Sølve Sundsbø — SHADOWPLAY

London, December 2025

SØLVE SUNDSBØ's 2026 Pirelli Calendar is a visual immersion into the stirring elements of nature, as they weave their mystical, transformative magic through human emotion and identity. Centring his work around the native beauty of the natural world, his earthen subjects harness its power and energy, in images that blend strength and resilience with empathy, celebrate authenticity, and reflect personal growth and freedom.
When asked to shoot the calendar, it was like a siren call for the Norwegian photographer to whom the language of wildly beautiful landscapes speaks to his core. The resulting art seduces viewers by conveying his own awe for harvesting natural footage of timelapse clouds, the sky and sunset, shot in the Norfolk countryside, while also embracing his passion for technology, crafting sets for controlled studio shoots in London and New York.
His cast of women for the calendar, all aged from their thirties through to their seventies from the worlds of fashion, film, music and sport, are captured in curious and ethereal moments of exchange with the lens.
Susie Cave is meditatively at one with water. Tilda Swinton and Isabella Rossellini inhabit visually poetic moments with flora and fauna. Gwendoline Christie is a force of light as the eerie ether. Eva Herzigová is submerged, mesmerising and weightless in a water tank. Venus Williams brings the fire among a vast LED backdrop of flames and FKA Twigs, crawls through the red sand of the desert.
Sundsbø is the latest in an illustrious roll call of The Cal photographers, including Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz. Here he tells us how he converts all his wide-eyed wonder and adventures into his work.

What was your reaction when you learned you’d be shooting the Pirelli calendar, and prior to the shoot, did you deep dive into the archives.... which of the defining moments in the calendar’s enduring history that you revisited were the most memorable and inspiring?

My first reaction was happiness, and then quite soon I felt intimidated by the task, but that’s the way it should be, you should be in awe of your projects, and the Pirelli calendar is certainly a project that fills photographers with awe. The first thing we did was a deep dive into the archives, and the designer of the calendar went to Italy and photographed every single calendar, measured it and described it, and I looked at all the books and calendars sent to me – we studied everything. What we learned is that the calendar can be whatever you want it to be, and there are certain codes it has – like a fashion house has codes, but it can be whatever you choose. In terms of what's memorable, I think everything, as these calendars are windows of time, like the 1965 one is different to the 2005 one, and they are all little snapshots of those times.

Did you instantly have a vision for how you could make it your world and present it in a new and interesting way?

Not right away, I wanted to keep an open mind. The ideas and concept unfolded slowly and gradually, partly in conversation with the stylist Jerry Stafford, who worked with me on this calendar, and it was like a maturing thought, and we didn’t lock it down, we let it develop.

Your calendar is an ode to the stripped-down elements of nature, taken into the studio. It's an abstract, unexpected immersion into the natural world. Did all that come from what exists in your own world already, a love of being in the big outdoors, trying to develop what sits in your own stream of consciousness, and bring it forward?

All those things. It's born out of a love for nature and being outside, and a love for trying to slightly subversively try to change the general idea of what a landscape or picture of nature could be. What I tried to do was make the calendar my own, meaning, doing things in a way that reflects my own body of work, my own temperament and based loosely on things I've done before. I think it's an amalgamation of lots of different things coming together in one project, and I wanted to bring it forwards, and certainly not look back. I think it's very hard to change photography, and I don't think I have done that, but I've certainly tried to make it my own rather than fall into a cliche.

You're known for always engaging new technologies, but why did you choose not to shoot your subjects in natural landscapes, but in a controlled studio setting?

I tried to avoid a cliche, and take nature in its simplified form, working with elements and making it abstract in a way, the most essential parts, and the only way to do that is to do it inside. We shot nature outside, we photographed and filmed clouds, fire, and then brought it into the studio so we could control the setting. Also, with the talent we were shooting, it's very hard to get them all to travel, so it was easier to get them all into one space, to make it easier.

The images of the women you shot, in settings of earth, water, fire, wind, ether, flowers, have an escapism and romanticism to them. How did you propose each concept to them, in portraying the connection and serenity between their beauty and the beauty of nature, and what were the challenges – particularly for example, Eva submerged in that vast tank of water?

Some of it was instinctual, some of it was pragmatic and some of it was logical. So, with Venus, she is a clear candidate for fire. With Eva, she was in the water tank because I don't think anyone else could have done it, as it's a very strenuous and difficult task to be submerged in a water tank, and look great! Twigs wanted to be earth, in our conversations, she wanted to be naked and for it to be warm, so it was a complete collection of different reasons why they did the different elements.

*Left Adria Arjona*
*Right Tilda Swinton*

Your cast for this year’s calendar is also entirely women aged from their thirties to their seventies. You like to portray women as strong in your imagery, which paints this wonderful narrative of strength in sensuality, and championing a very different form of sexuality, an allure that feels intelligent and attractive. Would you agree?

I would say that's a great compliment, thank you very much. I think the reason why I chose these women, rather than younger women, is because it feels I can talk to them and relate to them on a different level. I'm 55, and it doesn't feel like a power imbalance, like I'm imposing my ideas on them, and these are strong, intelligent, talented women, who don’t do things they don’t want to do anymore in their career. So, when I ask them something, I can trust that they are giving me an honest answer, and it's a relationship based on trust on both sides. It's a stronger, balanced scenario.

In the past the calendar has also singularly appealed to the male gaze, which has thankfully changed and evolved. Did you and the cast of women think about what elements to embrace and what to reject, and anything new you could all bring?

One of the codes of the calendar is a certain sensuality, and I think they all wanted to embrace that part, but they all did it in their different ways. With FKA Twigs she said, 'I'm going to be in the Pirelli calendar, so I want my image to be like this....' and I had those conversations with all of them, as really they are characters in the pictures – even if they're still themselves, they all wanted to portray a certain persona in the images.

Would you say you have a method in connecting with your subjects, in your wider practice as a photographer, or do you think you have a natural connection?

I think it's about an honesty. Levelling the playing field and saying if you're not happy, I’m not happy. Showing images as you go along, the communication is my natural connection with my subjects and opening up the power balance, so that you're as equal as possible.

*Left Eva Herzigova*
*Right Irina Shayk*

Who do you feel has had the biggest impact on your career and your development as a photographer?

Nils Vik, a Norwegian photographer who I assisted briefly, who opened many doors and windows, both aesthetically and practically for me! and who put me in touch with Craig McDean, who then introduced me to Nick Knight, who was my teacher and mentor.

I would also mention Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, who are like the Beethoven's of photography... there are not many photographers who are not influenced by their very long and illustrious careers.

Where do you go for inspiration? Is there anything that constantly inspires you? I read that having grown up in Norway, the beauty of the mountains, forests and extreme weather always draws you in. Is that how you recharge your batteries mentally and physically?

Inspiration is everywhere, it could be a shadow on the wall, in the music I listen to, a book I read, a story my children will tell me, a theatre play, a movie, art I see, it's everywhere. But nature is always something that fills me with awe and I love being outside in changing weather, bad weather, to be by the coast in Norway, that's my happy place, it's where I recharge.

With your innovations across editorial, campaigns, technology and in exhibitions, and with the many faces you've lensed, what do you think makes a great fashion picture? Aside from the clothes in elevating the narrative, is it the characters you create?

I think that the most important part about a fashion picture is if it makes you dream. Photography is an interesting way of communicating because we all trust what we look at, it's our initial response when we see a photograph, so it's powerful, even if we know now that most photographs tell a lie, or a point of view. So, what you create already has an element of communication with the viewer. A great image freezes a moment in time, so your brain has to make up the story of what happened before the photo was taken and what happened afterwards – it's a great tool for creating dreams, fantasies and stories, something you believe in.

What were your earliest experiences with taking pictures, and do you think you're still learning, developing in your work?

I started taking pictures of my friends skiing and going to concerts. I hope I'm still developing, I try to, because I'm a person that gets bored quite easily and I’m also quite curious.

What's the most exciting part of collaborating for you – do you like there to be an idea / concept that you follow and bring your input too, or do you prefer the cross-referencing of ideas and discovering unexpected intentions and creating new worlds and narratives?

Both. I like for there to be a variation, if there is a small idea or concept and it resonates, then it grows in you quite quickly, that's quite often the best thing. It can sometimes lead to the best work – especially if something comes in to disturb it mid-way through, and you have to re-think or re-shape the idea, because it can quickly become quite stale if that doesn’t happen.

I read some advice you once gave about becoming a photographer, which was, " Try not to do what everyone else is doing!". Do you ever think about how people react to your work, is that important to you, how they engage with it?

Of course. I would almost rather have 50 percent love it, and 50 percent hate it than 100 percent just think it's ok. With that I mean that when you communicate, you want to create a rection, for it to resonate with people, but you've got to leave the work once you've created it, as you can't control it. You just hope people emotionally engage with it.

Finally, speaking of visionaries like yourself who like to reinvent and evolve, you shot Madonna in 2006 for Harper’s Bazaar magazine, around the time of the Confessions on a Dance Floor album. The shoot celebrated motion, movement and Madonna’s personal relationship with dance and the pioneering photographic studies of human movement by Eadweard Muybridge in the 1880s. We know that she's now working on the album follow up.... do you think we'll see another immersive collaboration between you both?

I don't know! Madonna moves in mysterious ways [laughs], but sure, that would be great.

Interview by Kate Lawson

All pictures by Sølve Sundsbø from the 2026 Pirelli Calendar

NATURAL STATE

A LOVE LETTER TO.... ALL OF US.