10 photographs | egertorget | downtown oslo | norway

a little piece of norway

i know, i know. it's been ages since my last post. or - to be more precise - close to three months (!) anyway. i apologize. seriously.

i have to be honest. the last weeks have been really hardcore. illness in my close family has really turned my days upside down and i haven't had the time nor inspiration to do much dedicated shooting. then there's work. w-o-r-k. i have, however, started shooting a lot of 35mm analog photography to document my day to day life. i will cover this in a separate post. i'm trying to get some scanning done, but it takes time. time, you say? ah yes...that precious & elusive substance more valuable than solid gold in my honest opinion. gimme gimme gimme.

role play

but back to the task at hand. photography. my passion. i actually had an hour to kill (believe it or not) the other day and went downtown to buy some more coffee. i brought my camera with me, as i try to do every day. this particular day the weather was exceptional - especially for norway, all things considered. there were a lot of people out and about and i thought i'd hang around there for a few minutes in the middle of downtown oslo at a place called 'egertorget' - i was out getting coffee anyway. egertorget is right smack in the middle of the city and also, conveniently in the middle of the city's broadway of sorts - karl johans gate. if you look in one direction you'll see the kings palace and if you look in the other you'll (after walking a bit) see the old train-station-come-shopping-mall.

what's cool about egertorget is that all kinds of people pass through there, hang out there, shop there, perform there...where there's people there's action...and opportunities for some photography. especially street photography.

band on the run

now - shooting street photography in oslo, or in norway for that matter, is kind of tricky. yeah - the kids don't mind as much but my generation and older - they see a camera, they run and hide. seriously. they act like you're holding a gun to their head threatning to shoot their loved ones. not kidding (wish i was).

so the trick is - bring your stealthy camera setup, act as normally as possible, be nice, don't act like you're james bond on a super secret mission and just hang out. let the pictures present themselves to you.

where the wild things are

i'm no expert at shooting street photography, but i'm learning and i'm loving every step of the way. i've been watching people like chris weeks and of course legends like henri cartier bresson and really connecting with the concept of trying to capture moments. those fleeting moments that happen and disappear...and believe me - they happen all the time and they disappear as fast as they happen. you really have to focus - at least i have to pull myself together ;) - in order to anticipate the moments and be ready to capture them without being spotted or intrude upon what's going on. i get spotted sometimes, though, for sure. i'm not all stealth yet...working on it, working on it. shooting from 'the hip' as they say is a lot tougher than it looks. basically, shooting from the hip means you're not holding the camera up to your eye, you measure the distance to your subject(s) using the rangefinder on the lens, dial in the settings on your camera manually (yes, manually) and then work within the preset zone you've chosen for shooting in. having a leica - analog (yay) or digital (yay but $$$) are ace for this thing. you can also use a zeiss icon or a voigtländer bessa. they do the trick although their not built like a leica nor do they inspire you like a leica. ;) yes. i'm biased.

fresh air

i hope you enjoy these images and please tell me if any of them is more pleasing to your eyes than others...maybe you'd even like to tell me why you might find them pleasing? interaction, my friends. interaction. ;) oh and the LIKE-button? press it, baby, press it...share the love with your friends.

timeless

staring at the suntrippin'

blanksthis last image has me conflicted for several reasons. first of all - i feel images of homeless people are a bit 'cheap'. as a group they're 'easy targets' and it's important not to take advantage of the position these human beings find themselves in. then there's how we as an audience react to photographs of homeless people. they often make us feel a certain way and it's almost always got nothing to do with the photograph but the condition of the person in the picture. again, i'm conflicted as to posting this image. still - the look he gave me really stuck with me. this image moves me because it almost felt as though he surrendered to the camera. that's the only way i can describe the feeling this image gives me. if you see this guy - make sure you take care of him. give him a few bucks for food and drinks. he's been roaming the streets of oslo for as far back as i can remember. this is a really tough guy, but his eyes no longer have the spark they used to have.

may the force be with you - always.

-morgan-

12 personal favorites of 2010.

shine a light

2010 is coming to an end.

i don't know what it's like for you, but for me some years just seem to fly by while others have a slower pace and somehow feels a lot easier to remember. this past year is one of those years that have passed so quickly i almost have a hard time recollecting it.

much has, in fact, happened. more than i want to remember at times.; severe illness amongst friends and family, a challenging economy having impact on many businesses including mine, divorces and breakups almost everywhere i look and sadly some friendships have been lost along the way - apparently.

on a much happier note, work has been pretty good, albeit stressful, i'm back at making my own music once again, as well as starting up a new band/project and of course - i've embraced photography to an even greater extent than before. last, but not least, new friendships have emerged and there's a lot happening pretty much across the board - 2011 seems to be heading in all sorts of directions - luckily, 'forward' seems to be the major unifier.

i've put together a series of images i haven't posted that in different ways sums up this past year. there's twelve of them - each representing it's own month and it's own little story. through them you'll get to know me a little better and share a little of the ride that has been 2010.

i wish you all a blessed new year filled with happiness, peace and all that is good. look out for www.stereosaint.no to surface soon - a dedicated site to everything i do photographically. i'm accepting clients for 2011 and if you know somebody who's getting engaged, married or simply wants to document an event or even have a little digital story created about their life/business - tip them about me and you'll be rewarded with a discount on my services for yourself.

much love,

~ morgan | stereosaint ~

lovers

this image was taken on a trip to paris. i was walking by the river and came across these two cuddling up on a bench by the water. it's beautiful how love sometimes makes you phase out everything and everyone around you. i think we need that sometimes. this image was made with a Canon 5DMKII and a Canon 50mm 1.2L - love it. converted to B&W with the amazing Silver Efex Pro software.

blossom

being born in april, the spring has always had a special hold on me. the smell of it, the sounds of the birds returning, people pouring back onto the streets of my native oslo, norway...there's not many things that can compete with that. i made this image somewhere in london with a Canon 5DMKII and a Canon 50mm 1.2L - love it.

reach out

another thing that's beautiful about the spring is how kids love to get on anything with wheels and just roam the bounds of their territories - and sometimes even further. i was really lucky with this one...he reached out to me while jumping of his ride and i was lucky enough to lock focus on his hand and it turned out great with the different shapes and play of light. i made this image with a Canon 5DMKII and a Canon 24mm 1.4L MKII - love it. converted to B&W with the amazing Silver Efex Pro software.

high roller

i was at the airport right outside oslo a while back and saw this dude completely owning the ground he stood upon. here in norway people tend to run and hide every time they see someone sport a camera, so i discretely figured out how i wanted the shot, prefocused the distance using the markers on the lens of my camera (the big advantage of a rangefinder camera) and got the shot without anyone noticing. what i like about the image, is the balance created by the different elements of the image - the man and the column, the lady and the machines, the light and shadow. i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Leica Summilux-M 35mm ASPH MKII.

hotel california

my favorite place to stay if i'm in america, is the hard rock hotel. it's just got this great vibe and you totally get the feeling of the true essence of a real vacation. the service is top notch, the food is awesome (they have chefs available 24/7 and the restaurants - the kitchen, palm++ - are amazing) and the locations of their hotels are superb. late one evening i was headed back to my room and this deserted hallway reminded me of the song 'hotel california'. i love the geometry in the image as well as how the light plays with shadows while jimmy rests as cool as ever on the wall way ahead. i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Leica Summilux-M 50mm pre-asph (i miss that lens). converted to B&W with the amazing Silver Efex Pro software.

love

in the middle of manhattan there's a sculpture that simply depicts 'love' while looking awesome. needless to say it's photographed a lot. to me, the man seeking refuge from the sun in the shadow of love, adds an interesting element of interpretation to the sculpture, not to mention the word 'love' itself. i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Voigtländer 15mm Super Wide Heliar.

friends

as i'm writing this we're in the middle of christmas and there's a lot of people struggling with loneliness, family intrigues and all sorts of stuff that usually remain in the private sphere. you all probably understand why i made this image and also why i really like it; this is the sort of thing happening when friends are hanging around. too few chairs? not an issue! i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Leica Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. converted to B&W with the amazing Silver Efex Pro software.

unearthed

this image was made on my way home after work. i had noticed the tree on the right a few weeks earlier and had waited for the right light to stop and make a photograph. this particular day the light i wanted filled the sky and, luckily for me, a tractor had just passed giving the earth a wonderful texture. i love the sharp, crisp and detailed look of the earth in contrast to the creamy sky. i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Leica Summilux-M 24mm ASPH.

the kiss

i was given the honor of photographing this lovely couple last summer on their big day and this is one of those images that, while not the best or most perfect image of the day, 'just happened'. gotta love it! i made this image using a Canon 7D and a Canon 10-22mm lens. didn't love that lens. :-/

ticket to ride

if you follow my blog, you know that i love 'times square' on manhattan. this is an image i made late one evening while watching everything going on. i wanted to capture how the whole place was alive - everything is moving...the displays, screens, people, cars...except for the ground beneath our feet. i focused on the the crossing in front of me, had the lens wide open at f/1.4 and waited for the right moment. this is how it turned out. i hope you like it! i made this image with a Leica M9 and a Leica Summilux-M 50mm pre-asph (i miss that lens).

of glass and steel

the final image is one i made in paris this spring. i was going to visit the louvre for the first time and wasn't quite sure what to expect. if you haven't been there i'd recommend spending about two days there. its way too much for just one day and i have to say i envy the people of the city who's able to go there anytime they want to. so much to see and so much inspiration there. i made this image with a Canon 5DMKII and a Canon 24mm 1.4L MKII - love it.