Jostedal, Voss & Sjoa

I ended up staying for some extra time in Jostedal after my Birthday and got to go kayaking twice of the Jostedal River (the second time in high water which made me feel as though I was on the Trisuli in Nepal) and went to a Mid Sommer party at the ‘Red House’.

It was definitely one of the most entertaining small town parties I have been to and was pretty impressed with the Swede Adam’s effort of making a mid summer pole and getting up in front of everyone and teaching us all a Swedish song so we could all sing it together before taking a shot of snaps.

I needed to collect my car before heading to Voss from Extreme Spots Veko so headed back to Sjoa for one night and caught up with my Norwegian friend Erika. We got a bit side tracked trying to create the perfect BBQ and did yoga so we didn’t get time to kayak on the Sjoa River.

The following day I headed to Voss for Ekstremsportveko. I made it to Voss just in time to see the finals of the head to head rafting races. Following all the days activities everyone headed to the festival tent for the Bula Beanie Boogie Party. Really it’s just another night in the tent. I had wanted to wear my cat Kigurami (onesie) and the less adventurous had convinced me out of it. I was pretty excited when I met this Norwegian guy called Kenneth who also had a gorilla onesie so we wore them together. Surprise surprise many other kayakers also had monkey or some other form of animal onesie also.

The Thursday at Veko was the Brandseth Downhill kayaking competition. I’m not game enough to run the Brandseth let alone race it so I spent the day taking photos and trying to get an image I could enter for the Veko daily photo competition. For me kayaking is a lot harder to capture than rafting as the kayaks move so much faster and are smaller to focus on. It was difficult but I managed to get 2 images I liked.

Again Thursday was another big night in the festival tent, hardly anyone was in the tent compared to the other nights on Friday so it must have been a good night!

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past 2 years trying to gain more confidence in my own ability on white water and trusting my skill but this winter I barely kayaked and have had a few swims recently. I really wished I could participate in something at Veko and my friend Nicole convinced me to participate in the Head to Head kayak race on the Saturday – she was right, I did enjoy it and had a great time. It also was a good confidence booster because even though I missed the slalom gate I stayed upright and in my boat!

Ekstremsportveko 2013 - BEST OF from Ekstremsportveko on Vimeo.

Saturday was the last night of Ekstremsportveko. The next day I drove back to Sjoa to spend a few days with my best friend Erika. We had some fun on the Sjoa River (it was so nice to see it at a descent water level compared to last season), a mini road trip in the mountains (it’s our favourite place in the valley) and just relaxed.

A Reflection on Friends & Acquaintances

Before coming to Norway I felt as though I wanted to settle down and have a place to call home again. I still do but being able to be free without working and enjoy the outdoors, kayaking and my friends has made me get itchy feet again and want to explore the world again.

It’s also given me time to reflect on friendships. Sometimes when I’ve really needed my friends around me they have disappeared and this trip has made it clear who are true friends and which ones are on the surface. I am not the only person who would question this aspect of my life as many friendships are formed and broken everyday for many people out there. It has also shown me that people who you didn’t think valued you in fact care deeply and will show so much generosity and kindness that it opens your mind to view the world with fresh eyes.

Sometimes it’s easy to let negative energy from other people or their hurtful actions bring you down. It can also be difficult to pick yourself and the pieces up again. I’ve always had the frame of mind when people deliberately hurt you in a way that is unjust that it is to fulfil their own needs and create some joy from another persons downfall or it could be out of jealousy or their own insecurities.

For some time I’ve allowed other people’s actions define my own opinion of myself, allowed it to create insecurities in myself that were non exist prior. I am proud of myself for learning to deal with their actions by instead of letting it bring me down to now think ‘okay that was kind of shitty’ and move on, not focus on something out of my control and think of all the positives.

As myself all I can do is to continue to treat everyone around me with kindness and respect. The Universe finally listened and in what was an unideal situation initially turned out to be one of the greatest 2 weeks I’ve ever had in Norway. I’ve made some new friends and reconnected with friends who I’ve not seen for quite some time who have shown me the same kindness and respect that I give them. Others have gone beyond my expectations and I can’t thank them enough for the impact they have made on my life.

Many people may think that travelling is the easy life but when you have done it as long as me it can take its toll. It is not easy when you don’t have a place to call home to escape to or when you don’t have family you love with you all the time. But I would choose no other life because the challenges it brings and the amazing people you meet along the way is worth more than gold. 

A Slightly Different Summer to Previous ones in Norway

Finally I’ve made it back to Norway again. In my typical style I leave plans to the last minute. I was meant to be working as a photographer like previous years but after some really difficult decision making I decided to just come out to Scandinavia for a holiday without working for a shorter period of time so I can see more of the country I have never had a chance to see.

After working in the UK for 6 months I bought myself a car – a nice VW Golf Estate and took the ferry from the UK across to France and set off alone up to Norway….. the long way around through Sweden up to Norway without getting additional ferries to shorten the driving time.

The driving wasn’t so bad as soon as you get through Sweden it starts becoming light most of the day making it easy to drive through the night. I must say I’ve never had to wear sunglasses at 4am!

I made it to Sjoa around 8.30am expecting to get some sleep for at least half of the day but ended up kayaking down the Sjoa and going to an ‘asado’ with 2 roast lambs for dinner.

The following day was the beginning of a road trip with my friend Becky that I hadn’t planned on taking starting with kayaking down the Lower Bovra and driving towards Jostedalen. After driving for some time after leaving Lom and the Lower Bovera we came across a cross country track with plenty of snow but also plenty of elite athletes training, such as the Austrian team.

I’ve never cross country skied before and was told by Becky I would probably fall over a lot and I laughed thinking if I can ski this will be super easy. I’ve always thought of cross country sking as being a bit of a wimpy sport but after realising it was a lot harder than learning to downhill ski I quickly changed my mind! Not having the sole of your boot attached to the ski and having very narrow skis on your feet make it difficult to balance. Add in the technique on gliding forwards with coordinating the arm movement and things get even tricker. I slowly got the hang of liding my skis forwards rather than ‘walking’ but when it came to downhill then the multiple stacks started.

Becky and I would of looked like the odd pair out on the track with Becky using her dog Ramp to ski around and constantly shouting stop or wait in Norwegian, and myself in track pants (soaked through on the bum) with a pretty brightly coloured hoody with my dreads piled on top of my head with pink tips. We certainly got some funny smiles from the Austrians who were training hard.

After our one lap we kept driving searching for a picturesque camping spot for the night. We came to the Fjord in Luster and decided to camp by the fjord because it was complete with a volley ball net, jetty, some strange red scupture and a picnic table. We didn’t see any signs saying we weren’t allowed to camp there but were concerned we might get told off. Since it was so amazing we took the risk. We did have a police car pull over but they had just stopped while on their mobile phone and left us in peace with our ‘gourmet dinner’ and what we called luxury camping set up for the night.

The following day was my 31^st Birthday. 31 came around pretty fast and I almost forgot it was my Birthday at all. We packed up and drove towards Jostedal stopping at a ncie balery on the way and in Gappun for a look around as it was described as a tourist stop but there was nothing to be too excited about there.

Another big day was install once we got to Jostedalen with a hike up to one of the glaciers with our friend Colin followed by a random ‘party’ in the guide house that evening.

Last time I visited Jostedal my friend took me out on the biggest part on the glacier which required us to ride a motor boat out across the lake to the glacier. This time the glacier was a lot closer to town and we had to hike a little bit to get there before kitting up with a harness and crampons. I was a little unsure and intimidated by the glacier this time. My crampons felt as though they were slipping off  my shoes (sneakers are not the best idea for any sort of hiking) so it was hard for me to climb or walk downhill combined with my fear of heights. I also have a huge respect for the glaciers and it also feels like there is an unknown world under all of that ice in the holes and crevasses.

Everyone was a bit tired the following day after staying up late the night before. Having a more relaxed day allowed me to visit the waterfall where a friend dislocated both their shoulders a few years ago and have a look at the new visitors centre which is now open but still in construction after burning down a couple of years ago. The structure of the building is meant to resemble a glacier but some might interpret the design as a turtle, armadillo, space ship etc.

I still need to head out on the river so there will be more photos and stories to come.

Photography Portfolio Slideshow

During the winter working at Coast Mountain Photography in Whistler we had quite a few staff parties, competitions and nights where we got to share some of our work. One of my favourite nights was our slideshow night at Savage Beagle where we all got to show a presentation of our photos. Here is my slideshow below which are photos I have taken during the summer in Norway in 2011 and in India / Nepal in 2011. Enjoy!

Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival 2012

The Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival was held in Whistler from the 13th - 22nd April this year. It's basically a 10 day celebration of sports, arts and music where you can watch some of pros compete on the slopes, dance to free music during the Outdoor Concert Series, or see some of the best sports photographers work during the sold-out Olympus Photography Showdown.

Tin Pan Orange

Tin Pan Orange

 I was lucky to get a Media Pass during the festival which allowed me access to most areas during the festival and most importantly access to the stage! I got to shoot bands such as The Cat Empire, Dragonette, Michael Franti & Friends, Whistler's own Animal Nation which was an exciting experience for me. I have posted a few of my photos I took during the Outdoor Concert Series to this post and hope everyone enjoys them. 

Dragonette

Dragonette

Michael Franti & Friends

Michael Franti & Friends

Michael Franti & Friends

Michael Franti & Friends

Michael Franti & Friends 

Animal Nation

Animal Nation

I have also started a Facebook page with some of my photography work which you can find at facbook.com/JacquiWhiteheadPhotography I will be updating my page regularly and also trying to get a wide variety of photos for people to view.

Whistler Winter

I promised myself last year I would write more frequently about my adventures but since I left India I failed with that so sorry for disappearing all winter.

Usually I never have a so called 'winter' as I try and stay as close to the river as possible but I decided to do my first winter season in Whistler, Canada after being in Nepal and India.

I have only really tried skiing once when I was about 10 and got a job as a photographer with Coast Mountain Photography in Whistler, but for my job I needed to be able to ski to get from location to location on the mountain. I allowed myself 2 weeks before starting work to learn to ski (I figured I learnt to kayak pretty quickly so if I was motivated I would be able to do this before I started work). 

I pretty much got thrown in the deep end with skiing. When I first got to Whistler I was living with 4 Swedes, 2 Aussies, 3 Canadians, 1 girl from the UK and a South African. The Swedes took me up the mountain and got me on the skis straight away and it was all learning by trial and error. My first day on the mountain I fell over so, so many times then each day the falls got less and less until eventually over winter I progressed to the black runs then the ungroomed powder runs with my friend Colin. Another thing that helped me learn fast was that there were some pretty amazing skiers and snowboarders at Coast that at the end of each day at work they would challenge me by taking me down harder runs and giving me pointers.

 

 

Working at Coast was a really good experience for me. I got really confident using manual mode on my camera and it was fantastic having some really experienced photographers critique my work which helped me over the season become better with getting the exposure and lighting right for my photos. 

As well as working with on mountain photography I also spend part of the winter helping Coast out at Whistler Bungee...... as your about to guess that meant I also went Bungee Jumping!

People who know me well know I'm usually up for anything adventurous - but as long as I'm in control! I jumped 4 times during winter and every time I did it I could never jump off the platform straight away. Jumping backwards was the worst out of all the ways I tried (swan diving and tandem). I did it backwards twice and both times I needed a push off the bridge!

Once I was off the bridge everything is fine and my fear is gone but it's just taking that initial step off the platform which always makes me feel sick in the pit of my stomach:) Later on in the season I moved out of my house full of people and moved in with 3 other people (and an amazing dog called Bella) and took one of my housemates for a jump at Bungee and she loved it but also felt the same as me - doesn't matter if you have jumped once it doesn't get any easier if you are not quite comfortable with heights!

Other great parts of winter in Whistler were the fact I got to see bands and DJs play live such as the Jezabels, Stanton Warriors, Krusha, Crissy Criss, Cat Empire, Swollen Members and Michael Franti. I got to see some of these bands at Telus Fest which was at the end of April just before Whistler Mountain closed and was lucky to get a media pass to this event which allowed me to have access backstage so I could take photos.

I will post some of these in my next post!

Last Stop, India

I had a couple of days in Kathmandu (a fair bit of time was spent in Tom & Jerry's) before flying out with Louise and Clarky (who were working in Voss this summer in Norway) to Delhi.

We had a hassle free adventure to Rishikesh. The car Ganesh had organised to collect us from the airport in Delhi was on time, the driver had very good English (didn't freak us out with scary driving which is a bonus), and best of all we had a massive, air conditioned car!

We got to Rishikesh pretty late at night, maybe 2am so we just crashed at Arvind's house on some spare mattresses on the floor before finding a hotel the next day. We were lucky to get a cheap room in a very clean, modern hotel with hot water, a balcony and even TV!

I had only 5 days in India so I spent 3 of them on the river kayaking with the Red Chilli gang. I also got to meet up with 2 other Danish kayakers who were working in Evje, Norway this summer as well as old friends such as Flow (from Austria) and the Kiwis from the bungee jump.

It was a pretty quick visit to India but I was happy I got to see all my friends and was also very excited about flying out to spend the winter season in Whistler, Canada.