Be the change you wish to see

"Who are the great minds, the innovators in my field? Who is leading the change in my profession?"

    Since I have successfully finished my first semester abroad in Norway, now it is time for the second semester to emerge. Starting February 2017, I am one of the two happy students pursuing their internships at Geert Hofstede Consortium, in particular the Master in International Communication (MIC) program in Groningen. In this time span of almost two months, I have been continuously working on interesting assignments which fit perfectly with my position within the MIC: visual communication designer.

   The working environment in MIC is great and uplifting, and you know why? Because people work together to make it so. My internship supervisor is Iekje Smit and, she also happens to be the program manager of MIC. I have a great amount of respect and admiration for every person in this office who is working their ass off to accomplish what they want and even though Dania Fang is in top 2, I have some particular respect for Iekje. Every day when I come to work I wake up happy in the morning, I am excited for going to the job I wanted and I feel prepared for new assignments from her.

   Why do I admire Iekje so much?
   First, because she is a highly proactive person with clearly defined goals and achievements in mind. Iekje is one of those "great minds" who are not afraid to express publicly their ideas or suggestions within the confines of the workplace and/or in external relationships. For instance, one morning she came to me and randomly told me she just had an awesome idea for our new office walls from the new Energy Academy Europe building: make a photography wall of all the MIC staff members and students. I was immediately captivated by the idea because I love anything remotely photography-related, especially having the freedom to develop this concept, plan it and manage it myself. Until this very moment, not even one week later, I have already taken photos of 3 staff members and the next photo session is scheduled with all the MIC students for the upcoming Tuesday - 4 days from now.

   Every morning at 9 AM - sometimes even earlier, she is in the office already talking on the phone intensively with somebody or running around to fix things. I don't know where she gets the energy, but she does own it when in the office. Whenever I hear some ideas, I know she is the starting point.

   Need I mention that she is also the one person who made possible for the MIC headquarters to move to the EAE building? One main reason why I appreciate Iekje that much is that she can think for herself and act upon her words. She is a strong, independent woman with a strong character and a colorful, charismatic personality. I once read this saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Well, I believe I found the person to inspire me to change, to evolve, to become even more curious and to discover even more, to question more and to not hesitate to ask anything. Moreover, I have learned while listening to her how much gratitude means and how much it is valued.

   What I mean is that Iekje Smit is inspiring in her effervescence, humorous in her randomness (singing, movie quoting and poem reciting), spontaneous in her sudden great ideas, so nonetheless, she is a life breath. 

Network crafting

   As a 3rd year student, I develop more and more expectations from myself with every day passing. That means I have to take steps further and ought to broaden my network and ponder upon which people in my 'field of expertise' I should talk to and why, what will the discussions be based on and what they can offer me in return to what I can offer them.

   The vision for my future is relatively well-designed, meaning that I am almost sure about which direction(s) I will be mainly choosing, as well as the reason behind this choice. Video production, photography and digital post-production tools, together with advertising techniques, photojournalism and facilitation; at least the last one requires some knowledge of cognitive and behavioral psychology. Having this data stacked in my mind helps me understand people's thoughts, (re)actions and thinking and, therefore it allows me to give better advice or simply to reply them more properly.

   While scanning my network, I have come to realize that there are not enough 'influencers' as part of it, as well as not enough photojournalists with focus on PR, advertising or design. I would like to have more role-models, such as people who give back to the world through their charity acts or simply help needy people without wanting recognition, or people who can share their own experiences to teach you something valuable that they have learned.

   During my semester abroad, I have met various people with various careers, such as professors, academicians, photographers, chefs, ski instructors, journalists, recent graduates who decided to remain in Volda, etc. What I want to say is that these people represented a great source of inspiration and motivation for me, as they were talking with so much pathos about everything surrounding them. They were happy to be alive, they knew well the notion of time management, had flexible jobs and they were doing what they love. For example, my photography professor was this 56-year old guy who had such an active personality, a decided, wise and clear mind and speech, who loved to translate the theory into practice. A couple of times, he almost rolled on the floor with an imaginary camera to show us how to take a photo, one other times he came really close to a classmate's face to show how the macro lens works with close objects and many other things. These are some of the true 'inspirers' for me, people who have something to offer to the world and they do it so well through their character.

   As for others, I would like to have Varun Pruthi in my network, who is an actor - but more than that, he is a humanitarian and a motivational speaker. He makes small acts of kindness, records it and uploads it online for viewers to see the needy people's reactions to his goodwill. I am learning a lot about photography and photojournalism, as well as documentary photography from Sir David Attenborough, who is a great source of inspiration for me because of all his thorough work realized in time, such as the Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough television series about natural history or his amazing, continuously developing sets of wild-life and world photographs.

   There are many inspirers around the world with whom I would like to connect, but first I need to know myself better and know what I can offer them. That is why I have created my own account on a phone app called "EyeEm", which is an online, public photography sharing/selling platform. It can be called my beginner photography portfolio. Also, every day I am going out of the house, I never forget to take the camera with me because I want to be ready at all times if something happens around. And I have learned from experience that there is always something happening.

Learning is sharing

    What am I doing in Norway? All these beautiful photographs around me: advertising, editorial, artistic, portfolios... all of them are an outcome of, first of all - theory. One has to know what he is doing and how he handles the photographing gear, otherwise the end-result is dissatisfying and visually unattractive.
   That is what I am doing in Norway - studying theory of photography, history of photography and photojournalism, camera handling and many others. All of these are contained within the bounds of theoretical aspects and practical tasks/assignments.
   Since not all of the students joining this course had prior background in photography, our course started with the basics of a camera components and a brief introduction to the history of photography.
   Before starting to dig deeper into the theory, we have to consider the fact that I am one of the students who had no prior knowledge in camera handling, but merely into composition rules that I have been learning during my bachelor in the Netherlands.

What do you need to know?
   First, let's start with a short introduction to history of photography and how it evolved in time. It all started as early as the 15th century, with the apparition of the camera obscura.
   It is interesting how the first photography was taken in 1827, but the actual photography was introduced for commercial use though in 1839, together with the first photographic process called "daguerreotype". Despite flaws such as not being able to capture moving objects (because of too long exposure times - I will explain later what that is), the daguerreotype was used for almost 20 years. Interesting is that one can compare this process to a Polaroid of that time - all photos were originals.
   Later, photography took different courses and was undertook by various photographers, also as early as mid 1800's. Take, for example - photojournalism. Mathew B. Brady is considered the father of photojournalism. He spent over $100 K to create over 10 K plates, having high hopes that the US government would buy it, but he ended up having to sell his studio in NYC and became bankrupt because the government did not buy any. Brady died in a hospital penniless. Since printing was very expensive at that time, newspapers would rarely use photos in their articles, so that is why in 1905, xylography printing was developed.

Who are some of the renowned photojournalists of the history?
Jacob Riis (1849-1914): he is known as being a "muckraker" journalist - he revealed through photographs and brought attention on the darker sides of society;
Lewis Hine (1874-1940): American photojournalist who used his camera as a tool for social reform, photographing child labor in the US;
Margaret Bourke White (1904-1971): she became one of the first four staff photographers for Life magazine and, her photos helped to establish the new field of photojournalism;
Robert Capa (1913-1954; born as Endre Friedman): greatest war photographer of all times; he was present in the D-day on Omaha Beach, during the invasion of Normandy in France - 1944 (WW2). He died in 1954 in Vietnam, killed by a land mine;
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004): French humanist photographer, he was considered a master of candid photography. He pioneered the genre of street photography and contended as photography as capturing "the decisive moment";
Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006): his iconic photography of WW2, Raising The Flag on Iwo Jima got him a Pulitzer Prize and, later, this photo was used on many magazines covers and further illustrated differently for public publishing;
W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978): famous for his dedication and uncompromising professional and ethical standards. He owns brutal WW2 photographs and other important works, such as illustration of pollution in Japan or the city of Pittsburgh;



Digital cameras - what, how, where, when ,why

   From my own heretofore experience, I have learned that a digital camera has many components and more than enough settings and functions, but the most important ones (the ones one needs to know when having no background) are mentioned:

1. body: all the components are placed inside the body;
2. lens: here is where the light comes in and the photo process starts. It can vary in focal length, aperture, etc.
3. viewfinder: this is the main visual source, where you can see the picture you take;
4. aperture: it works in the same way as an iris: when there is much light the iris is small and, conversely, too little light causes the iris to grow. 
5. shutter release: button used to initiate the photography; mechanism that releases the shutter
6. image sensor: it sends an electronic signal to the memory card, signal that is converted from the optical image. There are two different types of image sensors: CCD and CMOS.
7. flash: used to provide additional light in low-light situations;
8. LCD screen: used to viewing photos after shooting or adjusting settings from the menu;
9. memory card: external storage where all images are stored. 

What do I take from this period abroad, studying photography?

   Since I had no former experience in the field of photography before my semester in Volda University College (VUC), I have to admit that my final results are surprisingly good. My final oral examination contained four aspects:

1. Photo portfolio with 25 pictures taken by me during the semester;
2. Knowledge of history photography;
3. Taking a photo under the teacher and the censor's supervision;
4. Correcting a photo in Adobe Photoshop.

   They were both extremely satisfied with my defense and my overall presentation, so my final grade was an A in all its glory. Norwegian grading system starts from A to F, where F is Fail and A is awesome. I am leaving VUC with a solid ground for my possible future in photography, knowing that I have what it takes to be professional. It was a pleasure to have Gaute Hareide as a teacher.

   In the end, I feel like my mission in VUC was accomplished and that I got the insight needed to further progress... Pieces of feedback I could give are only positive:

• the syllabus is well-organized and compact, it encompasses plenty of interesting areas of photography that beginners ought to know;
• I highly value that at the beginning of every class, the teacher would verify our homework and critically comment on it for further improvement;
• having more time to retake our photos is definitely advantageous. especially for the first assignments when I had no idea what I am doing;
• "Fronter" was a good online platform which provided all the slides from class, plus additional facilities, such as being the main communication channel between teacher and students;
• nonetheless, VUC provided us with cameras - plus flash units, lenses, tripods.

   As the international office continuously mentioned, "Volda is the place you'll never forget!" and I entirely agree... I felt very welcomed, appreciated and had plenty of amazing, jaw-dropping experiences here or around - some that I could never have anywhere else. So, thank you, Norway!

Explicative photo gallery: exploring Norwegian lands

   I have never imagined myself when I grow up as being what I am now, but I could not be any happier that I did not turn out to be an astronaut, a teacher or a dentist (no offence to the professions). Currently, I find myself in a personal journey of discovering hidden passions, hobbies and of living a custom lifestyle. I feel like I am on the right track here, in Norway.

1. Rotsethornet, Volda

Volda, Western Norway is the city/village in which I am living and studying. The mountain in the photo is Rotsethornet and it has 649 m height and it appears to be easy to climb, but it is not and it is way more challenging and difficult to get down.

2. Rotevatnet, Volda

Rotevatnet lake, Volda, Norway. The lake is situated in the center of Volda and it is a popular everyday destination for fanatics of kayaking, boating, swimming, barbecues or just people who search to play volley, walk on slack lines or chill.

3. Rotevatnet, Volda

Here I am, at Rotevatnet, trying to walk on the slack line without holding on to a branch. Never done this before.

4. Ålesund

Ålesund is exactly how one sees it in the pictures when getting to the Fjellstua viewpoint. This canon was built a very long time ago and it remained alive together with bunkers reminiscences from WWII. 

5. Fjellstua viewpoint, Ålesund

After climbing sharp 418 steps to get to this viewpoint, I realized that it is exactly as shown in photographs. 

6. Molladalen, Sunnmøre region (I wrote a blogpost on Natura's website about it)

This was the very first trip I joined within a group of 18 Norwegian speakers. Final destination: Molladalen, Western Norway, a popular attraction for climbers and hikers. I  hiked for 3hrs30m, climbed Mohns Topp without ropes on freezing, stormy weather and slippery rocks and, climbed Bladet: a blade-shaped rock.

7. Bladet, Molladalen

I have only climbed two times in my life before this experience and none was as thrilling as this one. Photo: me waving, on top of Bladet, held by a safety rope.What a shame that the weather was foggy and the visibility of the landscapes was obstructed. Around me, there would be fjords, mountains, ice and snow.

8. Molladalen

After a long climbing/hiking experience to get to the top through severe rain, wind and cold, I turned my head before getting close to the end of the trail and saw this glamorous rainbow behind us.

9. Briksdalsbreen, Olden

Five years ago, this glacier called Briksdal was three, if not more times bigger than it is now. Global warming is seen even in Norway, where the cold weather surmounts the hot one. (me: second on the right). These are all Erasmus students, Fall 2016. And no, the colors of the photo (especially the water) are not adjusted or edited.

10. Nordfjord, Olden

One of the most beautiful fjords I have seen until now (second place): Nordfjord view from the ferry. While everybody was wearing three layers of clothes, hoods and pants, my resistance from childhood stroke and I did not need more than what is seen (tanktop, hat and warm shoes).

11. Climbing at Klatrefeltet Beachen, Stryn

Beachen is one of these famous climbing places, where beginners, advanced and professionals come and climb on vertical cliffs, but also on tilted and warped ones. I have learned how to make a climbing knot and somebody actually climbed with it (checked, of course by a tour guide), that is why I feel emotionally attached to this safety rope.

12. Gjølmunnebrua, via ferrata Loen, Stryn

A unique experience, never lived something even remotely similar before. This iron, hanging bridge is called Gjølmunnebrua and it is the longest via ferrata bridge in Europe, having a length of 120 m and a height of 770 m. It was built a very long time ago and reopened in 2012. Since the landscape is breathtaking, we decided to see it a bit more closer and clear (look mom, no hands!)

13. Via ferrata Loen, Stryn

This photography encompasses four hours of sweat, dedication and high-intensity muscle training. Another thing I have not done before is via ferrata (Italian: iron road) cliff climbing, so here I am after intense hours of vertical, lopsided and reclining cliffs - because I chose the E level trail, the most difficult one. But that is normal to me - pushing my limits.

14. Iron bridge, via ferrata Loen

This is the second hanging bridge in this via ferrata in Loen. It has 36 m length and only 3 iron cables that one's harness, more specifically the carbines are clamped to. It is even scarier than Gjølmunnebrua, since if one falls, it is rather difficult to climb back on and the whole bridge shakes violently. 

15. Storseisundet Bridge, Atlanterhavsveien, Åndalsnes

Atlanterhavsveien (The Atlantic Ocean Road) is made up of 8 bridges and Storseisundet is the longest one. It passes through an archipelago and it is the connection between Eide municipality and Averøy municipality. This bridge was opened in 1989.

16. Trollstigen, Geiranger

Trollstigen (English: Trolls' path) is a mountainous serpentine road, which has 11 hairpin bends and a steep inclination of 10 percent. It is a popular road and also, a second one of this kind that I drive on. First one was in Romania-Transfăgărășan.

17. Geirangerfjorden, Stranda municipality

Geirangerfjord is the first one in top three most beautiful fjords I have seen and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We camped for one night at the basis of the mountain and I can tell for sure that I have never seen such a rich, clear and bright starry sky as in that night. 

18. Geirangerfjorden camping, Stranda municipality

The very first set of sky photographs I ever took was in Geirangerfjorden, This is us, surrounded and bounded by stunning mountains even at night and a jaw-dropping starry sky (which is not very visible in this photo, but it is the best I could do).

19. Volda close to Christmas time

Since Christmas time is approaching, Volda municipality made a tiny effort into placing and decorating a pine tree with lights. It gives a pleasant, comfy atmosphere.

Plucking up my spirits for Norway

Geirangerfjord, Norway

"A too long time ago, I have found in myself an endeavor, an urge to travel around the world and explore cultures, historical places, forgotten lands, undiscovered spaces."

   But, I'm just a dreamer, I dream my life away... I cannot say I have trotted the globe, but I am a traveling maniac and the odds have been and are with me, since I have visited several countries in different parts of the world and lived in three others so far, so fingers crossed for the future - who knows the next destination!? 

   Since I have known myself, I have always been fascinated by vikings and their origins. Between all continents, countries and cities, I have therefore chosen Norway (and others, but this is the first one) and everything related to it: culture, people, traditions, social norms and expectations, history (love Vikings beyond hope). But since I have never paced on Scandinavian land before my period as an exchange student coming from the Netherlands, I was absorbed almost immediately by the immense beauty of the vicinity. A main reason for this daydreaming is that my origins are rooted in Romania, South-Eastern Europe, where mother nature rests at its peace in all forms of fauna and flora: mountains, lakes, caves, sea, forests, deltas, wolves, brown bears (did you know we have over half percent of the brown bear population in Europe?), foxes, wild horses, all kinds of wild animals and insects. In contrast, the Netherlands is a relatively small, rich(ish), technologically and architecturally developed, tradition keeper and any celebration participant, but sadly - a flat country in Northern Europe, where I have been living for two years before my arrival in Norway. On the other hand, Norway is closest similar to my origins, only that entirely different simultaneously, since it has its own, unique characteristics that may also (some) not be found in other lands: fjords, northern lights, vikings history, Nordkapp, troll stories, wild reindeer, glaciers, polar bears, whales and so forth. Romania does not own this kind of natural heritage, but that is what makes Norway special.

   Because among the main reasons I am here is to discover and adapt to the western Norwegian culture, there are a few events which I can attend, that focus on cultural aspects of the local community:

1. University Students Associations Fair
2. The International Dinner
3. Norwegian night for Erasmus students
4. German night for Erasmus students
5. French night for Erasmus students
6. To be: Belgian, Spanish, Romanian
7. Animation Volda Festival (volunteer)

   During the university fair, I became aware of most of the existing student associations, clubs and organizations, mostly diverse: outdoors student organization Natura (I became an active member of the board, as an International Students Officer), students' radio and television, Christian association, students' parliament, the animation department, sports clubs, etc. I had a tour among few of them in the following days and we had one activity per association, for instance in the TV tour, we chose a scene from one of three famous movies and we had to act the characters and the producers and crew would record us (we chose The Lion King scene).

   Since I became an official board member of Natura, I am assigned to different tasks within the bounds of my position: be the contact person for international students who are members of the association, inform all Erasmus and international students about upcoming events, contribute actively to the brainstorming sessions in the board, create events for the mutual embedding of Norwegian and international students and also, only for internationals. Having this function within the board (and the ten Norwegian people & me, have I mentioned?), for which I also volunteered, actually means for me that I took some responsibilities toward the other international students and I need to fulfill them, because they are all counting on me to eliminate their doubts and be there for them.

   By spending some time with Norwegian people and, also making some additional reading (The Social Guidebook to Norway, Julien Bourrelle), I found out many interesting aspects of the Norwegian people and social norms, all that added up to the extension of my cultural knowledge, which is gained practically and theoretically:

• standard of living is very high with educated and trustful people
• they keep cities clean, unpolluted and well-organized
• very little social classes exist; everyone is equal and there is a strong feeling of community
• people: often shy, reserved, pragmatic, serious and well-behaved
• people on alcohol: small talks, they become curious and happy to talk to strangers, they stand close to each other, men give hugs to each other, all compensating for the difficult sober state
• dinners are a result of an established relationship
• they need a lot of space (so they build hytte, cabins in the woods)
• women can do things by themselves, they are independent and not used to compliments
• dating is... a complete other way than in most of the countries
• they refrain from showing success/achievements and never brag, except in sports; kids who excel in school will be encouraged to help those who struggle
• Janteloven or Law of Jante refers to a mentality that depreciates individual efforts and places all emphasis on the collective (e.g. 3: You're not to think that you are smarter than we are.)

   I am continuously learning from my everyday experiences and these all build up on my cultural knowledge and on my own adaptation to a new culture.

P.S: I have prepared another post containing a photo gallery with some of my tours across Norway in these two months since I am here. You will find the gallery with a short description of every place.