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

Coldplay?

Yes. Coldplay. I know right? Im not going to lie, im not a Coldplay fan in the slightest, admittedly though, and you would be fool to disagree, Chris Martin is one of the musician's out there that gets my respect for actually having a singing voice. The dude can sing like a boss. There new video was partly shot in Cape Town/ SA. I loved the video. Simple concept, beautiful imagery, well edited. Check it out:

Skating...and biking for a change.

I was looking for some thing rad to put up here, and I havent shot any fast moving, exciting stuff in a while, since Ive mainly been shooting portraits, so I rumbled through my library and found some shots I took a while ago, unfortunately there weren't that many I actually liked, so I only edited two, and here they are. 

Almost HDR...

Let me start off by saying this: I do not like HDR photography. I think there are very few occasions when it makes sense and actually looks sensible. Most of the time, it just looks like you've boosted all the sliders up and saturated the shit out of the picture.

I was editing some time-lapse shots i took with my Fisheye and a my 24-70, and i was playing with the colour and tone levels, and all of a sudden I had an HDR disaster. WHY!!!! Absolute crisis. Eventually, I think I found a sensible balance between pleasant to look at and infernally putrid upchuck of HDR.

Anyone remember that campaign they had in the States against Meth? Where the catch-phrase was: "METH, Not even once." I think I should start a campaign against HDR, and the catch-phrase could be: "HDR, Not even as a joke". Same goes for Trance/Psy-Trance music. It will turn you into a blabbering idiot quicker than the psychedelic class-A drugs that are associated with its bare-footed, earth stomping hobbit folk.

Here are some shots. N

Its true.

Some B+W goodness.

Hello. Been a while. Ive been busy which is good. Work. Shooting. Planning. Ive been making slow but steady progress on my "faceboard" project. Ive been lucky enough to have to of my gorgeous friends: Tonje and May-Britt sit and make faces  for me.

Ive changed my lighting setup a little bit. Shooting more of a "studio" setup aimed for balanced, softer and more subtle. Nice for portraiture. But I will save the nerdy/tech stuff for another post.

Im in Haugesund for the weekend with Liz at her parents place. Its their joint 50th birthday party on Saturday night. Should be cool.
SOOOOO amped for S.A.!!!!! These next 6 weeks are just going to fly. I have a couple small jobs lined up. And hopefully I can go out to Gjøa again before the end of my stay in Norway this year. I love that  platform.

So just to give you guys a peek at my progress with the "faceboard" project, here are some shots of Tonje and May-Britt, and a portrait of Liz i shot a while back. Enjoy. N

May-Britt

Tonje

                                

                                                        Liz

R.I.P Steve Jobs

We lost a good one. Steve Jobs died on 6th October 2011. I was pretty bummed out. Not like super-emo, but kinda sad. Im going to see Anthony and The Johnsons live tonight, I will probably think of Steve Jobs.
Pretty stoked to see them, quite an opportunity.

I am a massive Apple fanboy, Iphone, Macbook Pro, Ipod, Ipad, soon to purchase a MacMini or Macbook Air. I hope Apple will not lose track of the good path they have been set on. Im pretty much just waiting in nerd-angst to the announcement of an Apple DSLR.... OMFG!!! How sick would that be?!

Here is a rad image I found on Zack Arias' website from designer Jonathan Mak.

I thought about this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLPxMGxaosI

when I heard about Steve Jobs' death, what an epic song, enjoy.

Base Jumping

Cool!!! For those of you that havent seen my pictures I shot of Jørn, Rickard, and Øystein jumping at Snillfjord (just outside Trondheim) NRK (local tv network) have just posted up an article with Rickard. Pretty sick footage!!!

Here is the link:

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_trondelag/1.7820646
(Use Google Chrome to translate)

And here are my shots for those of you that did'nt see them earlier.

Cheers, N.

Jørn, Rickard and Sean eying out the exit.

       

Rickard with his signature gainer exit.

 

 

Øyvind deploying his pilot. Love this shot.

                                

Insomnia again...

I cant sleep AGAIN! But in spite of my nocturnal state of desperation to find tranquility, i have become inspired to shoot. I want to shoot a "face-board". I drew this idea from a friend I compete against on an image board i cannot mention here.

Basically its like a Z-Card, but just made up of different facial expressions. Ill put up his as an example. I really dig the idea and it could be fun, (pain in the ass to edit, but fun none the less) so i think from tomorrow I will start model hunting. 1 dude, 2 girls i think is reasonable. We'll see how it goes.

Picture courtesy of 5hoe. Thanks.

If i took your picture, please come get it!

So, first and foremost, i have to apologise if i promised to send you pictures in the last two weeks, and haven't, i have been busy. I have been shooting a lot of different stuff lately, portraiture, street, events, time-lapse, and so on. If you are one of the people i have shot pictures of, please e-mail me with who you are, where and when it was, and i will do my best to get them out to you.

In the mean time, here are some shots of the some friends at the quiz I go to every Tuesday. And win every Tuesday.

The ninja on our team.

Marthe and Vivian. Yes Grant, I will sell you this picture.

Shy blonde girl and Pernille.

Frustration...

So... Im home again. Two days later. Dammit! Our project was cancelled due to appalling weather. 9.0m waves, 40kt wind.
But, and this is a massive but, Gjøa is by far the nicest, and most impressive platform i have been on to date. The technology, the safety precautions in place, the living modul would put most hotels to 4 star hotels to shame. And the food - Astounding!!!
 I also found out that Gjøa is the largest non-fixed gas producing vessel in the world. Pretty cool.
So assuming the weather plays part, we should be back out on Monday. Hopefully. Until then, Im on standby, so I cant leave Trondheim... But standby O/T pay aint so bad right?
N

Back to work...

Going back out to work tomorrow for two weeks on Gjøa. Pretty stoked, its a brand new platform that was built in Norway (fairly uncommon) two years ago by Aker. So its going to be all new and clean and shiny! 

The platform looking kinda lonely just floating in the North Sea, interesting fact, this was the first semi-submersible platform in Norway to receive an electricity cable from land, so all the power for the platform is generated onshore thus resulting in less carbon emissions from the vessel. 

This shows the subsea tie-in setup to the Troll ii pipeline via the Vega templates that run to Scotland, where the gas is refined.

Up at 4am to take the bus to the airport, then to Oslo, then connecting flight to Florø, then helicopter out to the platform. Ah, the joy of it all.

Cheers. N