Category: Photography

Man’s best friend…

Last summer, we got ourselves a dog. Due to my allergies, we had to get a none-shedding, family friendly dog that could keep us company when skiing or hiking. Theo, or Thelonious Rex as his full name is, is a medium doodle. In our case, that is a cross between a poodle, golden retriever and Italian water dog.

He is still only a puppy, and this morning it was snowing heavily, and Theo (as with most children) loved to be outside in the snow playing when we let him out the door. This is the sight that greeted me when I went to get him back inside:

Theo in the snow...

And boy has he grown since we got him this summer:

Theo on the day we got him, July 22nd 2011.

I am already looking forward to the summer, when we can play in the garden again:

Let's play

More pictures of Theo can be found on my flickr page

Animal portraits

I live quite close to a riding school and stable (Reppe Ridesenter), and enjoy going out to photograph the horses in all seasons…

I am especially fascinated by the horses that spend all year (day and night) outdoors. Even in the bitterest winter winds, they are out in the fields, looking happy and content.

The horse Stinor, a Norwegian breed intended to be outside year round

Of course, the summer is a better time for the horses 🙂 They can enjoy the green grass, like Monty and and Rosie below:

Horses don’t like to be alone, and usually when I walk around the stables, I see that the horses are enjoying each others company. Either they are running together

or they are helping each other with scratching all the small itches from flies and other insects

Monty and Salomon are taking care of each other

Of course, life is not all play for the school horses. The last picture is of Salomon, one of the school Shetland ponies. He has just finished his work in the riding hall. You can see his thick winter coat that enables him to be outside on the coldest winter days…

Salomon is happy with his efforts in riding class today

Varese, Italy

Another one of my travels from last fall. I “had” to go to Varese, Italy (just outside Milano) for a conference on environmental monitoring in the EU.

The morning after the conference finished, I was waiting for my plane back home. To shorten the waiting time, I grabbed my camera and headed out into the streets for my first attempt at street photography. I found a table at a small restaurant and waited…

In the center of Varese there is a small square, and people were crossing it on their way to work, school or something else completely. I noticed a beggar going around asking for money, and as he approached to elderly gentlemen I saw the opportunity for a shot…

As I was sitting there, two young girls came over and asked if I could take their portraits. I was happy to oblige, and agreed to send them the photos afterwards. Unfortunately, the e-mail address they gave bounced, so they probably never have seen them…

I found the narrow streets of Varese fascinating, especially considering that Italians drove through streets I would never have attempted

Of course, I managed to “scratch” my car going through a street that buses usually drive through 😛

Washington D.C.

One thing I like about my job as a software developer is that I get to travel. Conferences, workshops, meetings and more take me “all over the world”. I usually bring my camera(s) hoping to get the opportunity to do some photography in between meetings.

Last fall I was in Washington D.C. for a workshop on environmental monitoring. We traveled to D.C. a few days before the workshop to get the jet lag out of our systems. This gave me the opportunity to spend a day sightseeing around town.

The first photo is from the Vietnam Memorial Wall:

The Vietnam Memorial Wall

Looking at the wall and the people I noticed that quite a few of the visitors were grandparents showing the wall to smaller kids, perhaps explaining their own experiences from that time. At the same time I was looking at all the names, and I found the contrast between the names on the wall and the people milling around striking: It could have been these people showing their grandkids around the mall…

The next photo is from the DuPont Circle subway station:

DuPont Circle subway station

I found the symmetry and structure of the station appealing, and when I managed to capture a train coming (or going…) I knew I had a shot.

The last picture is from Lincoln Memorial:

The Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Ever since I went to school in Baltimore back in ’86 and learned about the American Civil War I have been fascinated by the life and story of Abe, and I was happy to visit the memorial 🙂

Waiting for the boat

A few weeks ago, I was in Oslo with my friend Jon. A perfect evening with some photography, a nice dinner at a tapas restaurant and some more photography.

I have always wanted to do some street photography, but have lacked the courage to do this. However, together with Jon and under the cover of darkness I was able to let loose and take some pictures of random strangers passing by.

I felt that I got a few good ones, but my favorites were taken around the ferry to Nesodden.

The first photo shows a lady waiting for the ferry. Typical of the weary traveler she finds rest while waiting, since there is little else to do.

The second photo was taken at the dock towards the entrance to the ferry. The bright entrance surrounded by darkness makes me think of space travel (for some reason)…

The rest of the images from this session can be found on my flickr stream

The images have been edited with the DxO Filmpack so that they look like the old Kodak Tri-X 400 film.