiness I had not foreseen. Suddenly I did not know what to do and was very uncertain about my future as a photographer. But most of all, I was really sick and tired of the photos from the Rocket Science Tour and have promised myself not to look at them in many years.

Where can we order APOPTYGMA BERZERK - EVOLUTION HAS LEFT THE BUILDING ...thank God! ?
The book can be ordered at www.ixtlanbooks.com

Are there any bands/artists that you'd love to photograph but haven't had the opportunity yet?
I would love to work with Elvis. And made him go industrial...

What other bands in the "scene" do you find visually/artistically interesting, and why?
There is so many great bands out there, but like Elvis, Ministry are gone too, a band I find very fascinating. Inventors of their own genre and fearless in their critisism of the state and establishment. I worked with Al and Ministry in 2008. And I can imagine the challenge of working with them in their most creative periods in the Nineties. When bright intelligence, politics, hillbilly attitude and humour blended in with heroine and substances on local dealer time. Al Jourgensen, a truely remarkable man.

What sort of technical challenges do musicians/bands represent, that don't really occur for other subjects?
You ask tricky questions and made me think about this technical challenge thing for almost a day, without a decent answer. Like I say, musicians and rockstars are humans like you and me and there is no need to treat them any different than ordinary people.

Do you prefer digital or film? Why?
I prefer digital, as one of the last generations educated with the analog film system I embraced the digital system immediately. One of the best happenings to modern photography.

Any advices for people wishing to become professional photographers?
Photography is hard work, take photos every day and dont be afraid to experiment with your camera. The digital system allows us to see our mistakes at once, learn from them. To make good exposures in every situation is essential. And act responsibly.