Colors, lights and shadows - reflection from the last three weeks

Hi folks! :)

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last post here. I've been wanting to write before, but believe it or not we have had a lot to do. It's getting tense here, but that is a good thing. We have been give a lot of challenging assignments, we've had one more excursion (To Hilton Waikiloa) and I've been at a big road trip last weekend.
We've had assignments about colors, focal length, shadow & light, and environmental portrait.
I must admit I have a love hate relationship with the assignments - I love the fact that I grow in knowledge and skills when I do them, but I hate those moments when I can't figure out what to do. But, so far, so good!
Last week (the 5th to the 11th of february) we had our first guest speakers, which was bot refreshing and exciting. I mean, I was not tired of our own teacher (Dennis Fahringer), but it's always good to have some variation in the teachers. So, Gary & Vivian Chapman was here teaching us lots of stuff, both technically with our cameras and in terms of editing (photoshop and lightroom). I've actually had some fear of learning editing software, because there is so MUCH to learn, especially photoshop with its crazy loads of options. But, I am getting there. Lightroom is really been a blessing to me - the fact that you can do all changes in the software and that it also arranges all your pictures - wow, its a new world for me. (I've been doing this manually for 10 years on my hard drives).
Gary & Vivian was a really lovely couple. They have been traveling around for decades, doing photo stories and assignments for NGO's, mission organizations, and secular business companies. They are also doing stock photography (selling their pictures online). It was really inspiring to see the two of them working together, you might say that Vivan is Gary's assistant - and they are married!! Many people have told me in the past that you should not work together with your wife, because the work should be a free space, but they were a good example of a couple not just being a couple but also working very well together. Gary's pictures was amazing - and as such a good photographer he could have been arrogant and not open to us, but he was so warm and relaxing, listened to us and took all our questions seriously. It was indeed a nice experience to have them here.
This week we've had Bill Bangham as a guest teacher. He is one kind of a man. Looks like the coziest grandpa ever, and he has so much experience. He is also very warm and welcoming and loves to spend time with us. So, this week's theme have been photojournalism. And we have been doing environmental portraits and this upcoming weekend  we are doing a photo story, then on monday we will have an exam (writing an essay). So, right now I am sitting in my classroom and waiting for a helicopter company to call me. I am doing a photo story about a pilot, and I've been given some signals that I might come with them for a ride if they have available spaces in the helicopter. The ride is normally 479 $, and it flies around the whole island (above the vulcanoes, the lava area, the rainforest with all its waterfalls, the coastline with the dramatic cliffs, then into some huge and deep valleys with the highest waterfalls in the whole state (300 meter - 1000 feet??) then back again to our city. It's is really an amazing your, so I so BADLY want to do this. I got a message this morning that I could pay 200 $ and get on the helicopter ride, but I rather wait for the Lord to provide a ride for me. So, I'm a bit nervous in this moment - a bit excited and crossing my fingers that this will work out. If not, I just have to go downtown and try to find someone to make a photo story about.

As for me personally it's been some good weeks, but I also learn a lot about myself. I am an explorer and I love to go on road trips with nice people. So, what I am struggling with is the fact that whenever I make plans with people, and I get excited and build up expectations - then, when we get on the trip and the majority of the people on the trip don't want to do what I had thought we should do, or something unexpected happens - I have a hard time of adjust myself to the new plans and cope with it. It's like I am stuck in my own world. And I need to learn to adjust, I need to say that it is okay that things doesn't work out for me all the time. I might speak in codes now, so I'll tell you what happened.

Last weekend we rented two cars, one of them for one day and the other one for two days. So I expected to have road trips both days. (I'll come back to that) So we planned to go to this amazing valley (Waipio valley) with the tall waterfalls and so on, then we should head for Mauna Kea (the tallest mountain here at Hawaii, 4200 meter above sea level). So we drove to the valley, and first it started to rain a lot. When we got there it was amazing view, and we also saw some whales in the distance, but it rained a lot. So, most of the girls (We were 4 guys and 13 girls) did not want to hike down in the valley (which was our plan), so we did not communicate well. I started to hike down parts of the road (25 % steep!!!) to have a better view of the valley, and a couple of others came along as well. So, when I got up to the lookout again, one of the cars had just left. So, we didn't know where they left, but we though they went to the closest town which turned out to be correct. The girls just wanted to stay in a café for a couple of hours, so we did (because they were the

majority :p). Then it came to our minds that we forgot a guy in the valley, and it had been two hour since we drove from that place. So, the girls went crazy and one car left for the guy. Fortunately they found him right away, and he wasn't mad (but he had good reasons to be mad). The we left for Mauna Kea, and I was so excited to get to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset (it's supposed to be SUPER NICE!!). But because we were delayed when we forgot the guy, and also because we spent to much time in the small town café, we came to late to be able to drive all the way to the top (because they close the road at a certain time due to the fact that they didn't want to have lights disturbing the observatories up there). So we had to stay at 3000 meter instead of going all the way to 4200 meter. 

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! The view was nice from there as well, and we saw the stars so clearly - I had never in my mind thought that there were so many stars out there.. The mountain is supposed to be one of the best places on earth to watch stars and the space (they have lots of observatories up there), and it was really amazing! But still a bit disappointing that we could not drive all the way to the top.

At sunday people were so tired that most of them didn't want to go for another road trip. I was totally ready for another road trip, but nobody knew where they wanted to go. So, after hours of trying to get people along for a road trip, I just gave up. I was totally ignorant to everything - and we ended up spending a couple of hours at a local beach (which turned out to be a very good spot for snorkeling and watching nice coral reefs, so I should not complain anyway). But it was still a bit frustrating that we had a car for a whole day, we are at Hawaii and could have gone to watch live lava flowing, see the rainforest or whatever this island has to offer.

Life with God is good. It's easy to think that whenever you are with God you have to do something: worship, reading in the Bible, pray or whatever - but I have learned that it is okay sometimes just to relax with God, just lay on the floor and listen to Him. I have the freedom to do that, and I am starting to realize that the life with God is all about sharing every moment with Him. Start the day with Him, end the day with Him, spend the day WITH HIM. The life with God doesn't always go in a flow, it is a matter of decision every day - and your feelings might not always play on team with God. But, when you chose God even though you might not feel like doing it in the moment, you will be so blessed.

Lastly I have to mention that we had valentines day yesterday, and since there are 14 girls in our class I figured out that I had to do something. So I wrote a card to everyone, bought goody bags and put some sweets in them. Then I picked flowers from the trees around here (Hawaiian flowers), and I put them in the bags. They were so surprised and uplifted - later on, I got 14 paper hearts from all the girls with lots of nice sayings.

Below you can see some of the pictures from my assignments the last weeks.

Assignment about focal length

Assignment about spot colors

                                                 Assignment about light and shadow

                 

             Environmental portrait

Some more pictures from the road trip

THE helicopter ride

This is a story about a young man, a helicopter and the young man's desire with aviation.

In previous post:  Colors, lights and shadows - reflection from the last three weeks, I told you about that I waited for a call from the helicopter company. Well, here is the story. 

Before the week of photojournalism with Bill Bangham, we got to know that we had to find a person, a company or an interesting case to do a photo story about. Our teacher mentioned that someone in the previous photo schools had contacted a helicopter company, and that they even got a free ride. As an aviation enthusiast I kicked on this idea instantly. And to my fortune, Bob, one of our staff who also works at the airport, knew the boss of one of the helicopter companies. He contacted the guy he knew, and put me in touch with him. We had the whole week of doing this photo story, so I told him that I was available from monday and until sunday. I was so excited about this opportunity!! 

Days went by, and I didn't hear anything from the company. Now it was thursday, and I began to fear that nothing would happen. But then, on friday morning, I got good news. I got a text message that if I could come down to the airport they would have one free space in the helicopter ride that afternoon. Unfortunately my cell phone was in the classroom, so I didn't discover that message before 40 minutes after it was sent. I tried to get in touch with the boss, but he didn't reply. So I got Thema to drive me there, but when I came it was too late. The space was taken. Oh men, I felt so bad! And I got this feeling that the helicopter ride would never happen. I met the boss, and he told me to come back the next day, on saturday, but I needed to contact him in the morning to check it out. 

On saturday morning I was so excited, I sent a text message to him and waited for a reply. It was some really long minutes, and then I got the reply that I feared - ''I am sorry, we are fully booked this morning, maybe we have something in the afternoon - please call back at noon..'' No my fears was confirmed! There wouldn't be a helicopter ride! Then, a couple of minutes later I got a new text ''.. you may reserve a seat for $200, the half of the price, if you want to..'' I wanted to do this so badly, and it was so tempting to just go with this offer, but in the same time it didn't feel right to pay that much money to get a photo story. I discussed it with Bill, and we decided that I should not pay for it. I wanted to trust the Lord in this, and not just go on and pay for it myself. Bill also told me that I should start to consider other options in addition to the helicopter company for the photo story. I went to the prayer room and told God that if this was going to happen, he had to do it. I spent some time there, and when I got out I got a text message again, ''.. you're in!'' You have no idea how happy I was. So, Laura, Felipe's wife drove me to the airport and dropped me of outside of the helicopter company. I went inside, registered and waited together with the other people. The joy I felt inside was overwhelming!! But, the roller coaster of emotions continued. The pilots came out and spoke with us. ''Unfortunately we cannot fly in this weather, it is too rough.. So we need to cancel today's flights..'' 

I knew it, I was so close but yet so far from flying. I thought with myself, should I go back home or should I stay on? I asked the crew if I could take some pictures with the pilot and the helicopter, and he said yes. So I stayed on, helped the pilot out with cleaning the engine and shutting down the helicopter for the day.

 Then he got a message on his phone; ''there is a helicopter arriving in 30 minutes, and they are doing the last flight around the island today..'' .. He told me about this, and yet again my hope rose. Is it possible? Do they have an available seat? A couple of minutes later he got it confirmed, they had an available seat and it was okay for the pilot that I came along on the last flight around the island. Oh boy how glad I was. I was now about to get a ride around one of the most amazing islands on earth, for  FREE! The ride costs about $479, but I got it for free.  

I was so happy, and gave thanks to the Lord imediately. Together with me on this ride was an English-Indian family and an American couple. I thought I had to sit in the only seat that did not have window space, the seat in the middle of the helicopter, but because of weight differences and the stability of the helicopter, I got to sit by the window, while the wife of the american had to sit in the middle. Believe me, she was not happy!! She was ''sour'' the whole trip, and her husband was so embarrased by the whole situation, because he clearly wanted to enjoy the ride. Anyway, the flight itself was so good. 
God gave me almost everything I appreciate in the nature; transparent blue water, rainbows, fascinating and dramatic clouds, Godlight (sunbeams that shines through the clouds), mountains, valleys, waterfalls, ocean, volcanoes with lava flowing into ocean.. It was just one of those unforgettable moments in life. And the whole trip just entered a huge climax when we came to the Kohala mountains and flew into the valleys. The pilot started to play the jurassic park soundtrack in our headphones, and instantly all the hairs on my body raised. What a moment! :D 
I was so thankful to Jesus for what I experienced this day that I spend the whole evening in the prayer room just giving thanks! And in the end I got a great photo story out of it as well! :D I have to quote Bill Bangham from the feedback he gave me;
''I sweated through the helicopter assignment with you, Gjermund. I didn’t know what you were going to do if it didn’t happen. But it did! Your persistence paid off.''