In the snow-veiled forests of Falun, Sweden, a boy chased friends with a borrowed VHS camcorder. He was trying to capture something nameless, something that pulled at his creative instincts completely.
Those frosted moments would become the foundation that shaped Viktor Skogqvist into Scandinavia’s most sought-after Director of Photography. His lens now serves global campaigns for IKEA, PlayStation, and Volvo across multiple creative formats.
“I wasn’t trying to become a cinematographer,” Viktor recalls. “I just wanted to capture the feeling of movement and space, how light touches things when no one’s directing it.”
Two decades later, this multi-award-winning DOP has built his career on a deceptively simple philosophy: listen to the environment, the story, and the unspoken rhythm between scenes.
Nature as a Mentor
Raised in the rugged beauty of Falun, Viktor’s first subjects were skateboarders and snowboarders. “We had no lighting setups, no crew. Just natural light and improvisation,” he says. Those early experiments taught him to read the light rather than control it, a skill that would become foundational.
This deep connection to nature and his early embrace of instinct over perfection gave Viktor a rare gift: a visual sensitivity that transcends technology. “Technical precision is important,” he notes, “but it should always be in service of emotional truth.”
That balance between emotional tone and visual craft is now a hallmark of his work. Whether shooting on 16mm film or modern RED cameras, Viktor’s lens never feels sterile. His frames breathe.
From Snowboarding Films to Global Commercials
Viktor’s professional path began at age of 19, when he was hired by Transition, a Swedish skate and snowboard magazine, to produce video content.
He soon joined Pirates, a snowboard film collective based in Austria, traveling across Europe with 16mm cameras, documenting airborne athletes in wild conditions.
His big pivot came when he returned to Stockholm and transitioned from editing to full-time cinematography.
As his career expanded, so did his creative collaborations. Today, Viktor is frequently brought onto projects in the concepting stage, unusual for a cinematographer.
Key Projects and Accolades
One of his most celebrated works is “Honour the Sound,” a cinematic brand film for the Swedish speaker company Audio Pro. Directed by Mats Udd, the piece forgoes product shots entirely, focusing instead on the emotional resonance of sound.
Then there’s Flex, a four-minute surreal short by creative duo Babybaby. Shot on 16mm and filled with miniature floating bodybuilders and surreal visual flourishes, the film explores the internal dichotomy of self-love and self-loathing in the mind of a bodybuilder.
It screened at Sundance, SXSW, and the Atlanta Film Festival, and earned a Vimeo Staff Pick. Despite its stylized aesthetic, Viktor keeps the subject grounded, capturing inner emotion rather than outer spectacle.
Another standout, Urban Miner, was an international campaign for Elkjøp and Minecraft. Directed by Alexander Biörsmark, the piece tackled environmental themes with a unique blend of animation and grounded storytelling.
It won the Grand Prix at Norway’s Gullblyanten Awards and a Bronze Pencil at The One Show.
Crafting Emotional Authenticity
Viktor’s approach stands apart in an industry often obsessed with polish and spectacle. “I’m not interested in style for style’s sake,” he says. “What excites me is finding the quiet truth of a scene, the light, the framing, the tone that makes an audience feel something real.”
This ethos has earned him repeat collaborations with directors like Babybaby and Mats Udd, relationships built on trust and creative fluency. “With the right collaborators, we can push boundaries. There’s no need to over-explain. We’re just chasing the same emotional pulse.”
Looking Forward
Now based in Stockholm, Viktor continues to evolve, seeking narrative projects, experimenting with new formats, and always staying attuned to the emotional spine of each story.
His dream? To shoot a feature film that feels as intimate as a whispered secret.
“I want to build images that live with people long after the credits roll,” he says. “Not because they’re flashy, but because they felt something they couldn’t put into words.”
In an age of high-gloss content and algorithm-driven visuals, Viktor Skogqvist offers something far rarer: a camera that listens, not just records. And in that stillness, his work doesn’t just show us the world, it lets us feel it.
Author:
J.R. Bellamy
