The young "Göteborgare" - a local from Gothenburg presently in New York - who loves Asia and has 'a thing for' people and animals, is having his first show in New York.

How would you describe your exhibition at FIKA?
It’s my first exhibition, so I’m very excited. Basically FIKA needed some new art on their walls so I’m really happy that they let me put up some of my photos. There will only be a few photos, showing different motives and most of them are from my travels in Asia. Photography have for long been a hobby of mine but it would be great if I would get an opportunity to work more professionally with it. I have done my fair share of unpaid photo jobs, just like many other photographers out there.

What is it that interests you the most about photography?
It has always been about taking snapshots of peoples’ daily lives and to capture situations and emotions. Every situation and person I see is unique in its own way, and I want to capture that. That is usually so much easier when I travel, since the novelty of foreign cultures is automatically interesting. I’ve never been an aspiring studio photographer.

How would you describe your photographic style?
That’s a tricky one. Other people might be better at explaining that. I prefer taking photos with natural light and preferably when people aren’t ready for it. That's when you capture real emotions. So I guess I mostly do street photography, but I also love to capture stunning landscapes. And I have a thing for capturing people (or animals) standing by themselves in a big space.

You have a mix of B&W and color. What makes you choose one over the other?
Sometimes I actually have a hard time choosing among those two, but in the end it’s about how I want the viewer to interpret the photo. B&W photos automatically become more poetic and dark for me so I prefer using that if I want to capture rawness or maybe a social issue.

You have traveled a lot, which country has influenced you the most?
Well there’s no secret that I love to travel in Asia. I can’t really pick a favorite, however, Laos is definitely worth a visit. People are really nice, the food is good and there's some very nice scenery. That’s enough to inspire anyone. I also like Japan a lot. There’s an interesting balance between the hectic work life and some underlying calmness in that culture. That sounded really deep right?

Can you tell tell us a strong memory from your travels?
There was one sad incident in Vietnam. I had been up in the northern part of the country during Christmas for a few days, in a town called Sa Pa. It’s an amazing place that I really recommend visiting. I trekked in the mountains and my guides were young girls from the indigenous H’mong population. The scenery was incredible so I took a lot of photos. Unfortunately my camera was stolen on a night train back to Hanoi, which of course made me quite sad. Sometimes you wish there could be “nice” thieves that would only take the camera and leave the memory card.

What camera and lens are you using?
Right now I’m using a Canon EOS 60D that I bought in NYC. Before that I had a 400D and a 350D (the one that was stolen). I mostly use my Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens actually. For landscape images I use a Canon 10-22mm 3.5-4-5. I also have a Holga 120, which is really a simple analog camera, but it’s unfortunately quite expensive to develop those films.

Erik Sellgren
FIKA Espresso Bar
Wednesday, May 16, 5-7pm
66 Pearl Street

Read More:
Meet FIKA's last photo exhibiter Emma Carlström:
http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/arts/4320/

Text: Hanna Aqvilin