On my way back from work, three weeks ago, I got slightly puzzled by this woman, alone in an empty bar. My camera was in its bag, I stopped, put it out and shot one photograph. Back home I didn’t really know what to do with it. Disturbing, too disturbing maybe. Left it on the side, I needed to take a break before being able to edit it.
God, sometimes I feel sick inside! Sick of people’s never ending selfishness and stupidity. Cruelty too. We’ve been having a “guest” for two years now, a little cat trashed out every now and then by its owners. Today when I got back home “he” was in our flat (I’m used to it now and our cats are dealing with him nicely. To be cats I have to admit that ours are fairly peaceful…). He left after 20 minutes (he had gotten food and some affection)… 5 minutes ago I entered our kitchen and he was sleeping on the top of the dish-washer to get some warmth… F****! If you can’t handle, take care and/or love your pets don’t get any! Buy a child, a midget or a slave instead (yes, I’m being ironic. It happens).
Life, love and other things… Random shooting? A glimpse of light? A specific smell in the air? Snow flakes? I’m not sure, not sure at all anymore. No worries, once again I’m not developing dark thoughts, not at all. I’m simply trying to figurate what make people act the way they sometimes do. Photography is a tool, painting an other one, filming, composing… and writing… To confuse, to trigger, to tell, to scream… Mainly to help me think. I guess. Just like cooking or running: a way to help me display my thoughts. Building sentences without trying to create anything logical out of this little exercise. Words alone are simply beautiful, why should I try to make anything sounds smart then? Reminders, yes, I guess words are reminders. Real ones.
I haven’t had the time to update my blog for a long time. Sad to say but Facebook has taken too much of my “virtual time”. Hard to keep enough energy sometimes. Funny enough I’m not really good at getting my spare time well organized, too many things I’d like to do (on top of my photography addiction). Music, painting, writing (a lot). Days are short, way too short! Promise I’ll do better from now :)
Star system? She was obviously into something that none of us, common mortals, were able to understand. A technicolor moving picture perhaps? I’ll never know :)
Canon 5D MKII / 35mm F1.4L / F2.2 / 6400 Iso
Picture also visible on my site, full screen.
Oslo as always. My town in many ways. The place I live in, feel safe in. I got lucky here (and my luck is still around, every day indeed). Happy even. Stronger too. Read more
Oslo… another day, another early afternoon (4pm). Everyday life as its best (according to my camera). I’ll always be fascinated by light(s). What it does bring out.
Canon 5D MKII / 35mm F1.4 / F1.4 / 5000 ISO
Little sunshine. It fits her. Where ever she goes in the building (I mean: the school of course) she brings smiles and wellbeing. An always-never-ending-positive feeling. I, of course, love teasing her from time to time but, trust me, nothing bad. Just my way to say: thanks a lot Celine.
Celine: Film and TV student (3rd year) / Shot with a 50mm / F2.2 / 1250 ISO / edited in Photoshop
Eivind. Picture taken in England. I was really, really happy to see him, he´s a great guy with a big, big heart. He´s a “real nice”, somebody strong and bloody kind (pardon my French). Cheers Eivind and thanks!
Taken with my 5D and the 35mm / 6400 ISO (that explains the “noise”, sorry for that) at F1.4
Shot in a pub at Kingston.
Picture also visible on my site (full screen) at this address: yannc.com
5DMKII / 35mm fix / F1.4 / 6400 ISO
The man with the pipe. An old photograph of my dad. An interesting man indeed. I’m glad to be his son.
35mm, perfect format. I’m starting (finally) to understand why so many photographers work(ed) with this specific format. A blessing!
Canon 5D MKII / Canon 35mm F 1.4 L
Some of these pictures are, of course, visible on my site: www.yannc.com
Taken last week with my little Fuji X100. The light has been really bad lately, so taking out my 5D is out of the question. September is a very bad month in Oslo, too light and not dark enough yet. The sky is grey, white sometimes. The sun is trying to shine, trying to make us believe that the summer is still here… but this dear Sir is only pretending. I’m looking forward to winter and its darkness. Lights mirroring on the rain (and later on the snow).
Fuji X100, edited in Photoshop (as always)
People sometimes should think twice. Cats are not dogs. I really wonder what can be wrong in humans’ brains,… bringing a kitten (6 months old) to a concert. Heavy noises, people, movements… Frankly guys, if you don’t know shit about cats don’t have one.
Self-portrait / iPhone / hipstamatic app / Edited in Photoshop… I seriously wonder if I should buy myself a brand new brain… or stop taking photographs when I wait for the subway ^^
After what happened Friday in Oslo I needed a couple of days “off”, some days in my brain, in peace. Thoughts were bumping, jumping. Sadness of course, emptiness too. I have to admit that I felt like a stone was removed from my stomach when the terrorist got arrested. From the moment of the blast till the moment of his arrest I could not stop thinking: “please, tell me that this act of violence is due to a disturbed soul. Tell me that no countries, or/and religious groups, are behind what just happened.”
I deeply respect Norway, and will be forever grateful towards its people for being able to live here, but I also know human nature… Right after the bombing some comments on Face Book were so violently racist… Sad enough, people don’t think much sometimes…
… I know, I know, it´s a big “cliché” but frankly I’d rather believe in the power of innocence, love and peacefulness, than the ideas peddled by the mass media. It is time to stop. Time to open our eyes, time to be curios and time to think by ourselves… Turn off your TVs, read books instead of news paper, get informed wisely instead of believing everything told in the tabloids. In other letters: T.H.I.N.K.
… turn to be friends then it’s good to see them smile.
5DMKII / 28mm (fix) / F1.8 / 6400 ISO
I will write a post about this later, next week maybe. Right now I’m too… well, sad and empty.
Oslo yesterday. I enjoy seeing people do more or less what they want. Where ever they want to do it.
5D MKII / edited in Photoshop, of course.
5D MKII / 100mm (fix)
Sorry for the title but I have a very bad sense of humor. This shot is one of the first done with the X100 in the streets. I’m used to the 5D and using the Fuji was a fairly interesting process. Not really knowing if the camera will handle it, not really knowing how to set it up either. Silly? Maybe, but frankly when you are using the same camera for 3 years non stop, and shot more than 22 000 pictures with it, it is always a little bit spooky to try something different. Now, well, I have to admit that I’m still very happy with this camera and do not regret buying it. So far, so good.
Fuji X100 / F2 / 35mm
Eivind and June.
Fuji X100 / f2.0 (Eivind)
5DMKII / F2.8 / 6400 ISO (June)
Ragne and Maria
5D MKII / 28mm (fix) / F1.8 / 1250 and 400 ISO
Last Saturday in Oslo it was the “music day”. People were happy, friendly. I walked around for two hours, shot 200 photographs. Here is the first one. A great smile from somebody I had never met before and that I will certainly never meet again. Thanks to her.
Canon 5D MkII / 70mm / F2.8
One day of course I’ll be gone. Nothing to worry about, I am not having any dark thoughts what so ever. It is just a fact. A fact that makes me enjoy life even more. Anyway, as I told my lovely wife yesterday morning in the subway: I’d like people to remember me like this. Like this iPhone photograph. A camera and a pack of cigarettes snapped shot without any specific purposes. Fortuity shot in the morning like all the things I love. Split seconds.
We only have one life. Better to enjoy it.
Fuji X100 / 3200 ISO / F2.0 / Edited in Photoshop.
I’m a lucky man, very lucky indeed.
I’ve always been looking for “perfection”. I’m a never ending unsatisfied person, looking for more. Questioning my work again and again. As a graphic designer and an art director my goals were: do better and never stop till being fully satisfied. Some might call it madness, I rather call it: honesty.
Even though it is just a hobby I’ve been acting the same way toward my photographic “work”. Surprisingly enough this hobby of mine isn’t really new… I started with a film based camera in the mid 80´s. A Canon T70. Black and white films, Tri-X 400 ASA boosted at 800 (or more). I loved the noise generated by the films then. I stopped in the late 90´s for several reasons. A long break, almost 15 years.
4 years ago the prices for digital cameras started to be “acceptable” so I bought my first one (almost the first cause I had a tiny compact from before). It was a Fuji finepix. Kind of hybrid between a compact and a reflex. I kept it 6 month and took approximately 18000 pictures with it. Walking in the streets, shooting people. Right after I bought my first digital Canon camera, a 400D. Not good enough, not at all. The 40D followed a year later. Still very frustrating compared to my T70. Finally got my “precious”: my little 5D MKII. What a f****** blast (pardon my French)!! Photography was back for good. The quality, the roundness of the files… The richness of the shades. To me it was like going back to what I knew from before: a camera you can count on, always delivering the best. What you see is what you catch in your memory card. This camera doesn’t lie.
But still not entirely satisfied, I was looking for a compact camera. A little thing that I could easily put in my pocket (the 5D, including the lens, weight approximately 2 kg… sometimes a little too heavy). So, I bought a Panasonic LX3, wonderful little compact! Fast AF, RAW file format, very intuitive interface… A great compact. Then the LX5, even better than the 3, a killer this LX5. Frankly these compacts are pure joy. Panasonic (and Leica: Panasonic is using Leica lenses) has so far delivered the best compacts on the market. But, of course me being myself (as always) it wasn’t good enough… The quality over 1200 ISO wasn’t satisfying. And then… YES! Fuji a year ago announced the coming of a new little camera: the X100, 35mm Fix lens. I bought it 3 days ago and, well: No shit, pure joy and wonderful results at 3200 ISO!!! What else can you expect from a compact camera than being better than 90% of the reflex cameras available on the market?
Photographs taken with the X100 at 3200 ISO
Irony… ”free yourself”, really? Free yourself from what? Isn´t it a little bit cynical?
Taken with the LX5
Simple indeed. Got this little orange tree from my students last year. I love it when it gets all “flower-full”. The smell remind me of my childhood, strange but true. The all flat smells “orange tree flowers”. THIS makes me feel so happy! Thank you H.S.P (Happy, Shiny, People) you’ve just made my day.
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