Words by Megan Searle
Fusing the carefully choreographed with the instancy of snapshots.
Newquay-based Norwegian photographer, Ingrid Pop has been shooting acclaimed musicians for over a decade, travelling the world working for Norway’s most influential news and culture magazines. Her personal work has been exhibited in Oslo, Berlin and New York. Whether she’s working as a photojournalist, on commercial assignments or art projects, Ingrid combines documentary and the poetic in her depiction.
“I was studying art history at the University in Oslo and I missed the creative side of things. A friend lent me a camera, and I was fascinated by the way I could communicate with the outside world, as well as the encounter between the controlled and the unpredictable,” says Ingrid. She started photographing her musician friends, doing their press shots and record sleeves: “I love the process of trying to translate a band’s sound into something visual and the challenge of capturing the dynamics between the individuals into a mission statement.”
Moving to Berlin in her mid-twenties was a milestone, Ingrid expands: “I was surrounded by so much history, culture, artists, and a new sense of freedom. The low living costs gave me the opportunity to solely focus on photography.” In latter years, her focus has changed to photojournalism. In 2015 she teamed up with a journalist, working together from the American West Coast for the cultural weekend magazine of the Financial Times in Norway.
“It was an erratic and restless time, living out of a suitcase for three years, but I fell in love with the desert, its rock formations and plant life – the places and people we got to see and meet along the way were pretty incredible.”
“Due to the birth of my son followed by the pandemic, I haven’t been able to go back to work as I know it. Things have certainly changed, but I’m working on my first photo book at the moment, and together with my friend Lucy Ward we are planning some exciting things for our new venture Alma Artspace in 2022.
Ingrid’s work has been featured in The New Yorker, D2 Magazine of Financial Times Norway, Vice Magazine, Porter Magazine and her book with writer Alisa Larsen about the London food and drink scene has recently published in Scandinavia – hopefully to be released in the UK soon.
