Filip Fredrik Haglund

TIFA 2023 Interview with Filip Fredrik Haglund
1st Place winner in Advertising, Professional, “I Am Here”

Q: Can you briefly tell us about your background and what inspired you to pursue photography?

My background is in the visual arts, where I moved from making sculptures to performance, and then from performance to video and photography, eventually making the permanent move to be behind the camera rather than in front of it.

Q: What drove you to submit your work to the TIFA competition and your thoughts on how winning this competition impacted your artistic journey?

I have seen other photographers that I’ve admired win awards at TIFA and it was really the reputation and quality of their work that drew me to apply for the TIFA awards.

Q: Could you describe any challenges you faced while capturing this moment (winning image/s)?

Well you always start off with an idea, and through the collaborative processes, you always tend to end up somewhere that you initially didn’t think of. And that’s really the beauty of photography, it is always a work in progress, the work always keeps developing because no day is ever the same.

Q: What, in your opinion, are the most important factors in creating great images?

It is very much a collaborative process. Many people might see the photographer’s practice as being a very individual solo practice, but it is really a collaboration between the people in front of the camera as well as the entire crew behind the camera.

Q: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of photography?

What’s both fun and challenging in photography is how you can create a narrative, movement and a sense of time in a still medium.

Q: What motivates and drives your photography?

I think that a common thread throughout my practice is identity and power-relations. It is all about finding the inner dialogue, setting up contrasting elements to create tension and narratives, and finding the inner beauty in situations.

Q: What’s next for you in your career as a photographer?

Keep experimenting, keep getting uncomfortable so that I can push myself to create new things.