Having been on the road for 24 out of 30 days last month, I’m pretty glad to be home and even gladder to have a light calendar. That said, Norway was a great time!
Immediately (it seemed) following my return from OZ, I headed out for Oslo, Norway, to receive my Nobel Prize for Interiors Photography speak at the Finn Photographers’ dinner.
photo courtesy Tulipchain Photography
If you aren’t familiar with Finn.no, it’s basically the Norwegian answer to Craigslist. What you want —- it’s on Finn.no. And that includes real estate photography – really, really, good real estate photography. Finn employs 8 or 10 full-timers, and has relationships with about 70 more throughout Norway, making them the dominant force for the industry in that country.
Finn impressed me, on several fronts. First, they seem to understand that the key to making money in photography is to offer a compellingly superior product. To that end, they aggressively recruit the best photographers they can find, and provide in-depth training (which I was flattered to be a part of). Secondly – by all accounts, they treat their photographers extremely well. I spent time with a number of them, both employee and freelancers, and everyone seemed to be very happy with the company. How refreshing is that?!
On the Monday (and then Wednesday)
following the conference dinner, I taught workshops, in a charming little duplex in the outskirts of Oslo. Here’s Thomas Arnestad, the Director of Photography, demonstrating some Norwegian ingenuity — using a diffuser cap as a drinking cup!
These were great workshops, because as a group, the Finn photographers were among the most advanced students I’ve ever worked with. We were able to dispense with most of the basics and really focus on the more subtle nuances of flash photography – working on ratios and strategies for adjusting exposures and the different ways light behaves. Fun stuff!
Mia made a quick video of lunch, on Monday:
FISH, SOAKED FOR WEEKS IN LYE, OR SOMETHING….
It took me 3 attempts, but finally, on my last night in Oslo, I ate Lutefisk. 
(sorry for the crappy low-light iPhoto!)
We had been turned away already at one place. And when I called the Stortorvets Gjestgiveri (about 400 years old, and reputed to have the best lutefisk in town) and got summarily rejected, I was ready to give up. It helps, however, to have a 195-cm native Norwegian friend to go in and ask for a table. It took John Lovas less than 5 minutes to bag us a table for 4, available immediately. Well done, John. And the result? Lutefisk ROCKS! As does roast reindeer, which was almost as good as the grilled kangaroo I’d had a couple weeks earlier. How do you decide which tastes better, Roo, or Rudolph?
Here’s one more iPhone shot from The Land of Perpetual Twilight:
Architectural Photographer Scott Hargis 