Mörk Collective
Photography and costume art

Blog

Why Mörk?

First blog post. I felt that the first one should be about the why of things. Why did we create Mörk?

I have worked as a photographer for 15 years. Photography is something that I love. The only thing that I have sticked to through out my life. My soul needs it. Its my channel to express my inner world. For 12 years I shot only client work to a point where I was really close to have a serious burn out. I felt like I was trapped. I loved my work, I loved photography but I wasn’t getting out of it the energy my soul craved, it just took energy. No balance. Because I was not creating, I was only doing my job. 

 

As a person, I am an introvert. Always struggled slightly with the feeling of being an outsider. Now a days I embrace that feeling. Its a part of me. I’m really shy and I live most of my days in my own little world. You could say I´m a dreamer ( but I’m not the only one. Sorry just had to do that). I am also very emotional though I hide my feelings from the outer world pretty well. Inside of me is a stormy sea most of times. I have never really had that many friends, just a few important humans in my life. I get a long by myself easily, I don’t feel lonely because my inner world is pretty exiting. To most people I might seem hard to get to know, a bit distant. 

 

I live in a small town. People knows who I am, because of my profession. I have photographed so many here. Portrait photography has developed me as a person, and helped me get the social skills I need to work as business owner. Photography has helped me to get out of my comfort zones multiple times during these years. Not easy at all times but I have made it work for me. I met Mirjam many years ago. We did a few work related shoots together. Nothing at that time unveiled that we would one day do more stuff together. I guess we were both too shy to figure out that we were actually very similar as persons at that point. I was amazed by her talent as a costume designer, even though she was just in the beginning of the process to become what she is today. A few years went by and  the day came when we did our first personal project together. It was a studio session. We had a model Joni and some headpieces and stuff that Mirjam had made. It was the first time I gave myself permission to do what the fuck I ever wanted, NO RULES. My mind was blown away after that session. When I edited the pictures I felt like someone else was taking over. I was in a weird flow that I had never experienced before. I even cried of joy after the pictures was done. Editing orgasm or something, I don´t know. After it all, I just knew me and Mirjam have to do more together, and we did. After each session we developed and became better. We had no clue what we where doing but the sense of purpose made us push forward. We had a longer period when we didn’t do anything creative together, both of us were in a creative crisis at the same time. Still the feeling of needing to do more stuff together was strongly present. And finally we found our way back to the rooth of being creative, together.

The beginning of Mörk. Even if we didn´t know it then. Model Joni makeup by Tiina Lamberg.

 

Project Aava in 2016 was THE project that clicked. The way we work together is beyond amazing. We have the same visual mind and the way we work on set is rare. We don’t really need words to plan or execute a shoot. We just do our own thing and it works together seamlessly. If an outsider would be on set while we shoot or build our setups, they would probably think we are super pissed off at each other, since we don´t really talk, we just create in silence.  I have found my partner in crime. A similar mind. A super talented human. A friend. And hell yes, we live in the same town! We have the same sense of melancholia, darkness and sadness in our soul. After Aava, my mind started to develop Ideas of how we could make usage of our unique symbiosis. It would just simply be stupid to throw away what we have. Same kind of personalities living in the same small town having similar backgrounds and a similar visual mind, super intorverts and loners. Like the universe is trying to point out something.

Project Aava. The moment it clicked. Model Nina Töyräs makeup by Tiina Lamberg

Project Aava. The moment it clicked. Model Nina Töyräs makeup by Tiina Lamberg

In the winter of 2016, Mörk collective was said out loud. We made plans that never went any further ( thank the universe for that) We had a Facebook page and Insta account. None of them had any content at that point. We continued to do our projects and Mörk was in the background brewing. We didn’t really mention it again, until 2018. Suddenly it all made sense, and without any struggles or bigger efforts we just made it happen. Mirjam had costumes ready to be shot, and we had ideas of concepts ready to be created. I guess we were not ready yet back in 2016, it needed some time to develop in the background. The time is now. We have many great projects a head. We are both so exited about the future of Mörk. Our odd little baby. What will it look like when its bigger? 

 

Now I feel like I have found the purpose of my life, at least for some time to come. I have no crystal ball, who knows what the future brings. I just feel like if we keep on doing what we do anything is possible. 

 

 

MÖRK = DARK

 

-Mikaela