In Norway we are into the “Outdoor recreation year”. In whole 2015 it will be marked with different arrangements to point out how amazing it is to be outdoors. His Majesty Crown Prince Haakon is the high protector of this year long happening. He had chosen a few activities he wanted to visit and one of them where The Norwegian Guide and Scout Association.
This beautiful autumn day in early september, the 7th, the weather was good and temperature around 18-19 degrees Celsius. 30 scouts where there to teach the the Crown Prince and his daughter about scout activities. They where to make a meal on a camp fire.
I was here to take pictures for the Scout Association to be used for magazine later this autumn, the website and for other publications. It was a well arranged photo session. In addition to us from the Scouts, me and a journalist, there were TV teams from NRK and TV2. NTB had one who filmed and a photographer and the local newspaper budstikka had a journalist and a photographer. The communications office of the castle had arranged for us to be transported up in a car, have 30 minutes to take pictures and then be transported down again. Giving a different perspective to work with.
How does one prepare for a job like this?
As I didn’t really know what to expect of access to the scouts and the royals I thought I had to prepare for everything. I packed two camera bodies. My main, Canon 1D Mark IV, and my backup Canon 40D. Ideally I think the backup camera should have been upgraded, the 40D lacks buffer. It is always irritating to have to wait for the photos to be saved when your out shooting at a job. I had with me three lenses. Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L, Canon 70-200mm F4L and Canon 300mm F2.8L IS. The Canon 24-70mm is my workhorse, suitable for a vide range of subjects and situations. The 300mm is very good at isolating a face in a crowd, due to the shallow depth the 2.8 aperture gives, as well as the superb bookeh this lens creates. The 70-200mm F4L lens I have never really fallen in love with. I do not use this range much really, although the lens is a great one. I keep bringing it with me on travels and assignments without really using it.
In addition I brought with me two Canon Speedlite 580 EX II flashes, as well as a tripod. I see now I could have let the tripod be home. Didn’t use the flashes either, however I should have used it when I shot som close up portraits to remove shade from eyes as the lighting was a bit hard.
Photos
Isolating from the crowd done with the Canon 300mm F2.8L IS USM lens. The subject stand out and even if the photo is chaotic it looks less crowded then it is. This is perhaps not the best example, will find better examples for later blog posts.
Here are some photos of the activities. Scouts trowing lifeline, to save someone on the ice.
Publications
Photos from this shoot have been published the following places:
