VESTHOLM CREATES
An interview by Jose de Plana
Great meeting you guys. So tell me, how long have you two been together and how did you meet?
Since 2013 – so approx. 7 very happy years.
We worked in the same company – that´s where we met.
Quite unexpected and in a time of chaos for both of us.
It was inevitable – both then and now.
I visited your website & Instagram profile and admired your work. How did you get into fetish photography in the first place?
We have a great passion for the enormous playground that is offered by the fetish world, but to be honest, we prefer not to label our work. Photography as a creative form of expression emerged from the love between us. When we met we immediately felt the desire to share all our passions – with each other – and when words were no longer enough, we found an additional form of communication – in photography.
We are both quite dreamy by nature and in our dreams and fantasies, the morally forbidden and avantgarde often blends with ethics and social conventions. Surrealism blends easily with recognizable characters and elements from the waking life.
This free form, and the presence of the opposing elements, are for us hugely exciting to create visually. We believe this could partly explain why our photos often contain an expression of the ‘unreal’ or dreamy.With one controlling the camera and the other doing the modeling, we use each other to express ourselves. Two independent minds and ways of thinking combined in one single form of expression. Our images then become a manifestation of strong mental bond between us and can therefore also sometimes reflect our bizarre – or fetish related – tendencies.
Tue, when did you start having an interest in photography?
Since my mid-teens, I have been drawn to fashion- and fine-art photography, but until I met Marianne, only as an observer and collector.
I have early and very fond memories of looking at printed stills from art films and old classics. Many of the films I did not know at that time, but I could sense the strong storytelling and the evocative and changing moods. I would cut out pictures from brochures and magazines and glue them into collages, create album covers or decorate different subjects with these mostly black and white images.
When Marianne came into my life, I felt a strong urge to create artistic photography myself – together with her. Marianne has done a lot of photography in her past, but was never before acting as model. We decided to practice and learn both roles wholeheartedly. VESTHOLM like to tell stories. We like, with the photography, to freeze a moment somewhere in a timeline. Perhaps it´s a beginning – or maybe it´s a story reaching the end. With the images we share bits and pieces of our minds, and let viewers decide for themselves, what they see – for the story to unfold in their own minds.
Marianne, I understand you have a lot of styling experience and you are in charge of setting up the shoots. Did you have any formal training or did it come just naturally to you?
I don´t have formal training as a stylist, but I have a good imagination and can immediately see (or feel) when we have the right look and are on the right track. I comes quite natural, I guess.
We both constantly have our eyes open for special locations or items. A new location or a flea market bargain can easily trigger an idea for a shoot and we will then find ourselves pursuing this specific story with great eagerness. The preparations for the styling starts a long time before the actual shoot takes place.
So then, where do you draw your inspiration from?
Both of us are highly attracted to narrative elements in photography, drawings and paintings. We find inspiration in many different forms and of course we have some ‘heroes’.
In photography, it’s artists who work in the field of fetish, fashion and fine-art. Famous artists such as Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts and Robert Mapplethorpe are very much enjoyed, but we also love the style and nostalgic vibe found in the photography from William Mortensen.
When it comes to drawing and painting, we get a lot of inspiration from John Willie and we just adore the drawings printed in Bizarre Magazine (from the 40s). The narratives and strong women created by Eric Stanton is also a huge inspiration to us both. Last, we need to mention the Scottish painter Jack Vettriano. His paintings are pure magic.
We would love to think that we somehow share fetish fellowship with these great artists – a fetish for aesthetics.
So, let’s move on to My Berlin Stories. How did you get involved in this project?
We started sharing our work as VESTHOLM in 2017 and this soon turned out to be very rewarding for us. People from all over the world gave us their feedback and we started believing even more in our newly found and joint talent. Down this road we met Artemisia and her lovely artwork. Danny liked the VESTHOLM style and introduced us to MBS. We did not have to think long about joining this project and team.
Did you have any reservations as a straight couple about getting involved into a project depicting Berlin’s gay underground life?
None what so ever.
The MBS project, and with that a peek into the gay underground life of Berlin, immediately triggered our creative minds and curiosity. Both personally and for the photographic project.
How did it feel to shoot at the Kit Kat club? After all it is Berlin’s most famous fetish club.
An interesting location adds to the storytelling, so for the VESTHOLM way of thinking, it was perfect to shoot at the Kit Kat Club. We instantly picked up on the energy and fetish vibes of this iconic place. We were of course primarily focused on both technical challenges and the overall vision for the mood and atmosphere of My Berlin Stories.
The second day’s shoot took place at Sascha’s sex cellar deep underground. Was this challenging from a technical point of view?
The cellar is quite a unique place and as a location it offers a very special atmosphere. Capturing the ambience of this secret, underground place was both challenging an exciting for us. Sometimes unperfect conditions turns out to be perfect. When we humans suffer, we become rawer. When we are raw we reveal more of our true personality. Even the smallest raw details can, when captured in a photo, be quite effective. Most of us instinctively react on it, when we see it, but we do not always know what it is. Perhaps we want to believe that even the most dreamy or playful scene could actually be true.
I understand you will be presenting two versions of the shoot, one color and one black and white. Do you have any preference personally to each one of the two approaches?
Both versions have obvious strengths.
We always think in color and shoot in color.
We constantly feel the power of colors, color combinations and toning – when visualizing an idea, when deciding on the styling and when looking for props. Several times we have experience that one single item in an – for us – attractive color catalyzed an entire process and photoshoot.
The world of colors is indeed very powerful.
However, we both admit to a life-long love affair with black and white imagery.
Black and white photos are timeless and elegant – clear and beautiful.
Black and white photos can tell stories in a way color cannot – they gently open doors into our subconscious – in a way that colors cannot.
Did you find the models and crew of MBS easy to work with?
Oh yes. We feel extremely lucky with the MBS team and thank each and every one involved for their open minds, patience and good spirit. They all worked hard and we had a great time together. We would love to work with both models and crew in future projects.
Let’s talk a little about your current and future plans. Are you working on any projects at the moment following MBS?
MBS has been a big project for us this year, but we also found time for developing new ideas, realizing new shoots, producing and shipping orders, creating exhibitions and attending vernissages. The exhibition part has been very rewarding for us. It´s such a stimulating pleasure to physically present our art in public and meet real people and hear their interpretation and reaction.
Stay tuned for more VESTHOLM imagery in a city near you – soon we hope.
It has been great talking to you both :-). A lovely Danish creative couple. I wish you best of luck with your projects and I am looking forward to meeting up again to continue our chat.
A pleasure!
