bert’s film

warm and inviting

I am spoiled here. Living in Iceland, I have access to countless hot springs - a perfect location for a photoshoot. Since the water is warm, we can stay for a long time experimenting and playing around. And there are few things better than soaking in warm water, something primal about it. What you don’t see in these photos is all the people visiting the spring at the same time. You need a certain level of recklessness to conduct a nude shoot in front of a bunch of strangers, and luckily for...

a natural beauty

My time with Marie sparked something in me. A few days of running off into nature and finding beautiful frames, posing for each other. An incredibly fulfilling time that showed me the direction I wanted to take my photography. Marie is a wonderful model. She showed me such trust and was eager to create something beautiful together. And of course it helps that she’s stunning. As an artist however, it is always bittersweet to look at your creations, because you notice all the things that coul...

a few favorite views

When capturing landscapes, I avoid trying to replicate its grandeur and instead focus on the feeling or specific detail drawing me in. What about it fascinates me? How is it making me feel? And I try my best to capture that feeling. Whether that’s a quiet calmness, making me want to stop, sit and enjoy; an intense heat and a rumble in the earth that reaches me to the bone; a sharp, rugged and majestic looking mountaintop, transporting me into a fantasy film; a mountain range filling up my a...

Well well well

Look who the cat dragged in. Absolutely nailing this patreon the second time around. No but really, I apologize for my inconsistency, I’ve been quite ill the past couple of days and let that be my excuse for being absent. But I am getting a feel for what is needed to keep this going smooth - I have to sit down once a week and organize my upcoming posts so I can just bang them out quickly when I’m working all day and don’t have time to curate. Sounds simple enough, let’s see how it goe...

little bert big bert

A very old picture of me and one of the latest. Yesterday was my birthday and it was a very chill one. I worked an 8.5 hour day, which maybe shouldn’t be catagorized as chill but at least it didn’t feel overwhelming, then we invited my dad, sister and best friend over for dinner. We told some stories from childhood that reminded me what a gremlin I was (see photo for reference) and how much I’ve calmed down with age. Now fully settled in my 30s, I feel content about the life I’ve crea...

lovely light

a series of self portraits I took in the lovely light coming in through my window. It was the first time in many months that the sun came high enough in the sky, and the sky was clear, to come in through my window.

I apologize for the inactivity the past week, it has been a hectic one. I started a new job last week, shot a short film over the weekend, celebrated our anniversary and began my roll of film inspired by Saul Leiter. But to make up for it, I will be posting more this week. A...

frames in frames

Big post today. In my last post, I announced the results of this month’s poll, where you chose Saul Leiter as my inspiration for my next roll of film, and accompanied it with some of his photos. What stuck out to me about all of the ones I was most drawn to, is his use of frames within frames. So I decided to go through my archives to look for instances where I have deployed this method, and came up with a lot of photos. This is one of my favorite ways to find an interesting frame. I like p...

the poll has ended

And you chose Saul Leiter! I’m very excited to get going on this film, and sharing it with you at the end of the month (possibly bleeding into next month.) Saul Leiter was an absolute powerhouse of a street photographer, which is an area of photography I’ve not much stepped into, but I’m eager to explore it. As well as Leiter’s more intimate photos, which area I very much do know.

I’ve attached here some of his photos of his that have immediately struck my inspiration bone. I...

she’s speaking

second part of the collaborative project from some years ago. Listening and speaking with nature, remembering she is us. Take a moment and go outside, what does she have to tell you today?

movement vs stillness

this series was part of a collaborative project I did a while back, inspired by the music of Luca Longobardi - a pianist, composer and multi-media artist. I recommend you find him on instagram and give him a listen. I wanted to contrast fleeting movement with the seemingly eternal stillness of the mountains, while capturing the freedom of immersing oneself in nature. The coldness of the wind on the skin, the fresh air filling the lungs, the grass caressing the feet. A reminder that we are onl...

the lighthouse

The full lighthouse series. I went with my dad and sister to this lighthouse one very cold winter evening (my fingers did not forgive me for the rest of the evening for this shoot) and got these moody photos of it. As you can tell, I did not bring my tripod, which resulted in them turning out like impressionist paintings. At least I think so. I’m not a great painter, so this is as close as I can get to that. I love what a lighthouse represents - a beacon in the dark to guide you back home. ...

Inspiration

The time has arrived for the first poll in my "inspiration" series, where I seek inspiration from the masters of photography. There are so many to choose from, so I'm enlisting your help. A week from now, I will check the results and get shooting <3

Ps. Don't worry if your choice is not the winner, I'll reuse some options in the future.

sweet baby

yesterday was my partner’s birthday. we are doing a dry month, so we had a small dinner party and then painted together portraits of Carter. it was fascinating seeing the different interpretations (four total) of the same person - each one completely unique in its own way. I filmed some of it with my new little camcorder, which I’m excited to share with you once I’ve transferred it and edited. I posted a few photos of my birthday man on instagram, the first of which was part of this lar...

playing with fire

for this series, I enlisted the help of my handsome assistant, Carter (my partner). I often have ideas that I can’t execute on my own, in which case it’s essential to have a helping hand to bring my vision to life. and Carter is massively creative, so he often offers his own ideas and advice that enhance our shoots, especially when my vision is a loose concept. it then becomes a collaborative project and is always such a joy to work on. in some cases though, I have a very clear vision tha...

aurora borealis

as you all probably know by now, this winter has been the best time to see northern lights around the world for the next 25 years (according to an instagram reel I saw, those don’t lie do they?). Iceland is of course the ideal place to enjoy this particular show, and has given me plenty of opportunities to experiment. as you can see, the scanner was having some trouble figuring out the framing because of how dark the photos are, but that is all part of the experiment. I know there is no way...

welcome dear ones

about a year ago, I closed down my patreon because I was feeling uninspired and felt I owed my patrons more than I could deliver at the time. since then, I’ve worked on finding my inspiration again and setting my life up in a way that encouraged creativity. I’m not sure I’m fully there yet, but I feel I’m on my way. and I want you to join in. as is notorious at this point, instagram’s algorithm does not recognize art when it sees it, especially when the artist is female. so over the...