The years went by, and I established myself as a photographer, built a clientele, and continuously created my own projects and exhibited around Denmark and abroad. On the outside, everything seemed fine, but chaos reigned inside – it was difficult to keep it all together. To be married, become a mother, be ambitious, self-employed and have a child who did not sleep much at night, living in a housing cooperative that was going bankrupt and with a husband, who worked ceaselessly in the film industry.

Four years ago, I was divorced and found myself alone with a child to support and the challenge of making everyday life work for him. Shortly after, I became ill and was hospitalized for 14 days with face paralysis and speech difficulties. I was treated and discharged with a 4 months sick leave and a rehabilitation plan. When I returned in the Spring of 2015, I was very much in doubt if I could reestablish my business and manage to make a living of what I love most: to photograph.

For the first time in many years, during my sick leave, I had a break to think about my skills, about what drives me, and about establishing a stable foundation in my life by setting these into action. I love to teach and I decided to develop further my many years of experience in facilitating workshops and giving lectures – and into building a platform of online and physical workshops for professional and budding photographers.

My photographic foundation is now deeply rooted in the way I learned to look at images at Fatamorgana coupled with the artisan tradition and knowledge of the classic portrait photography from Rigmor Mydtskov. I photograph because it is a necessity. To me being a photographer is to be a human being in society. The potential of the photograph is that it is able to ask questions that society or we are not always able to ask. With our pictures, we can create the necessary dialogue that can open for a broader understanding of what it means to be human.

This is why I use the photograph to explore life, investigate reality and create insight, and to tell stories about it. To strengthen, inspire and create dialogue in society by creating authentic and personal portraits, stories and exhibitions.

Helga Theilgaard, 2022