Hello, I'm Kristine

Hello. I’m Kristine. That’s me in the picture.

I’ve had something up on this domain for about 15 years, mostly whichever recent portfolio of photographs I’ve wanted to show off to get more work as a photojournalist. It worked fine, but I didn’t quite like how static it was. The first time I had a website it was just about showing work, like a calling card online. Simple, to the point. But the internet has grown, people know more and are hungry for knowledge. It’s alive.

This time I’m doing things a little differently. I’ve spent 20 years learning photography, and during those years I’ve made tons of mistakes, had a great deal of exciting fun, and felt very fortunate to be in a job where learning plays such a huge role. This website is not just my calling card to show off my work, but also my place to share all the things I’ve learned about this profession along the way. In the span of my career photography has gone from analog to digital, from big cameras to small cell phones, from photo albums to Facebook slideshows, it’s a medium in motion. And it always has been, photography is young, not yet 200 years old. It’s one of my favourite things about photography, that it’s always changing, that you can do so much, see so much, and now tell elaborate stories in still photos and motion from the same device to a huge audience. It’s truly magical. 

I am a photographer of real life. I photograph people how they are, events how they happen and stories how they unfold. I try to do this with as much objectivity as my human brain can muster. I like the rules of photojournalism and the ethical standards set forth by my profession so I follow those.  

I recently had kids, three kids, in a short amount of time. This set my career back a bit, but every single step backwards was worthwhile because it changed how I view this work. I can honestly say I never did this work for a good paycheck, because there is blood, sweat and tears behind every dollar earned in this profession. I was in this profession for the accolades and chance to travel to see new things, meet interesting people and be there when things happened. I did this work to make photographs so I could remember those new things and interesting people. I did this work because it made me happy. My kids changed that. Now this work has become about them, about the world they are growing up in, about the way people view themselves and each other. 

I still have two kids at home during the day, so I’m kicking off this new website with some disclaimers. While I used to go to work and be at the beck and call of a newspaper or magazine 24/7, I’m now at the beck and call of two four-year-olds who need me to help them learn to be humans, and the older five-year-old when he’s not in school. So I work around their lives. You’ll find me here on the blog, musing about times past, discussing future work and most importantly wishing to help people who have the ability to go and makes some photographs in the world. So if you are one of those photographers who is just figuring out how to tell stories that matter to you, please get in touch. My four-year-olds are great company but they honestly know zilch about the bigger picture. Yet. 

Thanks for reading all the words,

Kristine

P.S. My name is pronounced Kristina, Norwegians don’t silence their e’s. In case we ever talk in real time.