These days history is written. One of the stories is about the Greenland crisis, where the US President wants control, one way or the other, over Greenland. This leads me to the danish politician Lars Løkke Rasmussen, previous Prime Minister of Denmark, and now central in the storm as Minister of foreign affairs with Greenland as part of the Danish Kingdom.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen in the centre. Helle Thorning Schmidt left, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the right.

9 year ago I covered a documentary and delivered photos for a book including Lars Løkke Rasmussen and four other previous Prime Ministers. This is what this is about, and the Leica M9 has a central role.

The publisher of the book ´Statsministrene´(Prime Ministers) Politiken wrote:

“Photographer Morten Albek has been with us all the way. See the unique portraits of Denmark’s prime ministers, join us for the historic days at Marienborg, and read what the five main characters have to say about what some call the world’s loneliest job.”

This all happened back in 2017. A TV-documentary about the Prime Ministers in Denmark and a book were produced. Today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen travels around the world as a Danish Viking diplomat, attempting to resolve the Greenland crisis initiated by US President Donald Trump.

In 2017, at the time of these photos, Lars Løkke Rasmussen was the Prime Minister, and I was on the job, working behind the scenes and creating portraits for the TV production and the book, which was subsequently published. 

One Lens For All

The Leica M9 is a small camera, and with the Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH as my main tool for almost all photos, a perfect tool for the job. With this, I could blend in, be almost invisible, and discreet because the camera doesn’t seem as much.
The very same reason I use it for street photography as well as photojournalism, where discretion is demanded.
For years, I have used the “One Lens For All” approach, which means I work with the same camera body and lens for a longer period. This gives me a uniform expression and consistent workflow. 

Only in a few situations I turned to a Sony A7rII – new at that time – with a fixed 28mm lens for shot needing silence and wide angel. The M9 isn’t totally free of sound when the shutter button is activated. The Sony delivered that.

Looking back on this today makes me proud. Being selected for a job like this demands strong work and delivering quality when needed. I put the same efforts in all my work. If it’s photojournalism or leading a workshop for newbies and photo enthusiasts on a workshop. 

The producers and authors Anne Sofie Kragh and Michael Dyrby wrote:

“ When we gathered the five living prime ministers at Marienborg for the filming of ‘The Prime Ministers’, we also invited photographer Morten Albek along.

Silently and often behind the scenes, he documented the historic meeting with his Leica M9 – even when the TV cameras were off. So what do the prime ministers look like when they are not on? You can see that in our book.

Here we have collected the best of Morten Albek’s photographs together with the best of the prime ministers’ stories from the many hours of interviews we conducted along the way.”

The authors wrote: ”The book is filled with great pictures – both from interviews and the joint collection at Marienborg. Anne Sofie Kragh and Michael Dyrby were responsible for the four documentary programs and have edited the book about the country’s #primeministers. Morten Albek has been the fly on the wall and provided the powerful photographs.”

From left: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Helle Thorning Schmidt, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Poul Schlüter and Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
One of very few pictures not taken with the M9.

A few pictures in the gallery here, focusing on Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Prime Minister 9 years ago. I, the minister, and the Leica M9 with the 50mm Summilux are also the same. Just a bit older.