a summer in Jämtland

Behind the curtain #4: conversation with Elisabeth Dunker, Swedish designer and photographer.
When I started this blog, I didn't know that I would meet so many talented, nice people from all around the world on the blogosphere.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Elisabeth Dunker, the Swedish designer and photographer from finelittleday, a blog about art, design and photography.
I wanted to interview Elisabeth when I heard that she had just completed a project for a Swedish children's magazine, Petit.

Elisabeth is a mother of 2 and you can easily tell from reading her blog that her children are a source of inspiration for her. The photographs she takes of them are always snapshots-of-the-moment. When shooting kids, she is motivated by a desire to "capture the real, true expressions of youth and likes the challenge of never being able to predict the result. She finds it "difficult and fun at the same time."

For Petit, she handled both the styling and photography of the "Vintage for kids" fashion serie. Why Vintage? because she wanted to "encourage and inspire people to wear vintage clothes more often", as she believes that "it is the ultimate in self-expression as well as a good way to recycle and protect the environement".

Elisabeth goes where her inspiration takes her and makes all forms of art blend together. She's already working on a new project for a kids/parents magazine, combining illustration and photography.
Who knows, she might come up with the idea of writing kids' stories one day. She has already told me one about one moment of her childhood that she'll never forget.
Here it is:
"A summer in Jämtland in the north part of Sweden. The stunning nature, wild woods and the big sea. There were bears and those big dangerous cats in the woods, Lo (thanks heaven we never met one). Leechs and monsters (Sjöodjuret) in the water and an angry man in a ramshackle building. I can still feel the exciting feeling of running through the high grass on a warm sunny day, with my sisters and good friends. It was an adventure from beginning to end."

photograph by Elisabeth Dunker, for Petit.
I particularly like the fact that it uses a great dose of imagination, just how the kids would do it themselves - a shoe for the flag, a wooden stick for the spyglass, a box for the ship.