Name

Trond Nordland

Profession

ScrumMaster/Project Manager

Born

1966

Location

Bodø, Norway

 

 

 

Background

After holding a variety of jobs over many years, mainly in the music industry and logistics, I ended up studying Information Technology in the early 90s. After the studies I worked as a Systems Developer for some years before I went into management.

    Today I am a ScrumMaster at a marked leading company in the ticketing software niche.

For many years I have had a general interest for outdoor life, and have turned to fishing and hunting for recreation. In recent years my outdoor and wildlife interest has grown, but today it is just as fulfilling for me to be out in the wilderness observing the wildlife and natural moods and beauty, as it is to experience the excitement and thrill of hunting. The camera has become a permanent companion on my trips and hikes, and it even has its place in the backpack on my hunting trips. Honestly I feel a little naked without it.

 

Photography

I almost always carried a camera on my hikes in the mountains, but for many years this would be nothing but a fixed focal length point and shoot camera. Some years ago I found myself wanting a more advanced camera to capture the impressions I experienced while out in the mountains or woods. In general I wanted a long zoom camera to be able to zoom in on the various subjects that my current camera simply could not capture well. After a while I got myself an ultra zoom digital compact with some options for more advanced manual control. It was an Olympus Camedia 730 Ultra Zoom. Receiving this camera was like pulling a trigger on my latent photographic interest, and over a period of a couple of years I shot a great number of thousands of pictures, and photography suddenly became my main hobby. I took the camera to its limits, and then some by buying accessories like extension lenses and external flashes and so on. As my photographic skills increased so did the need and desire for a faster and more versatile camera, and eventually I ordered a dslr. It was like a whole new world appeared before me. The improved speed and control over the compact camera was tremendous, and I found it possible to shoot more creative pictures than ever before.

    Photography turned into more of a passion than a hobby, and wherever I am and whatever I do I find myself searching for potential photographic subjects and motives. I consider myself an all-round photographer, with a dedication to and preference for nature photography. For many years I didn't find much interest in portrait photography, but lately I have looked into this area of photography as well.

    Today I am a semi-professional photographer, selling prints on occation and shoot portraits on request.

 

 

Achievements

As part of my learning process I have participated in, and still frequently participate in, many online photo challenges. As of today I hold a great number of so called “Photo of the Day” (POTD) and “Photo of the Month” (POTM) awards and a few web forum challenge wins. I sell picturtes when asked to but doens't actively market them, except for a handful submitted to a stock agency. I have sold a handful of framend fine arts prints, and also a number of photos to an advertising agency whereas a good number of those have been published, and I do portaiture on request.

 

Photographic goals and visions

From time to time I’ve been encouraged to find my personal photographic style and disposition, but I have found this to be quite difficult. Mostly because I don’t want to copycat other and greater photographers style. My dedication for nature photography is slowly shaping my style, and hopefully one day it will be possible to recognise me through my pictures. More important is the meaning with and thoughts behind the pictures. What I am trying to visualize and communicate with them, and where they come from.

    As most nature photographers I try to increase the viewers awareness of the beauty of nature, and encourage them to go out in the wilderness and experience for them self. I also wish to contribute to the understanding of the importance of maintaining the little wilderness that is left in the world. Even in my neck of the woods there are traces and marks of civilisation and “progress” almost everywhere. Even at the most remote mountain you see power lines, radio towers or roads. But as a contradiction to my wish for awareness, in my pictures I always try to hide these traces of civilisation at all cost. Go figure. I believe I try to show what nature could look like untouched.

 

The future

As a family man with economical responsibilities I have to maintain a paid daytime job, and I have no belief in living off my photographic work. Not for a long time at least. So for the immediate future I will keep photography a hobby and passion and a means of getting away from the everyday stress now and then. If I’m very lucky I might get recognised as a nature photographer sometime in the future, and maybe earn a few bucks from my work so to justify the gear expenses. In the meantime I will to my best ability capture the beautiful nature we live by and hopefully my pictures will give pleasure to those who look at them.

 

 

Obviously English is not my native language, so I apologize for any typos and/or mucky syntaxes.