Travel

The travel bug bit me quite ferociously at an early age. From road trips, boats, flying, hitch hiking or by donkey I want to try it all! This page features my recent travels as a twenty something year old trying to navigate through cultures, cuisines, new friendships, stories and of course finding pieces of myself throughout the journey. I might throw in some tips and tricks I learned along the way as well.

Every time I’ve had the privilege to travel to a new place, I somehow learn something new about myself and of course the culture around me. Travelling helps us get exposed to different kinds of people, food, cultures and understandings. So naturally, after hearing about one of my friends winning a contest for the opportunity to experience his dream job of becoming a photojournalist, I had to ask about it! His name is Arnold Lan and here are his thoughts for his up coming photojournalism debut at Norway.

I’m incredibly excited for my trip to Norway, so excited in fact, I might dare say I have never been so excited in my life, and no that is not an overstatement! Ever since the day I picked up my camera and travelled to Asia, my dream job has been to become a traveling photographer/videographer. Every time I told people that I would always add, “oh but it’s just a dream, I’ll probably find something more practical to do because I have no idea how I would get there.” I always threw in that sentence as a defense mechanism, giving myself an escape from failure to pursue my dreams. So to be able to do my dream job in Norway after only a year, is quite unreal. Every time I think about it I cannot help but smile and get giddy. To be honest I don’t even know how to prepare myself mentally but practically I am making sure I have all my equipment.

I always imagined photojournalism to be taking pictures for a news story, or for something really important. I am having a hard time calling myself a photojournalist especially because I feel like I am just taking a lot of pictures on vacation, though of course there is much more at stake to producing good products than just showing my friends on Facebook. But I think being a photojournalist is being able to tell stories through pictures, there are many times when words are insufficient yet a picture can tell so much more. I hope I can accurately tell the story of Norway and the people of Norway to everyone else around the world, and in that process I hope I will also come to see Norway through the eyes of its citizens.

After Norway I am really hoping that this would not be a one time opportunity. I haven’t even left yet and I already know I will only yearn and thirst for it much more. I hope that this opportunity will be a gateway into something bigger. I want to come back with many stories. Stories that I hope will inspire people to chase their dreams and change. I want to come back being able to call Norway another home and to share that with everyone around me. I want to come back a better photographer, a better storyteller, and a better global citizen.

Thank you Arnold for your thoughts! 🙂

If you would like to get in touch with Arnold or look at some of his work follow the links below or click on the images above:

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