Fresh outta Reykjavik pt3

Ok, so this one is a bit late, but better late than crying yourself to sleep because you never seem to get anything finished that you start out with. Don't really know how this slipped passed me, but for some reason it did, and thats why I'm feeling somewhat sheepish now.

Enough! These are "rest" of the pictures from my trip to Iceland a while back. My word. I miss that place. So fucking much. I have been speaking to some of friends over there the last couple of weeks, and even via Facebook, I just feel like Im being hugged and loved and made to feel at home. Weird how Norway being very close to part of continental Europe has shaped its people to be aloof and so wary of social interaction, whereas Iceland which is literally a large volcano in the middle of the ocean, has the warmest and most genuine people I have ever encountered. Thank you backwards society that has made me question uprooting and moving to a volcano a viable option. I am definitely going to be back there soon. So many things I have left to do over there. The list grows every time I start thinking about it. Something to look forward too always makes me fizz a little. Theres also a good chance that the most probable Mrs Schwerdtfeger is chilling somewhere on that volcano. Mmmmmm. 

Im out at work (offshore) at the moment, quite possibly the last trip for the year. I love my job. I love my career. There is a difference. I love that am sitting in the middle of the North Sea right now, alcohol free beer in one hand, freshly hand rolled smoke in the other, watching a sunset that most people travel halfway around the world to see. I wont even get started about the food. Ok, maybe I will. Tonight was a seafood buffet that was comprised of lobster, king crab, mussels, prawns, scallops, 6 different types of bread and aioli's. Fresh berries and cream for dessert. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening. Ok, admittedly, blogging might not be the most banging thing to do on a Saturday night as a 25 year old guy. Kinda lame? Possibly... What a blessing all of it is. I am extremely grateful for my situation. I will be sure to put up some pictures from the last couple of trips soon. Sooooo much blogging to do, so frustrating to get my thoughts through this keyboard and onto this screen though. Video blogging? Yes. It will happen soon. Actually had a pretty rad idea for a video blog in relation to the same bunch of questions I have been fielding over the last couple of weeks. Will try to the best of my ability to make it happen. Promise! 

Otherwise, all is well on all other fronts. Apart from the fact that a friend of mine who is a DJ from Oslo and an self-admittted Sisqo fan is currently chilling at my apartment in TRD. Although I made it quite clear what the house rules were and the consequences should they broken, I cant help but being on edge. I have brain flashes that I will get home and the will be rings on my coffee table from damp glasses. RINGS! On my coffee table? Fuck! I think I would throw my toys out the cot properly if that happened. Lord, please have mercy on that coffee table. I know in my last post I wrote about this fictitious relationship I have with my camera, (who I found out is a girl! Sounds whack? Well, the Canon EOS 7D is a boy, whereas the 5D Mk2 is a girl! I made this up based purely upon theory that if these cameras were people, the 7D would have balls, whereas the the 5D Mk2 would have a perky set of muffin sized boobs with little nipples that point slightly outwards and just above the horizon.) but I think the relationship I have with this coffee table is slightly more intense. Maybe even borderline psychotic. I think the root of the problem lies within the nature of these two tangible objects. Here is the situation: Even though I received Genevieve (the camera) fully assembled, and we have created countless memories together, I built Jameson (the table) from nothing, I screwed, hammered, tweaked and made that thing with my own hands. I sweated, bled (yes, I actually cut myself opening the box) and cursed while manufacturing that sexy little bastard. I think the attachment came through the bonding process of spending many futile hours wrestling the four legged monster to completion. Admittedly I did have some "help" from a girlfriend during this gruelling process. Help is a term I throw around very loosely these days. I better not get started on Madeleine (the sofa). I have full faith in the fact that all will be ok because I know the DJ in question frequents this blog. If you read this Even, I hope you find the drink coaster's within the table and use them to their full ability, this way we can avoid a heartbreaking on my side and a potentially painful sodomising on yours. Really though, I have stabbed nicer people for less.

More to the point here. If you read the title, you wonder what all of this bullshit has to do with Reykjavik? Nothing. However, the pictures that follow do. This set of headshot's slipped passed me in the chaos that was the last couple of months. I would have loved to shoot more of the model in question out on our tour of the beautiful Icelandic coast, but due to time constraints and poor planning we missed that. None the less, such a pleasure it was working with her and the rest of my team. If you have a look back a while, you can see pt1 and 2 of my "Fresh Outta Reykjavik" series. For the first time about three weeks ago, I looked at all of the headshot's from all 4 girls together. They look amazing side by side. The colour palettes and tones for each of them is different, but I made a conscious decision while shooting them that lighting and feel for each would be very similar so that it carries throughout the entire set. #consistency. Have a feeling all of them will look sweet as peaches when blown up to A3 and block mounted in my office. Really amped to start making prints of some my collection from the last couple of months. Well, thats all for right now. Have some cool "lifestyle snapshits"coming up in the next post. Stay classy, N.

Daydreaming and the excitement of the unknown.

Wow.... Been a  while since I've done this whole shebang. To be completely honest, I have been way too busy for my own good lately. I feel burnt out and unmotivated.

I go through this phase every Autumn. I have this cycle of being so amped during Spring and Summer that I shoot and shoot and grind myself down. Then I sit and scheme and plan and spend more time worrying about how to actually make things happen than getting anything done. I was planning to write a book on procrastination, but I think I'll start that next week. When Autumn and Winter come round I have run out of creativity and have no will or energy to even think about doing something interesting. I know it has something to do with the weather. The Norwegian weather kills me, I have no sense of belonging and am completely out of place in the snow. Today was the first snowfall in Trondheim. The initial excitement of waking up to a completely white city wore off as soon as I had to trundle up to the shop to buy coffee and rolls. Its not romantic. Its not cosy. It sucks. I remember last year or the year before I went through the same shit. I didn't pick up my camera for two months. I was worried in the beginning. Then I kind of grew to accept the fact that I cant squeeze creativity out of myself, at least not all the time.

 I walk past my camera everyday, mentally it feels we are like a couple with some intimacy issues. She wants my attention, wants to be held and have her buttons pushed. I greet her as I get out of bed on my way to the kitchen. I make some coffee and sit in the deepish nook of my window sill that is my favourite "drift off and zone out" place. I smoke a cigarette and watch the world scuttle past down below. I steal a glimpse at her poking here head out of the shelf. I think about how good things are when we are together. We make things together, we compose, manipulate and create together. I know what she is capable of, I know how to take care of her, and recognise her in my hands every time. She makes some mistakes some times, but I forgive her, she is not perfect, but neither am I. Some times I blame her for my mistakes too. I could be better at taking responsibility for this. She sits there staring at me on some days, pleading to be taken out into the world and shown things she has never seen before.

I have been shooting a bunch of personal projects lately, some of them you will see and some f them you won't. The ones that you will see are great and something I am really proud of. They might not have great meaning to you as the viewer, but for me, the personal effort, sentiment and value is enormous. My head is in a thousand places now. So many things to finish, so many to get started, so many to follow up. I can only do so much at one time. This whole vibe of not shooting and being idle is ok for now. I have accepted that there now only a few weeks left for me to start getting things done. I have committed myself to the process of making some of these happen. Commitment is such a massive thing for me at the moment. I have been so scared to challenge myself and do things out of my usual way, experimenting, playing, testing, making mistakes. A while ago I had to remind myself why I started doing all of this..... Why was that again? Recognition? No. Fame? No. Money? No. To be talented at something? No. Fun? Yes. Photography can be a mental burden, a leech on one's soul when the inspiration runs out, a financial gamble, an art, a rewarding pastime, and a form of art. For me its the reward and the process of making something beautiful come to life. Capturing a moment that can be shared with everyone.

Winter here is a fuck up. Unless you have some winter fashion idea that will probably be cheesy as fuck no matter which angle you look at it. Actually, I do have some cool ideas for shooting outdoor stuff in the snow, but my word, how I can not be bothered to haul all the gear out into the snow and stand there and freeze. Hopefully when I get round to doing these, they won't be cheesy as fuck. Hopefully. So apart from the freezing temps, the shitty light, the misery of just living in Trondheim in Winter, there is actually nothing for me here in this time of year. In fact anywhere north of Morocco is fairly superfluous this time of year.

I hold my hope in one thing that is just around the corner. One thing that will fill my heart and my sun deprived skin with warmth. One place that always make my heart beat to a rhythm I can dig. Home. Cape Town. Oh yes. It has been way too long my old friend. Sun, beach, shorts, lazy evenings, my car, my family, my dog, food, moms cakes, dad's shit jokes, friends. Ill take it all right now. The best part of all of it is the time, 10 weeks!!! Half of which will probably go into shooting and building up my book so that I can show some spring/summer fashion when I get home in February. Its going to be great. I also have this bucket list of shots to get. Some of the big ones will start falling off the list soon. This one thing is pretty much the only thing that is keeping me from putting the toaster in the bath right now.

At the moment I have some other things going on here, making my new home feel like home is coming along pretty well. Tying up the last of the offshore jobs for 2012 is also on the cards. A short trip down to my favourite coastal town in South-Western Norway is also a possibility. And then I'm gone. Will try put up some things whilst I'm working through my mountain of shit. In the mean time here are some of the things, and people I have been shooting with my iPhone. For those of you that are on Instagram, you can follow me @twoshoesphoto. Much love as always for all of you out there following my blog. Take it easy. N.

PS. iPhone 5 camera? OMG!!! I want one soooooo bad. (Just had to drop that in there!)

Sad looking dogs always have the most personality.

Skate session with the boys. Rock, paper, scissors for who goes first.

I made dinner for 9, one of my most impressive feats to date.

Give some, Get some! Got invited to dinner with my girls. Thank you!!!

Collected the key to my new crib. So proud, so stoked, so much spaaaaace!

Went IKEA shopping with the rarest Pokemon from Bergen. Swedish meatballs are a given.

Went shopping for furniture with Linsa, acquired this bad boy Transformer of a coffee table in jet black.  Its now in feed me stuff mode.

And now in: "Oh hi! Im a sneaky coffee table" mode.

The boys testing out the PS3 and the stereo that is waaaaaay too big for my own good. Noise complaints are expected shortly.

Made a biltong pizza. OMG! Words cannot describe the stoke.

Norwegian poetry. Makes me restless!

Bought a bad ass little floor sucker! His name is Darth Vader.

Fast wireless internet courtesy of Apple. This thing is the business!

Breast cancer awareness. I showed and am still showing my support.

Tooooo many potatoes.... Amazing home cooked food ala TwoShoes.

First snow today. Tooooo soon.

Fresh outta Reykjavik pt2

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.

Word up AMSTERDAM!!!

I did something beautiful when I got home. I felt inspired to be a better person. I gave selflessly. I gave expecting nothing in return. I made someone cry with joy, I overwhelmed a friend and made this uneasy feeling in my stomach subdue to a gentle warmth. The franticness of everything comes to grinding halt in moments like this for me. I can think clearly for a few hours for a change.

Right now is two days later. Im sitting in my second home again (Trondheim Airport) waiting to catch a flight to Amsterdam. The whole point of the visit is to celebrate my cousin's birthday and show face in a family that I am a part of. Off the top of my head it must be at least 9 years since I've seen this side of my family. Thats a bit too long for my liking.

Photography is a great addition to my already very unique experience in life, but at the end of the day thats all it is, an addition. Having a fantastic job in the oil business is great too, but money can only

make you so happy, if happy at all. Travelling to exotic locations and eating exquisite food is also a treat, but once again, it ends there, its only a treat. Something that I've learned since moving away a from all my family a few years ago and that I knew a while before that is: Family is everything. Nothing is more important than family to me. I think that this has only been emphasised by the fact only see my close family once or twice for a short period a year. Theres that old saying of "You dont know what you have until you've lost it" or something along those lines. I know this far too well. Not that I have lost anyone, but I've gained a few thousand km's between, and that makes all the difference.

Its great to go somewhere not having to achieve anything. My goal this trip is just to celebrate a birthday. Not too much thinking and planning involved on my side there. No deadline to meet, no people to chase around, no technical malfunction that can hinder anything, Im already relaxed just thinking about it. I genuinely look forward to doing nothing for a few day in Holland. This will be a short lived chill out though, as when I get back to Trondheim, I'm straight back into run and gun mode. Two, possibly three shoots to get done, images to retouch from the Reykjavik trip, meeting with a web designer, meeting with a modelling agency, SHOPPPING! (unfortunately not for myself, I'm buying wardrobe for a shoot) and house hunting. But thats only happening in a few days, so for the moment I will savour the sweet taste of idleness.

Here are some shots from an event that I swung past with some friends yesterday. Cool to see the skating movement being showcased in the public eye for a change. More to come from about 5 different sets of pictures I'll be sifting through in the next few days. Geniet jou dag julle! N. 

iPhone-o-graphy part 2.

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.