Photographer Sawn Mortensen (1966-2009) has passed away last night. His death is mourned widely by photographers who called him “a kinetic force of optimism and seemingly limitless positive energy.”

Shawn, 43, traveled the world several times during his career as a photojournalist and artist and wherever he went he impressed. Shawn is known most for his wonderful portraits of artists, musicians and entertainers. His photographs include a stunning collection of popular heroes in a career spanning over twenty years. The collection includes photographs of Keith Haring, Tupac, Henry Rollins, James Brown, The Notorious BIG, Bjork, Jun Takahashi, Leo Fitzpatrick, Christopher Wool, Mark Gonzales, Ed Ruscha, Vivienne Westwood, The Bad Brains, Dash Snow, Grandmaster Flash, Neil Young, MIA, John Lee Hooker, Nigo, Sofia Coppola, Agnes B., Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, Keith Richards, Chloe Sevigny, The Foo Fighters, Everlast, Kraftwerk, Wu Tang Clan, and The Sex Pistols and many, many more.

As a successful commercial photographer he had worked with Supreme and Nike and with publications like Vibe and I-D magazine, where his eye for detail was known as legendary. He was always seen as local weekly art pageants around his hometown in Los Angeles carrying his Polaroid camera, At the time of his death he was working on M.O.R.= Monsters!, Outlaws, & Renegades” to be aired on SPACE15TWENTY in Los Angeles in June, 2009. He was also working on a t-shirt line based on photographs in collaboration with brand Barracuda.

Shawn Mortensen’s book Out of Mind is an excellent insight to the mind and works of the great photojournalist and artist.