"My role is project photographer. I am using my camera to help tell individual stories from the different hytter. The images will be used in the project’s exhibition at the Norwegian Folk Museum in 2019, and in a book that will accompany the exhibition. It’s important to think about the end product to define my role in the project", Haakon explains.
He has been fascinated by the way people have opened up to the researchers and says it is important to be part of those conversations before getting his camera out.
"I am using two different cameras, a larger camera for posed portraits and a smaller one I can hang round my neck to capture the moment. Images speak in different ways, so it is useful to have a range to choose from, especially early in the project".
Exiting to work closely with researchers
"After field visits, we work together to analyse the images, to draw out the threads through the research. Image processing and editing is an important stage in finding out how the images from different hytter and research participants work together."
"This is a completely new way for me to work compared with my usual practice of working with my own images", says Haakon, "and it’s the first time I’ve worked so closely with researchers".
Haakon has done field-photography before for the Norwegian Folk Museum, and can see a number of parallels.
"What’s different about working with anthropologists is their attention to my interpretation of the project.
We drove nearly 500 miles doing field-visits in Finnmark, so there was plenty of time for interesting discussions about how to integrate photography into the broader research project. Without photography, the research would have been harder to communicate. The photos add an extra dimension by making the project themes visible."
