Fujifilm X-ambassador day in Oslo

Saturday the 3rd of May, Joachim, Karl, Torstein and Ole Gunnar from Fujifilm Nordic held a Fujifilm X-ambassador day in Oslo, Norway. They had invited nine people from the FotoVideo and Japan Photo retailer stores in Oslo, Tønsberg, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim. A great bunch of people that had a lot of product- and market knowledge.

It was very exciting being asked by Fujifilm Nordic to teach a workshop on an ambassador day. I've been a professional photographer for many years, and teaching workshops is an important part of what I do. I love sharing my passion and knowledge about photography with others. And being asked to do that on an X-ambassador day for a camera brand I'm passionate about, well that means a lot to me.

I think it's very exciting and cool that Fujifilm "dares" to gather people from different retailers. Some would say that these are competitors, so keep them far from each other. Well yes, they are competitors. But they are also colleagues! And it is healthy for both us photographers and the industry as a whole that we're not left with one big retailer. Several good ones that complement each other is better for the whole industry - I think.

The reason I "stumbled upon" Fujifilm products one year ago, is simply because they make damn good cameras that also inspires you to take pictures. Holding an X-T1 or an X100S actually makes me want to go out and shoot pictures! And the fact that these cameras deliver excellent image quality, beautiful colors, and some of the best optics I've ever used, is a pure extra bonus.

The day started with Karl and Joachim from Fujifilm giving us some product training on the X-system. Very useful, and a good opportunity to ask questions and discuss different things directly with both Fujifilm and the retailers. The relationship between a sales person and a customer is like a marriage. We talk about  the same things, but use a slightly different kind of language, and see things from different perspectives, and very often that is a sure recipe for misunderstandings. That's why I found it very useful to meet and get to know these people. Some of them I've met before, but a day like this makes you bond in a totally different kind of way. These are also people with a passion for photography and equipment, just like me.

After Karl and Joachim had finished, we got to see a short film Torstein had made with the X-T1, about an 88 year old watchmaker in Oslo. Impressive! After that it was time for my workshop. My goal was to share my passion for photography, and give the people a glimpse into how I work as a photographer. We left the hotel and walked along the platforms at Oslo S (the train central station in Oslo). In such a short walk we stopped several times talking about good locations and how you can utilize the light there to create some interesting pictures.

After a few hundred meters we got to the new Barcode area. An area with lots of exciting architecture and art, and great opportunities for some nice photos. People really seemed to enjoy shooting pictures, because everyone was everywhere all the time, high and low. And at times it was almost impossible to gather them again! It was a blast seeing them like that!

After playing around with barcodes for awhile, we walked across the street to the Opera House. The folks from FotoVideo and Japan Photo is used to selling reflectors, but not as big and expensive as this one. Our new Opera House with its white "Bianco Carrara" marble from la Facciata, has to be the world's biggest and most expensive reflector, costing 4.2 billion Norwegian kroner (around 525 million Euros). The first hour at the Opera in full sun you're practically blind. But it's so much fun using the Opera House for some cool pictures! We played around with lines, shapes, reflections and people. Great fun! And what better way to end the session at the Opera than with a group photo.

Back at the hotel we looked through some of the pictures from the day, and talked about what we'd learned this whole day with Fujifilm. Before we packed our things went for dinner, the folks from Fujifilm was so kind that they refueled my camera with some more lovely X-T1 kit to try out. The vertical handgrip (for an extra battery) was very cool to get my hands on, and I'm really looking forward to testing out the XF10-24mm f/4 R OIS lens. I'll be back with some more info about that and a few other lenses here in future posts.

The pictures in this post is a mix of pictures taken by the people from Fujifilm, the participants and me. Don't know who shot what, so give me a shout if you want your credits on the picture. We all had a great time playing around with the X-T1 cameras and all the lenses.

Thank you so much to Fujifilm Nordic for inviting me to this event, and I'm really looking forward to teaching another X-T1 workshop for them 31th May in Oslo. That workshop is for people who've bought a Fujifilm X-T1 camera. More fun to come!