My interest for photography has ignited slowly over the years. This is kind of how it got to be a serious hobby:

In the fall 2008 me, my wife and our then half year old son went to a photographer to get a family photo. The studio was extremely simple, and the only studio light (in addition to the flourecent light in the roof) was a medium square softbox. The backdrop was simply the white wall behind us. The corner where the wall meets the floor had been evened out with some cement and some white paint. The camera which the photographer used was a Nikon D200 with what I guess was a 24-70 VR lens. The photos were no more than average quality, and I immediately thought that with some investment in equipment (and time of course) I would be able to get the same, if not better results. In fact I believe I am there already.

Early 2009 I begun as editor for FJELLHAUG, a small news magazine for Fjellhaug Mission Seminary. (www.fjellhaug.no). This forced me to shoot some portraits and illustration photos for the magazine, which in turn made me want to improve in that field. I started reading photography articles, watch videos in YouTube and KelbyTraining and exploring the manual functions of my camera. I opened an account at devinatArt which I initially liked very well. Soon I found that this site did not really fit my usage and I tried flickr in stead. It seems to me now that this was the right choise.

My intention is to show off my progress in general photography and hopefully get some advice in how to make that progress. I've found that slowly I am have gotten some preferences in how I like my photographs. "I believe in getting it right at the moment of exposure"*, color, contrast, the rule of thirds, artificial lighting and as little postproduction as possible.

I am a sinner, a entirely imperfect human being who can do absolutely nothing to save himself. But I am in luck. What I could not do myself, someone else has done for me in stead. The only catch is that I cannot do anything myself to earn it. The someone is Jesus Christ, who died in my place and made me worthy of heaven. - As a photographer I can not really take credit for my work. All I do is to witness God's creation and our treatment of it. As you may know, in the beginning God said "Let there be light". Without this light, that he created, photography would be impossible.

My equipment

Nikon D40 camera with the 18-55 1:3.5-5.6G Kit lens

Tripod and remote control

Nikon SB-600 speedlight and a TTL cable

Some old second-hand flashes

A couple of Gadget infinity lightstands with adapters and umbrellas

Cactus V4 flash triggers

110 cm 5-in-1 round reflector

Lowepro Fastpack 250

Wish list

- 70-200mm f2.8 Lens

- Studio background: Holders, Seamless white and dark gray

- Elincrom D-Lite 4, set of 2 to-go kit.

- Lightstands. Preferably one with a boom. Still I really do like my Gadget infinity lightstands, even though they are both cheap and simple.

- A large (50"+) softbox. It is possible that I'll try to make a DIY version. Check out this one.

- A better Nikon body, D90 or D300. I guess what I miss the most is A: an autofocus motor and B: More autofocus points. - Autofocus is the biggest drawback of my D40 C: Better quality at high ISO

* A quote from one of my photography idols, Joe McNally