Next up in our Behind the Lens series, we’re super excited to introduce you to another one of our supremely talented Creative Team members, Nina Jensen. Nina lives in Copenhagen, Denmark and is our expert on capturing everyday life. Read on to see her gorgeous photography!

What inspired you to pick up your first camera?

My first photos date back to late 70’s, when I was 9 years old. The film of my parents Agfamatic camera was filled with tiny tails, snouts, and clover flowers – Our labrador retriever got six puppies that summer, and I wanted to capture them playing outside on the grass.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and you as a photographer.

I started to photograph for real sometime after I moved to Denmark. I wanted to convey the local life here, the moods, and glimpses of my everyday life, to my family and friends back in Finland. The mismatch between how I wanted my photos to look and the actual state of the images in my camera motivated me to invest both my time and energy into diving deeper into photography.

Lately, I have been diving into the world of  the emerging genre of iPhoneography. Creating painterly photos with different layers and photo applications, has my special interest.

Tell us a little about the subjects you love to photograph and your style as a photographer.

Spending my childhood building huts and bark boats in the forests with my brother cannot go unnoticed. My love for nature is seen in my photos. Nature Photography is something I want to keep improving on in the future.

At the moment I am inspired by an unhurried life. I chose unhurried as my word for 2014. I wish to notice and capture the peaceful, still moments in my daily life, appreciating the small things, that might otherwise go unnoticed. This has awakened my interest for Still Life Photography. Telling a story with one photo fascinates me – building a scene, focusing on the compositional elements and light. I tend to picture things from different perspectives and angles, working with natural light, whenever possible.

Aside from photography, what is a favorite hobby or pastime of yours?

Swimming 20-30 lanes usually marks the start of a my weekend. During the week I enjoy small walks by the nearby lakes. It’s a natural way of emptying my mind after work. Besides that, I find forming dough to rolls and bread so relaxing… my family doesn’t mind eating whatever comes out of the oven! In the wintertime I like to crawl onto the sofa with my knitting or a book.

What do you do to learn and grow as a photographer?

The community of photographers I have found through my photography blog is an important source of inspiration for me. Joining photography courses and different photography challenges provides a platform and fellowship for my growth and development as a photographer. It is enriching to see different interpretations of a given theme, and the feedback and tips from fellow photographers is surely motivating.

Love That Shot taught me how to photograph in manual mode, and I learned to enhance my photos with texture layers in Kim Klassen’s Photoshop Test Kitchen – Cooking Up Fabulous Photos.

Out of all the locations you’ve photographed, is there one that stands out as being your favorite?

My favorite locations for nature photography are the nearby lakes and a forest a bit further away. I love to witness the changes in seasons – the fields turning from green to yellow, and then brown, before they are clothed in frost and snow.

I also like to photograph the old buildings and street views in Copenhagen. The light is very special in wintertime around the city lakes, creating a pale and airy feeling to the photos.

Is there a photo/photo shoot that stands out as being your favorite?

I enjoyed greatly the theme Great Dutch Master Painters in Frugal Still Life Photography-course. I had still some of the gorgeous images on my mind from the Flower and World Views-exhibition in the Danish National Gallery, I visited with my husband last fall. Among the works were some spectacular Still Life paintings from the Dutch Golden Age.

I had no fresh flowers, but I used some other items I spotted, as props for this prompt.

    • The fruit vase is from my husbands grandmother.
    • The tin can is from my grandmother and grandfather. Right after my grandfather came home from the Winter War in 1940, he got married with my grandmom – and they received this tin vase as a wedding present. A year after the wedding, my uncle, the big brother to my mom, was born.
    • The book is from my grandmother… It is a Finnish translation of Elizabeth Goudge’s Green Dolphin Country.
    • We got the antique pocket watch as a wedding present from my godparents.
    • To create a light spot, I placed 3 candles to a Fair Play-cup, our younger son received two years ago.

Experimenting with metering modes and adjusting the available light was challenging. To start with, I realized that I had to set 3 layers of sheets in front of the window in order to block the daylight coming in. I then changed the metering mode from matrix metering to center weighted metering, and finally to spot metering. Spot metering gave the best results, so I decided to stick with it.

I’ve enjoyed greatly trying to create Still Life Photography in style with the Great Dutch Masters. Cherishing the frugal principles – using items from my home – has brought me down the memory lane. Going through the moments with the loved ones that are no longer among us.

Thank you so much, Nina, for giving us a little glimpse into your life as a photographer! Be sure to visit Nina’s blog and Facebook page for more awesome photography and let her know we sent you!