Friday 24 July 2015

First Impressions of being a Photojournalist/T.V. personality in Norway (Norway post #1)

In the blink of an eye, my dream job as a photojournalist in Norway ended. Each day was so packed with events that it feels like I was there for much longer than 18 days. But at the same time, I remember the first day as if it were yesterday. Being back in Toronto, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings from Norway running through my head and will be writing several posts on my dream job experience. This first post will contain my first impressions doing an unfamiliar job in an unfamiliar place (if you want to read about what this dream job was all about, how I got it, etc., it’s all in the previous post).

The main street in Oslo, Karl Johans Gate, everyone is just having such a good time! Such good vibes from Norway!

Bet you didn't know that Norway has AMAZING street art. The artist recreates regular people's faces! I loved this series because it's very similar to what I do in trying to get to know normal local people.

Clowns on our team, pretending to be asleep to take the train seats to themselves, but then had to give them up anyway LOL.

I time travelled back to the 1900's. 

On my Jobs

I had two jobs: one was to be a photojournalist/social media manager for Innovation Norway USA – which meant that I had to deliver a stream of content for them daily – and my other job was to be a TV personality for an episode DreamJobbing was creating to document my experiences in Norway. When I first applied for the job I thought I was going to have an itinerary and just travel through Norway by myself taking pictures of everything. During the interview for the job I found out there was another component to the job, which was the T.V. component. DreamJobbing offered to make a T.V. episode for Innovation Norway as part of their package for the dream job. If you know me, you know that I’ve always wanted to be an actor, so when I first heard that I’d be filmed for the entire duration and that I’d get to be on T.V., you can imagine my excitement. But it soon hit me when I got there that this was a job, and I had work to do. Every day I was always vigilant about looking for photographic opportunities, trying to genuinely get to know everyone I met, and every night when the crew went out to have fun, I took night photography or sat in my room to edit. At first, I only uploaded pictures at night because I wouldn’t get Wi-Fi during the day, but as the whole crew was uploading many pictures every day, I needed to pick up my part. I struggled in uploading pictures taken by my phone because since I started photography, my standards for quality have grown a lot higher. At the same time, I needed to upload more pictures at a faster rate so I had no other choice. Another hard thing for me was to always be “on” for the camera. While my crew was extremely supportive and helpful in developing my on-camera skills (for example, they advised me to end my sentences rather than talk in one long run on sentence), it was still very draining to be openly enthusiastic about everything (it wasn’t hard because every activity was so great, but still tiring). Although I quickly adapted and became more comfortable in front of the camera within a couple days, I still felt that I couldn’t be 100% myself in front of the camera. But my crew was extremely encouraging, always reminding me to be myself – and they meant it. They were okay with me honestly expressing my fatigue or my frustration on camera, which I really appreciated.
When old men can sit, enjoy, and laugh heartily, you know it's a great place.

This was taken at 12:30 am! Yes it was that bright still! During this time of the year Norway only has 3-4 hours of night time!

Showing off the various weathers of Norway, but all beautiful nonetheless. I felt like I could touch the clouds!

Beautiful sunsets are only one of the 17 million beautiful sights in Norway.

Sunny skies, bright nights, magical clouds, colourful sunsets, and also foggy days! Norway weather is unpredictable, but each beautiful in their own ways! It's like living in a movie over here! 


On Norway

Moments after arriving at Oslo (our first stop), I noticed that there was a very cheery atmosphere about everyone. The weather was beautiful, the birds were singing, and all the people were smiling. I quickly learned about the high quality of life in Norway. Everyone we met was content and happy. A lot of the people we came across were not originally from Norway, but quickly fell in love with Norway after visiting (as we all did, but especially my cameraman John, who within an hour said he was going to move to Norway). I know I haven’t really elaborated on exactly why Norway seemed so wonderful to so many people, but I’ll be diving deeper into that over the next few posts. I’ll share my top three reasons for why Norway is such an amazing place. The first is something that we can all relate to: food!

ALSO, I got to be on live T.V. in Norway! If you want to watch how that went down, scroll down to see the video http://www.nrk.no/sognogfjordane/hoppa-i-havet-for-sommerapent-1.12458729

I'm at 13:16, 32:10, and 42:35

If you want to see more pictures from my trip, they're on my Instagram, @arnoldlan


Okay stay tuned for the next post! Feel free to ask me any questions or talk to me!

4 comments:

  1. Hurrah! I was so glad to see this post and know that there's more to come. My favourite photo has to be the last one. Desktop worthy. =)

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    1. LOL THANKS FOR FOLLOWING SIS. <3 DO YOU WANT IT I CAN SEND IT TO YOU LOL.

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  2. You sure hit a home-run with this dream jobbing! You may love Norway, but I am sure Norway loves you all the way back! You have captured the Norwegian spirit in your own words and amazing photos. Looking forward to the next post, Arnold!

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    1. Can't thank you enough for your continual support through all of this auntie! I think you commented more than all of my friends combined and I love it hahaha.

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