Wasted?

Yesterday I was asked by my friend Daniel if I wanted to come with him to Ørsta to cover a ballet production. He had gotten an assignment from the newspaper Sunnmørsposten to write something about it, so he wanted me to take som photos. I said yes putting the evening aside to do some work, and maybe get paid some small change for my photos.

While preparing; charging camera batteries, checking memory cards and lenses, I got some excitement about the assignment. It had been a while since I last photographed stage performances and I looked forward to it.

But then I got disappointed when arriving at the scene (Ørsta kulturhus). The newspaper had sent another photographer due to some misunderstandings. So he was going to take the photos for the paper, and mine wouldn't get published and I just had to forget getting paid this time. The other photographer wasn't comfortable with the situation, and I just had to say to him: "You take the photos. I'll just take it as training and playing this time, as the paper unfortunately has screwed it up." So I just ended up being company for my friend and taking photos for the fun of it. So then it was more playing and experimenting than normal, not taking all the safe shots I would if it had been an important assignment.

Safe back home downloading the photos from the memory cards I see many of the experiments didn't end up as anything close to perfect. But I got some nice ones out of the 140 exposures :) So that was my Friday evening. Was it worth it? I'm not sure..

PS: The ballet production was set up by Ørsta/Volda ballettskule (Ørsta/Volda ballet school). The ballet performed was The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. The production casts both amateur dancers from the ballet school and three professional dancers from the national ballet of the Czech Republic in Prague.

For all of you who read Norwegian you can read Daniel's article about the ballet show here: Klassikar i kulturhuset (note that the photo is by the other photographer)

You can see more of my photos from the show in the gallery.

Another holiday

Me together with one of the people I interviewed when making my story about dalit journalists in India, Krishnamurthy Chamaram, editor of the newspaper Samaja Parivarthana in Mysore, Karnataka, India. In front one of the local kids who just had to be in the photo. (Photo: M.P. Umesh Chandra)

I've just ended my study semester with exams in the subject "Reportasjearbeid i framand kultur" or translated to English "Reporting from a foreign culture". So now I'm ready for christmas holidays, going back home in the north and taking part in arranging cabaret, and watching another cabaret having a good time with good friends and some beer.

Talking about the end of a study semester and holiday is a bit different after this semester. Many would consider the studying I've been doing this semester as just another holiday. I must admit I'm priviledged who get the oportunity to travel to India, studying. All my fellow students have several teoretic exams these days, often having to read a lot of books for just half the study credit I get for my India studies. Of course we had to read some for our exams too, but it's completly different.

I'm really happy I chose to take the India study. The semester will be remembered with happy thoughts for a long time.