Interview with Arild Danielsen

Arild Danielsen is a 24-year-old photographer from Kristiansand, Norway.

ELATE*: In which cities have you already lived (and where do you want to go)?
UK and Norway. I love to travel the world, anywhere really. I have many places on my “to-go” list, but Iceland is amongst the top. Australia too.

ELATE*: What did you want to be when you were a child?
Jetfighter pilot and photographer. Surprisingly, the latter got more attractive during the years.

ELATE*: Where do you take your inspiration from?
Everywhere. Nature, people, books and internet to mention a few.

ELATE*: Which designers, artists or creative people are your source of inspiration?
So many. Now that information is so easy to get to there are so many artists that inspire me. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but somehow all the information out there mix in my head and in the end become my own work. It has always been that way for everyone, but now I guess it’s harder to be original. Sometimes the smallest things can inspire to great work.

David Bailey, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, and Annie Leibovitz are some of the artists I have really liked for many years.

ELATE*: How would you describe your artistic style? How has this style developed over time?
From a boy starting out with a b/w Kodak film in his father’s darkroom, I would say it has developed a lot from then to now. Both intellectually and technically. I love the historical and classic aspects of taking photographs, now naturally I’m using modern ways of getting where and what I want, for me the traditional darkroom is history. Now my darkroom is my Wacom tablet and developer software. It’s hard for me to put a finger on my style, for me it varies a lot and is always under development, but I hope my works can give an idea of something bigger as there’s a story in each work. As I started out experimenting with graphic design and graffiti as a kid, I think that has inspired my style somehow, not so visually but in the way I think in each precess.

ELATE*: Where do you work on your designs and projects?
At the moment my studio “base” is in Kristiansand, on the south tip of Norway.

ELATE*: What does a typical day at work involve for you?
They differ a lot. Somedays I have the whole day on location, others in studio pre- or post-production.

ELATE*: What shoes are you wearing at the moment?

ELATE*: Where can one come across you, where do you like to spend your leisure time?
There’s a café in Kristiansand, where I live, called “Frk. Larsen” (”Miss Larsen”). I usually go for coffee there. Other than that I love our summerhouse, where I spend a lot of time during the summer. A lovely place called “Høvåg”.

ELATE*: What’s your favourite music genre / band / artist / DJ?
I’m quite schizophrenic in my music genres. I listen to a lot of different stuff.
Air France, Biosphere, Chet Baker, Clipse, DJ Shadow, Faithless, Massive Attack, PJ Harvey, The Knife, Tosca to mention a few.

ELATE*: Your last redundant (totally useless) purchase?
Last Purchase: New bike, but I totally need it. I can’t remember buying any useless stuff.

Arild Danielsen Portfolio on TALENTARENA