Cover and 8 pages in Italian magazine Overture no 3 2025

WHERE PHOTOGRAPHY BECOMES PAINTING AND THE SOUL BECOMES LANDSCAPE

BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW, NORDIC SILENCE AND INNER DEPTHS, WHERE EVERY IMAGE BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN REALITY AND DREAM.
A PHOTOGRAPHIC ART THAT INTERPRETS NATURE WITH THE SENSITIVITY OF AN ARTIST AND THE STRENGTH OF ONE WHO CAN TRANSFORM
EMOTION—REVEALING THE HIDDEN BEAUTY OF UNEASE AND THE POETRY OF MYSTERY.

Since 2009, Mats Andersson has published over a dozen books and won numerous awards. We talked to Mats and asked him to share his story on how he came into the world of photography, how he arrived at his unique style, and what it takes to find your creative voice. At first glance, it’s hard to tell whether a Mats Andersson print is a painting or photograph. Blending the abstract with the surreal, his landscape imagery can simultaneously evoke feelings of unease, tranquillity and the forbidden. A dark, gritty, analogue look with deep blacks, a rich grain structure and often plenty of motion, which contributes to his painterly style, makes his style instantly recognisable. It’s a combination that has seen him win countless wildlife photography awards, selling his images all over the world, while his 13 published books speak to an enviable work ethic.

– I am inspired by photographers who make everything but traditional nature photography. Instead, I turn to art photographers such as Michael Ackerman, Sally Mann, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Anders Petersen and others; photographers who work in a completely different genre.
Mats also finds a lot of inspiration from other art forms such as painting. Munch, Picasso, Chagall and Matisse are some of his favourites.

Each year, Mats give an exclusive workshop, preferably in Iceland, Shetland or The Outer Hebrides. For smaller groups, this concept is a valuable way of taking part of Mats knowledge and his way of working with his images.
–  I always share my sources of inspiration and show the participants the kind of photography I am inspired by. I also make a strong point about what I consider to be a good photograph, and that is the ones that pose questions. I am not interested in technique, and talk very little about it. The most important to me is the impact the image has. Do I instantly know what it is about, or does it make room for the mind to wonder about what I am looking at? The most intriguing images are the ones I can look at again and again and still discover new elements.

> Read the complete article here.