Next level @ photography

It's been a while since I last wrote here, and you will not believe me when I say this, but the daily life is also here. You would think that when you are at Hawaii, there is just holiday - well, that is not true.
After a fairly calm start, our photography course has now really begun. So far we've had six assignments, and been on one field trip. At the bottom of this post you can see my assignments so far.
So, life here at Kona is still very good. The second weekend of my stay (saturday 11th of january) we rented a car and had a road trip to the northern point of this island. It was seriously amazing to drive through the different landscapes. Within two hours of driving we passed dessert, wasteland, green pastures and hills, jungle and enormous cliffs that dramatically unfolded into the ocean of the northern point. We had some stops on our way, and a huge gang of bikers followed us and parked right behind us. We talked to them and took a lot of nice pictures of and with them. It so funny how things just happen when you travels, all the random guys you are meeting. We also drove past a local market with local chocolate, fruits and vegetables nicely put together at their tables. Well, after a long day we finally reached the beach and relaxed there for a couple of hours before we drove home with the sunset right in front of us. These are one of the moments that you remember!
The first week went a bit slow, but now the time has caught up with me, and it continues to accelerate. And by the way, I have to tell you about my revolution here. Some of you that know me, might think that I am fooling you when I tell this, but you have my word that it is true. I start the day off by taking a run by the ocean front, I wake up at 6 o'clock!!! And I go to bed between 22 and 23. It is really unusual for me to do this! In Norway I never go to bed before 00.30, and I never wake up before 09.00.. So, it's a new but really exciting rhythm in my life here. A normal day look like this: We have breakfast from 6.15 to
7.15, then our class starts at 8 o'clock. We have one hour of devotion, and these hours have so far been used to tell our stories to each other. That is so good! Each and one of us have been given a half hour to tell our belief story, and you really feel you know the person better after hearing their story. It's a true blessing to hear peoples stories. Then we have a little lunch with fruits and vegetables at 10.30, then one hour more with class, before we have a big lunch at 11.30. Then we have class either until 15.00, or from 15.00 to 17.00. The dinner is served from 17 to 18.30. It's okay food here, both american and asian. They make food for 800 people everyday so I guess I should not have too great expectations, but it tastes good and at least there is fresh vegetables every day.

I also met my hero, the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham last week. I saw him, and I just had to talk to him. So I approached him and thanked him for everything he has done. He signed my english YWAM bible, and I took a picture with him. (I know this sound kinda stupid, but I just had to have a picture with him..). He have been to all the countries in the world, and he travel 180 days a year. He is so amazing, and stands really firm on his belief in Jesus. It is so visible that he has lived a life in fully surrender and obedience to the Lord.
As I told you we had a field trip this week. We went towards the southern part of the island and took pictures in the ''painted church'', a really small but charming church with really old paint inside. Then we drove to a place called ''city of refugee''. It used to be a city where people could run to if they had done something terrible in the society. They could not go back to the society, but they were safe at that place. It also used to be a holy site for the traditional religions in the area, and it still is a holy site for them. There were a various of nice spots to take some good shots there, so we spent three hours there. NICE!
I am going a little bit back and forth now, but last weekend we had work duty here. Everyone who attends a school at the campus have to do work duty. So we are in the kitchen every other weekend. We prepare the food (for 800 people), we serve the food (for 800 people) and we do the dishes (still for 800 people). So it was A LOT to do.. We worked from 06.00 to 09.30 in the morning and from 15.00 to 19.00 in the evening. We were so tired after this weekend. I did not feel I had had a weekend at all.
But I take it as a part of a character process, its nice to be able to serve  so many people, and the kitchen is a very important place to do a good job. If something is not good in the kitchen it can affect 800 people, so there is a lot at risk.
I'm going through a lot of processes with God when I'm here. He is showing me what focus I've had, how I have treated people in different situations, not to mention that I have started a journey of really discovering God's love for me. I can't wait to the next step..


Here are some of the assignments:

2. Take 3 photos that are only of what God has made, including nothing man-made.

3. I’d like you to illustrate one fruit of the Spirit. (''But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness'') (You may try a variety of fruit of the Spirit, but in a quest to find your one best shot. 

 Faithfulness
<-----------

<--- Peace

                                                            Joy ---------->





4. Shoot two different compositions or scenes for photos which are effective because they have:

1. very shallow depth-of-field
   
2. deep depth-of-field
   

This means having two scenes each with 2 photos, a total of 4 photos for this part.
3. Interpret motion as frozen motion and blurred motion. As with two above, please have shots which are effective because:

1. frozen motion
   
2. blurred motion
   

Two photos are required total for this part. Altogether, send me 6 photos for this assignment. 

 

Mahalo,


Gjermund

 

First impressions of Kona, Hawaii

First of all I have to tell you about my problems of getting into the States. When we landed at LAX (Los Angeles) we had to go through the US homeland border control, and of course I lacked a paper. A quite essential paper to be precise, the I-20 form that proved that I am a student of University of the Nations this quarter. I honestly didn't think of that scheme when I left home, so when the officer in the desk asked my: ''Sir, do you have your I-20 form?'', I thought to myself: ooops! So I was taken away from the main desks, and to another room where there was a whole bunch of people sitting and waiting for the officers to call them up. A lot of thoughts went through my mind at this moment: firstly my plane to Kona, Hawaii was leaving just 2,5 hours later on that day, and I did not know how long time this would take me, secondly I did not know whether I was allowed to enter the US at all. So, I desperately tried to get in touch with the school, but I were not allowed to use my cellphone either. Anyway, I sneaked my phone out of my pouch and sent a text message to a girl from Finland that I had been traveling with since London whom was also attending the same school. I asked her to get in touch with the school. The clock was ticking and nothing happened, the process with the other people seemed to go really slow. I was fearing the worst, that I had to leave America and go back to Norway. Then I remembered that I had previously been connected with the wireless at the airport, so I tried to get online because I had a copy of the I-20 form in my email. I got hold of the document and downloaded it to my iPhone, then I prayed for a while. I came to realize that I really wanted to go to this school. After 45 minutes my name was been spoken aloud in the speakers, and I went to see the officer. She was asking me a whole bunch of questions, why I had forgotten my I-20 form, if I knew I was supposed to bring one, if the school had sent me the form and so on. In the end she was telling me that normally they would not let me in, but since this was the first time I came as a student to America, she would let me in - I think this was also due to the fact that I could show proof of my I-20 form at my iPhone. 

So, she stamped my passport several times, then she let me go with the passport and all documents sorted out. Glory to GOD!!

WHAT A RELIEF! 2 hours later it was a great feeling when our plane left LAX and flew out from the Californian coastline towards the sunset. I had never been this far from home before! So, when the plane landed at Kona International airport, I took a deep breath of Hawaiian air. The climate was really humid and hot - even in the night. But oh boy how good it was to finally be there.

The first days of my stay here went into being showed around at the campus, we had some meetings and there was this evening with hawaiian aloha culture thing, island breeze they called it. Traditional dancing and flame show. 

It was really exciting to watch, and really touching when all the flags of the nationalities that are represented at campus were being taken around at the meeting hall. It is so good and also a bit strange to be here. I've been thinking of this for over a year, and suddenly I am here. There are 600 students from above 40 nations, in addition to around 400 staff and other people working at the base. Everyone are really friendly, they greet you even if you don't know them, and people are really keen on getting to know each other. I say hi to new people every day, from all over the world. It is truly exciting. We have been to the beach and have been swimming with sea turtles, we have had bonfire at the beach in the night, and there has been some drama here as well because there was a bushfire just 10 meters from our campus, so a big firefighter helicopter have been flying above us a whole afternoon to put the fire out. 

My class has just began as well, and so far have we had introduction to using iMacs and also teaching about Hawaiian culture and prayer for all the students in the class - which was really encouraging.

This night we watched a movie in the campus movie theatre, it was about trafficking in Cambodia. It really teared my heart aport to watch these young girls, as young as 4 years old, being taken to prostitution. The film was made by people on this base. And there is so much hope around here, people that really care about other peoples and other nations. It is so inspiring to meet these guys, talking to them and just hear about their stories from all over the world, and how the Lord is really providing in the various ministries. He is amazing, the Lord of all Lords! I am truly blessed to be here!

To be continued...

Next stop: Hawaii

The day has come, after a year of waiting I have now reached the day where my journey begins. Today is the day when I am leaving for the School of Photography at Kona, Hawaii. I AM SO READY! Oh boy! I've been waiting for this more than a year. That is why it is so strange to finally have reached the day of arrival. The waiting have felt like ages. Well, now is the day.

I am going to use this blog to post weekly updates and also some tastes of the photos I'm going to shoot at Hawaii. I am going to write in English because there are so many of my friends that does not speak Norwegian, and since most Norwegians speak English I rather write this in English. 

Well, tonight I'm flying out from Bergen to London, Heathrow, where I am going to spend the night. I've booked a hotel room  because I figured out that I would rather have a good nights sleep than some poor hours at a floor or in a metal chair. Then tomorrow I'm flying to Los Angeles, and then further on to Kona, Hawaii. Kailua-Kona is the city where I'm going to stay for the next three months. 

So, what kind of expectations do I have when I now leave rainy Bergen for sunny Hawaii? 

Well, I have great expectations. Firstly I know I am going to grow in relationship with God, get to know him more and get to discover the depths of creativity that is within the Lord of all creation. What a journey this will be. Then I am looking forward to strengthen my knowledge about photography. I've been taking photos for 10 years now, but I've never had a school of photography, so I'm looking forward to learn basics about how you use the light, flash, aperture and so on. Then we are going to be 16 students in my class, and we are from at least 8 different nations (USA, Russia, Canada, Finland, Mexico, Brazil, Latvia, Norway), so it will be a nice mix of people, something I just love. All kinds of things can happen when people from different cultures will meet. And from past experiences I know I'll learn a lot about my own culture as well when I'm interacting in such cultural environments. Of course I need to mention that I am looking forward to Hawaii in itself as well. The Island I'm going to stay at is the Big Island, and it has 12 out of 15 climate zones. All from rain forest to desserts and wild mountains - not to mention dolphins, turtles, sting rays, surfing, snorkeling, hikes.. It also has the highest mountain on earth when you measure it from the sea bottom and to the top.

''Standing 13,803 ft (4,207 m) above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the U.S. state of Hawaii. However, much of the mountain is below sea level; when measured from its oceanic base, its height is 33,500 ft (10,200 m), three times the base-to-peak height of Mount Everest (8,848 m/29,000 ft).''

So this mountain is also said to be one of the best places on earth to watch the stars and the planets of the space surrounding us. I will definitely have a trip to that mountain, and of course the Americans have built a road all the way up. What a joke for us from mountainous countries where we are used to hike these heights. It's also an volcanic island, so if I'm lucky I get to see flowing lava. But I have promised my mum to keep distance, so I'll just have to see how close I can get and still be safe. So as you see there is plenty to looking forward to. Now I need to go back and fulfill my packing, which turned out to be not as easy as I would have thought. 

This is it for now. I will update this blog as often as I can, hopefully it will be something sensible and interesting that is going to be written here. I hope you'll find this blog amusing, and that it will stimulate your creativity as well. 

- G