Header photo: Rage by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida

Mads Bjerke is a photographer based in London, United Kingdom, who has shared many of his shoots with the PurplePort community. He's been interviewed for PurplePort before, appearing earlier this year in our SHARE A SHOOT series in 2024, which featured his fabulous studio shoot with model Geraint198. 

After sharing another shoot (this time with model Irida), Mads generously gave us his time for a quick interview to share how these fabulous images were created, the inspirations behind the shoot, how it was planned, the camera gear he used, and much more.

SHARE A SHOOT with Mads Bjerke

How did you come up with the concept? Did anything inspire you?

I have long been inspired by dark, mysterious, gothic images and have been collecting inspirations from Pinterest. Most of these images were AI-generated and really not possible to recreate in camera.

The idea was to capture some images in my studio and then add additional textures and artwork in Photoshop to take the images in new directions. 

With that concept in place, I reached out to Irida to see if she would be interested in working with me on this.

We have worked together twice before and I felt she would be perfect for the style and expression I was after. We also live close to each other, further simplifying the planning and logistics.

Rage by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: A one-off capture of Irida in full rage mode. I added the movement and blur in post and blended in some smoke and textures to create a sense of explosive anger. Irida was wearing a red lipstick during the shoot so I changed that to a darker purple/black in post.

What did you do to plan the shoot?

I had some idea of what I was after and sent Irida some images I had collected online to see if she could put together a styling that would fit. I requested a headpiece, something that could resemble a crown and some loose fabrics that we could use to drape around her.

As luck would have it, Irida had this amazing thorny crown made of twigs. Real wood with some seriously long spikes. It was like a crucifix. The main issue was that it was naturally very uncomfortable to wear with the spikes digging into her scalp. We had to work efficiently and take some breaks to give her a break from the pain.

I also purchased a small fan to get some movement in the hair and clothing.

Irida by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: Despite the plan to create heavily stylised images in Photoshop, I chose to keep some of the portraits fairly authentic. In this image, I changed the colour of the drape. Originally, it was purple, to better fit with the blue backdrop. The crown was painted in silver to add some separation from Irida's brown hair.

Irida by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: Irida is the master of sadness. Her posing always conveys emotion.

Irida by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: This was actually a test frame whilst I was setting up the lighting. With Irida, you need to be ready. She always delivers a great look, even when you are just messing around.

How did you arrange the shoot?

I reached out to Irida via PurplePort and, as always, she responded straight away. She had some availability, so we booked the shoot for a couple of days later. Enough time to get some ideas together and work out what to bring to the shoot.

I have a small studio space at my house where we shot the images. It isn't big, and there are some limitations to the type of posing we can achieve there. The ceiling height is only 200cm, so the models have to be seated for me to get the lights above them.

This presented a few problems for my chosen art direction, as I really wanted full-length images. That would have offered me more choice in post for creating the artwork, so I ended up having to go with a different look than I originally intended.

Irida by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: Sad Goth - I really like this image. There is a sadness and fragile feel to the expression. The dried weeds came from a skip, and Irida masterfully arranged them into a fabulous prop.

Gothic Queen by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: For this image, I wanted to simplify the colour pallet to make it almost monochromatic. I painted the hair and crown in a blue-silver pallet, removing the brown from the image. One of my favourites from the set.

What was it like shooting at that location?

Since this is my own home studio, it is very easy to get work done quickly. I have my lights set up and the camera tethered and ready to go.

As explained before, the available space is very limited. Around 10 sqm floor space and 2m ceiling height make for a tight squeeze. I would love more space.

Autumn by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: Autumn - Here I created an artwork in Photoshop that I felt embraced the feeling of late autumn. Irida's pose was one of longing and sadness and it felt somewhat fitting to this art direction.

Winter by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: Winter - similar to 'Autumn' in its pose and feel, so I went for a winter-themed image. Colour grade is cooler and the textures give a sense of winter.

Tell us about the gear you used.

I shoot with a Hasselblad X2D camera mostly. I love the files it delivers. High resolution (100mp) and a 3:4 aspect ratio medium format sensor. The colours I get from this camera, when processed through the Hasselblad Phocus software, are unique to Hasselblad. I love the skin tones it delivers. I may, of course, alter the colours quite a lot in post if I so desire, but it is great to have a solid starting point.

The second reason I use this camera system is the leaf shutter lenses. Hasselblad has always used leaf shutters, and this offers some unique advantages. I can sync my strobes at much faster speeds, up to 1/4000s. This allows me to be more creative with apertures and more freedom to set the desired exposure. Typically, I shoot around f/8 - 1/500s—ISO100.

The lens used was the Hasselblad XCD 65.

My lighting of choice is Elinchrom.

I have a total of seven heads and lots of modifiers that I can pick from. As my studio is so small, I need to maximise the available space. Elinchrom makes a great battery pack called the ELB-500. 500Ws of power that can be split between two heads. The heads are tiny, the size of a fist, and I can place these wherever I need without losing a lot of headroom.

For this shoot, I used four lights:

  • The key light was the ELB-500 with a 70cm beauty dish with grid
  • The edge lights (left and right) were ELC-125's with 35x100cm strip boxes and grids
  • The fill light was an ELB-500 with a 100cm octa

Image by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida: After completing the main set, I went through the countless great poses that Irida delivered. This one caught my eye. There is something a bit haunted about it. To augment the sense of unease, I used selective blurring in parts of the image to warp the depth of field. It may be hard to see in a smaller image, but when viewed in full size, it creates a kind of distortion.

What's your favourite image from the shoot?

It is hard to choose a favourite. Perhaps it is this one below. For this image, I wanted an ethereal look, a bit dreamy, as I felt it would work well with the pose.

There are many layers of blur and diffusion, selectively masked in, as well as textures. I wish it could be enlarged on PurplePort to see the finer details. The veil has these beautiful shiny specs that get lost when viewed at this size. I had to hand-paint them back through the blur masks.

Etherial by photographer Mads Bjerke with model Irida

Thank you, Mads Bjerke, for sharing your creativity, experience and images with us. We loved learning all about your photoshoot with model Irida!

We hope you all loved it, too. Don't forget to check out the links below to see more of Mads Bjerke's work!

Here's where you can find more of Mads Bjerke's work

PurplePort: Mads Bjerke

Website: www.madsbjerke.com

Instagram: madsbjerkephoto 

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