Pål Hermansen (1955, Norway)
For the second time Pål Hermansen exhibits at Nordic Light International Festival of Photography in Kristiansund. He is a versatile artist who is always breaking new ground as a photographer.
Pål is actually a dentist and homeopath with his own practise in Oslo. You wouldn’t believe that he is a self taught photographer. With 13 international prizes in photography since 1974, 22 books published since 1985 and a long list of exhibitions and workshops, he is not just the most sold photographer internationally, but has also won the most prizes. You just have to doff your hat to the man! Pål Hermansen is an honorary member of the association of Norwegian nature photographers and many of his most impressive pictures are of nature, but he does not want to be called a nature photographer. “It is very limiting to think in terms of the aesthetics of nature photography. I try instead to build a bridge between common photographic practice and nature photography. I believe in taking a step back to see the big picture and a larger dimension,” he says.
His photographic art has brought him great recognition both in Norway and abroad. Among his awards are first prize in BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, first prize in the photographic competition of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and a second place in the Hasselblad Open. He won The European Nature Photographer of the Year three times in five years, and has been awarded a silver medal in the world’s most prestigious photographic competition, World Press Photo.
Pål Hermansen has travelled extensively and has done assignments around the world for several of the world’s leading magazines. However, he did not need to travel far to take pictures for his latest project. During this year’s festival we will be able to get a close look at something very natural – children at play photographed in their elements, in a nature-based kindergarten.
The children have nature as their playground, and are outside all day throughout the year. They discover how high they can climb and how far they can walk. They explore their surroundings and their imaginations, in their own ways and at their own pace. Of course, Pål Hermansen has also made a book of this project. Ut og lek is book number 22, and once again he has produced both the text and the pictures.
It is an amusing and significant inspirational book for children and adults about growing up in contact with nature. It is also a thought-provoking and important contribution to the debate about how we want our future generations to live in a complex society, without losing contact with themselves or the natural world we are all a part of.
