First snow...

So i made some changes to the layout of the blog, its a bit wider, which makes it a bit easier on the eyes, ive also enabled commenting for anyone, so you can comment on anything or give me feedback without having to login or register as a user. Im also looking for a cool template and background to freshen things up aswell.

Yesterday was the first snow we saw in the city... Pretty cool and pretty shitty at the same time. Its all melted now, so its just wet and miserable. At least if it snows constantly its dry and pretty to look at, but it was cool to have a taste of the winter again.

Counting down the days to go back to SA now... SO CLOSE!!! Kinda putting together some stuff that i'll hopefully get to shoot before i leave. Also making plans with agencies, people, places and events for next year. Everything is a bit on/off right now, but we will see how it pans out... Still got some cool ideas.

On Wednesday at 6pm they announce the winner(s) of the Qatch me if you qan comp i shot for over the weekend... Holding thumbs!!! Would be awesome if I won... im sure you'll all hear about it if i do!!!

In the meantime, here are some snapshits i took with my iPhone recently. Cheers, N.

Large Format beast I saw at an exhibition a while ago...
Cant imagine the size prints this monster makes.

Little bit of snow just outside my apartment

Photo competition...

Word up... Interesting day, i got myself involved in a photo competition this morning. I was trolling the local 2nd hand market for photo gear and i saw the ad for this competition, so I thought, why not right? The prize for the national winner is a new special edition Canon EOS 60D, and the grand prize is a brand new Nissan Qasqhai. So either way, I've got nothing to lose....

You can check the gallery of all the other entries among mine here:

http://www.qatchme.no/subpage/?lang=no&gallery&page=0

If youre on facebrick, you could check the gallery out and "like" my photo's, and if I win, I'll take you for a spin in my new ride.

Otherwise, got some cool other stuff lined up for next week, mostly some editorial stuff i want to... ive got loads of idea's and inspiration at the moment, so im just going to keep shooting.
Hopefully i also get to shoot some stuff for TREND Models. Would be cool to do a studio session...

I played with an EF 35mm ƒ1.4 today....OMFG!!! Possibly the sexiest prime lens ever. I was originally looking at the EF 50mm ƒ1.2 because of its background obliterating aperture of ƒ1.2, but on my 7D, which has a 1.6X crop sensor, its kinda "tight". The 35mm is actually closer to 50mm on crop. But optically still 35mm, and its ƒ1.4.... Going to have to work some serious O/T....

Anyway, here are some of my pictures i entered for the Qasqhai Qatch me if you can competition. Laters, N.

Portraits, Lingerie, Fashion featuring Erika.

Word up interwebs... The drama, the sense of pride, the despair, the frustration, the nerves and the disappointment of it all. Just some of the things i have been dealing with over the last couple of days. If that sounds a bit too manic, there is one thing i did right. And that was shoot more photo's. Some pretty cool ones actually.

I kinda put this whole shoot together in +-2days, only finding a location about 2hours before the first speedlite fired. So overall, im well stoked with the end result. This series of images doesn't quite tie into anything, and they dont quite tie in to each other for that matter. From de-saturated portraits that are cold, stark and crisp to warm, contrasting lingerie shots, the spectrum here is fairly broad.

The girl that i shot has never modelled before, but together with a bit of discussion, imagination, and a bit of continuous work all of us involved, we made it work. I think she did fantastically well for a first time.

SPECIAL PLUG:
Elise from Brukbar/SUPA - You are a legend, thank you for saving my ass! This wouldn't have happened without you and your kindness.
Ida "burger" Berge - Thank you for your assistance with hair and make up. Much appreciated.
Erika Bjørndahl - The star of the show. Thank you so much, you were great.

And here we go, something different for your viewing pleasure. N

The Hustler

What a day... Spent most of it glued to the screen playing in Lightroom. Learning, experimenting, failing, and finally producing. I spontaneously managed to get another friend to let me shoot some pictures of her tomorrow. Im think mainly B+W, kinda simple, with some portraits and whatever ideas pop into my brain at the time.

In the meanwhile, i know some of you have been chomping at the bit to see these next shots. Here they are.
My first edit in Lightroom. What an awesome program. Cant get enough of learning the ins and outs of it. This concept needs and introduction, ank keeping in mind it went from concept to final edit in less than 3 days, im pretty happy. Feedback and critique is always welcomed.

SPECIAL PLUG: 
My friends Vegard and Johan. You guys are legends. Thank you so much to Johan for helping me out and doing something completely out of character. Awesome job. And to Flaska, thanks for the location, the wardrobe, assistance, prop loan and "model-wrangling".

THIS IS THE HUSTLER.
Used car salesman by day, part poker shark, part narco fiend, part gonzo mentalist by night. N.

Rude boy bass mashup da place!!!

Sweet!!! Shooting photo's tonight! Amped. Crazy ideas will become realities in a few hours. Organized everything fairly quickly. Going to be fun playing with this. Will do a quick edit and post some samples as soon as i get the chance. I was fairly productive today, went and spoke to some make-up artist's, got some new contacts. Made confirmations to shoot some stuff of Anniken later this week. Asked another friend (Grant Harrison) if I could shoot some portraits and some editorial stuff of them. LOTS TO DO!!!

I wanted to use a cigar as a prop for the shoot im doing tonight, but i dont know if any of you have tried to find a damn cigar in Trondheim? Impossible. End of story.

What else... Another photographer in Trondheim whose stuff I really dig recently shot stunning pictures of a mutual friend. You can check them out here:

http://dedhed.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/pia/

I want to learn to retouch like that! SO COOL!

Here's a gem from our favourite dubstep producer that we love to hate. Only recently found out that Skrillex is Sonny from FROM FIRST TO LAST. Even though his stuff is way comercial and annoyingly catchy, I like this video, the track is a banger too. N

Sunday evening...

Hope you all have had a good weekend? Mine was pretty exciting, with all the good news on Friday and Saturday, im pretty amped for what the next couple of weeks hold in store. I was a friends birthday party last night, and I managed to convince a very interesting looking girl to let me shoot some portraits of her some time this week. Should be cool, I've got some ideas for something kinda different.

I didnt get to shoot my other idea, things just fell through, but I havent lost the idea completely. Just going to have to wait till I get my ducks in a row. I was cleaning up my HD and going through some old stuff. I found some cool shot of some dudes breakdancing in a park in summer a few months ago. I promised to deliver these aswell, but have since lost contact with these guys. I need to get better at this. Øyvind, i will send your skating shots through this week sometime!!! SORRY!!!

Got some more ink on my right sleeve, all the colour looking fresh and tasty. and a new edition to the left. I chose it in the exact same postion as the one on the right, but went with B+W because I want this whole sleeve to carry on that way. SWEET! Be back tomorrow. N.

Hipster-ish PP and a funky crop...

Ginger got skills!

FRESH!!! taken about 3mins after we finished. Izzy (the artist) is  a legend.

Good News!!! For a change...

Busy, busy days!!! So I somehow managed to do somethings right. Things are looking up on the photo side, I have some work lined up. Hopefully quite a bit actually. Firstly, I had an "interview" with a modeling agency in Trondheim on Friday. Really cool people, really nice studio's, really chilled atmosphere. Hopefully I will be doing some test shoots and some headshot and portrait stuff for them in the next couple of weeks. You can check out there website here:

http://www.trendmodels.no/

Secondly, I met up and hung out with a very cool, talented photographer today and managed to convince him to let me be his assistant. I am so stoked about this!!! Im completely amped to learn, have some one to bounce ideas off, get some guidance and get more involved in the industry. His name is Eric Fagerheim and you can check out his website and blog here:

http://www.fotofashion.no/

Also, I pulled my finger out and made the big step into the massive and intimidating world of professional post production software. Enter Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. I had a quick play around with it yesterday and I'm busy watching some tutorials and reading some manuals at the moment. Looks very cool, awesome interface, quick load and rendering times, massive parameter control, loads of features that are nice for fine tuning.


There is also a new edition to the family. I will let the pictures do the talking. Thats all for the moment. Catch up soon. N

 

More Stine and Hayden

Finally...Finished editing the first bunch of images from the shoot I did with Hayden and Stine. What a relief. First project completed from conception to post-production delivery within a month.

I had a rad idea for a concept that I want to and hopefully will be able to shoot this weekend. I wont ruin the surprise... It will be part glamourous, part insane, part thuggish and very cool.

Im in a state of dismay at the moment. Im looking for a job in the photo industry, as an assistant, studio manager, whatever... I just want some experience in the industry and im willing to do it for free. FREE!!! I have advertised on the local photo websites, called photographers in my area... But all to no avail. Since when did anyone pass up anything free? Granted, i have no education in this field, and i can only work part-time. But i know my shit. And im out there shooting and making new ideas and concepts and trying new things all the time... But no-one is interested in having a free assistant? Anyone that has any ideas on how to help me out here? Im all ears...

Anyway, here are the rest of the Stine and Hayden shots. As always, critique and feedback is most welcome. Enjoy. N

Fok Julle Naaiers...

Ok... Just as i predicted a week ago, by the time I would get round to giving my 2c worth of opinions about  some new cool music i found, there would be som new cool stuff out. This is a perpetual hole of despair. The music industry keeps on churning out tunes, and we keep listening and buying. And some of us like to share our opinions amidst all of this.

So the cool new track I found is the new single of Die Antwoord's second album called "Ten$ion".
Im not such a huge fan of the song in particular, although it is kinda catchy. But the visuals are great. I wonder what lenses and camera gear this was shot  on.... SO SHARP!!! Really umm.... honest i guess would be the most bland word to use, but i guess comical as well and also macabre look at the typical faces behind the street life in CPT. I swear I went to school with some of these guys.

If you dont understand Afrikaans or Cape Gam, Im sorry. This cannot be translatable. You will however understand undoubtedly clearly DJ HI-TEK's lines at the end of the song. N

The VIDEO is HERE!!!

P.S. - Busy editing some more photos from the shoot I did with Stine a while ago, should be up after i get some sleep and food. Watch this Space!

Chilled day at the office.

I was going to make the caption to this some tongue in cheek cliched one liner... But I wanted to avoid that,  so as not to sound as uneducated as most people presume me to be. So i'll give the technical and straight forward explanation instead. This is a picture of me aid climbing on some filthy beams above the Hydraracker (the machine that handles the drill pipes from the fingerboard to the top drive) in order to setup a couple of anchors for our ropes. Fun stuff. Especially when the said beams bounce every time i shift my weight. Catch up soon. N.

Scarabeo 8 in WESTCON, Ølen

Hello all... So, as mentioned before I am currently at work in a shipyard in Ølen, just outside of Haugesund. The platform we are working on is an Italian owned semi-submersible called Scarabeo 8 that is contracted by Statoil to drill the Goliath (yes, this is the actual name of the prospect.) block on the Norwegian shelf.

Quite an interesting background with this rig. After being sabotaged twice quayside in Italy by the Italian mafia, who wanted a cut in the potential earnings of the vessels find, the decision was made to move the platform to Norway so it could undergo refitting and preparation to deal with the Norwegian/Arctic weather. The platform was badly burnt in the last attack in Italy, so a large amount of electrical equipment was rendered superfluous and is in the process of being changed. Original estimation on the entire project was 4 months, that was in May. The expect date for sea trials is just after Christmas, but I am well informed that realistically, its more like late January/early February.

There was a fatal accident a few weeks ago, where a Polish worker fell to his death from the platform. Police are still investigating the event. My thoughts go out to his family.

There are currently 1000+- workers onboard, so its complete and utter chaos. Unlike anything you can imagine. The safety here is a serious hazard onboard. Multi-component painting going on 3ft away from unprotected welding... Not good. I will be pretty happy to be finished with this project.

We are moored right beside West Elara, a Seadrill jack-up. Which at the moment is the tallest jack-up in the world. I heard from a buddy at Seadrill that legs are currently 200ish metres high. From our office, the two sit next to each other like two giants looking they're about to climb over the mountain behing us.

So here are some pictures... Sorry about image quality, the iPhone doesnt quite compete with the 7D in terms of image quality!!! Be back with more cool stuff soon. N

Our team admiring the monstrous size of West Elara.

Scarabeo 8 with all lights blazing, note the cars in the foreground for a size comparison.

Scarabeo 8 and West Elara side by side illuminating the night.

LOADS OF RAD STUFF!!!

Wow!!! Hello friends, family, colleagues, and last but not least Stephen Baird! Long time huh? Yeah, my bad. Ive been pretty busy. And I've got lots and lots planned for November. Lets have a quick look at whats in store:

Music:
Blink 182 have a new-ish album... I'll give you a hint. Its Rad.
Sum 41 have a new album. Also very cool.
Red Hot Chili Peppers have a new album. Disco beats from an 808? Believe it, because its true.
And by the time i get to actually giving these an in-depth look, there will probably be 3 more artists with new albums.
     
Videos: YouTube could possibly be the single most reason that the work ethic in Cape Town, and probably South Africa (and possibly the rest of the world at the moment) is so "minimalistic". I found some videos that will make you cry, make you laugh with delirium, and ask serious questions about your personal timekeeping methods.

Photo:
Review of the Canon EF 25mm II Extension Tube. I now have one.
Review of the Lastolite 8-in-1 Umbrella, Softbox, Octabank, Reflector awesome light chucker 5000. I now have one of these too.
Couple of new concepts im playing with and figuring out how to shoot. Hopefully will deliver on this. Need to find someone willing to have jam chucked at them.
       
Life in general: Im at work at the WESTCON shipyard in Ølen, on Scarabeo 8 for the next two weeks. Some pictures, some info, some stories. And we're next to WEST ELARA. the largest jack-up platforom in the world. Even you guys would see this. ITS VERY, VERY BIG!

Im sure i missed something... But I have plenty of time to think over the next two weeks. Now here is the part im looking most forward to... Some pictures.

I shot at a friend's (Hayden) place last week. It was a test shoot with a model (and now a friend!) named Stine. Loads of fun, lots of pictures, a bit of editing, a lot of learning and lots of reward. I think both of us got something cool to freshen up our portfolio's with.

A small disclaimer: For those that be hatin': I do not calibrate my monitor, considering 90% of the time im on my MacBook Pro, so if the WB is out, the saturation is too rich, or its sharp to the point of making your eyes bleed, get over it. I do not spend 3 hours in Ps or Lr editing each image. I use 10-15mins max on each image. Get over it. At least im out there shooting and posting.
Some of the crops are a little "funky", I dont know, im in two minds about this. I would appreciate constructive criticism on this and critique in general.

So with out any delay, ladies and gentlemen and Andreas: It is my honour to present to you Mr Hayden Gates, and Ms Stine Kvarsnes. Enjoy. N