CVLT Nation Exclusive
Interview with Veleda Thorsson

Interview by Holy Mountain, photos by Veleda Thorsson

I love art of any medium that can transport me outside of my current earthly residence. Veleda Thorsson is a photographer currently working in the pacific northwest who armed with a camera, the world around her and a keen eye is creating other worlds and new realms from what mostly goes unnoticed. My first experience with her work was the beautifully rendered cover of Agalloch’s “Marrow of the Spirit”. Her photograph perfectly accentuated the music bringing to life a visual representation of what Agalloch brought forth sonically. Here is a short interview I had the pleasure of conducting with Veleda about her work, inspiration and ethics.

How long have you been and what inspired you to become a photographer?

My passion for photography actually grew out of my obsessive storm chasing when I lived in Phoenix, AZ back around 1997. I loathed living in the desert and would find comfort in tracking the massive thunderstorms as they would roll into the region. Once I would find a strong enough storm, either by watching the news or the internet, I would race far out into the desert to get ahead of it so that I could experience the beauty and power as the storm as it traveled over me. I started taking an old Canon A1 film camera with me and soon was hooked on photographing not only the storms but also the rare beauty of the desert when it is cast in the unusual lighting of an oncoming thunderstorm.

FULL INTERVIEW AFTER THE JUMP…

Do you shoot digital or on film? If you have shot both ways what do you like and dislike about each medium?

I shot with film until around 2002. I switched to digital purely because it was a more economical approach and allowed me to do a lot more of the experimental types of photography that I enjoy. To this day I still miss the overall look of film and hope to be able to incorporate it back into my shooting once I am able to set up a darkroom again. Digital is a nice medium as well though as it allows me to take far more photos than I could have with film.

Your bio states that you use natural effects and techniques that could be done easily in a dark room with film. What are some ways that you manipulate your work without relying heavily on Photoshop?

The largest manipulation that I use photoshop for would be turning color images into black and white. Of course this would be a film choice, not something done it the darkroom. Other than that I will use photoshop for simple dodging and burning as well as exposure manipulations that are similar to push processing. The passion for photography for me lies in finding situations where the normal way of viewing things is disrupted. Photographing reflections, weather they are in dirty glass or shallow water, can create unusual otherwordly images that often have the look of a manipulated photo but allows me to be creative at the time of taking the photo.

When you are shooting do you see as you are working how you will manipulate the photo or is that something that becomes apparent after the fact when you are reviewing what you shot that day?

I absolutely see the desired image as I am shooting it. I will keep certain things in mind, such as the lighting, but am in no way thinking about how I will manipulate it later. For me, it is all about capturing the details that people normally are too busy to notice. I want to draw attention to these amazing settings that are right there in front of people if they were to just take the time to stop and look at it from a different angel. People seem to glaze over things and only see the overall picture when the true beauty is almost always found in the details.

Nature seems to be a huge fascination for you. What is it about natural settings that inspires you so much? What other subjects inspire you to pick up your camera?

Nature has always been a refuge for me. I grew up in a very secluded area in the pine forests outside of Prescott, Arizona and spent all of my time as a child and into my teens out alone in nature. There were no other children in the area and very few houses so I developed a deep love for the quiet and solitude that it provided. I am the type of person who can become quite enthralled with the textures of plants, trees and rocks as well as the way the lighting is playing in the air, catching glimmers of spiderwebs or dust. I love being able to capture a mood in a photograph so that you are not only seeing a place, but hopefully feeling it as well. Aside from photographing the beauty of nature, I have a true passion for decay and photographing the elements as they devour and reclaim both fragments of mankind as well as life itself. Abandoned crumbling buildings and both animal and human remains are things that I always seek out to photograph. I could spend hours photographing inside ossuaries and have been fortunate enough to have two separate photo sessions at the Sedlec Ossuary, or “bone church’ in the Czech Republic. Although this place has been photographed numerous times I noticed that all of the images usually depicted the same things over and over. Not often did you see photos of the broken crushed skulls, the beautiful ornate woodwork as it was being ripped apart under the weight of the bones, or the skulls that had fallen from the piles and now lay forgotten on the floor almost out of view. These are the details that I find so fascinating and try to capture so that others will hopefully learn to take more time to truly “look” at things, not just skim over the top of places.

My first encounter with your work was with an image you created used in the “Marrow of the Spirit” release. How did you become involved with creating images for Agalloch and what has your experience working with them been?

I first met John Haughm in 2001. I was a fan of Agalloch and it turned out he was a fan of my photography. Upon moving to Portland in 2003 I was asked to contribute some of my photos to their special edition wooden box set of the Pale Folklore LP which I was of course honored as this was the album that had made me fall in love with the band. John and I have extremely similar tastes in aesthetics and imagery so it was not long before he asked me to take over as the photographer for the band. Previously he had been doing most of the photography and this provided him the time to concentrate more on not only the music, but the layout and graphic design of their releases. Working with them has been fantastic as I am free to use my creativity and artistic eye for things and John knows that he can trust that I will capture the essence he is striving for.

If someone wanted to check out more of your work what would be the best way for them to familiarize themselves with you as an artist? (you should plug your book)

I have prints of much of my photography available through my website VeledaThorssonPhotography.com. I also have a few copies of my first book, ‘Fragments and the Decline’ Vol I ‘The Sedlec Ossuary’ available and hope to put the finishing touches on a couple additional photography books later this year. I will also be offering prints for sale at all of the Agalloch shows on their upcoming US tour.