Norwegians connect easily to Nature as we still are at a less sophisticated stage of civilisation and urbanisation compared to most fellow Europeans. This image shows how far people are willing to go in their quest for Nature.
As the custom is, there is a story underlying the capture and it goes like this;
Some years ago I led a photo workshop in the heartland of Norwegian mountains, at the Dovre Mountain Range. We were discussing alternate approaches and one of the students asked about infrared (IR), as she had observed the D200 with the 28/3.5 Nikkor I used at the time. We were on a mountain plateau pretty high up, temperature was slightly above the freezing point despite the calendar said summer and fresh snow had just decorated the ground. I told about the darkening of the sky and how the vegetation turned into brighter tones, plus the manner in which IR transforms the appearance of human skin. She, and others gathering around us, became extremely curious to see this in practice, and I called out for a nude volunteer. A middle-aged lad briskly stepped forward, dropped all his clothes, and we commenced shooting. There was a gravel hill (glacial moraine deposit) nearby that became the focal point with him running up to the crest then to celebrate his victory by jumping as high as he could. (Norwegians will know the mountain backdrop as part of Snøhætta).
We had a jolly fun time and cameras ran at maximum speed, until we suddenly heard a frenzy of clicking from cameras not our own. Turning around, we faced a group of German mountain walkers with eyes wide open of this exuberant Nordic spirit. I closed the session and allowed the model to join us to be present as camera chimping commenced. His appearance after being naked for nearly 30 minutes wouldn't have impressed any lady love that's for sure, but I gave him a clear 9 point on the 10-point Viking Scale for his stamina.
Call of the Wild
