Back in New York. Third time this year. In March it snowed. In May it was sunny but cool. Now, in September, it’s hot and sticky. Tropical, almost.

Thoroughly enjoyed an early morning film session along the Highline yesterday. And in the afternoon, I spent a few hours on Roosevelt Island. It seems as if I can’t get enough of that tram ride.

The Bengtsson Sisters invited me to a picnic later in the afternoon at lush Riverside Park where I met a bunch of friendly folk. Days like these are always long. But nowhere do I feel so creatively infused and cerebrally inspired. It must be all the interesting, high energy, individuals.

Tomorrow, I’ll be working at Sweden’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Never a dull moment in this town!

So today we celebrated the beautiful sculpture that evolved into an amazing skyscraper; Turning Torso. Delicious birthday cake, a great jazzband, a few speeches and ten daredevil base jumpers that descended from the roof, helped wow about 250 guests during the party.

Completed ten years ago today, the festivities, held right outside the Turning Torso’s main entrance, also celebrated the courage that HSB (the premiere cooperative housing association in Sweden) showed when they commissioned the Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, to design it and then have the boldness to actually finance building it.

In late spring, I was assigned by HSB to produce a coffee table book about Turning Torso. The book, simply/aptly titled, “Turning Torso”, was unveiled today and contains, aside from exterior and interior images, several interviews and “home visits” with some of Turning Torso’s residential and commercial tenants.

The spanking new book is available at Galleri Västra Hamnen in the Turning Torso Gallery, right next to Turning Torso itself.

I was way too young or ignorant to appreciate Elvis Presley while he lived. But I distinctly remember one of his devotees – a classmate (from Tennessee or Alabama) at Bancroft Junior High that had long, black sideburns, wore gem studded shirts with giant lapels and spoke with quite the twangy tongue.

When Elvis passed, I had already moved to Sweden and the distance likely made for a less dramatic impact than if I had still been living in L.A.

Aside from a few visits to Vegas, the closest I’ve ever been to “The King” was as recent as yesterday while filming two commercials for a client, the electric scooter company, Eloped. For one of the shoots, we hired an extraordinary fellow that brings Elvis back to life.

Swedish artist Kenneth “Ken Wegas” Wahlberg has nailed the mature and robust version of Elvis perfectly. He’s taller, fitter and fortunately, nowhere near as bloated as Elvis was during his final years.

Now, I won’t go as far as to say the resemblance between the two was eerily striking. But the similarities in charisma, coupled with the jet-black hair, thick sideburns, ever-so glittering jump suit (tailor-made according to Elvis’ own design) compensated far and beyond for all physical differences.

Before filming, Ken and I hit the studio for a superfast session – as seen above. He’ll also be showing up in at least two commercials that I’m producing within the next two weeks and come December, Mr Wahlberg is staring in a Christmas Show at Clarion Malmö Live here in Malmö. Info about Ken Wegas can be enjoyed here.

Basically, there are three main genres of photography: EDITORIAL (telling a story as objectively as possible = minimum of post production/enhancements), COMMERCIAL (suggesting a mood, selling a product or a service = lots of post production/alterations and enhancements) and FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY (more or less anything goes).

My work takes me – not entirely unlike a creative nomad – between all of the above. My FINE ART work is becoming increasingly important to me. But measured in time, I often have to sacrifice my personal projects for the commercial (bread winning) work. Which is okay. For now.

However, I am aiming to spend more time with projects that offer more creative longevity and longer-lasting fulfilment. And I’m pretty sure this is a natural progression for most creative folk.

First off, you’re just so friggin’ excited and curious – almost childishly enthused about all the genres, sub-genres and any creative challenge that gets thrown your way. Obviously, this provides a ton of experience, but can also wear you down – both physically and creatively.

I’ll likely never be a war photographer, work in pornography or venture into the depths of oceanic photography. But I do hope to eventually find time to focus more on less. To spend weeks or maybe even months on a single project – or, why not a single image!

As part of a creative exercise, I had the opportunity to photograph one of Sweden’s best Triathlon athletes, Anna Eriksmo a few weeks ago. We really took our time during the shoot, finding the right light, the right angle and the best lens and so forth.  I’ve since then gone slow whilst testing different approaches how to visualize the results of the project. The above image, ANNA E TAPESTRY,  is just one of several that will eventually find its way into the gallery.

It’s been said about me that I’m extremely competitive. I can see how friends would think that. However, I think they’re confusing my competitive nature with my obsession to achieve my goals – regardless of who’s on the playing field.

Fact is, I don’t really like to compete with others. Partly because I really, really hate losing. And partly because I have a hard time focusing on my objectives if I also have to consider that other folks are simultaneously trying to reach those very same goals. Truth be told, I’m way too busy competing with myself to have to play the psych-war that inevitably takes place during almost every kind of contest.

Having said that, I still signed up for the annual Malmö Midnight Run on August 15th. For no other reason (consciously, anyway) than to compete with myself – and keep Charlotte company during the 10k jog around Malmö.