By Thorsten Overgaard. October 4, 2025
Something you didn't know ...
During the lockdown, I traveled through approximately thirty cities around the world and invited people to participate in a free sunset photowalk.
In a time when there wasn't anything else to do that made sense, at least going outside and photographing for a few hours as a group seemed a worthwhile protest, or maybe just a statement of freedom.
Several hundred people in Europe, the USA, and Asia participated in groups of between eight and fifty at a time in the "Walk with Me" events.
What you don't know is that the "Walk with Me" was inspired by Danish poet and filmmaker Jørgen Leth (88), who passed a few days ago. In Denmark, he needs no introduction, but Jørgen Leth, strangely, in his later life became a hero, particularly to young people.
I can't state it otherwise than that he was just too cool, and even then, I can't really say why. He just was, and his voice and his life were always fascinating. He is one of those artists whose artist himself gained a much wider fanbase than perhaps his actual art - which was movies, poems, happenings, articles, and books.
A notable event Jørgen Leth made that might be of interest among my own international audience is "Andy Warhol eating a burger in New York," which is part of his movie "66 Scenes from America" made in 1981. Once you have seen the clip, it will always stay with you.
If you watch the video and talk by Jørgen Leth on the Danish art museum Louisiana's page, you will get an idea of how he could make the most random everyday event into a notable story. And there is even a snippet at the end of the video to take note of for us photographers.
A few years ago Jørgen Leth started to get really old, so he invited people via Instagram to "Walk with me" as he clearly couldn't walk by himself; more than 700 people volunteered to walk around Copenhagen with him! That too, as with all of his life, was made into a podcast event, a televised event, and articles.
Even stumbling around, he was too cool for school. Tomorrow Danish television is broadcasting an interview with him made some time ago, recorded on the condition that it would be aired after his death.
Danish poet and film director Jørgen Leth. Leica Digilux 2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
No, I don't have a selfie of me and Jørgen Leth. I never felt attracted to taking selfies of myself with celebrities when I met them. Thankfully, because some of the worst things I know are people posting selfies with someone who just died.
Instead, I would like you to know that his influence reached so far and strongly that he inspired the idea to invite you to walk with me, and thus enabled five hundred or so photo enthusiasts to enjoy a free "Walk with Me" in cities around the world over the last few years. It was just a small inspiration, but as I was sitting in Rome earlier today and thinking of Jørgen Leth, I remembered "he did that," and thus I wanted to honor his memory with you.
Jørgen Leth was cool.
Everything has to go somewhere
In recent months, people in my workshops have shown a growing interest in ways to share photographs. Not just how to share them today, but how to preserve them for future generations. It happens to be a subject I am writing about currently.
I've said for a while that "Everything has to go somewhere," by which I originally meant that you have to "Always Wear A Camera," preserve what you see; but then also select and finish the images so they are in an archive. More recently, I have expanded my concept so that preserving a moment or a person in a portrait is not just taking and storing the photo, but doing so in a way that it will be available also in 50, 100, or maybe even 500 years.
The rush of our current culture is ridiculous, in the sense that there is breaking news every second, and new posts on Instagram every day, and as new things appear, they push the past into oblivion.
For culture to evolve, we have to build it, not pushing it forward and refresh it every minute. The photos you took eight years ago, or twenty years ago, can make someone happy today and can make someone else happy in 120 years.
That's the idea.
I made a video a few years ago as part of my Workflow Masterclass that touches on this. It's linked below.
Night walk on the beach. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leonardo da Vinci
Speaking of something that is not news, Leonardo da Vinci wrote quite a few notebooks on colors, light, and many other subjects.
Recently, I have been stumbling through these 500 years old notebooks, focusing on certain ideas that I so far have made into 80 pages in an upcoming book. This work also inspired holding a photo workshop in Florence (June 6-8, 2026), the birthplace of the Renaissance. If it worked for them 500 years ago, it might work to inspire us in the present day in our photography.
Thinking of it, Jørgen Leth and Leonardo da Vinci have something in common. They were both able to seduce large masses of people through their lifestyle and legacy. As I have researched Leonardo da Vinci, I realized that he, the greatest painter of all times, finished fewer than twenty paintings in his lifetime. Yet, he managed to inspire many artists.
"The highest purpose of art is to inspire," as Bob Dylan stated it.
I hope to inspire you, and maybe even meet you in one of my workshops. You are always welcome to send me an email with questions, ideas, or suggestions.
More to come
Bon voyage with it all. Sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know. As always, feel free to email me with suggestions, questions and ideas. And hope to see you in a workshop one day soon.
/Thorsten Overgaard
Bonus:
Watch the class from my Workflow Masterclass, "Top 5 Real Life Advice on how to Become a Rich and Famous Artist" (27 minutes)
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