ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Biotope

It is the little things that distinguish us as tribes or communities. It is by creating the setting for our lives, establishing traditions, following them, that sets us apart from other groups.

Every year people gather close to the city of Roskilde, for Roskilde Festival, the largest culture and music festival in Northern Europe.

Roskilde Festival is an ocean of music and creative outlets, but even before the official opening of the festival grounds, there is a buildup for a week in the camping grounds. Here, people start to pour in, have art shows, mini concerts, film showings as well as creating their own Roskilde camp. To many, the camping grounds are the venue of a large part of the combined Roskilde experience. Many have rules for setting up the tents and creating creative camp spaces. Many live with the same group of friends for years. To these groups, each of their ways of doing camp life takes on a life of its own. It becomes a specific way of life with rites and traditions, specific ways of doing things. Of living.

Since I first went to Roskilde, I have been amazed by the many different ways of doing Roskilde that I came across. So I went back with my camera, for a camp life expedition, taking me through a vast variety of ways of life. So here they are, The Biotopes.

AUTHOR


In place of the traditional word "portrait" to describe his black & white photographs of anonymous strangers, Jens Juul prefers to attach the word “portrayal.”

From a semantics perspective it may seem a subtle nuance, but in truth, Juul’s photography is a collective visual statement "portraying" the human condition intertwined at its most vulnerable points of truth. Blunt, almost savage, in their revelations and vulnerability, Juul’s images blur the lines between documentary, environmental portraiture, and fine art references.

Trained as a painter at Billedskolen in Copenhagen and New York Arts Students League, as well as being trained as portrait painter by the Spanish artist Artero Wiismundo, Juul transitioned from painting to pursue formal photographic training at Copenhagen’s Technical College where he graduated from in 2012. Due to this education he acquired a range of technical skills, that are important when you work with a camera and all the related equipment modern photography offers. But he realized it was going to take a different set of skills if he was to accomplish portraying.

“Making a good portrait is not about having the right equipment; it’s about having the right attitude. It’s 98% psychology and 2% artistic skills. What makes me able to take the pictures that I do is not so much the equipment I bring, but my ability – and desire! – to speak, ask questions, and do a lot of listening.”

back to gallery