Thoughts

Finding yourself

Have you ever felt that you have forgotten who you are, or who you were?

I am in that kind of position for the moment, some parts of me have changed, like my interest in photography which has gradually lowered daily. Without any certain reason, or not any that I know of at least. For the past year I have felt more and more that whenever something nice or cool happens, instead of grabbing my camera to take a picture, I would rather just enjoy it directly. No lens or machine between me and reality, I always wanted to get the best picture possible, but in the quest for the ultimate photo, I lost the entire event. Then my friends talked about how fantastic it was to see it, and all I have is the photo and the stress I had while trying to get the perfect image of it.

In addition to that, I became lazy in the later years, no longer wanting to carry a large camera or an extra large backpack just to have the right lenses ready, in case they were needed. It all was a hassle to carry, but I gladly did it, just in case just that one day it would all be worth it, normally it never happened, but that is not the point. Last year I also purchased a GoPro camera, a small pocket-sized movie-capturing device, for those who have no idea what it is. And I was amazed at how easy it was, I wear it as a necklace, if anything happens I just take it, press one button and it starts recording. Meanwhile, I can watch the whole spectacle myself, and as long as I do not forget to hold the camera sort of pointed correctly, then it results in a nice movie afterwards. How easy, right?

Yet I have to say that not feeling the inspiration or the will to carry around my camera anymore, has left me feeling empty. For most of my teenage and adult life, the camera has been my thing, and many people’s only memory of me would be “the guy with the camera”. A part of me feels like wanting to sell away all my expensive equipment, just to buy a simple compact camera, and start all over again. Back to the beginning, as they say, I know in many cases that it might help re-gaining creativity.

A good example of this is my latest trip to Italia, two weeks ago I went to Italia, and stayed in the area of Padova. Visited the mountains, visited Lake Garda, and the beach side of Venezia. All thanks to this super kind girl I got to know. Of course, I brought my professional camera, but only one lens this time. The smallest lens I have, and the one that has become my favourite just because it is small and the 28mm is more than enough for most occasions. Just to make a trip as light as possible when it comes to packing, of course, I also brought my GoPro. During the whole stay, I took a few pictures with my big camera, just because I felt I had to, or else bringing it along would have been a waste. For the most part, my phone and the GoPro were used the most. I have some movies and some images that are already out on social media, or they will be soon, at least.

After the Italia trip, it was straight to Bergen and then Trondheim before ending back home in Oslo. In these locations the camera was just left in my backpack at the hotel, never taken out at all. My phone did the most of the job, and I happily captured many moments of the trip. And of course, I will not say that phone images are better than the ones coming from my expensive camera, MA, they are good enough to be used within social media and for quick sharing with friends. Also, not to mention the quick on-the-go editing done directly on the phone without having to transfer them to a PC and then make the necessary developing through Adobe Lightroom. I do not edit my images much or spend much time on them, that has never changed. I have always tried to take my photos as close to how I want them as possible. To not edit the reality more than necessary.

I am searching for inspiration currently, hoping to find a way back to motivation, not sure how, but I will try. I know also for sure that, of course, you do change in life, and if my passion is going away for this hobby, then I guess that is okay also, it has brought me lots of adventures and so much fun. I regret nothing, but, I hope the spark will return to me at some time in the future.

Allora, this is the reason for the title, it feels like something is missing. Those parts of me are changed so that I do not properly recognise it, for now, it feels strange, but maybe over time it becomes the new normal. Or maybe I will permanently change from that guy with the camera, into that guy who used to always bring his camera, haha. Time will show! Have a nice day, ci vediamo!

#owlando

06/09/2024 by
Journal

Wake me up, when September ends

The summer is getting close to its end for this time, a lot has happened this summer. Yet then the question is why have I not written anything this summer, as per normal I have been on a writers-block, and it does not seem to end. I tried multiple things to reawaken my lost inspiration, I pray that it can be saved. As the days have passed I feel I have become more cynical and cold, so I guess it is important to retrieve my inspiration as it used to be.

Sometimes you need a restart, and I plan to spend September preparing for a restart, this is why the post is titled as it is. So I guess, this is it for now, I will wake up when September ends!

Ci vediamo!

#owlando

04/09/2024 by
Thoughts

Going somewhere?

A passion can be anything to anyone, what drives you and what gives you motivation. Passions are found in the most diverse ways, and now it’s time for me to tell you about mine, travelling.

It started as long back as I can remember, or to be honest I can not remember it at all since I was around 4-6 months old at that time, not yet reached memory retention. It was one long journey, to be honest, all the way from South America to Norway in Scandinavia. Two travel-loving parents slowly gave me a love for travel in such a way that nothing else could compare to my enjoyment of travelling. We went on journeys many times per year and kept doing so throughout the entirety of my childhood. At some point, I got so used to travelling that going to the airport became just as normal to me as taking the bus.

That love never stopped, it remained within me, I am not sure if I was born a traveller, but I sure was made into one due to all of this. Travelling is something I need just as much as air these days, I notice that whenever I have been stuck for too long, then I need a breath of fresh air. Going somewhere is the breath I need to continue, luckily now these days I also have a job that helps me continue with my true passion. Whatever I do, or wherever I go does not matter that much, the adventure is made as I go.

So far I have been to quite a lot of places, but there are still a lot of places to see and to learn more about. In those ways, I am not a good traveller, since I rarely take the time to research the places I go. Usually, when I arrive at a new place, I just go for a walk around the area and spot things that I want to see, and from there the way usually leads to the next path, and I follow. It has worked out fine so far, a little bit of luck along the way has been a great help as well.

However, lately, I have become stuck in visiting just one place, and that is Italia. I guess Italia itself has become a passion for me, but come on, they have great food, great sights, great people and a beautiful language. I do not know for how long this will be, but so far the rest of the year is planned with Italian trips, and I also plan to do the same next year. Who knows when I will set my eyes on another destination again, I guess it does not matter much, passions can change just as much as we change.

The most important things about our passions are that we feel good while we do them, and that they keep giving us that feeling. So if those feelings ever dwindle, then do not be alarmed, it just means that you have changed a bit yourself. Change is always something to be welcomed, it is all part of our story. It would be a bummer to re-read the same chapter for the whole book, no matter how nice it was.

So, where will you go next time?

#owlando

14/08/2024 by
Journal

Tranquility

Yet another time has passed, and other ventures have been made in the time that passed. Through it all, I even lost my sense of tranquillity, for a long time I have felt in control of most situations no matter how they appeared. I had some personal tranquillity, a safe place to go and remain whenever I wanted. Kind of like a turtle shell so to say.

Lately, I put that turtle shell down, and when exposed I realised how much I was reliant on the shield. The mental shield was put down, the funny thing was that my chiropractor even commented on it that it seemed like I had gone through some stress lately. It is magical how some people can just read it like that, so I admitted everything and to be honest it was nice to let it out. The feeling of not having that shield was frightening in the beginning and it honestly drove me crazy.

But as time went on, I started to manage, it may not have been visible from the outside, but the tempest within took quite a toll on my energy. As with everything in nature, the power of adaption slowly made its work known. Today I think things are going back to normal, or maybe a new way of normal, who knows. Something within me has changed for sure, and I guess that it is preparation for something to come, I believe all things that happen in life contribute to new lessons learned.

Now as I work to regain that tranquility without the shell, I am ready to face yet another challenge, but before that time, it is time for a vacation. One last vacation of this year of events, and guess where I am going, that’s right, I am not even giving you a chance to guess. I am going to Italia!

Peace of heart, mind, spirit and soul, the unity of it all, next post will be something more, I promise.

Ciao ciao for now!

#owlando

14/08/2024 by
Journal

The decision to make

Ciao everyone!

It has been ages, yet again, or not ages directly but you get the point. I have lost count of all the times I have tried to revive this blog. For the past few days, I have considered just making it a request, since what is the point of paying for something that will forever remain unused?

Here I go, I want to try, yet again to “use it” yet I have quite a calm decision on making this page as static as it is. The About Me page will remain unchanged, probably throw in some updates sporadically, and the gallery will be worked on to feature some images, last time I worked on it I only laid the groundwork before quitting, how lazy of me. The Instagram section of this page will keep doing its job by just updating whenever I update my Instagram images, I like how it works easily like that.

The blog

Now for the elephant in the room, the blog, the dreaded blog. The place where I once imagined writing and posting stuff easily every day. Did not happen, not even close to that vision. Honestly, as I write today it has already passed two months since my last update, and to that matter itself, I have nothing else to say than mi dispiace (I am sorry).

Here I am once again, with renewed hope glory and every other shitty positive word I can recall, I will try to post more from the first of August. I have the highest hopes of that becoming reality. The first part will be a summary of the past few months. If such a thing is possible to do.

Allora, that was all for now, let’s see if I can manage more updates from now on!

31/07/2024 by
Travel

An absence called travel

Ciao amici, it has been a long time now! Of course, I suck at being a blogger, come sempre, ma, I am back for now! And I can tell you that the main reason for my long absence is because of travel.

Dove sei andato? – Where did you go?

Well the answer to that is Italia, the country of my heart. I am not born an Italian, but I guess a part of my heart has always been belonging to that country in some way or another. Allora, in the duration of April and May, I have been to the following destinations.

  • Roma
  • Pisa
  • Firenze
  • Bari
  • Matera
  • Napoli
  • Bologna
  • Verona
  • Padova
  • Rimini
  • Milano

So you can understand I have been quite busy, and I can honestly say that I can feel it in my body that it has been exhausting at sometimes, even though I enjoyed every single second of the adventure. As I am writing this, I am currently in Paris, as the last part of my summer vacation in 2024. This trip to Paris was supposed to be last year, but due to a cancelled concert, it was postponed to June this year. I am here in Paris in order to attend the Sonic the Hedgehog concert. A once in a lifetime dream, to hear the music from my favourite game-series live and orchestrated. A good ending to my vacation.

What’s next?

Good question, the short answer would be to say nothing, as this marks the end of my summer vacation. Ma, Norway is starting to get to it’s most beautiful period so I hope that I can enjoy a good summer with many memories even though I won’t have any vacation days at home. My next planned trip abroad may happen soon again, but for the moment nothing certain is planned until September, which will be a concert in Roma. Followed by another concert in Roma in November. Oh wow, che tanto tempo!

I will try to update here more regularly, and also find a way to post my videos from my travels here on this site, as you probably have guessed I did a lot of filming and photographing during the trips. If you follow me on Instagram you have already seen some of the things from my recent adventures, and you can also find my movies there. Ma, soon you will find them here too, stay tuned!

Ci vediamo!

#owlando

01/06/2024 by
Creative

Working on the portfolio

Today I came to realize something, that I have not yet felt before regarding this website. I am actually getting satisfied with it, the whole feel of it, the logo, the colours and the pages. It all fits together now, how I feel it at least.

With that said, I tried again to make the portfolio work, to have a separate portfolio and a separate gallery. I just recently learned the difference of it, not that I ever investigated on the difference anyway. A portfolio presents your BEST work, and a gallery may present ALL your work. This made it easy for me to separate the Instagram feed from the portfolio part, and with this current theme it actually looked a way I wanted it to look. I am really happy with this project finally.

My portfolio is being worked on as we speak, or as I write. For now it is only the starter images, but now I know how to make them, so very soon it will be up and running. And the Instagram gallery works on it’s own as long as I keep posting my daily pictures there. So I guess this was just a quick update on the sites progress, and the miracle that I finally am happy with it. Now all that’s left is to fulfill the portfolio, and keep content coming.

I have already made a new category named Storytime, which is where I will share longer posts with stories from my past. Also, I plan on making categories or certain posts related to photo-school and travel-tips, where I share exactly those kinds of things. Hopefully it works, it feels nice to have things planned at least!

Ci vediamo!

Owlando

21/04/2024 by
Journal

A relaxed update of the past week

It is Saturday, another workweek has just passed, a bit of an irregularity on one of the days due to an acute toothpain on Wednesday. Which made me go home to Kongsvinger, both for a short visit with my parents but also for going to the dentist. I can not really think of other types of pain that I think can overgo the toothpain, it is suffering in the purest form. Allora, it got better after visiting the dentist, or honestly for an hour after the visit it got even worse, it became so painful that I cried, that rarely happens.

I actually passed out (fell asleep) after having some painkillers and the cat came to keep me company in the form of sleeping on my back. It was comforting to have Meowsie close when I went to sleep.

Apart from that, the workweek has passed by semi-normal, I say this because this week we have had visitors from Riga. And the week before that we also had visitors from Riga, and Spain. This is due to a new course that some of us at the office will have to go through. A whole week of student vibes, I miss the student life sometimes, honestly.

One of these days I had home office and went to a cafe suggested by bestfriend Anna, the name of the cafe is Eden. the punctuation is within the name, and wow this is such a nice and tranquil location. The best part of it is that it is only within a five minute scooter ride to get here, this is also the place where I go for a swim in summertime. So I hope that this will become a sweet success for the coming summer, I can picture myself sitting here both in sunny days and rainy days, writing, doing creative stuff and such. So to anyone out there, Eden. located at Sørenga is absolutely a place I can reccommend.

I am quite aware that it has already been a while since my last post, scusami, but I promise that I actually try to do this the proper way. The funny thing is that actually my Instagram diary project actually sort of became my blog, since in that channel I have posted a post everyday with multiple pictures and also a short story of the day that passed. Ultimately that is what I should do here too, so in the future I may actually start importing my Instagram posts into blogposts somehow, if that even works out.

My plan for the rest of the weekend is to sit here at the Eden. cafe and study some Italian, then later tonight I am going out with a friend to a Eurovision party. Tomorrow will be, probably study an relax as well, I need to get back to my Italian.

Ci vediamo!

#owlando

20/04/2024 by