Urban portrait: standing in front of the camera for a change.

Last Saturday, due to an unusual period of sunshine and nice weather, my friend Øyvind Vikanes and I decided to do something we've been contemplating on for a long time, mainly to take portraits of each other.

After walking for about an hour we ended up in the back alley of the famous Blå (Blue) area in Oslo. As many of you may already know, this is the area where a lot of inspiring young artists hold exhibits, especially on Sundays. It is where I also bought my first piece of art.

The back alley consisted mainly of brick walls painted with beautiful graffiti from corner to corner, the perfect background for some very urban portraits. It was sight to behold, not as big in magnitude as the East Side Gallery in Berlin, but just as magnificent.

We took a lot of pictures. But being more content on standing behind the camera rather than in front of it, I only decided to show a couple of pictures to my friends and family. They say I look good. But it is so typical me to never be content. I could do better with a more toned appearance!

A lot of people read this blog and not really get a chance to see the man behind the words and behind the camera. Well now you see him! I don't really consider this to be a security risk. I am not famous, for one, and I live a fairly open life. I keep no secrets. My life is simple.

I also decided to take some pictures of the graffiti itself. This was really a breathe of fresh air to me. The city can get rather dull, after living here for almost all of my adult life. But every now and then you get nice little surprises like this, and all of a sudden the city comes to life anew. Kudos to the artists who painted this magnificent work of art!

And of course I can't end this article without showing a picture of my friend Øyvind (no matter how hard he protests). This is the picture he liked the most. I crossed process the photograph in Adobe Lightroom to bring the color reflections of the graffiti to the face, to create a really rugged, urban look.