My latest story & photographs in DN Magasinet

CSA-farming, or "andelslandbruk" as we call it, is a fast growing movement. And a great one. Read my long-form article about it for the fantastic and well-reputed DN Magasinet. It was pure joy making this piece, as I've visited farmers across the country who all contribute to making our soil better for future generations.

Ølsen in Buenos Aires / Interview & photographs for NORD

In february and march this year, Espen, Ada and I went off to Buenos Aires and stayed there for almost two months. It's a kind of city you never want to leave. We loved it. One of the places in our local area was the Scandinavian inspired restaurant Ølsen. I did a story on it for NORD when I got back - both pictures and text. This is from the summer issue.

Hansen & Lydersen / Interview & photographs for NORD

Ole Martin Hansen runs Hansen & Lydersen, which might be the best salmon smokery in London. From this little shed in East-London he delivers to the finest restaurants and hotels, and sheiks come flying in to have a taste. I had a really inspirational meeting with him, where we talked about life and love in addition to the art of smoking salmon. 

This was published in the autumn issue of NORD magazine. 

Feature on E-bikes for D2

This summer I've seen more and more electrical bikes on the streets of Oslo. They are becoming increasingly popular. But all of those who ride them, get told that they're cheating. I wondered; who do us norwegians have this attitude? That you have to put in the work, sweat and struggle. If not, you're cheating.

Read about it in today's D2!

Writing Course in Marrakech

In october I spent a week in Marrakech, attending a writing course, held by norwegian journalist and author Niels Christian Geelmuyden. The course was held in Morocco-resident Thor Arne Hauers beautiful riad.

In this photo we're listening to Niels Christian sharing some of his writings.

And below are some other snaps from my eventful week in Marrakech. 

Niels Christian is ready to share words and wisdom.

 Entering carpet heaven! Sofie and Charlie loving this rug.

 Sofie examining carpets.

 I'm happy. I got a bigger version of the one in the middle.

Night time, and we're heading out. 

 A little bit of luxury at the poolside by hotel Selman.

Lisbeth is writing away.

Marit strikes a pose!

Interview with ballet dancer Candela for D2

Professional ballet dancer Candela Lasanta Ebbesen is now dancing for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo in Monaco, while she also runs her own company; Ballerina Productions. 

I did this piece for D2 a few weeks ago.

INTERVIEW WITH JULIAN SCHNABEL

The artist and film-maker Julian Schnabel is eccentric: He often dresses in pyjamas, he lives in a huge pink house named "Palazzo Chupi" on Manhattan in NYC, makes huge artworks, has made several prize-winning films, is married for the third time to a danish model (Lykke Mai) who is half his age.

He was part of the same art-scene as Andy Warhol, and when he started making films, his first one was of the late Basquiat. If you haven't seen any of his films, do check them out - I recommend: Basquiat, the beautiful The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Before Night Falls.

I got to meet Schnabel in Copenhagen a few months ago, as he was having a exhibition at the Willumsen Museum in Denmark. I interviewed him for Aftenposten's monthly culture magazine "K". Him and his wife just had a baby, a few weeks before Ada, so we hit it off straight away.

Ada (then 5 weeks old) came with me to Copenhagen, and was out strolling with family living there, during the interview. The flight, and getting her ready for a stroll, was easy. But to write, while having a baby around all day, was the hard part....
Tried and tested, at least - it was such a tempting assignment, and oh my, I do love to work...
But I'm back in baby-mode now, I want to give this beautiful little creature all my attention. All those interesting and eccentric artist will just have to wait a little while :)

A new Era

This was my last week as comissioning editor (reportasjeleder) at Aftenposten Junior. I've been involved since the start of 2012, and now 1 1/2 years later, it is time for me to move on. It's fantastic to leave a concept that I'm proud of, which has won two prestigious prizes (Perspektivprisen from NRC and Årets Nykommer from MBL, in Bergen). The kids love it, and tell us we make the world easier to understand.

I've worked with great colleagues and have a had a great learning experience. I just hope this fantastic newspaper persists for at least 8 years - when my soon-to-be-born child is ready to read it :)

Here are a few of the recent covers of Junior. Colourful, energetic and positive! Just as the rest of the paper!

And me; I'll go on to other things. First, baby-leave, and then I do not know. Which I think is great. I love not having plans, and having the time to think things over and deciding where life leads.

Lots of love xx

Yup, we WON!!

It's been a couple of weeks since I went to off to Bergen and "mediedagene", a media conference which is in Bergen each year. Aftenposten Junior won the price "Best Newcomer", or "Årets nyskapning", which of course is pretty cool :)

Off to Bergen - hoping to collect an Award!

Aftenposten Junior has been nominated for one of the Media Awards, which are handed out in Bergen tonight. We're nominated in the category "Årets Nyskapning" / "Newcomer of the Year", and our fingers are crossed! 

Interview with Inga Marte Thorkildsen

In this week's Junior, which is out today, we're running an interview with the "child-minister" Inga Marte Thorkildsen. I brought two kids along, who carried out the interview, asking her about children's rights, bullying, etc!

Time to Move On

I've been working at Aftenposten Junior for a year now. And it's been a fantastic experience, as I got involved several months before we launched. It soon became our "baby", and therefore it's so nice to see it becoming so popular. Every week we get emails from kids who wants to be in involved in some way or another. Some write that "we make the world easier to understand". Mission accomplished, I think then :)

But I get my kick out of new challenges and projects, so this coming summer it's time for new adventures.

So if there's anyone out there with an ambition of making the BEST newspaper for children in the WORLD... I encourage you to apply :)

EU & Nobel Peace Prize

I went to Save the Children's peace party today, where the EU-representatives were interviewed by kids aged 12. Well done to the kids - who wondered what EU plans to do for the children living in war-zones, what EU will do to keep on working for peace, if dictators have feelings..?

Here's Jose Barroso on his way out of the Nobel Peace Centre.
I had to be quick, so this is pretty blurry.

Reportasjeleder-kurs i Fredrikstad

A couple of weeks ago I went to Fredrikstad, where I had never been before, to join a course for "reportasjeledere" at the Institute of Journalism. Is it called commissioning editor in english?

We were a group of 15 I think, who during the course of three days learnt, discussed, shared and laughed. It was a really good experience.

During the last day we all agreed on what it takes to be a good reportage-leader. I aspire to meet all of these points, which perhaps is a challenge :)

We started out with all of these points...

We then agreed, after lots of contemplating and discussions, that these were the most important things to do/be :)

Cool Junior Covers

We send a new issue of Junior to print every friday mid-day. So, here are some of our latest covers. Bright, colorful and cool, with kids speaking their minds :)

Some more work // Elmgreen & Dragset

I did a longer piece on them for the culture magazine "K", and Aftenposten asked if they could have a shorter version. So, yup, here it is. They are some pretty cool dudes. The portrait I took looks pretty nice too :) This was published in may...

Some more work // Camilla Prytz for D2

This was out in may I think. Interview with the beautiful designer Camilla Prytz.

Some work // Hanne Mugaas

It's been a long long time since I've posted any of my work. For two reasons; when I'm at the busiest and do the most work, I rarely have the time to gather all my clippings and file them. I have done that now, and am updating my website with work from the past year.

The other reason is that I'm working full-time now - until next summer - making/creating "Aftenposten Junior" (the new kids-paper). So I'm wearing an ID-card around my neck every day, I check into the office, have morning-meetings and drink coffee by the coffee-machine. All of that stuff. The beauties of office life, ey...

Therefore I don't run around on different things every day at the moment.
Although I do keep up with some exciting jobs once in a while. I'll keep you posted!

Anyway - this piece was done exactly a year ago, and was published in KUNST this spring. It's an interview & portrait picture I did in New York, with the super clever and independent curator Hanne Mugaas. I quite like the portrait, which is taken in front of her husband Cory Archangel's artwork.

The article continues, but one page is enough for today :)

Aftenposten Junior - over 10 000 subscribers!

We've been going for less than 5 months, and have now reached 10 000 subscribers, as well as more than 10 000 weekly readers, who buy the paper in the shops every week. The goal was 10 000 by the end of the year, so we're pretty happy!

I'm so pleased that we manage to make a newspaper for children that they actually enjoy reading, where we're teaching them important issues such as the financial crisis, the US election, the situation in Syria, Egypt, on China, pirates in Somalia, etc etc. As well as inspiring stories about kids themselves. What's going on in their world? What inspires them?

I love working with it, and my role as reportasjeleder (don't know what that is in english, perhaps "assistant editor"?). It really enjoyable working on a project that people appreciate, do something that feels important, and hang out with kids.

Here's a few pix :)

 

Warhol's Polaroids

I've written a piece about Andy Warhol's polaroids and his series called "Celebrities". Here's a few of his snaps.