The weird brightness in the Norwegian winter light is something I will never get used to, but it was awfully good to experience it again so close to Christmas. My Scandinavian coordinator and owner of Fotografit (http://www.fotografit.eu/), Lars Stenholt Kirkegaard invited me to participate in his Winter Photo Workshop and I of course said yes! I had recently upgraded my Olympus PEN setup with a base mount and longer arm to the external flash, and was eager to test it in the water. 6°C Norwegian winter water, that is.
You might ask yourself why someone would even consider diving with icy winds and a heavy snowfall during the darkest time of the year. We have about 4 hours of daylight to be exact. Well, the visibility can be stunning during the winter, and you can spot creatures in the darkness that you normally never see. And, I must admit, it feels pretty awesome putting your dive gear on and walking through 50 cm snow to get to the dive site entry.
The workshop was arranged by Havsport, a dive centre in Trondheim, and we had 2 full days of diving, theory and picture review, with one additional afternoon of theory. Lars gave us 3 tasks for the weekend; to photograph a macro subject finding a motif in the motif itself, photograph a subject using light from the back and last but not least, humour, which had to have a diver in the frame. My buddy and model, Marit Klev, and I had so much fun, and the picture below is my best shot for the humour category.
The Scholarship year so far is strong evidence for my lack-of-intelligent-clothing-capability, and this event was no exception. Always travelling back and forth will eventually lead to equipment being spread all over your different base camps – and I realized just a little too late that I had arrived Norway in the middle of winter with my 3mm Fourth Element wet gloves. I must say, I am very pleased with my Fourth Element gear, but 3mm gloves are NOT made for 6°C water temperature. I did make it through a 45 min dive, which must prove I have Viking blood in my veins for sure. And I am sure that it had nothing to do with it when I felt sick the next day.
I had to pass up on diving the last day, and assigned myself as topside photographer, documenting the workshop. As it always is with these equipment loaded sports, the more equipment, the bigger risk for something to fail – and everybody was not as lucky as the rest of the group…not mentioning any names, Lars!
In addition to the topside photography I automatically became surface support, which is sorely needed when you have massive camera setups and trying to enter the water down a staircase. The help was much appreciated, as you can see.
The workshop was very good learning wise, as we spent lots of time on picture reviews and discussing how to use light to achieve different effects. It was of course a special event for me, both since it was with my coordinator, but also because I was proud that a dive centre in Trondheim put this together in the middle of winter. It is cold and dark when you put your equipment together, and it is even colder and darker when you get out of the water again – but it is also beautiful, clear and satisfying in a way you can never experience anywhere else but in Nordic waters.
