A prodigious photographer, filmmaker, conservationist and artist, Mattias Klum stopped by in London recently to reminisce with Keith Wilson about his early work with National Geographic, meeting Nobel laureates and finding his inspiration in an outhouse…
Mattias Klum is on the move. When we meet at a café in north London, he reveals that he has recently upped sticks from his native Sweden to his new base a short walk away from where we are seated. But the 55-year-old photographer and filmmaker has never been one to remain in the same place for long. His work itinerary sounds like a Cook’s tour of Europe. “I go back to Sweden on Wednesday for a week, then to Paris and then to Portugal,” he said.
“You sound like a bit of a nomad, at the moment,” I respond.
“Yes, absolutely, but it’s nice because I have so many things that are inspirational. It’s a time of life where I don’t have a firm base but I’m moving around. It is what it is.”
Klum has worked as a freelance photographer since he was 18, published his first book when he was 22, and rose to international attention in 1997 when National Geographic printed his photographs for the first time. Since then he has produced multiple articles and 13 cover stories for the legendary magazine. He speaks fondly of those early days when he was taken under their wing as a young kid and taught to fly alongside the magazine’s greats. “They had the resources so you could live a dream. There were very few things that you couldn’t do once you had their trust. It was amazing, totally amazing.”
It sounds like you felt a profound sense of creative freedom?
