Julie Pike

Dramatic yet with softer, poetic undertones, Canon Ambassador Julie Pike's photography has a distinct dreamy grandeur and narrative bent, which has helped the Oslo-based photographer to earn a name for herself in both Scandinavian and international fashion, art and lifestyle photography circles.

Having worked with magazines such as Elle, VICE, Oyster, Nylon and Costume, Julie has also made commercials for brands such as American Express, and worked in the music industry for Sony Music and Universal Music Group. She has exhibited her work both in her home city and abroad.

Julie never intended to pursue a career in photography. She was familiar with the art form, having taken photos on holidays as a child with a little pink camera she was given as a birthday present, but studied a degree in religion at university in Oslo. A job in a professional photography lab in Norway changed that.

Working in the lab while she studied, Julie learnt about photography, film and printing. The more time she spent there, the more determined she was to make a career out of what she loved. Her passion for photography led her to apply for a degree in photography at The Academy of Art University (formerly The Academy of Art College) in San Francisco, California, before returning to Norway in 2001 to begin life as a freelance photographer.

Often making use of natural light to create her narrative-driven images, Julie shoots mostly with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens. Rather than finding inspiration in what she calls "grand paradigms, be it philosophical or political", Julie says that it's smaller moments that capture her imagination. "I find inspiration in the little things of everyday life. That could be books, paintings or something as ordinary as the view outside a window or some light making its way through it."

She describes the feeling of taking a good shot as "like being in love. There is adrenaline, it's a rush. I still get that feeling even after working in the industry for so long."

When you're on a shoot, how do you interact with your subject?

"I talk to them for 10 minutes and take pictures for five, rather than the other way around, to help the person or people feel safe and relaxed. That way, I don't have to give too many instructions when it comes to the actual shoot."


How do you go about taking a photograph?

"I work fast so I tend to use my camera handheld. The camera has to be easy to hold and shouldn't weigh too much, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV does exactly that for me."


Do you prefer day or night shoots?

"I like both because they are different, and I enjoy the diversity. I am not afraid of using a high ISO setting because I like it when the images have a feeling of noise and grain. Hard flash is sometimes nice to use at night."


How do you decide which photos will make the final cut after a shoot?

"I follow my intuition. I look through the images and put a star against the ones I like. I never look at them for more than half a second and never go back to the ones I didn't mark. The ones that are starred I then mark with a colour, and I play my favourite 10 as a slideshow. Often, if I have time to sleep on it, the first picture I think of after placing my head on the pillow, is the winner."


You have described yourself as a 'storyteller'. Can you elaborate on that?

"All I want is for someone to stop in their tracks and have the desire to look at the photograph. In doing so, they put the photograph into their own story. Sometimes I compare it with making a meal. It is up to the person who eats the food to decide how it tastes and whether they like it. That analogy can be applied to people looking at photographs. It's the taste they get."

Julie Pike