I am these days working a full time job, trying to balance it with some photography, as well as seeing my friends. this equals, that I have just sbout NO free time what so ever, as my mother says, it's like I left for India allready, I am never home. I go to work, out with my friends, home to sleep, and up again and out the door. free time is overrated, I say!
A few weeks ago, I took my best friend with me to Oslo, along with the camera, and 4 litres of milk, and for 6 hours, we had people throw milk in her face. this is an ongoing project for my portfolio, and we had a lot of fun doing it, but it also smelled really bad after a while! Will post pictures here today, but they are not finished yet.
About a month ago, a very close friend of mine passed away, and it sent me straight down to "the basement", this is when you realize what great friends you really have, the people that will always help you out, listen to you without complaining, or just give you a hug if u need it.
Anyway, I'm off to work, closing tonight, so I don't start untill 1:30pm, ttyl!
Also, I did someything a bit crazy last sunday, I cut all my hair off, about 25cm.....really weird
The Norwegian summer isn`t too much to brag about these days, hasn`t been the last few weeks. Thursday, about a week ago, I packed my bags and left cold and rainy Norway for 3 weeks in Crete. Quite different here, 30 degrees in the shadow, in the sun it`s about 35-40 degrees.....I have gone from the stage I like to call lobster, to the stage tan, suppose I will be black when I get back.....
The days has been spent at the beach this week, and I was really happy to see Sarah again, a really good friend of mine, who is running a tiny spa here. Amund, and his girlfriend Vilde, will be here next week.
Since I have no internet these days, I won`t upload pics right now, but they`ll come later! ttyl:-)
taken a long time to actually complete this post. In some ways it's easy to think what I'm going to write, but really hard to actually write it. Almost a month ago, I graduated from Sund folkehøgskole.
After easter vacation, my entire school went to a place called Sør-Gjæslingan, about 2 hours north of Inderøy, or as I like to call it, paradise! For 3 days, we had nothing but social activities, it was really nice! We stayed in Cabins except for the last night, when 4 of us decided to sleep outside around the fire, it was a lot of fun, and went quite well up until it started raining at 05:00am. The entire school came back quite exhausted, and the weekend after, it was time for family weekend and a market a market at Suns. The weather was amazing, and it was really nice having my mom and grandma up there for a few days. Since our parents were staying in our rooms, a few of us decided to camp out at a small island called "Høsklumpen". You can only get out there when the water is low, so we left around 8pm on friday night, back on saturday morning and later saturday night, staying outside until sunday, it was really nice.
For the last week, we experienced a small heat wave in Trøndelag, meaning it was about 25 degrees and sunny every day. The entire day on Monday was spent outside in the sun, talking, as well as having a small water battle. On tuesday, Janne took us to visit her studio in Verdal, about 20 minutes away, was a lot of fun, and we used the opportunity to take several class photos. We were going to have lunch in a park, just walking by a store first, when we came out, Janne told us to walk straight ahead and turn right at the end of the road. I walked a bit behind and found the other ones when I crossed the road, sitting on a really nice field, so I sat down there as well. We noticed a lot of the driver that passed us, looked at us, and when Janne came a few minutes later, she said "There's a really nice park around the corner, were I meant for us to be, I've never actually seen someone sit and eat here before:-)" well well, someone has to be the first, right?
In the evening the same day, Janne had invited us to her house, as a thank you for this year, we made her a plate that said 'worlds best Janne', along with all the students signatures, al of us had also written a personal letter that came along with it. For several hours we talked, laughed, and shared our memories from the year. A few hours after we got there, I checked my phone, and realized I had 5 missed calls from mom. When I got a hold of her, she told me a letter came for me in the mail, from Norges Kreative Fagskole, I had applied for a spot there in the photography program, and I got in!!! Think a was in shock, because I didn't believe her, I almost started crying, I have never been so happy! In january, I applied for a foreign exchange program through Sund, with 3 months in India, and got in, so I sent an email to NKF, asking if I could postpone starting for one year, the responed and said that there was no problem, so it means that I am staying in Asker until December, then leaving for India in February, and moving to Trondheim, starting studying Next fall.
The last official day at school was may 12th, that evening we received our diplomas. We met in the dining hall at 5pm, all of us dressed in our best chlothes. Our teachers were responsible for the entertainment, and put on an opera of all things, called "Elviras death", it was hysterical, they were really good! The morning after, it was time to say goodbye to some of the people, who were leaving that day, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, these people has been my family this year.
A lot of us chose to stay for an extra 10 days, and for this time we had nothing but social activities like fishing, sailing, climbing, visiting farms, and other things. For the very last friday night, the entire school went to Sundsand, and then to Rødbrygga, just dancing, having the time of our lives. I was going to take the train back to Oslo, along with Kristine, and we weren't leaving until Sunday night, seems like the entire Sunday was one big farewell, about every 15 minutes people were leaving.
I arrived in Oslo at 7am monday morning, were home at 9:30am and fell asleep on the sofa, waking up at 5pm. Been home for 3 weeks nowand it's only this week that I've started getting used to it. Missing the people and Inderøy like crazy, but at the same time knowing that it's not the place that makes the school, but the people, and this is not the end, rather the beginning of a lot of new friendships. The year at Sund has been the most amazing year of my entire life, and given me opportunities I didn't know existed. I will never forget this year!
As far as for the rest of the summer, I'm off to Crete on the 18th staying for 3 weeks, can't wait to go back to Paleochora again! Also going to Bergen for a week in August, along with all my best friends from Sund, will be so good to see them again! To keep the photography spirit up, I wilk try to post a picture every day, need to do things again! TTYL:-)
3 weeks left, a little oever 3 weeks actually. Feels really weird, in not too long, this is over.
Feeling lonely has become part of my day lately. Don't misunderstand me at all, I have friends here it's not that. The thing about a folk college is that, on one side you always have someone you can go to, on the other side, the college can be the most lonely place on earth, and you want nothing more, than to be away.
I'm back after easter vacation, and I only have a few weeks left here, it's so weird! Spring is coming, every day it gets warmer, and the weather is actually nice these days, no rain.
The easter vacation was spent in Oslo, with 21 degrees, wearing shorts and t-shirts, I actually came back with a bit of a tan, believe it or not. Spent the week with friends of mine, taking photos, or simply just relaxing, it was nice! My uncle came home from Canada as well, hadn't seen him for a year
Lots of things happening these days. 2 weeks ago we had an assignment in "fine art photography". We had 2 weeks to do this assignment, and due to the weather, I went from plan A to plan C. Quite happy with the result though, using flowers as a theme. The same week we had a guest teacher from a photography school in Trondheim. He told us to take a photo at a new location, using a new model. I chose to take the picture in the attic, using only the flash light on my phone.
Last week, we had our first exhibition, each of the students had 2 photos in it. Lots of fun! On monday, we're showing 2 photos each from India, as well as a project that we're doing with the jazz class this week, can't wait!
Noticing more and more that there's not much time left here. I've applied for "bisse" next year, Means staying here, working for a year. Having my interview on Monday afternoon. Am a little nervous, but I want this more than I've wanted anything else, and I really hope it goes through. Will know by the end of next week. Have also applied for an exchange program in India through Sund, and I got in! Can't believe it!
Logging off now, ttyl
Song of the day: Herborg Kråkevik - Den fyrste Song
And yes, apologising again for being so bad at updating. No time or inspiration these days, but anyway...
About a week and a half ago, we had a very good photographer called Kari-Anne, teaching us. She gave us an assignment that was to be delivered last Monday. The assignment was a self portrait. The photo was not to be manipulated in photoshop, it was to be taken on the lowest aperture possible, only in natural light. the photo also had to include nothing but the model, as well as tell the viewer something about the person in the photo.
This one was quite tough actually. First of all, I am not at all comfortable with photos of myself, but I chose to make this my advantage. I'm quite pleased with the result, bur I'll keep on trying. posting it on the bottom.
Monday, Janne gave us an assignment that is to be delivered on the 28th of march. minimum 3 photos in a series with the key word "art". It has taken me about a week to come up with an idea...I need to make it my own, but tomorrow I'm headed in to the studio again, can't wait!
On thursday, we had a visit from a man called Eir Jørgen Bue, who gave the class 2 assignments. 2 photos. One is to photograph the butterfly portrait lighting, and the other one is to photograph a new model on a new location. The photo has to tell a story. That day, we also had to find the photo that we were most satisfied with, scary really.
All in all, there's enogh to do these days. On Saturday we have something caleld "folkemøte". The students arrange it, we find a theme, invite people, do the advertising etc. Next week we also have s "project week". The students is arranging the whole week, we have 3 themes, several people are giving lectures, it will be a very interesting week! Friday, my cousin Sofie is coming, staying until Sunday, will be great to see her again!
Otherwise, it's been a quite weekend here. About 20 of the students went to Lofoten this weekend, coming back late tonight. We are about 20 students left here. Off to the gym now, then I have several applications to write, ttyl
yesterday, Monday, we had to turn in a self portrait. These were the criteria for the assignment:
- photo is to be captured on lowest aperture possible
- not to be manipulated in photoshop
- photo is to be taken in natural light only
- Only the model is going to be in the picture
- the photo is going to illustrate a feeling
I think that, mentally this is the hardest assignment I've ever had to do. I am not comfortable with myself on pictures, and I am sometimes having a hard time accepting myself the way I am. I chose to make this
This week the assignment was 'act', or lets call it 'code word skin'. A very interesting assignment, but I think it has been the most mental challenging assignment so far this year. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing it, but it's really stressful standing there photographing a person without much clothes on....kind of scary, I think I was a lot more nervous than Katrine, who was modelling for me, talk about a good sport by the way! Very happy with the results:-)
In other news, Sund is, once again coming around with the cold, yay. Can't say I'm feeling too good, but we'll see what happens....ttyl
Sorry that this post is coming so late, but here it is anyway.
This february we had a 3 week long personal project, where we pretty much got to do whatever we wanted, within reason, ofcourse. I chose architecture, and spent a week in Berlin, documenting. First 3 days, I had absolutly no inspiration whatsoever, after the sun came out, the photography came along with it. I also wanted to use this opportunity to get better at photoshop. This will be a very short post, I'm off to bed, but here are the results:
Last Sunday, the 27th of February, there was an article in one of the national papers(aftenposten) about a middle school in Heggedal, Akershus called "Hovedgården". The title of the article was "Endelig mobbefri skole = no mocking at last?). The article said that 4 years ago 19% of all the students answered that they were being harassed/mocked at school. The results for this year was a lot better, an a lot smaller part of the student body answered that they were being Harassed.
The principal believes that the reason is that the students has stopped hanging at the local shop during their breaks, since the school has now hired a chef and offers a warm lunch for a small amount off money, even though norwegian middle school is supposed to be free of charge. They also offer several different activities during the breaks and after school.
I went to this school during the period of 2004-2007, and I think I can say, without a doubt that it was the worst 3 years of my life. Hovedgården is a mix of the students from Solberg and Heggedal elementary school, and from the first day on it was very clear which people who wouldn't fit in, and the other students did everything they could to make sure of it, which made this place hell on earth for me.The teachers didn't do anything to stop it, they just told me that I was overreacting., and I was determined to make it through, so I 'whipped' myself through it, telling myself that it had to end eventually.
We had 4 different principals in those 3 years, none of them, except for the last one lasted more than 6 months, and the teachers were not present for a longer period at a time. The students were drinking, several were doing drugs, and no one seemed to care...
Of course, I'm happy that they have finally made it stop, but it makes me wonder, why the hell didn't they do anything earlier, why make the students go through these things for years before they actually react? Fact is, that since I left, almost all of the teachers has quit, and I can only imagine why....
I know it's not worth it, focusing on the past, but I believe that if this was taken care of a lot earlier, then it would have been a lot easier for a lot of people, but fact is that they didn't care, or "didn't" see it, they did too little, waaaay too late!
Can't say how good it feels being back here again!
Came back quite late yesterday evening, and finished editing around 3am , jeez. 2 weeks of photographing is now finished, and I think the result turned out quite well actually, if I say so myself, we'll see what kind of feedback the pics get, I'll post them when I have turned them in.
Been home for 3 days now, Hallenskog looks like a fairytale, at least when the weather is nice! Hopefully, I will get to do some photographing while the sun still is out, or maybe the weather will stay like this for a couple of days, so that it's possible to go ice skating....
Plan for today, is work, work and more work, as well as a trip to my eye doctor, been almost 2 years, so guess it's about time, this will be interesting.
Destination bathroom, ttyl
Song of the day: Rab de Bana di Jodi( addicted to Indian music since November)
Came back from Berlin late last night, I have never seen this much snow, ever! It's crazy!
Anyway, now the work starts. Haven't done any photoshop yet, which means several long nights, but practice makes perfect, isn't that what they say?
Anyway, the result of this trip is about 800 photos, now the job starts, selecting them. This will be interesting. Also found room for a little bit of shopping, and of course, I ended up with a pair of shoes, I never learn....
I'm in Berlin this week, doing a photography project. Will be interesting to see the result, but I won't post it until I've delivered the project, in the beginning of march...
Last week, I had a conversation with my teacher, about schools for next year, showing her pics, and how things are here in general. She told me, and this she has said several times earlier this year, that I am stressing too much. The thing is, especially when I'm in the studio, I get nervous when she asks me to set the lights, and if I can't get it right, I get a little irritated with myself, as well as stressing, thinking that "I should be able to do this". Annoying, but trying to get over it.
Anyway, most of the students has left for their pracsis period, so we are about 15 students at school this weekend. It's really weird being so quiet here, but kind of nice as well. It's been snowing/raining outside for 3 days, you're kind of getting the feeling of being at the hotel in the movie "the Shining":-) Leaving on Wednesday morning, for oslo, and then to Berlin on Friday. Getting a bit nervous about presenting my project when I get back after vacation, just have to remember to breathe....
Off to play monopoly now, today has been a very lazy sunday:-)ttyl
This week we've worked on the history of photography, combined with something that Janne calls 'photography marathon', which means that we get a new assignment every day. This week we had 2 assignments, one where we either could take a portrait inspired by the 1800s, with the shutter on minimum 30 seconds, which, if you've done photography with a digital camera, you know this is a really long time...the other one was that we should let us inspire by Julia Margaret Cameron, a really well known photographer from the 1860s. The other assignment was a series of 1-3 photos with the key word 'surrealism'. I had a really good time taking them, using Amanda as a model, it was a lot of fun!
Today, I talked to Janne, showing her photos for a portfolio, discussing schools for next year etc. I found it very useful, it was nice getting feedback, also got an "assignment", work in the studio! Next week we start our pracsis period, and since I'm staying here until Wednesday morning, I am spending at least 1 hour every day trying to learn how to fix the li
ght in the studio. We'll see how it goes. Going to bed now, ttyl
This week, we started learning the history of photography. It's quite interesting really, but a lot of information over a very short period of time. This week will also be spent doing a 'photography maraton', which means that we have 1 assignment each day, today the assignment is inspired by the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, I'll post the finished one tomorrow...ttyl:-)
PS: got a bit bored this weekend, and started playing with photoshop:-)
Today, I'm 20 years old! Done being a teenager! I had the best birthday waking ever! Woke up this morning and went to take a shower, and when I came out, 3 very good friends of mine was waiting for me! I haven't been this shocked in a long time, but I was also very moved that they did this for me! Love you guys so much, you made my day!
Today's worlds holocaust day, so my whole school went to a place called 'Falstad', which used to be a concentration camp during World War II. A lot of really strong impressions, it's surreal that someone can treat people this way really...
Right now, I'm sitting in the living room, doing nothing, wondering if I'm going o go swimming, in the pool, not the ocean. Today, at dinner, 90 people sang 'happy birthday', I swear my face has never been this red before, but it was very nice! TTYL:-)
Today we showed our photos from the fashion assignment! Definetly one of my better ones! It's always inspiring to hear the comments from the other students as well as the teacher, but it's when people like your photos combined with knowing that you have worked a lot on them, that really makes your day! Haven't been this satisfied in a long time, and can't wait to go back into the studio! Going in on Saturday, with Katrine as a model, can't wait, it'll be fun! Know, I'm really going to miss working in the studio over vacation, but I do want to work on setting the light, so we'll see what the results will be!
I mars, my cousin Sofie is coming up here for a weekend! Can't wait to see her again, and show her my life here! I'll see if I can get her into the studio with me!
Song of the day: Rihanna - What's my name
'Don't Worry, be Happy'
'What Lies Beneath'
'Fading'
torsdag 13. januar 2011
hey!
This week we started working in the studio. It's a bit difficult, but I haven't had this much fun in a long time, I love it!!!! Today, we delivered 4 photos - each with different light, I'm posting the finished photos on the bottom:-)
For the last 2 weeks, the flu has been passed around among the students, as well as some of the teachers. I'm not feeling so good myself, haven't been since tuesday, but I worked so hard on this assignment, I refused to be miss class. Today, however, I had to give up. Went to bed again at 2pm with a cold, headache, throat ache and with NO voice at all, and I am still here. Figured out it's very boring being sick at a folk college. Hopefully better tomorrow, but I'm still going to take it easy this weekend, doing as little as possible.
A good thing with all this, is that, when I'm sick or tired, I am the most creative. Got a new assignment today, in fashion! 3 photos are to be delivered next thursday, as a series. Janne told us she will look especially at the styling of the picture(model, background etc), and I have some really good ideas, can't wait! Going to bed now - TTYL:-)
PS: 'song of the day' is made by the Norwegian band Kaizers' Orchestra, the band is really worth checking out! Also posting a video made by Helene, a girl in my class. She has entered a competition, and she really deserves to win, so check out her video!
Today(Monday) we started working in the studio, can't wait! This weeks assignment is 4 pics, each with different light. Will be fun to see how it goes:-) Janne told us that she will start looking at the styling of every picture, so we have to plan every photo carefully...results will be posted on thursday
Otherwise, this week we have to finish editing india pictures, as well as handing in a description of our practis period(wednesday), which means, this will be a very stress full week, but I keep thinking that, as long as I like what I'm doing, it's okey.
The flu has been passed around the last week. I'm not feeling too good today, but hopefully it won't get any worse, I refuse to be sick, have too much to do!
It's a new year, new opportunities! Monday, I'm off to Sund again, can't wait to see people again, and get back to photographing! I have a couple of projects I really want to do this year, we'll see what happens! Yesterday, new years eve was spent with great friends, movies and lots of talking! It was great fun:-) Pictures will come later, when I've emptied the camera...
