Planned to shoot my entry during last week's Easter vacation. Some delays, and a very tired me, sent my initial plans to the trash.

Filmed a ski trip I made to the top of one of many mountains on the Hardangervidden, Norway. The goal was to show the spectacular view of the mountain area where I do a lot of skiing and hiking.

Anyway, this is a short and limited version of my planned entry.
Unfortunately there was no time for VO as I had to do all post production during breaks at work.
Added a couple subtitles/ text instead.

Hop you enjoy.

For original 1080p, see the uwol vimeo page.

A downscaled 720p on my own Vimeo page:
Top of the world on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/saetrepictures/topoftheworld)

Youtube:
Top of the world - YouTube

Hey Trond. What camera were you shooting with. Seems to have been shot in the right way to avoid blowing out the snow.

I use the Canon XF300. It always give me good image quality.

Trond, that’s nice ski trip. Nice picture from the XF300, that a nice camera. Did you do the trip on your own of did you have someone with you? That would have been nice with some people to show the “struggle” of making the summit.

Hi Trond.

We had the nicest Easter weather for many years, here in Norway.
Cold, but with plenty of sunshine and calm weather.
Unfortunately, I have a disease of the legs that make that I can not go skiing, or hiking with a long distance.
Trond, you have given me this year's Easter skiing trip through your video, and I thank you for that.
After all, Easter skiing trips is an old tradition in our country.
Not an easy task to carry camera equipment on a ski trip to northern Europe's highest mountain plateau. Hardangervidda covers an area of approx. 8000 km ² and in 1981 the Hardangervidda national park created on the central part of the plateau - just a little disclosure for non Europeans ;o)
If I should mention something I miss, it's a skier in some of the clips.
Otherwise, I liked the music that fits well with your video.
Hand held camera is never easy, but the video is well edited.

Thanks for sharing.

PS
Hope your DJI Phantom is working out fine.

Markus,
I agree with you. To have some people in the film would be a lot better. Unfortunately, my mother who was with me, doesn't like to be a movie star. And up in the mountains away from the machine-made ski tracks, there are very little people. It's almost as if you have the mountains all by yourself, even though you can see the tracks from others.

Geir Inge,
You are right about handheld not being easy.

Yes sir, the DJI Phantom is a fantastic quad. So easy to fly. and I'm impressed with the footage I get from the GoPro Hero3 (black). Might share some aerial footage later.

Trond, the Hardangervidda is really beautiful. It is so liberating with these great white ranges. My easter skiing did not reach above the tree line.
Thanks for showing us your skiing and hiking areas.

Indeed, I should be happy to have your great camera.

It was inspiring to see that you were going to finish something just to stay in the game, and that pushed me to complete something also. Would have like to see some people whizzing by on skis, but maybe that is a different kind of skiing.

Hi Trond; glad to see you managed to post something against the odds!

I have been to Finland a few times in the winter, and I tried to make a short documentary there once, but failed. I really have a lot of respect for you guys that work in those conditions; I know how tough it is to work with gloves, or even worse to deal with freezing cameras with no gloves. Then you have all the issues with condensation coming indoors etc. Makes working with dust and heat in Africa seem not so bad, after all!

I can only agree that it might have been nice to have some other skiers in the picture, at least to help give an idea of scale, but if its not possible then you have to work with what you have.

But anyway, the footage looks nice; I like cross country skiing; especially when the sky is blue, the air is fresh, and you can see for miles.

Looks like you had a good trip!

Finn-Erik,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I am very happy with the quality of the camera. I hardly ever need any color corrections, and it follows me everywhere. :)

Bill,
I totally agree. Would be much better if I had some other skiers in the film. Unfortunately I had this part of the mountains almost by myself.

Simon,
The cold isnt any problem. I use a heat cover for the camera. Even when the outside temps has been as low as -20C, the temperature inside the cover stays above freezing point. (It keeps my hands warm too)
This also greatly reduce the risk of condensation.

Wow, Trond! I have done very little video or photography of ice or snow but I’ve always considered it a very difficult subject. I’m amazed at all the shades and nuances you portray and I’m just blown away by that blue sky! Are you using a polarizer? If we had a prize for “single clip that best portrays the theme” I think you would have won it four times. I’m glad your injury didn’t prevent you from completing this gem. I can’t wait to see what you do with your new flying machine.

Mike,
Thank you. Im glad you enjoyed the film.
No, I have still not invested in a polarizer filter.
What you see is how it was, and the sky was so bright blue.

Hej Trond,

I'm also glad you managed to submit a film this time - I agree with the comments above, but above all the important thing is to make the effort - things sometimes don't work out as we planned!

I particularly enjoyed seeing the scenery - that nice blue look is sometimes nice to see, especially here in the tropics!

Thanks, and well done!

Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you liked it.
I agree. Uwol is my life and rule 11 my guideline in life. As with everything, we should never give up.
To make an effort to complete, is important. :)

Tronde,

first I think it is great you made a submission in spite of everything. If you miss one like I did three back then all of a sudden you can't seem to get at it!! Better to keep producing even if it isn't up to your personal expectations. Because, people like me like you panoramic video sceenes that we could never enjoy without out your video!! Yea, I know I'm selfish!!! keep up the great efforts!!!

Truly some spectqacular scenery!! Imagine if you had a great tripod and a rubber band with you on that ski trip, Iknow as well as anyone how hard it is to truck that stuff around in the raw cold, deep snow and wind!!!

I think you should try using mercalli or a stabilizer of you choice to smooth things out a bit, but then agaqin that take4s a pile of time and you were short on that this round!!!

Your exposures were great, that 300 is in good hands!! Shooting low key sceenery is the most difficult of all video and you did a good job there.. Did you use any filters, post and what presets did you use?

goood job Tronde, you did not dissipoint!!1

Dale

Dale,
Thank you. Means a lot you like the film.
Yes, I wish I had brought the tripod with me. Would of course have improved the quality a lot.

I miss the good old days when we had 6 challenges a year. It's a long time to wait 3 months, not to mention half a year if you miss one. We should have some fun-shoots in between once in a while. :)

Used the built in ND filter of the XF300, and only the last two clips are slightly color corrected in post.
I did use an "outdoor preset" which is pretty much based on a preset setting you gave me a while ago when I bought the camera. But it is very close to the default setting of the camera.

Dale,

I miss the good old days when we had 6 challenges a year. It's a long time to wait 3 months, not to mention half a year if you miss one. We should have some fun-shoots in between once in a while. :)



Well......funny you should mention that. I had been thinking recently about an idea.

Given that the current UWOL group often consists of people from USA, Canada, Brazil, Scandinavia, UK, Uganda, South Africa, New Zealand (Australia?) - that means that we have got 4 to 5 continents, from the Extreme North down to the Equator, and then on to Australasia.

How about we arrange a collaborative UWOL project, whereby we produce a single film that comprises footage shot from the various countries? Essentially we would need to work out a collaborative theme, where the different countries are connected by a common thread?

I had tried to do this once for a UWOL project (last winter I think) where I had been in Finland for 3 weeks of the UWOL project, and then would be in Uganda for the last week of it. I was going to try and make a movie about fishing - one in Finland (fishing in the ice-holes) and then 1 in Uganda fishing on Lake Victoria. The movie would have tried to show the connection between the 2 different extreme activities (one in ice, and one in the burning equatorial sun) - in both cases it was the fisherman's love for fishing that was common.

Obviously, I did not make that film (I still hope to!) - but perhaps we could brainstorm a similar idea for a collaborative UWOL project?

Simon,
Awesome! That would have been a very interesting and fun project to do.
I'm definitely with you.

We shoud post this in a separate thread, so it won't get lost.

Very pretty Trond! Lovely area you live in.

I know you had a short clock and couldn't do what you wanted to do, but you still finished something very beautiful.
Technically very nice also. Exposure of the snow was right on and your handheld shots were better than my monopod shots...

Thanks!

Trond,

That looked like a fantastic ski trip. It must be nice to have such scenery in your backyard. Nicely done.

Bob,
Thank you for the feedback.
Never tried a monopod, but thought about maybe getting one for my hiking and ski trips. (Less weight than tripod). I have a lot of experience with handheld filming. Works well until you want the close up shots, or the steady smooth pans. :)

Oliver,
Thank you. I spend much time in this area all year round.
It's amazing.

Hey Trond - glad you were able to enter something this round despite all your difficulties!

It seems like most people have picked up on similar things to me so I can’t find anything new to add. I agree with what has been said about your film. I hope next time you will have more success time wise.

Marj, thank you for the comments.
Yes, let's hope the next round will be a very good one. :)

Thanks for not giving up on this round, Trond! You gave us an enjoyable view of the area--it's always a pleasure for me to look over horizons in a land I will probably never see in person. And isn't that a big part of what the UWOL Challenge is about? :)

Lorinda, thank you. I totally agree with you. It is so fantastic to learn so much about everywhere in the world, and even about places you never knew existed... Not to forget meet the great group the uwol family has become!
Some years ago we discussed the possibility of an UWOL get together "somewhere in the world". Unfortunately it did not happen. But who knows what the future might bring. Would have been absolutely fantastic if it someday becomes reality.

To give up is not a valid option, unless everything is tried at least once.
"I am uwol"! :) Can't wait for the next round.