Ole Marius Joergensen

Vignettes of a Salesman

A figure of the past, the door-to-door salesman is the revived centerpiece of Ole Marius Joergensen’s series Vignettes of a Salesman. With a love for the world of cinema, Ole uses vivid cinematic lighting to tell the story of the wandering salesman, who finds himself in quiet Norwegian landscapes and empty rooms, seemingly the last of his kind. Using the Hasselblad H3D, Ole stages these stunning scenes as an ode to 1950s Scandinavia, infused with nostalgia for simpler times and mystery around the faceless salesman.

THE SALESMAN

Vignettes of a Salesman follows a lonely figure who doesn’t seem to have a place in the world anymore with the replacement of salesmen by technology. Stuck in modern times, he is unable to adapt, and instead, roams the countryside and jumps from hotel room to hotel room. Never revealing his face to the viewer, we never truly get to know the mysterious man. With this series, Ole references his love for the past – the “simpler times” of the 1950s and 60s, well before the digital era and all the ways it has impacted society.

ROAMING THE NORWEGIAN COUNTRYSIDE

Shooting the entire series in Norway, Ole uses the breathtaking beauty of his Scandinavian surroundings to frame the salesman and his journey that has no end. “I like the idea of using what’s around you and not to travel around the world to find the perfect places. I shot on these locations partially because they represent the vanishing past that is still present but will soon be gone, but also because of my love for old, perhaps forgotten, places,” says Ole.

SHOOTING WITH THE H3D

With a desire to produce high quality prints, Ole made the switch from his previous full frame camera to the Hasselblad H3D in 2011. Shooting Vignettes of a Salesman with his H3D, he tried to do as much as possible “in camera,” dragging himself, his model, and all necessary equipment to each and every location, no matter how cold outside. “I can’t stand the idea of creating an image just by sitting in front of a computer. I need to feel the ups and downs of being outside, including those moments when everything stops working and the battery dies,” says Ole.

ABOUT OLE MARIUS JOERGENSEN

Dazzled by the magic of movies, Norwegian photographer Ole Marius Joergensen began his career as a film student before shortly realising photography was more his medium. Bringing together cinematic lighting techniques with inspiration from artist Edward Hopper and directors Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch, Ole tells his own unique narratives that are steeped in mystery. See more of his style here.