Morten André Gjerde
born 1964 – Notodden, Norway
Photography has for me been a way to express how I view the world, many times a visual way to express my self and how I feel. I try to capture moments that show the life itself. I take pictures of people exactly how I see them, there and then. My approach is simple and honest. For me this is not so much about photography in itself, its more about emotions! It’s maybe more a personal need of connection to the society around me, and a connection with my viewers. And if I occasionally attains that connection, it makes it all worth it. That’s the reason I continue to take pictures.
Contact Information:
Storeblevegen 96, 3680 Notodden Norway
Tel: +47 90642900
USA: +1 773 634 9680
Poland: +48 12 361 2848
Skype: mortengjerde
E-mail: mg@mortengjerde.com
www.mortengjerde.com
Education:
2004-present Self-Employed Photographer
2003-present Various Workshops and lectures, national and international.
2003-2004 Assistant, Advertisement Photographer Peder Songedal, Oslo (N)
1983-2003 Self-taught (Analog and Digital Photography, Analog Darkroom Work)
The early years:
I started my photographic career with a darkroom course during military service. The year was about 1983. “Grenader Bakken” on Trøgstad Nike battery reinforced me to the interest that was already created by fingers with my father’s old Koroll – Bencini – Milan camera with 120 film.
After darkroom course, we were a gang that went from Trøgstad camp to Oslo to find some fantastic deals on SLR … it ended up with a Ricoh KR-10 Super. My first 35mm camera.
It was not long before I get a weekend job in the photography business, and one day there was a customer who had delivered a Nikon FA, Nikons semi-pro camera bodies from that time, with faulty shutter. This Camera was purchased in the U.S. and the customer would later do not pay for repairs, which he thought was too expensive … Keep all the camera was the message from the client! The camerabody was mine for the price of a new shutter!
Since then, the road passed through yet another FA, then a F4, as an F5, then a D1X, D2X, and now D3 + a few other classics of the old Nikon houses just for the nostalgia. For streets and light traveling I use a Olympus OM-D M1 MKII or a Olympus PEN-F, both with a 17mm/1.8 (ekvivalent to 34mm) most of the time.
Today, photography is for me more like a lifestyle. Personally I let myself easily fascinated by humans with strong personalities and their stories, the expression goes in a way that I will say are familieres to street and/or private documentary photography… or something like that. I don’t care actually, I just record some importent moments of my daily life, and then share my emotions with the world around me. Not very sophisticated actually… and it is what it is! Even more or less!
I’m a member of BONO – the copyright organization for Norwegian picturebased visual artists.
Personal picture, color and BW, 300 DPI print quality for download – pic size 2576 x 1932 : (right click and “save as”)
