We spent a chilly february weekend in Oslo, exploring the city with a 35mm and some low light fun.

When my partner suggested we make the most of her upcoming client meetings out in Oslo by heading over early and spending the weekend there, I was a little bit skeptical. I've always wanted to visit Norway, along with a host of other Scandinavian countries, but I always imagined doing it in the summer. More interested in the remote landscapes and fjords than the potential for a city break. I was wrong, it turns out Oslo is a cool place.

Based in a hotel minutes from the main train station, we spent a while wandering around, and on, the Opera house. The roof is designed to create a large public space, and you're invited to walk up and admire the views. We had a quick look inside and It's a pretty awesome place, even the cloakroom is beautiful.

The old brutalist 1930's city hall building is a stark contrast to the Opera house. It's something you probably either love or hate, but it provides a decent skateramp. He failed as badly in landing the upcoming kickflip as I did in pressing the shutter at the right time.

We looped back to the center via the other side of town, through the Palace Park and the Royal Palace. I tend to spend a bit of time waiting for Becky to record videos of Trams whenever we go to a city that has them, so I often get a few shots myself.

They say it changes when the sun goes down...

It was clear form our first evening that Oslo is beautiful in the dark, it's often really nicely illuminated. I guess it makes sense for a city that, in a depth of a Norwegian winter, can spend a lot of time in the dark. I didn't have a tripod with me, but I was determined to get some night shots. It's safe to say that theres a fair few discared efforts left on the memory card, but these came out alright.

A coffee legend

A special mention at the end here for our trip to Tim Wendleboe's cafe on Grüners gate. I was excited to stop here, Tim Wendleboe is often credited with providing the green coffee for a lot of London's now well established roasters back in their early days, and his influence on the London coffee scene are pretty strong.

The shop is a small space and was really busy so there's no photos of the inside as I didn't fancy getting in the way. There's a great range of coffees on offer through, on either Espresso or Filter.

We had a great time in Oslo, it's a cool place to spend a weekend. We had some great food and walked an awful lot. Only taking my 35mm lens was a good decison, I spent more time actually taking photos than changing lenses, which is always a result!