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!
I went to eat cookies and chill with my girlfriend. That was then, Sunday has now been and gone. I have been avoiding this whole writing and picture thing for a while now. I have busy up to my ears with bits and pieces the last two weeks. Here's a quick run down:
*Bought an apartment. Monumental. Colossal and epic all at once. It is beautiful. It is mine for keeps.
*Moved in to said apartment. Tiring, back ache. Amazing to get out of the hole I lived in AKA "the wank pit".
*Been partying waaaaay to much. Not productive, my justification is that I dont drink and therefore dont suffer the brutal hangovers that all my friends do. However I might as well considering I sleep in until 12 noon on Sundays.
*Been climbing and training like a beast. Good-bye wobble tummy, Hello chiseled shoulders. Good to have you back.
*Been shooting and catching up on editing that has slipped past me. Living in real time again.
*Planning out some awesome shoots for Autumn.
*Planning out a short film. WHAT?! Yes. Im going to make a movie. It will be brilliant.
*Tickets back to CPT are booked! 8 weeks back home!!! WORD UP CAPE TOWN!!! Road tripping, surf, climb, shoot, party, eat great food, repeat.
* Reykjavik Fashion in November with my friends ELITE Model Iceland. ! Hello French Vogue, Elle and Cosmo.
So all of this is going on on my side. Much anticipation as to what the future holds. I guess I am also well stoked to get out of Norway during the "super-shit" part of the year. I just can't crack it here then. Already the weather is miserable. If your'e one of these "Oh, the colours are so beautiful in Autumn" people, you should try life sans Prozac.
Im restless. Ive been sitting here trying to summon the creative writing genie out of his lamp for about 25 minutes now. I type a sentence, then delete it. Its not funny enough, its not witty enough, its not smart enough. Im listening to Sting now. What an underrated musician. Listen to Sting. I have a feeling we will not be finding the meaning of life in this blog post. Until I find something sensible or mildly entertaining to say, Im out. Here are some pictures. Stay classy. N.
Per from 22 at Blæst
Same dude, same band, different angle.
Andreas from 22.
The calm before the storm, Familien stage before 22 takes to the stage.
Guitar Hero superstar Magnus from 22
Mats from 22.
Mouthswap with Snap'n'Crackle. Childish.
Thomas "the tooth" Tennfjord.
The after party. Sisqo was there too.
Steffen, strong as they come climber, mellow dude.
My name is Nic Schwerdtfeger, I am photographer living in Trondheim that is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. No, not Australia. Cape Town is not in Australia. I feel like I need to say this as I often been called "mate" by some Norwegians when I say I'm from Cape Town. In fact one person even questioned my authenticity by asking if I was sure about Cape Town being in South Africa. If it wasn't for my pity on the dim-witted, I would have been amused, but I was not amused. I am very aware that Norway is an extremely wealthy country due to the jackpot you guys lucked out on with the whole oil thing, but can't you afford half-decent Geography teachers? Where is my tax money going Anniken?
Im jumping the gun here a bit, the real purpose of this letter is not about Australia, or Geography. Today I became aware that you were "relocated", or got the axe as we like to say. I am extremely sad about Mr Stoltenbergs decision here. I guess I should firstly state that writing this, I have done no research whatsoever into the current state of affairs regarding Jens' realignment campaign, therefore if I am completely off the mark here, please correct me. I guess you can identify with this though, as on a few occasions I have heard you being interviewed, and it seems like you have a similar approach.
I was devastated to find out that you are no longer to be the Norwegian culture minister. Ok, I need to get something else off my chest here. I dont understand you, not as in your behaviour, as in when you speak, it could be a mix of that cute lisp you have and your dialect. Kan du itj Trøndersk for faen? I have supported your cause ever since my first trip to this fine land. I remember back to the first few weeks I spent here and the fantastic examples of Norwegian culture that I witnessed. Some of these memories I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The first job that I had in Norway as a bartender, I witnessed something truly spectacular. It was closing time and I was wiping down the bar, when I noticed a guy standing in the corner pulling very peculiar faces at me, I walked around the bar to tell him we were closing and he should be going. Everything was going to plan until lo and behold there was a young woman on her knees, (well there is no way of saying this politely), blowing him. Much to my dismay and clear display of shock, neither of them would be stirred. And I mean she was going for it, like really going for it! Eventually I had to get the bouncer to "escort" them to the door. This is what I experienced as Norwegian culture. And I liked it. This is due to your fine work Anniken. What is to come now that you have been replaced? I am slightly worried.
From the teenagers in red, blue and black jumpsuits I saw urinating on one of their classmates whilst he was throwing up in the street, to the random couples having (most probably) unprotected sex in public I have passed in the early hours of the morning, the excessive binge drinking of the general public and random acts of blind violence, I think I have had a great impression due completely to your effort of Norwegian culture. I think we have a lot in common Anniken, generally when I fuck something up, I do it massively, sheer catastrophe is the only way I do things wrong. You know what I'm talking about.
Humour aside though, I have something you might be interested in. Call this a proposition or what you will, but I think we should be collaborating on something together. I guess before I go any further here, I should tell you that I am extremely attracted to you. I think mildly obsessed would be more correct. Just so you know, you have been for the last 3 months and will continue to be my desktop background. My friends and colleagues think I slightly mad, but I dont care. Some of them even made some awful remarks about your vajayjay, but I defended you. Although I must ask out of curiosity, are you naturally ginger? If yes, does the carpet match the curtains? If yes to that last one too, thats cool with me.
I dreamed that we would go on a walk through Bergen together, hopefully one night its not pissing with rain. Walking through the streets on a mellow Autumn evening, arms draped around each other we would arrive at a restaurant with fine wine, well groomed waitrons and fantastic creme bruleé. Im guessing you would have fish? I dont know why, but you look a "fish" person. Afterwards I would caress your soft minister hands and whisper sweet nothings in your ear. Assuming you are like all the other Norwegian women I know, we all know what happens next. You know that I'm actually not white? Thats right, brown from the waist down. Yes, I said that. I can give you some references if you need? Just shoot me an email if it sounds like something you could be into.
You clearly dont belong in politics Anniken. I need someone like you by my side. I need an editor for my blog, a photo assistant, a retoucher, a PA, a travel planner and someone to take care of all the annoying details in my life. I pay well too, apart from the occasional free tube steak, I guess I could fork out some cash for you. What are we looking at here roughly? Take whatever you make/steal per month and divide it by, oh well, 500, and I can afford to pay you that much.
In conclusion, I would just like to mention, that I can speak Norwegian, rather well I might add. I am extremely open minded, and would like to experience first hand from you what Norwegian culture is about. I want to go to Kautokeino and meet Same people, I want to wear a yellow rain hat, I want a bunad, I want to like sodd and mackerel in tomatoes and I want to go on cross country skiing trips and eat oranges and Kvikk Lunsj with you. I hope you take this to heart, I really would like to hear back from you with maybe some constructive criticism.
I wish you the best of luck in your new position as "arbeidsminister".
Have a fantastic evening my darling Anniken.
PS. I have included a screencap of my desktop as proof that I love you.
For those of you that actually have an interest in Norwegian politics, you can see the real article here:
Ok, so its September and I have been pretty slack on keeping to my schedule with making things happen on the blog front. This can be attributed to a few reasons which I shall now list in non-chronological order.
-I bought an apartment. A very, very nice apartment. Ok, very nice doesn't quite cut it here, Its fucking amazing!
-I tore the tendons in two fingers during an over-psyched climbing session which meant I couldn't hold my camera and was in excruciating pain for 3 days.
-As soon as the fingers were capable of taking a bit of strain, I made up for lost time by shooting at a furious rate.
-I have been getting all my ducks in a row regarding the financial side of things with Two Shoes Photo. This is a tedious process., made even more fun by the fact all the documents are in Norwegian.
-I have been making lists of things in non-chronological order in my spare time to procrastinate the actual effective use of my time. Its sad.
But more to the point here, the remainder of my pictures from my trip to Iceland are finished and have been delivered! This is a milestone for me as this has been the Achilles heel in my life for me for the last few weeks. Finally I can start planning the next move for the fashion side. Its going to be especially interesting was now I have free access to my own studio! Before I run away with plans on what will be happening here, and there will be ALOT happening, let me take you through what you're about to see.
Apart from the head shots which are pretty straight forward and don't really require a written explanation, I would like to just do a quick run down of the stuff we shot on location. The previous days shooting was fantastic right until I got the rental car submerged up to the chassis in fine Icelandic beach sand. Admittedly this was one of the most shameful moments in my history as a human being. I felt a part of my "South African-ness" get sucked down with the underpowered Chevrolet into the sand that would become known as the "vibe-killer" on set. For those of you that are unaware, I will explain, South African men, the endangered species that we are would never admit to getting any car stuck anywhere. Its the kind of statement that will usually demote you in the pecking order with the boys. We are the kind of people that would rather bludgeon our meal to death, cook it over an open fire than "pay" for anything another male might have prepared. I use inverted comma's on pay because this is a concept that has also been a bit foggy to us. We have learned the most efficient way to get something is to "take". My testosterone level was already sinking rapidly, this was now made even worse by the fact I was surrounded by a female make up and hair stylist, a female fashion stylist, and two female models. Better start digging Nic. Eventually, a coarse and bloody fingered two hours later, and with the help of a passer-by his 1400nM truck, we freed the fucking useless piece of shit 2WD Chevrolet poor defenceless Chevrolet. The time was now 1:30AM and we still had three more setups to shoot. The shoot finished at 6:00AM.
The next was looking challenging already. Luckily, and if it weren't for this, I probably would have had a wobbly out on location, my model was an absolute dream to work with. What a massive difference this makes. My team was for lack of a better word, perfect. It just gelled. Everything ran like clockwork. I have never had things work that efficiently on a shoot before. We shot a bunch of different outfits in the field of flowers and herbs, basically just trying out different looks, lighting setups, lighting modifiers, moods and ideas. I was initially struggling to find my footing with the Profoto system and balance out the ambient and strobe lighting, not because of the math, but it wasn't really doing anything for me. In the end, i ditched the strobes as I felt and could clearly see the beautiful natural light was doing a lot more for the look I wanted. I flipped the motor drive on and just did a series of natural light bursts which logistically is way easier. You will see in the images that follow what I'm talking about. As much of a treat it was to work with US$ 30000 lighting rig, turning it off and unplugging it was probably the best decision I made that day. I think the concept that we had planned out initially real came to life in that day shooting. I would love to share the images that we used for inspiration, but due to laws and professional courtesy, I can't. I will say though, that natural beauty, playfulness, intrigue, mystique, Lord of the Rings, movement, flow, balanced, Arwin, wind, and dynamic were some of the words that we threw around the table the first time we all met up. I was ecstatic when I first brought the images into Lightroom, as I could immediately tell that this was going to be killer. What a difference it makes to work with like minded people, chilled, open minded, and creative people. A sense of humour goes a really long way on a shoot like this. Its fun, it's about playing, being uninhibited and doing something different. As much of a technical nerd I am when it comes to taking pictures, every now and then when there are these moments that you just can't plan out, you can't prep for the small details. I will tell you that having a model as animated, extroverted and wild as Una from Elite will make things sooooo much easier. I really remember that day as one of the best days I have had to date shooting pictures. I thank all of you that I worked with for your amazing skill, creativity and sense of humour.
Im off to work for a short while on Tuesday, and when I get back I will moving out of the desolate wank pit into my new abode AKA Two Shoes castle of coitus. But I have PLENTY of stuff that will go up in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for something fresh and energetic over the next week or so. Possibly even a video appearance! Here are the pictures featuring the stunning and undoubtedly talented Una Rikey from Elite Model Iceland. Have a great week and stay classy. N.
Hi again. Where do we get the ball rolling here? I've been up to my ears in getting things in order for the next couple weeks, months, lifetimes. But apart from that, I have also been shooting, editing and producing far more than usual. Things are moving at light speed right now. Just they way I like it. I have so many ideas for cool posts, marketing, nerdy-tech talk, and loads more stuff that I cant give away right now... Stay tuned.
As much as I would love to rattle on about this and that and seduce you into reading my carefully worded and somewhat condescending bullshit, there is a point to this post. Read on.
What is at stake when you ask a stranger if you can shoot pictures of them? I think I should refine this a tad. What is at stake when you ask a beautiful young woman if she is comfortable in front of the camera in her underwear? Everything and nothing. I have the "no dignity, no shame" approach to this. If my game is right on the day I can walk into almost any situation and make something interesting happen. Especially if you involve people. I love people, and taking pictures of people is by far the ace up my sleeve. On the other hand though, if my game is off on the day, I can blow it big time, and I have before.
I sit down for lunch at a swish cafe in downtown Reykjavik. In between the insane days of shooting for my friends at Elite Model Iceland, the last thing I can think of is doing personal work in my precious, sleep deprived spare time. I see her immediately, she glides through the room like a figure skater on ice. She is tall, strawberry blonde, with glacial blue like eyes. I think its the eyes that did it. This is a headshot waiting to happen, a flick of the hair that needs to be captured. Natural beauty that is staring me right in the face. My mind starts racing to figure out how to "document" this. Concepts, colours, tones and textures are vivid and not the primary focus of what I want here. I lost track of this thought process as soon as my food arrived. Anything with meat and mushroom sauce will stop me dead in my tracks. A few mastication cycles later I finish my steak sandwich and double thick chocolate milkshake.
On my way out I ask the girl that ruined all hope of focusing on doing anything productive that day if I can shoot pictures of her. She smiles, laughs and asks me if I'm serious. An brief exchange of telephone numbers and a few text messages later we have a date.
I wanted to shoot this outside of the studio, somewhere easy, chilled and "contrasty". After much thought and unnecessary stress, I did something I usually never do. I walk in to a situation basically blindfolded. We shot this around my subjects house, a place I have seen or been to before. I had no idea what I was getting into. After surveying my current surroundings for a few minutes, I had my plan. Out come the umbrella's, the speedlights, radio triggers and whats that thing called again? Uhm, that clicky-button wotsit... CAMERA! Yes! that came out.
About halfway into the shoot, me hustling gear back and forth and chopping and changing things out, she says: "I think my brother is looking for me". Completely oblivious to the fact that I am standing in a small forest with a woman in her underwear, this blew straight over my head. A few seconds later I wake up to the potential danger I am now in. Best figure out who might be chasing me through woods in a few moments. "How old is he and what does he do?" I ask with a tone that hopefully doesn't reveal my true fear of getting pounded by the over protective Icelandic big brother. "He's 31 and he's a hardcore electro DJ..." Fuck. Great. Sounds like a nice guy.
I'll cut to the chase. He turns out to actually be the most chilled and well travelled, well read Icelander I have met to date. You know who you are man! I hope you read this and remember that the offer still stands to drop in when I'm in Cape Town, both of you are most welcome. I must squeeze a quick thank you in here to both my model for the day, who is absolutely STUNNING! and to "big brother". Thanks for not remixing my face. I know your names, for anonymity's sake, I won't drop them here.
Here are some pictures, much love, N.
I would love to write some intellectual, witty and nonsensical paragraph to trick everyone into thinking that I am better with words than I actually am. I would love for you to think that I am a talented writer as well as a talented photographer. I would love to write that I would love to have permanent hair removal in certain areas of my body without feeling metrosexual. I would love it if people actually read the bullshit that I wrote. I would love for the advertising agency that does all the media for Bik Bok and Vero Moda to call me up and ask me if I would like to shoot their winter catalogue. The fact of the matter is that it doesn't work like this.
Unfortunately every now and then I have to put some effort in. Right now there are 1000 different things going on that I need to put effort into. I think I've spent more time contemplating which one of these things to jump onto and run with that I have run out of time to complete some of them. There are endless things I could fill up my day with that lead to absolute 0 productivity. I have been "overly-productive" the last couple of weeks, I know this because I feel strained and exhausted at the moment. I cant bare to look at another set of pictures in Lightroom.
On the other hand though, I am fizzing to get these pictures out and show the world what I can do given the right tools. I can create, I can develop, I can express, I can experiment, I can play.
The following set of pictures was an impulsive trip to Reykjavik. Fuelled by energy, love, warmth and friendship. I have to give an ENORMOUS shout out to my crew over the days I was working there.
Arnar Gauti - The man making the fashion scene in Iceland work. You are a visionary and it is an honour to call you a friend.
Johanna Pålsdottir - My mom away from home. What more can I say? Most heartfelt thanks for everything.
Agnes Gudmundsdottir - None of this would have happened without your input. You're a gem. Best of luck in Paris.
Birgitta Asbjornsdottir - My go to woman in Iceland for almost everything. These pictures would not be what they are without you. Fashion stylist of note.
Astridur Gisladottir - Your touch on everything was the cherry on the cake. Thank you for all the time you put in to this.
Maria Run, Kristin Lilja, Nicola Valda and Una Rikey. - The models from Elite Models Iceland. Thank you for your patience whilst I dug out the car that I got stuck and the humor at 4AM.
I'll be seeing all of you guys soon. Much love, N.
And here are my pictures, yeah, thats right, no more bullshit, here they are. And yes, you can have your hammer back, cuz I nailed it. N.
