Blog - We Live Young: Bali Magic

The following is an entry on Nirrimi's blog, 1 Dec 2009. View the original here. View photographs here.

"bali magic

i'm not perfect at this blogging thing! we've been in bali for a week now. it's been sun and cocktails and streetmarkets and satay and hotelpools and beaches and magic mushrooms and golden skin and indonesian children and love. it's absolutely delicious.

i have to admit, i haven't really felt like a photographer for a very long while now. but today i did.

we went to sanur for photowork and wandered afterward. along this long stretch of shore the sun was low and there were hundreds of people swimming in the sea. children necks-deep and guffawing, splashing the warm ocean, breathing and being life. i haven't been taking my camera with me, but i had it, and so i took photos (and matt with his film camera). it'd be nice to be a documentary photographer. you would meet people who really live. you'd see instead of think, and not have to pretend anything. i think that is something i've soaked in from matt, he inspires me so much. he has been so good to me this trip, i want to go everywhere with him.

we're staying in kuta. of course, we're not much of party animals. if we're any kind of animal we're probably sloths, or sleepy moths that flutter and flitter then hide. but we've been trying cocktails and our decided favourite is bailey's comet. matt's always drinking bintang though. and oh, there was our interesting night when we decided to try the magic mushroom drink not actually believing there would be any of that in there. surprise, surprise- there was.

it was our first high. we were giggling to begin with. about everything. we felt light-limbed and warm and bliss. matt began writing and i opened my journal and wrote one sentence poetry and drew all over the pages. there was music and i was drawing to the music. faces and long bodies and patterns. we turned off the light and (naturally being photographers) we thought it looked like film grain/noise, everywhere. our pupils were swollen and i related it to aperture, which explained why everything seemed more real, because our depth of field is smaller. but i could be wrong. we swam in the hotel pool and we realised how shut off we are usually, the walls that people put up around themselves. we were world-watching. we were seeing in photographs. we lay on our beds with our eyes closed and we imagined we were in a house, floating on a big lake, animals all around outside. the room rocked gently and we fell asleep.

it was quite beautiful. but everything here is. even if it isn't immediately apparent.

some pictures from our seaside afternoon:"

ninemsn SOYA article

(Nirrimi)

"When Nirrimi Hakanson dropped out of high school, everyone told her it was a big mistake.

On Wednesday night she got the last laugh.

The 17-year-old is on her way to being a famous and successful photographer after winning $5,000 cash and $5,000 in flights from the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA) to help her pursue her dreams."

Read the rest of the article here.

Indesignlive.com SOYA winners

Nirrimi (bottom row, right)

"Nirrimi Hakanson, arguably the world’s most talented 17-year-old, was recognised for her inspiring fashion photography"

Read the rest of the article here. Congrats, Nirrimi!

Nirrimi Tweets!

nirrimi: just read 'of a boy' by sonya hartnett. killer ending.

Spilled Milk

Here is a brief article about Nirrimi in Spilled Milk magazine! (Click on the image for a link to article.)

Matt Tweets!

Matt Caplin, Nirrimi's boyfriend, tweets to fans about their joint photography, n+m:

nirrimi and i won't ever break up, but if anything ever happens, there will still always be n + m :)

Nirrimi Featured as SOYA Shortlister!

Nirrimi is featured on Brisbane Creative Industries blog with a little blurb she wrote about herself. How could you not choose her with such a firey bio!

Nirrimi Hakanson - Townsville, Qld

“Maybe I am just a sixteen year old with exceptional eyes and fingers. I’ve wanted to be a fashion photographer since the beginning of high school, and it’s something that has gradually became thought and breath. Inspired by dreams, youth and colour, I’m not letting my view of the world go unnoticed. I want to be shooting for the likes of Vogue and Oyster before I am legally an adult, just to prove that with ambition and passion, age is irrelevant. I am here to create. I feel like I am still a child, and I want to make my imagination come to life through fashion photography. My photography work is very affected by my curiosity and the stage of life I am going through. I pour myself into my images. I’d like to think I’m fresh and completely what this industry needs.”

Interview! with plus61blog

Here is an interview Nirrimi did with plus61blog! Check out the link for the full format, including pictures.

Nirrimi Hakanson is the most richly talented young photographer we’ve seen so far. At 16-years of age she’s already dishing out serious competition to the older guard when it comes to shooting outside of a commercial brief. The fact that she has honed her skills in Townsville QLD (1300km from Brisbane) makes her photography all the more remarkable. Nirrimi’s artistic development is also an interesting case-study in the role of the internet in today’s dissemination and critique of photography. Her deviantart gallery has had over one million page views, spawning over 2000 comments. That’s some serious critical feedback.
Nirrimi recently made the move to Melbourne with her photographic and romantic partner in crime, Matt Caplin. We wish them both the best of luck.

How do Matt and yourself work as a photographic team?
It’s interesting. Some of the time I’m shooting and Matt is at my ear, watching over my shoulder and whispering ideas and direction to me. The other times I am. Most of the time we are both shooting, and while one catches all the posed planned shots, the other captures the spontaneous, real moments. Behind scenes I do most of the retouching and he does colour.

How has living in Townsville influenced your work?
Having no choice but to scout out models myself (from streets, schools, shopping centres) I’ve developed a taste in the kind of model I like photographing. Young girls, 12 maybe 13, doe-eyed with thin arms, an awkwardness about them, a realness. In discovering these quiet beauties, I decided for my personal work I will almost always use girls I’ve found myself.

5 years ago, a young photographer in a regional center would have had a hard time getting their work out to the wider world – what role has the internet, especially something like flickr, had in shaping and promoting your photography?
An incredible amount of support has come from the internet. Sometimes I can’t even believe how much. In the beginning I wasn’t shooting for myself, I was shooting for them. I was shooting what I thought they’d like. And they did, but it wasn’t completely me. I started talking to Matt when I was fourteen. He inspired me to be myself without having to try. He was my idol back then rather than my partner. I’ve grown so much since. The internet has made me, like it has made so many others. I am so thankful.

You are making your move on Melbourne. Why Melbourne?
Melbourne is a stepping stone. But I also love it. In comparison to where I am now, it’s New York.

Who most inspires your vision of beauty?
These two, young, arm-linked twins I watched pass me in the food court yesterday. Hair curly and cut bluntly with soft faces. Wonder and naivety in wide eyes. They would have been around eleven. So many strangers I see inspire my vision of beauty.

Which photographers do you find inspiring?
I admire several different fashion photographers for different reasons. Terry Richardson, for his attitude towards photography, and his guts. Julie Pike, for her softness. Tim Walker, for his colour and imagination.

You’ve mentioned that you’d like to be shooting for Vogue before you’ve reached adulthood. Any other clients in your cross-hairs?
Oh, lots. Vogue isn’t at the top of my list, but few people would recognise the names of the magazines I’d most like to be shooting for. I like obscurity. I should really remove that comment about Vogue.

What are you (and Matt) shooting on? And why?
Canon 400D. Why? Because I can’t afford the 5D mark II yet. Matt is using an Olympus. In our personal time we shoot polaroid, but you won’t be seeing our polaroids anytime soon.