Paul uses both full frame digital cameras and drones to capture his images. Paul loves the different perspective you can get from the air, and how you can create abstract images. This usually takes meticulous planning with satellite imagery, but also sometimes just by pure chance. You can often find Paul in Nordmarka fully laden with camera gear on his e-bike searching out the next best spot to photograph!
Living right next to the forest and spending much time in the forest photographing, Paul was inspired to make frames for his prints made from Norwegian wood:
“Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?”
“And when I awoke I was alone
This bird had flown
So I lit a fire
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?”
– Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) The Beatles
One day, driving home from a family cabin in Nordmarka, just north of Oslo, my best friend, visiting from the UK, commented “There are a hell lot of trees in Norway ‘r kid (he’s from Yorkshire), how many do you think there are?” I didn’t think about it for very long and just replied “I don’t know… 50 million?” He thought about it for a bit longer and after some time guessed 500 million. “Half a billion?” I said, don’t be crazy! Then we did a search… turns out there are more than 11 billion trees in Norway!
As much of my art is focused on Norwegian nature, in one form or another, I wanted to have my photographs framed in “Norwegian wood”. This turned out to be rather a frustrating endeavour, as all of the framers I contacted use imported wood, with the majority using veneers, rather than solid wood. It seems such a shame to me, that Norway, with so many trees, and such a rich heritage of forestry and craftsmanship with wood is facing a dying industry. So then I started on my journey to find locally sourced wood to be locally handcrafted by a cabinet maker into beautiful frames to show off my art and to be a piece of art in themselves.
Each unique frame is individually hand crafted in Nittedal with local wood and numbered on the reverse. The joints are made with dowels and a butterfly joint at the front of the frame in a contrasting wood.
As part of this project I want to give something back to the environment, so for every frame purchased I shall plant a tree in the drylands of Africa, to improve the environment and provide food for impoverished people through the TreeAid project.
