Yesterday and today were beautiful autumn days in Oslo. It was a shame, as my friend Juli said at lunch, to have to be indoors, linked to our office chairs most of the day while the sunshine and blue skies beckoned to us to come out and play. Luckily, I did manage to get myself outdoors yesterday. My husband and I took a long walk in Nordmarka, which is the forest area north of Oslo. It is a fairly big forest area, with brooks and lakes scattered here and there, as well as rivers running through it. The forest is quite serene in parts even though it is a well-frequented area by walkers and cyclists alike. The cyclists especially zoom past on the gravelly forest roads on their mountain bikes and dressed in their cycling suits and helmets. I call them the Thor Hushovd wannabes, because Thor’s participation in the Tour de France has definitely encouraged interest in bicycling in this country, which is a good thing. But I also understand why the newspapers have written about the ongoing feud between the walkers and the cyclists, because sometimes they whiz by so fast that it could be dangerous if you stood in the way for any reason. But all that aside, it is possible for both to peacefully coexist, and for the most part, they do. Mostly though, I don’t think the cyclists get a chance to see the beauty of the nature around them because they are rushing by it. If I were biking in the forest instead of walking, I’d want to do it leisurely, to stop every now and then to look at the wildflowers or walk down to the river’s edge and look at the water.
Some of the forest trees have completely turned color, while others are halfway there. The reds are particularly vibrant this year. Looking out across Skjærsjøen Lake yesterday, it was possible to see the trees with their foliage in the distance, framing the water’s edge. It’s a beautiful sight and one that reminds me of looking across the Hudson River at the lovely autumn colors of the trees on the Palisades, or the autumn foliage in the forests bounding the Croton Reservoir in upstate New York.
There is something about the colors and the sunlight during the different seasons here in Oslo—the way they change and blend with each other. They make for some lovely photos. During the summer, when we are out on the boat, the gray and blue colors in the sky and clouds contrast with the green and blue colors of the sea water and the brown earth colors on the shore, and it is literally thrilling to see the photographic results. During the autumn, I always have my camera with me on our walks, and there is always something interesting or beautiful to take a picture of, from flowers to foliage to small crawling insects to different bodies of water. I managed to get a picture of a centipede crawling across the road yesterday; I wonder if it made it across without being crushed by the passing bicycles or walking feet. I have to remember sometimes to take pictures of people. I have an ordinary digital camera that I have grown quite fond of using. Its lightness makes it easy to bring along and that is an advantage. I remember back to ten or fifteen years ago when I had my camera bag with my 35mm camera and one or two lenses—it was quite heavy to carry but I did. I got some great photos then, but I have to say that some of the photos I take now with my little digital camera are just as nice. Photographing nature is probably what I like to do most when it comes to photography because nature motifs interest me the most and always have since I was a child and started taking pictures.
