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Arild Heitmann
Arild Heitmann is a full time landscape photographer focusing on the simplicity found within the arctic regions.
It might be easy to assume that, as a landscape photographer, I draw most of my inspiration from others within the same genre. But that couldn't be further from the truth. I find myself far more inspired by work that lies outside the traditional boundaries of landscape photography—by photographers who create in ways I don’t personally master. It could be street photographers capturing the intensity and chaos of urban life, or artists working with abstract expressions that move me in ways I can’t quite explain—work I deeply admire, but know I don’t have the skills or mindset to replicate.
Kjetil Karlsen is one of those photographers I return to time and time again. His work is instantly recognizable and unmistakably his own. It’s not traditional landscape photography, nor is it easy to categorize at all. There’s something elusive about it. And yet, I connect with it on a very personal level—perhaps because he comes from the same remote region in the far north as I do. A place where childhood was steeped in stories of the supernatural—tales of strange creatures that fired up our imaginations and filled us with both fear and fascination. Karlsen’s work stirs the same emotions in me now. His photographs spark the imagination, and I love when an image can do that.
Some of his images feel like they could be pulled straight from a horror film. Figures—more creature than human—often appear blurred, lurking on the edge of visibility, usually within Arctic landscapes that feel deeply familiar to me: the mountains, the fjords, the coastline, and especially the dark, enigmatic forests. If I had to label his work, I would call it hauntingly mysterious.