Happy Holidays

Now that we are getting very close to the end of 2023, how has the year been for you? Have you developed yourself creatively? Have you been able to keep yourself afloat in the economic downturn we have been through? How do you see the new year coming up?

I think most of us would agree that 2023 has been an interesting year, to say the least. It’s the first full year without a pandemic suffocating the whole world, if the aftermath is still noticeable. Unfortunately, we have seen an increase of war and violence this year. And unrest in many places in the world. But there has also been many, albeit smaller, highlights throughout the year.

For me 2023 has had its ups and downs. My photography business has been hard hit by the economic crisis. I have had to fight for every assignment. In hindsight, now that we are getting towards the end of the year, I can notice that in the end I was able to keep my business at the same level as last year. But, as I said, it’s been a struggle all the way up until now. In fact I made 30 percent of my business income the last two months. One part of the business that has been particularly challenging is the workshops and teaching. In times when the economy is tight, we all must make priorities, and whatever can be considered luxury will be the first to be discarded. Although I have had to cancel a few workshops this year, another year provides new opportunities and I remain optimistic.

Photographically, 2023 has been a good year for me. I feel I have been able to develop myself as a photographer. Throughout the year, I have completed some really good photo projects. One project was street portraits in Naples, a project I worked together with two other photographers, all from different countries. I also went to Bucharest for the first time and did a photo project there, with the whole intention of challenging myself and trying out new ways of photographing.

How has 2023 been for you? And how do you anticipate 2024 to be?

However you face the new year, I hope you will continue to move forward. I wish you all the best. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And may peace prevail.

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Photo Workshops and Tours Spring 2024
These are the photo workshops I and Blue Hour Photo Workshops plan for the coming spring.

“The Personal Expression”—a weekend in Bergen, Norway with focus on how to develop your personal, photographic expression. May 3rd to 5th 2024.

“On the Path of Cold War Memories”—a very special workshop exploring Berlin in a historic light. Go back in time to when there were two Germanies and two Berlins. May 12th to 17th 2024.

That Time of the Year Again

We are soon approaching Christmas. Today, in Bergen, Norway, were I am presently staying, I woke up to heavy snowfall this morning. It was really exciting and made for a perfect Christmas mood. Of course, it’s still close to two weeks till Christmas, and the snow may be gone again by then. That’s the way the winters are around here. At least the temperature is falling again, so there is actually hope for a white Christmas.

Of course, I had to get outside and photograph the winter-clad city. I enjoyed just walking around, observing people and cars and even bikes struggling to get through the massive amount of snow—at least before the snowploughs had gotten around the city.

Photographically, the result was somewhat disappointing. Nevertheless, it was still lovely to try to capture the Christmas mood, the energy and the bustling people and city. I have long accepted the fact that some days I am just not going to get any great photos. As much as I keep trying, the muses didn’t seem to hear my call. Or more likely, mentally and creatively I wasn’t present enough. I had my thoughts preoccupied with some concerns of a different kind, and that always makes it harder to unfold creatively. Today was rather a day of sketching, just enjoying being outside and not worry about whether I would capture strong imagery.

Enough of that.

Talking about seeing, and Christmas, I want to extend an offer to you, my readers of this blog. Christmas is traditionally a time of giving presents. But what about giving yourself something extra?

Until December 22nd, I’ll put my eBook “Photographically Seeing—Seeing Better, Seeing Deeper” out for sale. You’ll get it for half the ordinary price.

“Photographically Seeing—See Better, See Deeper” is an eBook about seeing and indispensable for any photographer wanting to develop his or her perception and photography. For a photographer, seeing is where it all really starts. If you don’t see anything that interests you, you won’t be able to take any interesting photos. This eBook will teach you to see what is rather than what you believe is there.

Get it now. The price is only 8 $, half of the regular price. The offer only lasts until December 22nd. ORDER HERE.

With that I will log out for this year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you again in January.

Happy Holidays!

We are fast approaching the end of the year—yet another year in the grip of a pandemic. Just as we thought things were going better, it all turned around again. It feels like we have been yanked back to start.

Nevertheless, I choose to stay optimistic. This can’t go on forever. Well of course it can, but I believe we will find ways to live with covid-19 and normalize life again. I have no doubt that vaccination is the way out. We just need to get the whole world up to speed, which means that the rich part needs to step up and contribute whatever it takes to help out those countries not able to finance a comprehensive vaccination program themselves.

Anyway, Christmas and New Year is coming up and I will surely enjoy some lax days and being together with family and friends (as much as restrictions allow me to). Personally, I really need some time off. The last four months have been absolutely crazy. I have worked more than I can remember having done over such an extended period. It’s been fun, but also tiring. I have been producing stories about various aspects of disabilities, travelled from the south to the north and east to west in Norway, and back again. A couple of times.

Being so busy has made my present in the blog sphere even more absent than I had thought it would be. As some of you may remember, I did plan to reduce the work I put into blogging from around summertime, but alas, not this much. I promise to be back again with more energy and power in the year coming up. Many are those of you who have commented my posts over the last couple of months. I apologize for not having been able to respond, but I assure I will get back to you all.

With the ending of 2021 I am happy to announce my next photo workshops and tours taking place in 2022. See below for more information if you are interested. Here and now, I want to wish you all—from the bottom of my heart—a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you again next year.

Photo Workshops and Tours in 2022
In believing that the world will return to some normalcy and open up again within reasonable time, I and Blue Hour Photo Workshops plan a handful of photos workshops for next year.

“The Personal Expression” —a weekend in Bergen, Norway with focus on how to develop your personal, photographic expression. June 10th to 12th 2022.

”Telling Stories with the Camera”—five days in the beautiful village of Bleik in Northern Norway. A dream spot for any photographer. The focus will be on storytelling and the visual language. September 21st to 19th 2022.

”Photo Tour in Granada”—a week in Nicaragua for the adventures. We will explore the colonial city and its extraordinary countryside. November 5th to 11th 2022.

Are you interested in developing your photographic skills? Do you like to travel? Do you want to make your photos tell a story in a much stronger vocabulary? Find your own expression? Develop your vision and become more creative? Any of these workshops would take your photography to the next level. I promise you, you will be in for an amazing experience. Click any of the links for more info.

Happy Holidays

In my part of the world and in my culture we are about to enter the celebration of Christmas, as many others around the world are about to do. It’s a time of the year when we often try to summarize how the year has been. And usually look forward to a week of holidays together with family and friends.

This year has been rather special and will be during the Christmas holidays, too. The reason we all know too well: corona or covid-19. The pandemic has set restrictions for how we can live and act, and will do so these last days of the year as well.

The consequences have come in many forms and shapes. Photographically, for instance, this year I have captured about 58 percent of the amount of photos I would do in a normal year. Not that quantity in itself is important, but the number still indicates something about the limitations.

I have hardly travelled this year. Which is also rather unusual. Normally I would have something like close to 200 travel days during a year. This year, I was only away in January and in the beginning of February. A fate many have shared. If nothing else, the environment and the climate have benefitted from less travelling.

As we move towards the end of the year, things slowly start to look brighter, even when numbers of infected increase many places in the world. The quick developing of a vaccine, or actually a handful of vaccines, brings hope for next year.

This will be my last post of the year. I wish you all a pleasant and safe couple of days, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. May you all enter the new year with hope and may it be the turnaround point we all desire. Thank you for having followed my blog. It’s been encouraging, not the least during the period not long ago when I lost the energy for blogging. I very much appreciate all the support and wonderful feedback.

See you all in 2021. Stay safe. Be Happy. Spend time with those you care for. Photograph a lot. Wish you all the best.

Happy Holidays

Christmas is soon approaching and with that a time of sharing, love and appreciation. For most people it’s a time of gathering and reconnecting, a time for the family, a time when we put aside old conflicts and show compassion and care for each other instead. Christmas is also celebration and good food, presents, the glow in the eyes of children, singing, excitement, relaxation, good company and prayer and spirituality.

At the same time Christmas is one of the toughest times for those who have no family, for those who live on the fringes of the regular society, for those who cannot afford presents to their children, for those who live in despair, for those who starve—for all those for which Christmas is a reminder of all what they don’t have. We who have may use Christmas to somehow show compassion and love for those who don’t have. That would really be within the notion of what Christmas is supposed to be. I would like to challenge you all—and myself included—to do at least one good deed, and it doesn’t have to be big, that will make one or more of those for which Christmas is a hard time, feel somewhat part of the celebration, feel somewhat part of the sharing that Christmas is suppose to be.

On a personal level I will use the opportunity to thank everybody of you, who have followed this blog and given feedback and tremendous support, who have given so much of yourselves through my blog. You have truly inspired me to keep posting and make me feel what I am doing is appreciated and more than just scribbles for myself.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas season is over us. And we are getting closer to the end of yet another year. It’s been a inspiring year in so many ways. For me personally, I feel blessed to have been able to accomplish a lot of the things I set out to do in the beginning of the year, whether personal development, expansion into new business areas of photography, travels to various places of the world, teaching workshops and not the least the contact with all of you here in the blogger’s sphere. It’s been stimulating to discuss with many of you, exchange thoughts and getting feedback on many of my concept I have written about in this blog. Thanks for so much inspiration and encouragement.

I will log out for the rest of the year and enjoy a couple of weeks of holiday and time off. Before I do so, I want to wish you all happy holidays. And not the least may you have a wonderful start of the new year soon coming up. I’ll be back shortly after we have entered the new year.

Happy Holidays

This will be my last post of this year. I want to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you who has followed my blog and showed it be either liking my posts or contributed to the many fulfilling discussions here. I also want to thank you for the support you have shown me and all the kind remarks throughout the year.

As some of us are about to celebrate the holiday which is about to begin—myself included—it’s time for me to wish you all peace and harmony whether you are going to celebrate or not. 2016 has once again been a year of much violence and unrest, but also of much inspiration and positive development. We can only hope that times eventually will change to the better for all humankind.

I will take a rest from blogging during the Christmas Holiday. But I will be back in the new year. Until then; I wish you all happy holidays and/or happy new year.

Happy Holidays!

We are soon entering into the time when Christmas is celebrated in some parts in the world. As for myself I will try to get away from it all, by going travel. The next couple of weeks I will spend in Thailand. And of course, I won’t get away from it all, but I will enjoy being on the road again. And, really, Christmas is a good time to spend time with family and friends, but sometimes the commercial bit becomes a little bit overwhelming.

I wish you all Happy Holidays. I also want to thank you for keeping up with my blog and always posting encouragements and lovely comments. I very much appreciate your support. Thank you to all over you. See you next year!

Happy Holidays!

Yet another year is coming to and end, we have just passed winter solstice and the darkest day in the year – and apparently the darkest in a very, very long. Next time the day will be as dark as this is supposedly in more than 4 billion years. That’s good to know… Anyway, it’s been another very interesting year of blogging. I have got to know new bloggers, kept the relationship with many of my old acquaintances while others have left the blogosphere. That’s the way it goes. I nevertheless appreciate the contact with all of you. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Don’t forget to captured the holiday with your cameras! Now I look forward to having a few days of holiday only to be spent with my family.

Merry Christmas

The year is coming to a close – and Christmas is right around the corner. I would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody who has either followed my blog, read, commented and/or liked some of my posts. It’s been great to getting to know so many of you, it’s been fun to exchange thoughts and ideas through our various conversations – and I hope we can keep in touch the same way in the new year about to arrive.

As some of you who follow my blog may know I have just returned from a photo assignment in Nigeria, which was very interesting, but also very challenging. I and my colleague Øystein really appreciate all the feedback so many of you gave us through the posts we made from Nigeria. Unfortunately we weren’t able to return all the comments and all the interest you showed while we were underway. Time simply didn’t add up for doing more than just our work. I really apologize for this, but I want you to know that every comment and every thought has been read by us and inspired us to do even better work.

For me it’s now time for a couple of weeks of holiday. I will head for the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico and just enjoy life and my love one. During these couple of weeks I will log off from cyber space. When January comes I will be back with new posts and start returning to you who have commented or shown interests in blog and revisit your blogs.

Until then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May peace be with you.