Georg Oddner was born in Stockholm in 1923. He loved music from his earliest days, and quit school to become a jazz drummer in Putte Wickmans Sextett. But in 1950, Georg’s life took a turn. After seeing a show by American photographer Richard Avedon, he decided he would become a photographer, too. He sold his drums, bought a one-way ticket to the US, and with a letter of introduction from photographer Sten Didrik Bellander in hand, managed to become an assistant to his role model, Avedon...Read more. A year later, he moved back home and opened a photo studio in Malmö, where he worked with reportage, fashion and especially advertising. Following a photo report on the Soviet Union, he was offered membership in the exclusive Magnum Group of photographers. This, one might imagine, was an offer he couldn’t refuse. But refuse it he did. Instead, he and nine colleagues started a group of their own, Tio Fotografer, putting on solo shows at museums in Malmö and Lund. Georg never made things easy for himself. Every photo was important, whether it would be selling Lyckholms beer or documenting life behind the Iron Curtain. He examined everything from every possible angle, gaining a reputation for being “a big intellectual and a big pain in the neck”. As the years passed, he grew further and further away from the advertising business and his innovative photos for LdB, Reso Hotels, Arla and Trelleborg. He wanted to do so many other things: music, books, journalistic travel and films (he often collaborated with his friend Jan Troell, including work on films such as “The Emigrants” and “Flight of the Eagle”). Georg Oddner was elected to the Platinum Academy in 1987 for his important contributions to Swedish advertising photography, and continued working tirelessly until his death in 2007.

– J.N.