Chances are you will read something that you will not like at all. But I do have some cool pictures, c'mon on in.
Portraits, skateboarding, music, people sweating, and some tits and ass. Welcome!
Its all happening. Not here where I am, but it seems like there is a lot going on in the world right now. Syria is going balls crazy, I dont usually have much empathy for war stricken countries, because ignorance is bliss, and I'm quite frankly to selfish to care. But somewhere along the line it hit home with me, what are these people doing to each other? And what possible reason(s) could justify the brutal and savage killing of so many people? I know the reasons, but they are by no means a justification.
Torrential downpour has struck Japan, I need not to mention that this is very shortly after the series of natural disasters that occurred less than a year ago. People are dying here too.
The new Batman film, (which I have yet to see) will be remembered for completely the wrong reasons. A single individual managed to destroy the lives of a few hundred people within a few seconds. At the cinema. More people dead.
As of a good life I have, the more I hear and see about these things, I feel less of a need to buy a new stuff, to worry about trivial things, to be false and facetious, to be co-dependent, to worry about, to worry about materialistic possessions in general, stress about my "luxury problems" ( I blogged about this a while ago. You can find it here too.) All of this seems superfluous in comparison to the real problems we have in the world right now. And no, I'm not becoming an activist hippie. But it doesn't hurt to be aware.
The Tour de France is finally over, I could honestly not care less, but its been drawing in mindless Lance Armstrong fanatics to screens everywhere for the last however long. Admittedly though, after the last however many days when ever I look up and its on, I think I should start cycling. But then I wake up and realise I'm not a mindless nincompoop. France, really? The highlight of the year in the cycling world is riding the lightest possible bike through the most arrogant country in the world? Here is my suggestion. Firstly, choose a decent country. Make it exciting for the viewer as well as the riders, for all I know the entire race could have taken place in Yorkshire or Milwaukee. It all looks the same. Why not change the concept a bit, Tour de Township. Cycle from Guguletu in Cape Town to Hillbrow in Johannesburg, going through every informal settlement en route. ( For my international readers: Google Image search these places.) That would be exciting! I wonder how many bikes would actually still have wheels on them when entering Jozi. Secondly make the bike heavier. Whats the point in having super lightweight, dry carbon weave space frame bike? Isn't this meant to be challenging? All bikes should be homemade by the riders themselves, on a budget of no more US$ 300. That will also teach these sweaty, protein juiced, anorexic men to do something else than shave their legs. Girls. I will buy a case of beer to the first man to cycle from Guguletu to Hillbrow on a homemade bicycle.
The Olympics have started. Not that I could care about that either. Not until they start accepting real sports. IOC, if you stumble across this, take note: Wakeskating, downhill skating, surfing, rope access, bouldering, wingsuiting, free diving, and some sort of fighting with weapons that is not fencing would be a great to the very blah line up you offer already. How often does the Olympics take place, 4 years. You would think they would have built up something in the four year time span that would get people excited? No, the same crap every year. Can this black dude run faster than all these white dudes? Yes. Can this black dude do this better than that white dude? Most probably. As soon as black people learn to master swim as fast as they run and ice hockey, every American icon sport will be dominated by black dudes. End of story. Prime example, I just watched the opening minutes of Norway VS Brasil in mens beach volleyball. Come now Norway, what are you honestly thinking? Of all the countries they could have been paired up with, Brasil? It was entertaining at least. I think they teach kids in Brasil how to spike a volleyball before they learn to read. Norway doesn't really have an acceptable beach that I have seen yet, and if they do, its probably in a place that only gets three days of sun per year. Stick to skiing.
I'm sure there is another thing that I was meant to offer my two cents on. But for the love of nicotine dependence, I cant think of it. In the mean time here are some pictures from the job I'm currently running on Visund. First pictures from my Iceland trip will be going up soon!!! Stay tuned in! Take it easy. N.
11.2 tonnes of heave compensation cylinder on its way to the drill floor from the pipe deck.
Lifting the cylinder through the derrick to mount it in the crown.
Slinging, clearance was down to 20cm in some places.
Crown block on its way up. All 10.4 tonnes of it. You can see the drillfloor and the rotary table below.
Test lift with crown block.
Contrary to popular belief, I do actually work every once in a while.
Our night team mounting the guide sheave for the fast line.
I've never liked the stigma attached to the word "artist". To me as a photographer, it sounds a bit airy fairy, maybe its the medium I operate, but the word "creative" always made more sense. I'm not just a photographer, I'm a designer, a dreamer, a planner, a thing maker, a problem solver, a connector, a networker, conversation waiting to be engaged.
I've always acknowledged the lighter, more humorous side of clicking a shutter. But very rarely have I thought about using the camera to portray something else than what it is meant to be. Obviously every picture carries a meaning and a message with it, and a lot of that comes down to the end viewers perception. A picture of a bacon sandwich will evoke different emotions in Austin, Texas to what it will in Kabul, Afghanistan for instance. On the technical side of this, the reason that the 50mm lens was and still is go to lens for photojournalist's is because 50mm on a full frame camera is the equivalent to the human eye's field of view and perception, the strive to tell a story through images as accurately as possible. Anything significantly wider will distort the image and eventually the truth, anything longer will compress the image and change the perception of the image.
This is something I found out pretty quickly when I started taking pictures, I do love wide angles and I do love smashing a background to pieces with a 200mm at ƒ2.8. This is probably why photojournalism has mused me, but never been a subject I would be interested in shooting myself. I look through the photo's I'm compiling for a book I want to put together, and I see a lot of people, I've focused very intensely on what it is I want and do not want to shoot. People is by far the most fascinating subject for me, not only the images, but the conversation, the relationship I have with most of my subjects. Very often what you see is the final product of what has been an emotional journey, a plan come together, a last minute phone call, a favour from a friend, a borrowed this or that. Obviously not everything can be conveyed in one image. As photographers or creative's in general we try to carry a message, to convey a feeling, to produce an understanding, and to bludgeon a cliche: "for the work to speak for itself".
What is the message your work carries? What is message does my work carry? You decide. Does some of it even have a message? I'm sure that there is a feeling that is given off. Through my recent delve into the f-word industry, (fashion, for all of you optimists out there!) I found out that final image has to be very close to what you have in mind to start out with. No amount of Photoshop or retouching will fix the mood or atmosphere of the picture if you blow it. I guess you have to take into account that the fashion that I have been shooting has been very conceptual and experimental. Not the catalogue, seamless stuff. This is where for me the line between art and documentation becomes fairly blurry. Art can only be defined as art when it serves no other purpose than to be art. Deep huh? Yeah. But then how can a fashion be art? How can fashion photography which is almost entirely used for promotion of a product be art? This enforces my previous statement even more, you have to picture in you mind very clearly before the camera even comes out. Communicating and discussing with make up artist's, hair stylist's, photo assistants and fashion stylists makes this slightly more challenging as well. That by itself is whole entire post I'm saving for another day.
What does all this mean, where am I going with this? I love the taking the pictures I take, I love the everything behind it, but what does it count for at the end of the day? Why do I work in the oil industry? Theres should be something way more meaningful out there for me to do. I love my job though. Makeup, hair, clothes, material goods than inspire teenage girls to be anorexic, cocktails, wrap parties, making people look better than what they actually are, all of this superficial shit, what does it all add up to at the end of the day? Yeah, I'm losing it here a bit, if I keep at it this way, I might end up working as a bare foot, lentil eating aid worker with my disciple beard in Sumatra. Not such a bad idea though.... I could do with a few less kg's on my constantly expanding mid-section and there are good waves in Sumatra. I feel like a sell out when I look at my peers work, take my friend Linn Heidi, for example, she shoots pretty much exclusively medium format film work. There she is working her ass off, taking light readings, metering her manual focus only camera, shooting maximum 12 shots per roll of film, and then developing her film. I whip out a light or two, turn my camera on, turn some knobs and shoot as many frames as I want and view them instantly. You can check out Linn Heidi's work here:
Some people see digital format as being a craft. Shooting film, you are a craftsman/woman, shooting digital, you are merely an operator. Imagine the feeling in my stomach when I read this:
Image by: Taryn Simon
Iraqi actress Zahra Zubaidi playing the role of Farah in Brian DePalma’s film Redacted. Simon created this photograph to serve as the final frame in DePalma’s film.
"Zahra Zubaidi is currently seeking political asylum in the United States. Since appearing in the film, she has received death threats from family members and criticism from friends and neighbors who consider her participation in the film to be pornography.
The film is based on the gang rape and murder of a 14 year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza, by U.S. soldiers outside Mahmudiya on March 12, 2006. Abeer’s mother, father, and 6-year-old sister were murdered while she was being raped. After the soldiers took turns raping Abeer, she was shot in the head and her body was set on fire.
Four American soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment were convicted of crimes including rape, intent to commit rape, and murder".
These are the words of my new icon, Taryn Simon. I stumbled upon her work today via http://www.strobist.blogspot.no/ I currently do not possess the words in my vocabulary to describe the feeling I got from looking at work and watching her presenting her work. You have to check it out for yourself. I strongly advise that no matter who you are or what you are involved, you will take something away from this. You can see her work here:
But in the meantime, you can get a taste of that indescribable feeling that I got by watching this video. The URL for the video on YouTube is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKl0tb3VmfQ if you want to watch it in fullscreen. Have a good Sunday night and a meaningful week. N.
Hahaha. I just used Google Chrome to translate my last blog into Norwegian. What a laugh. I remember once at work offshore we spent the better part of half an hour laughing at Google Translate saying perverse things in a Norwegian Stephen Hawkins voice. Small things amuse small minds huh.
Hopefully going back to Reykjavik in September to teach at the Reykjavik Fashion Academy for a few days. Really excited about that. For the meantime though I have slightly more bigger issues to worry about. After completely crashing out from sleep deprivation yesterday, I flopped into bed at 9:30PM, content just to be horizontal for more than 30 minutes, my peaceful slumber was violently brought to a halt at just after 3:00AM after the general alarm went off. ( There is no different alarm for major or minor accidents, same flashing lights and infernal pitched beeping regardless) The first thing that races through your mind is: Oh Fuck. Nothing more, nothing less. Just that. Either something has gone wrong on a catastrophic level in which case you have to act smartly and quickly or something has gone wrong on a catastrophic level and its too late to act at all. The next thing that floated into my semi-conscious state of mind was: Where is my survival suit? And do I have time to put it on? Right. Its under my bed, and lets wait and hear for what the platform chief says next. First sign of the word gas rolling off his tongue, and Im out of here. That suit will keep you warm for 8 hours in frigid sea water, but will not help for 30 seconds in a room being pumped full of hydrogen sulphide. I always think the worst, that way when it is the worst, at least you've had a few seconds to mentally prepare for what happens next. My plan was to gun it down the hall, make for the stairs and get to either the helideck or my lifeboat station quick sticks.
Luckily the word gas never saw the light of day. The words sewerage, 1st floor and problem did though. A gentle wave of relief lapped over my now cold sweat ridden and tense body. At least the problem wasn't going to affect me immediately. You can safely assume as well that all is well here considering I had time to plot out and type this post. As much I love blogging, if I had to jump into the sea, you wouldn't hear about here. CNN, BBC, or the local newspaper might be the best options to keep your eyes on.
Turns out the entire sewerage system on the first floor decided to give up on life in the early hours of the morning, spewing out its contents to the bathroom floor of every cabin simultaneously. Keep in mind there are +-30-35 cabins on the 1st floor, this meant big shit. (Sorry, I had to. That isn't the last one either). I was on the 4th floor, but with one peek out down the stairwell I could smell the problem. Ventilation in the living quarter is quite good, its over pressured for safety reasons, which means the air circulation is better than a normal room with normal atmospheric pressure. This proved to be a serious issue 20 minutes after the initial porcelain volcano erupted. The aftershocks were quite powerful and its 2:35PM and the stench is still very much there. This meant that the entire 1st floor was evacuated, all the unnecessary personal were sent home by chopper and the people that needed to sleep were found rooms by 10AM this morning. The hotel manager must have had fun organising that by herself at 7AM. Three choppers in and out within a 1hour time frame. One of my colleagues was unfortunate enough to have been caught in the shitstorm. This meant that today was a write off for our entire team, as Statoil's rules state you must have at least 6 hours uninterrupted sleep off-shift. So he has had a pretty shitty time and been trying to nap the entire day while I have been doing other bits and pieces, namely editing iPhone pictures. Here's the second installment of my Reykjavik Romance iPhone-o-graphy set. Have a good day internet. N
The view from the harbour.
My two Norwegian buddies; Jo and Harald, good dudes, good vibes.
Clowns
Icelandic lanscape
Blue lagoon.
Free show in the middle of town.
Lobster and tiger prawn pasta.
Sunrise after a days shooting.
The wall of fame at Elite.
The studio at Elite.
Wardrobe for the shoot, 500.000 Icelandic Kronurs worth.
Maria getting made up.
I did that. I mistook the little Chevy for my bakkie.
Kristin Lilja watching me dig the car out of the beach sand.
So you might have guessed I'm back in Norway, well more accurately floating on a towering steel monstrosity in the lower half of the North-Atlantic off the coast of Norway. Quite a drastic change from the metropolitan romance I had the last ten days. Everything is far less sexy out here. Definitely.
I thought I should just bring ya'll up to speed on what I got up to and the nightmare that has been my life the last couple of days. Lets rewind back to Iceland. The shooting, OMFG!!! I shot pictures like a boss!!! Really excited to get working on these and get them out. Something very different to what I usually shoot, but you will definitely see that I had a finger in it. The hair, the make up, the drama, the love, the stress, the beauty, the sweat, the stuck rental car on the beach at 2:00AM. All of it. I want it all again. I've been on a kinda low after all of that. And I know why. Its like Laird Hamilton (If you dont know who he is, just google his name and check the images.) said when asked what he does when there are no 30+ft waves to surf. " Its like if you're a dragon slayer, and all of a sudden there are no more dragons to slay, what could you possibly do that compares to dragon slaying?"
I am such a perfectionist with everything when I shoot, composition, exposure, mood, colour, texture, and overall feeling. I put myself under such pressure to get the shot I'm after, I get buzzed off it. I literally go into another "stealth-brainwave-ninja-monk" state of mind. What can I do that gets me off like that that isn't shooting pictures?
Anyway, heavily sleep and sanity deprived fearing for my sexual orientation after being surrounded by women for 3 days in a row. I returned to dreary Norway with the feeling that my heart was still on a bench on a busy street in downtown Reykjavik. I was absolutely destroyed from the last three days, so tired that my fingernails and my teeth were sore. For real, never been that tired before. Then a quick 24 hours back in Trondheim I jumped on a plane at 5:00AM to get to another plane to catch a helicopter to flip out to my home for the next 14days, Visund. Before I go on with the actual point of this post, I'm going to drop a picture of Visund right about here, regular programming will continue shortly.
To put it in perspective, its about 110m x 110m deck space. Pic courtesy of :fylkesmagasinet.no
Right, the actual point of this post was to show some pictures. Some different ones aswell though, for a change instead of walking around looking like every other tourist with a DSLR and monster telephoto lens, I decided to use my iPhone. And because I'm not a hipster and care about how far off the line the saturation slider goes, I didn't use Instagram! I just could bring myself to do it. I tried one, and the vignette and the grain and the white balance warmth came on in such strong bounds in leaps, I couldn't help but laugh and think how is it this become so popular? Maybe to some iPhoneographers I over stepped the line and actually used a legit editing program (Lightroom) to jazz my pictures. What you think? Should iPhone pictures be edited strictly on iPhone software?
Anyway, think about it for a while, here's some pictures of what I did when I didn't have the 5D glued to my hand. More to come soon. N
He actually managed to fit the pint glass in his mouth.
Possibly my twin Icelandic brother. And a newly made girlfriend Sigga.
Yeah, that happened.
Steak burger and double thick choc shake. Quality.
Live DJ's and MC's almost everyday in the park. Good vibes.
A fairly large duckpond in downtown Reykjavik.
Symmetry, kinda.
Cars and stuff.
JUNGLE CAT!!! saw this on the way to the OMAM show.
Im in trouble... The longer I stay here in Reykjavik, the more I wanna live here. I've pretty much decided that next year for summer this is where I'm going to be. I actually dont have a valid reason to stay in Norway anymore. Not with knowing what going on across the pond. Its just another game here. Everything I thought I knew before has become superfluous now, different set of rules in every sense. Really such a beautiful place, the people, the energy, the love, just such a breath of fresh air. Comparing it to Norway would be like comparing Woodstock in the 60's to San Quentin State Penitentiary today, really.
I was cruising around yesterday after lunch and the weather was awesome, I noticed there were masses of people moving in the same direction as I was, out of sheer anxiety for a sudden volcanic eruption, I stopped and asked someone what was happening. There was an open air show with three Icelandic bands playing in the park. For free. Cool. So I thought I might as well go check it out. I had no idea what to expect, maybe a couple hundred people and some music? Turned out to be what I reckon could have been 35000 - 40000 people, although I could have very well been more. Also I had never heard of any of the bands that were playing.
The line up was:
WOW!!! I was dumbstruck. Coolest show since the last one I hit up on Thursday. HAHA. No, obviously you cant compare the vibe of a club filled to the brim with crazed party people to an open air "festival" with thousands. What a treat though.
I only had my 35mm on the 5D, which is an amazing lens in terms of image quality and the fact that its the fastest glass I own makes it very versatile for any lighting situation. However, If I had my 24-70mm and my 70-200mm I would have been a lot more comfortable. The 24-70mm was back at the hostel and the 70-200mm didn't fall into the "pack only necessary items that let you move quickly" category.
So only having that one prime lens made things slightly frustrating, but fun none the less. I ended up shooting 750+ images of which I have selected 3. Here they are. Out to find some lunch now. N.
Mammut
Lay Low
Of Monsters and Men
The mass of mentalist Icelanders behind me, you can see the famous Reykjavik church in the background
Hello again. Just to let everyone know, Im moving to Reykjavik next summer. For real.
Cant begin to explain this place. It literally is shitballs mental here. I thought I was so wordly wise and slick with my tongue until I sat down to write this post. Where can I start???? I think for the first time in a very long while Im actually at a loss for words.
Lets try figure something out here. As a creative myself, its heaven to connect with other creatives. Ill add it up for you as to who I met within 8 hours of arriving here and venturing into the streets.
1 x product designer named Rosa - you can check her out here: www.hugdetta.com
1 x couple who run a design shop that prints and makes literally everything. - www.vinnustofan.is
1x dude who left his job in NY as a Teacher and has been travelling the world doing plenty - www.worldwinder.com
1x Probably the coolest band I have seen in years. OMFG!!! You have know idea how cool these guys are. - www.retrostefson.com
I was lucky enough to get some good beta and was prepared to shoot them last night at a place called Faktory. One of the best live shows I have seen in years.
Today I met up with the team at Elite Models Iceland - www.elitemodel.is and started planning all my test shooting for next week. INFINITE STOKE!!! Possibly the nicest people I have met in a very long time. So cool to talk to people that have hustle. Thats what Norway lacks in comparison to SA, hustle. Norway has got this safety net all the time, that no matter what happens to you, you will always land on your feet some how. The government is so meticulously run that nothing ever goes wrong. Iceland... Well their country completely fell apart in 2008 and in some ways has not yet recovered, but is on well on its way back up. But people here know this, and they are hustling and have a much more extroverted and somewhat agressive take on everything. Their safety net went belly up and they know they have to rebuild with out it. So similar in Cape Town. People have the energy to make things happen, people make a plan, people hustle.
Its a beautiful thing. To see people make the best of what they can, to see people build, find motivation and make things work. I can identify with that for sure. OOOOOHHHH!!!!! Almost forgot to mention it! I met a charming young woman (whose name I have not the slightest chance of pronouncing correctly!) last night who is a flight instructor that offered to take me on a trip in a single engined plane to get an aerial view of Reykjavik!!! WOW! How sick is that?! So amped!
Im not going to drop the full set of pictures from that show last night for two reasons, firstly I have slept for like maybe 9 hours in total over the last two days. And I dont want to do a shitty rush job on something that requires time and a bit of thinking. Secondly, I am way too psyched on going for a swim in a 36 degree geo-thermal pool in 30 minutes and then lying in the mud and doing nothing for an hour or two. Here are some shot's of what has been happening so far. And a killer video from my new favourite Icelandic thing - Retro Stefson. Stay classy internet. N.
Love the video.... Such a feel good vibe.
Super mellow girl I met in a photography store yesterday.
I dont really have enough time to put down everything I want right now, but I'll try. Decided a few hours ago that I want to go to Iceland. So I booked a ticket. Leaving tomorrow at 3pm. SOOOOOOO AMPED!!!!
Hopefully will be able to do some shooting too, Ive been in contact with an Icelandic Agency called Elite Models. So there could be a vibe to do some test shooting and get som new stuff for my book.
Yeah, I know! Icelandic people look amazing! Stoked for that. Also stoked to just do something spontaneous and different. Buying a house, working a job, all this adds up, and I just thought, why not?
Think I made the right decision. I know I did.
Been checking out some other blogs, and ran across this one girl who is by far the most mental, out there woman ever. Really dig her writing style, even though if 90% of it is about sex, phallic obsession, coitus and internet stardom. Another thing that really struck me was how its actually ok these days for a girl to be sexually liberal and be open about it... Think about that for a second.... Right, I like the concept of that to the point where I start asking myself, why as men are we so inhibited by talking and being open about our sexuality and direction? Think about that too... Before this turns into an essay about something I am way under qualified on, here is the link to her blog. BEWARE - this chick tells it like it is. Nothing pretty hiding the underlying.
And finally, here is something very different, but that kinda ties into that last paragraph. I realised how much I love hip hop and rap again. I have been listening to so much the last couple of weeks, everything from old school Warren G to some new school underground cats you never heard of. Here happens to be one of them. Who is actually a lady. Dig that, female rappers with skills are a winner in my books. The song really hit home with me, just kind of looped in my head for an hour so before I listened to it again. Will check in again once I'm in Iceland. N.
Sunday afternoon again. The weather has been exceptional today, I unfortunately have been stuck inside with my face cemented to this monitor doing something I almost had to physically restrain myself into doing. Processing all the shot's from a job I shot last week for my buddies at Spætt Media.
They are probably doing the same with their film capture that we shot throughout the day. At a somewhat less furious rate though. None of the pictures will make any sense right now, but once the final production is released, I'll be sure to post it up here so that you can make a reference as to what goes where. There's nothing much to explain, except the ad was shot for a property development group that are busy building a out a new area just outside Trondheim. And the shoot was meant to promote and show off the niceties of the new development. Especially for young families and people who would like a bit more space and fresh air. Here are some shot of the actors, scenery and some stills of the shots we got during the day. N.
