Bjorn has been photographing since he was eight years old and was among the last generation to still be shooting film and slides before making the full transition to digital in the early-mid 2000s.
Bjorn spent 7 years working for international photography magazine Leica Fotografie International (LFI) who endorsed him as a travel photographer and writer working from Asia, the Middle East and Europe. His photo blog www.bjorntoday.com was featured on Leica’s official website. Bjorn has had numerous publications in LFI, culminating in a feature story and cover photo in LFI 2/2009. His photographs were selected as photo of the day on LFI website; four of his photographs won a Daily Deviation Award on the Deviantart online art network which has more than 9 million registered members.
Bjorn was exclusive photographer at the infamous Wacken heavy metal festival in northern Germany where he photographed the “metal heads” attending the festival in a controlled tent studio. This work was published in Designer’s Digest Magazine.
Also Bjorn was assistant photographer to Aryono Huboyo Djati (djati.deviantart.com/) at the 2012 Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he came close to musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock and Bobby McFerrin.
Today, Bjorn lives in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. As a partner in a film company, Bjorn has worked on numerous film projects with United Nations and the BBC, which have led him and his team to some of the least accessible regions in the heart of Borneo and other places in Indonesia. He uses the opportunities granted to him through his film work to continue to document his experience through his original passion, photography.
He enjoys privileged access to the world’s largest orangutan rehabilitation center run by Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), which in 2013 together with BOSF Germany resulted in a joint photographic exhibition of orangutan photographs in a prime location at the world’s largest environmental photo festival in Zingst, northern Germany. These large photographs went on a travelling exhibition to the Rostock Zoo in Germany.
Bjorn is passionate about the subject of development and conservation, which he continues to explore through his work as a filmmaker and photographer today.
Milestones
2014
Orangutan photo story in Leica Fotografie International (publishing date May 2014)
2013
2012
Exclusive-access photographer alongside "Djati" (please see his deviantart account) at Java Jazz festival in Jakarta, Indonesia
2003-2010
Leica Fotografie International (LFI), in-house copy editor and travel photographer
Features:
• Leica Camera Technology Morocco 2004 and Southeast Asia 2007
• Full feature photographic cover story on Hamburg Hip-Hop culture (LFI02/2009).
• ongoing blog www.bjorntoday.com
2006-2010
VICTOR by Hasselblad in-house copy editor
2008