Category Archives: December 2010

December 16th 2010
Akerselva, Grünerløkka, Norway.
Type: Light fruit tree

After reading my report of events… ignore it and then think up a story for these bird people… write it as a response below and it might go in the book. Have a look, a make something up. Or get your kids to! The order of pictures can be rearranged. You might argue that’s my job – and it might be… I might write a short story for these birdies. When I’ve got a breath.

What a weird night.

I thought the bird people should be repeated and up the anti a bit. Åse was up for it too, with her head. So it started like a song. We wandered down Akers river scoping for a tree and landed this one. Felt like Christmas came early. It was too tall to get into, however there was a building site next door and a ladder behind the fencing that we borrowed.

So… brilliant shoot as you can see. Even found the mini tripod leg in the snow when it fell off out of the tree. Felt like I was back on the serendipity horse – things coming together… etc. specially after yesterday’s poster ‘success’. We finished up with a brilliant bit of creation that kind of happened by mistake. As it does.

But the weird part was the contrast of this and what happened when I went to take the ladder back.

I stuffed it under the fence and when I turned around the lights had gone off. It was like the tree had disappeared against the night sky. I thought another bit of serendipity – timing to perfection… that the lights were on a timer or something and we finished the shoot moments before it clicked over.

But then Åse mentioned this guy who had seemed to appear from nowhere and we could see him going away over the other side of the river.

So we’re there talking about what just happened and trying to work it out. I’m believing the universe is laying out a path before me. Like I keep walking into the tube station and my train is right there  when usually I wait 20 minutes for my train in the freezing cold.

+I’m doing a double rainbow on the whole thing – in my own understated way, when the guy starts coming back over the bridge. He starts running towards us, towards me and right up to my face he starts yelling  with alcohol breath and drugged eyes. Screaming something I didn’t follow… I’m not sure he was following it himself.

I told he we were just on our way home and started walking away. He carried on ranting and swearing, following us and suddenly out comes a strange looking knife. Something like a bent ice pick and a tint sabre. I instinctively and immediately put some distance between us .

It was dark and I didn’t hang around for a closer look. This guy was obviously freaked out and this was definitely a threat. He pulled a fricken’ knife out! I’ve never had that happen before.

So he’s gone and we’re gone after I shout telling him that we have no idea what he’s talking about for no good reason. So the serendipity and good fortune etc, what’s it all about? All in my head.

It seems he may have cut the cable or pulled the plug on the lights. Had he been under the bridge all the time we were doing the shoot? He went under there to do a hit and went out of his mind waiting for us to bugger off?  I had said to Åse earlier as a joke ‘well we survived’. Perhaps that was the universe laying out it’s path, the hand of God, or an Angel, or a tree nymph…etc.

Maybe avoiding his knife was the cherry on the cake. Maybe it’s not all supposed to be fluffy. Taking pictures of a nice tree isn’t all it’s about. The serendipity cake. Or maybe we made our own fun and then had a lucky encounter with a nutter. The luck being no wounds. The luck being born  somewhere there’s enough money to decorate a tree and light it. The tree was amazing and i suppose it’s good to have a spanner chucked into the philosophical works specially when I’m getting over romantic about the way it works… almost arrogant. It reminds a bit of Paul Simon’s ‘Silent Night’ accompanied by a newsreader reporting on wars and the sort of chaos going down. The juxtaposition works. Light and dark to make a point. It is after all a personal journey of discovery right. I’ll come out a better person after this year of hanging out with the trees and having a discipline.

It’s perhaps dangerous to get too soppy about riding the surf of life though the cosmos, man. Life is shit and hard for a lot of us. I’ve recently avoided believing I get rewarded by something other for stepping up and out, even though it’s nice to believe that. Rewarded for ‘doing something’. Ha! Like some kind of father christmas situation… be a good boy and you’ll get  a little something out of my sack.

Still, I am grateful to something and I am enjoying all of it right now.