A Wrong Turn Toward the Right Light
Yesterday’s photowalk ended up becoming a two-act adventure.
The day started the way many of our Photobreak walks begin. We met up at the Tiger outside Oslo S. The big bronze statue that has basically become our unofficial starting line. If you see three photographers standing there staring at their phones and cameras, chances are the Randomizer is about to decide our fate.
And yesterday it did. The Randomizer said: Hellerud.
None of us had really explored that area before. Tommy had been there, but Kim and I hadn’t. So we jumped on the metro and headed east while staring out the windows like hopeful weather prophets.
The sky was still heavy and grey, but far on the horizon there was a thin strip of blue.
So naturally, I kept shouting our new motivational slogan for the day: “Believe!”
Believe that the sun will come out. Believe that Oslo will deliver good light. Believe that street photography gods will reward our optimism.
We all knew we were probably being overly hopeful. But still… believe. When we arrived at Hellerud station, we barely spent a few minutes there before we started walking. We crossed a bridge, checked the map, and realized we had two options. Left. Or right. We chose right. Which was wrong. Very wrong.
The city blocks slowly turned into smaller roads. The roads turned into paths. The paths turned into a forest trail.
And suddenly the three of us were hiking through an icy downhill path in the middle of the woods with expensive cameras swinging around our necks like fragile little pendulums.At one point we were carefully sliding down a frozen slope, thinking: This is how photographers disappear.
Naturally, the jokes started flying.
“Tommy is leading us to a cabin.”
“This is it.”
“We trusted the wrong man.”
Meanwhile, Tommy was confidently navigating like a man who definitely knew where he was going… probably.
The whole thing was hilarious. Completely off-road photography in the middle of Oslo at one in the afternoon.
After a lot of icy hiking and cautious footwork, we finally spotted something beautiful in the distance.
Civilization. ( finally!! )
We found our way back down to the city, jumped on a bus, and headed to Helsfyr, where we did what any exhausted photographers would do.
We ordered a beer.
And a dangerously good portion of french fries.
And then it happened.
While sitting there by the window, the sun finally arrived.
The clouds opened. Light started bouncing off buildings. Shadows appeared.
And I immediately shouted across the table: “Believe! I told you. You need to believe!”
Just like that, part two of the photowalk began.
The city transformed. Long shadows. Bright winter light. Perfect textures on walls and streets. Suddenly, every corner had something interesting to photograph.
By the end of the day, we had walked nearly 25,000 steps, crossed half the city, accidentally gone forest trekking, and somehow ended up with the perfect golden ending to the day. It was a classic almost quit day, to a great photoday.
