THE PHOTOGRAPHER

One morning about six weeks ago I was woken by a very jubilant husband.

He had just received an email with the news that he had been awarded 

two Honourable Mention Awards in an International Photography Competition

 called The Lucie Awards.

He had entered three photos in the Amateur section of these awards.

These are the two honourable Mention photos

Along with the certificates he received for these awards he received an invitation

 to attend the Award Ceremony ( Not to receive anything I might add ) 

which is held at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Well, how often does this kind of opportunity come along ?

So hasty plans were made, tickets purchased, and off we went ! 

Exciting eh?

The Event was terrific and we were among lots of VIPs of the Professional Photography World.

( 2019 Honorees. Jay Maisel. Achievement in Fine Art. Stephen Shore. Achievement in Portraiture. Annie Leibovitz. Achievement in Photojournalism. Maggie Steber. Achievement in Documentary. Edward Burtynsky. Achievement in Fashion. Ellen Von Unwerth. Humanitarian Award.    
were just a few )

We tried to look like we fit in with this illustrious company

and after THAT our New York City adventure could begin !

Cheers.

PS. You can view winning entries here 

OSLO

We arrived in Oslo with no preconceived ideas of what this city was like.....

in fact no idea what this city was like !!

and almost immediately fell in love with it!

Lots of interesting, modern buildings clustered around its own fjord.

This beautiful new Opera House is their jewel in the crown and they are very proud of its futuristic design

    

where concerts can he held in the open air with the audience sitting on the roof !

Unlike Copenhagen the streets were decorated with flowers in large planters

or planted out in colourful garden beds

and blossom trees were heavy with flowers.

Large trees sported their bright green new foliage and lined the streets

and lovely parks.

The Royal Palace is lovely …..

and the public seem to have free access to  wander the pretty gardens

where the friendly guards are happy to interact  and pose for photos .

Dork on Holiday photo number one !!

But that's not all. 

There is this interesting sculpture park where every sculpture is of the human form.

Not too far out of town is the wonderful Viking Museum

where ancient Viking ships have been recovered from their burial sites 

and carefully and lovingly brought back to life

so we can wonder at the size and construction of these ancient ships.

Can you imagine crossing oceans in one of these ??

Almost next door is a fantastic Folk Museum where ancient buildings have been gathered together and rebuilt in a village setting.

I imagine they are built on these platforms for drainage and to allow for heavy snowfalls.

You can imagine how dangerous it would be heating these wooden buildings with a fireplace inside during the freezing Winter when everything inside is so flammable.

To cap it all off there is a huge Stave Church.

If you are lucky ( and we were ) you can still spot a few of these scattered through the countryside though they are few in number.

They are  stained black, have few windows and are quite bare and very dark inside.

So there you have it.

Just a small snapshot of Oslo, a really wonderful place to visit.

Number two on my list of Favourite Cities of the World second only to Paris !!

Cheers.

BEAUTIFUL BERGEN

Beautiful Bergen greeted us with flowers.

Everywhere we looked. The trees were full of blossom,  

street plantings were bright and pretty,

parks sported swathes of tulips.

Lovely wooden houses lined the cobbled streets

and that famous sea front sparkled in the sunshine !

Friendly locals were happy to chat when they served you in the cafes on the foreshore and filled us in about the events of their National Day which we were lucky enough to share.

It started early with cannons going off at 7 o'clock as many hurried along the chilly streets decked out in their National costume.

then came the parade with anyone who wished joining in - only the first parade of the day !

It seems that the great majority own a National dress costume and wear it proudly on these occasions

It was a time for proud family photos.

The costumes vary with regions and this one is particularly lovely.

proudly worn by young and old .

The one below comes from a different region.

The march finished in this pretty square by the lake with speeches from the Prime Minister and the Mayor. 

Most people were clutching a bag with drinks and women were carrying platesful of goodies . Everyone seemed to be heading somewhere to a party with friends and the streets were alive with happy voices.

Lovely memories of  a delightful place.

Cheers.