Being small and without resources doesn’t have to be negative. On the contrary. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say. This week, the ski magazine Åka Skidor asked if I had any product news for the upcoming winter. Of course I do, I answered, and attached some pictures I had taken of my wife’s pink poles with extended grips made of wound hemp cord.
A few days later, I received another email asking if I could photograph the poles again, so that the poles could be isolated from the background. The images I had sent were taken against the concrete floor in my workshop as a background. This isn’t optimal if you want to isolate the poles, and they were also taken with my mobile phone. Now I realized that I needed to get proper product photos, with high resolution and impeccable sharpness, against a white backdrop.
Pop-up photo studio on the grandstand just before a football match
I should have asked my dear friend, professional photographer Andreas Hillergren, long ago if he could photograph my new pole models. He’s the one who has taken all the product photos for my website, but he lives at the other end of our region Skåne, and the deadline for the magazine images was in 24 hours.
Late on Friday evening, I manage to reach him. He’s on his way home from a photography job at a hockey game in the northern parts of our region. Yes, he can do it. But it won’t be in southwestern Skåne in his studio where we usually shoot, but in easternmost Skåne, in the summer town of Simrishamn. He’s going to broadcast IFK Simrishamn’s home game live with his self-built streaming equipment, and suggests we build a makeshift studio on the grandstand. That way he can photograph my poles before the game starts.
Said and done. I load my car with some white styrofoam and cardboard for background, and staple some black fiber cloth onto leftover plywood boards. Some wire, duct tape, straps, and other useful items go into the backpack. An hour later, I roll into the sports ground in Simrishamn where the warm-up for the match is underway. One hour after that, I have all the photos I need. True friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there when you need them.
How did the game go? Well, it ended in a draw and the home team stayed above the relegation zone.
/Fabian Rimfors
Behind the scenes and in the spotlight
