Eivind Holmboe is proving his mother wrong. She's admonished him for not holding a proper job with the 'You can't always do what you want to do' line. But according to Holmboe, whose directorial alias is Salmon (coined by his Spanish friends as an homage to his Norwegian heritage), that's exactly what he's doing. "As long as I want to do something I can get paid for, then I'm alright," he says.

It's a motto that's served him well over the years. From the time he decided to get into advertising as a creative in 1998 - a move he slyly saw as a way to his ultimate goal of directing - Holmboe has been choosing his own adventure. Never formally tied to one place, he's lived everywhere from San Francisco, where he went to art school, to LA, where he has freelanced on and off, to Barcelona, which is now home.

Though he's "never technically been an employee anywhere", Holmboe has spent much of his career working with Leo Burnett in Spain, where he also built his reel.

One of the spots he shot during that time, for Stiges Film Festival, showcases what he does best, making reality funny, though with an admittedly easy target - ardent George Bush supporters. The doc-style spot juxtaposes real comments from Utah residents lauding their commander in chief with Stiges' Sci-Fi focus ("Sci-Fi, fantasy and other hard things to explain").

Directing full time for a year and a half and repped by Got Film in Barcelona and Carbo in the US, 34-year-old Holmboe credits his Norwegian roots for his sense of humor that is pervasive throughout all his work. "As a Scandinavian, I don't really like comedy that is comedy. I like reality that's pushed to comedy," he says. "What people do isn't as funny as how people react to what they do."

That's why his spots for clients such as Dacia and Renault ring so true. In his ads for carmaker Dacia, low prices move owners to proudly showcase features like high beams to their loved ones. And in a Renault campaign, simple displays of emotion are rendered hysterical based on what triggers such reactions (a man is moved to tears by the death of a bug).

Currently based in Barcelona, Holmboe is looking to extend beyond his status as a top director in Spain. "I want to have the kind of reputation where clients will consider me as someone who really understands creativity and will be able to help them with their ideas."

Got Film http://www.gotfilm.tv
Carbo Films http://www.carbofilms.com