Favourite Picture of the Year

With the year drawing to a close it's time to look back (as well as forward) and try and pick out one photograph that I regard as my own personal favourite. No easy task. If you go to my Facebook page you will be able to see my four favourite pictures taken in Oslo, and each of those is in a way worthy of holding the main honour, but here, having to choose just one picture, I have gone for a photograph taken just a few weeks ago when the first big snowfall came. The picture is taken from a footbridge crossing a road outside of Oslo where I used to live, and it's both a bridge and a view that I have known since childhood. The straight road always and the way it stretches into the distance always seems to represent to me a metaphor of life –its opportunities and the forward-going draw of time. This year, I turned 50, which I found a surprisingly tough "achievement", so the road sign here has a very personal connection. Indeed the whole photograph is very personal as it expresses "me" as I am right now. Hopefully, it's also quite a nice picture to look at. It's rendered in monochrome, but the colour versions I took looked very much the same, for the day was dull and grey and the little green of the trees was so subdued and dark that they appeared almost black. Besides, I've always felt that snow and trees always look best in black and white! Next year, I shall try to post pictures more regularly (that's a resolution!) and I hope also to expand more into portraits –an area of photography I have always been a little cautious about so far, but now feel confident to explore more. I also have a number of series-projects that I shall be sharing pictures from as the year goes by, and now and again dipping into my archive to find some interesting pictures of old. In the meantime, may I wish you all a very Happy New Year, and thank you as always for bothering to drop by to glance at these myriad pictures of mine.

Location: Rykkinn, Norway

Gathering of Nisser!

With Christmas rapidly approaching here's a feisty collection of "nisser", or elves if you prefer (gnomes, perhaps too?) with a heritage stretching back for at least a century. Many of these rosy elves are from Sweden, but one or two are German, Norwegian and perhaps even further afield. You'll notice also that they all seem to be male. Or are they? It is quite rare to see a female Christmas elf, but one has managed to infiltrate this otherwise masculine crowd –can you spot her? (clue: she's the one without a beard!). The setting here is a local market that sells bric-a-brac and antiques most of the year, but close to Christmas focuses on more seasonal fare. The abundance of red gave me an instant injection of Christmas spirit, and it's somehow always satisfying to photograph a collection of things that are similar in one respect yet diverse in another. I hope your own Christmas elves treat you well, and that you treat them well in return!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 4

Another glove out on its own in the big world. You'd think that one this bright would have been too conspicuous to lose, but it clearly has a desire to escape and explore. All it needs to do first is to cross this sea of slats. Perhaps in search of its partner, which surely must be equally lonely? wherever it is.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Boy on Stairs

Stairs can be interesting motives for photography, both in their own right and as a metaphor for going somewhere –or coming from somewhere; there's always the ambiguity, for stairs go both up and down and can represent escape, journey, adventure, progress and numerous other things depending on one's perspective. With this particular picture I didn't really have any lofty notions other than to capture the rather glorious effect of strong sunlight filtered into a more mellow state through the glass roof of a train station and down into the staircase leading from a platform. The boy on the stairs seems to be hovering with indecision –has he left said goodbye to someone on the platform above but is reluctant to leave them just yet? Is he waiting for someone? Or is he unsure of whether he is in the right place. The boy is not the main motive of the picture, but adds something human to the picture, I think. I took similar shots without there being anyone on the stairs, but then the effect was one of abandoned emptiness which though visually pleasing was not quite interesting enough. I love the various lines and textures here, and though a better camera than I had at the time would have given an even sharper image, I was quite pleased with the result.

Location: Amsterdam, Holland