My last weekend I spent in Oslo. When I saw the cheap Wizzair connection, I instantly decided to go for a spontaneous trip searching for new challenges and inspiration abroad in a beautiful country. To be honest, Oslo is not the typical Norwegian city, so the challenge became real very quickly. No red or white wooden houses. Instead, my shuttle bus dropped me after a two hours ride from the airport in the middle of nowhere in the center of Oslo, among skyscrapers and office buildings. I was very surprised of that. So I started my walk over a bridge to enter the Barcode Business District, where you can find several buildings in different shapes and design rowed up next to each other. Nothing spectacular, to be honest. Anyway, the trip was about taking different pictures than usually and also to create my first picture set, to create a consistent general impression and style within the whole post. So I tried to find interesting angles to depict the typical office buildings in an artistic way, taking advantage of their diagonals, simplicity and reflections, in the post production I reduced the range of colors in most pictures to a minimum and increased the contrast dramatically. It's quite obscure, but I like the vibe of it.
Afterwards I strolled along the river amongst several building cranes, quite boring. Every window reflection showed building cranes, that's why I did not post any of the Opera pictures here, what everybody would expect, since it became one of the most iconic buildings in Europe due to its splendid architecture. Anyway, I moved on and walked through the city's main street. I had such beautiful memories of Oslo, because I've been to Oslo already when I was a teenager. But my point of view was completely different, this time. It is really a normal average western European city with lots of shops, glamour and consumption. So I decided to focus on the unusual again, the cute old-fashioned magazine shops. Unfortunately the sky was overcast and just a muddy grey showed up. So I decided to search for the next target on my checklist, the tunnel in the Nationaltheatret metro station. I had lots of fun there playing with the lines and tilting my camera to unusual angles. But also people crossed the tunnel and insisted on deleting all pictures which they crossed (although you could not see their faces...weird...anyhow!) Of course I did not delete all of them, still there are some cool ones left to be revealed at a later time on flickr.
The next day's schedule was quite simple and easy manageable: I just wanted to visit the Vigeland Park and the Huk peninsula. I imagine the park to be very beautiful in every other season than winter. Anyway I want to its less popular spots capturing the picture of the small waterfall (I just love moving water!). But on my way down to the waterfall, I slipped away on the ice, slided down the hill and crashed into bushes. Well, not a very shining moment for me, but that's the adventure. That's what I love photography, not only the results, but the story behind them. Furthermore it shows my full determination for the project Oslo, where I did not allow any room to laziness or giving-up. I just hurt myself on the knee, I am still alive and In the end I had a nice picture, so it was worth it, don't you think?
After spending an hour in the park, I headed towards the Huk peninsula, in the Oslo fjord, where I observed the weather and the sun for three hours, walking around the peninsula two times to find the perfect spot for the sunset. It was really a tough challenge to stay so long and to keep up the motivation, but I did not give up. In the end, the persistence and endurance totally payed off and rewarded me with those beautiful shots from the beach, when the sun finally won the battle against the clouds. Also those weather phenomenons I documented very well, but I still need to work on those. Hence the will be released on flickr soon. So just enjoy the best shots which I published so far:
All in all this trip clearly outlined, how determination, persistence and endurance combined with good location scouting can reveal the full potential in me to take pictures and open my eye, heart and soul every time again to see the beauty in the ordinary. It was a very motivating and educational trip!
In two weeks I'm flying again to Norway, this time to Alesund. I am totally looking forward to it! It's supposed to be a magical vibrant cozy city surrounded by water and high mountains! So stay tuned for more Norwegian beauty. I know for sure that every adventure I will go on, brings me one step closer to my dream, the dream of sharing my love to photography with the world and to make a living of it. It's all about patience, persistence and endurance!