Kristoffer Axén

Kristoffer Axén 
Born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1984, Kristoffer Axén studied photography and motion picture for three years at an upper secondary school just outside the capital. At 2008 he began his one–year full–time program in General Studies at the International Center of Photography in which he graduated from in 2009. He currently lives and works in New York.

Axén is well known for his manipulation of light, location and form. His work has been exhibited in countless galleries and magazines.

 "Inspired by the muted tranquility and crawling apprehension embodying the deep sea, Abyss aims to transfer this mood to a mundane world of non-event events. Here selected characters dwell and drift through landscapes that blurs the line between their own distorted memory of repression and nostalgia together with activities and undertakings that are loose and dream-like in their intent – a hint to the activities of everyday life."

He does an excellent job in creating a still life from real life. I think the above photos really transform your mind into wondering where the subject is and what they are doing. His lighting is excellent he plays with it so well to accent the figures and create a photo that is striking to the eye. 

 

 

 “The language created by Kristoffer Axén relates to cinema. His world is depicted in almost monochrome tones and gives the impression of being in a non-place in a non-time. Have the characters been photographed on a film set, or in the dark corners of a city? The interaction between the scenes represented and the viewers’ imagination gives way to fiction. The main protagonist of the drama is the city and its shadows, which haunt its inhabitants. A heavy atmosphere prevails inside and out. Axén produced At Sea At Night in New York, at a time when the city was hit by a severe economic downturn. The series enables him to question the world in which he lives.”
Nathalie Herschdorfer

These photos are so realistic they seem to be staged but we do not know whether they actually are. Maybe he was just walking by and decided to get a snap shot or maybe he planned everything. His efforts in portraying these photos are extraordinary. Its a fine line he creates between candid vs. staged. 

I really appreciate and love this photographer because he allows us to view the world in a way that I haven't seen before in a photograph. He does an excellent job in allowing us to get lost in his vision and I feel privileged enough to be able to view these.