Connecting People

Yes, I know. It is the slogan of a certain mobile phone company. A clever little combination of words. For what is more important than building that bridge, of creating that channel, of throwing out the line and knit the togetherness?

In this, Connecting People could just as well be the slogan of blipfoto.com

For how else could I, on a regular basis, be part of a street scene in Cairo? How else could I get a glimpse into the heart in Sweden, follow her ups and downs, her dreams, her ambitions? How else could I have been a witness to an outdoor wedding in Scotland, viewed a newborn in the US, watched a family hug in England? How else could I have known about the lasting love of a lady in Tuscany or followed a daughter´s concern about her mum in New Zealand? How could I have mourned with a sister in France, or a daughter in England? And then gone on to read the latter´s funniest rapports about the mischiefs of her kids? How else could I buy a virtual ticket to a play set up by a princess on a farm in the US, be in the audience of boys and girls singing in Angola? How could I get a glimpse of art school life in the north of England, view the results of a derelict town in the same district? How else could I visit a coast in Britain, a mountain in Canada, a kitchen in Switzerland, a beach in France, a canal in the Netherlands, a lake in Finland?

I could go on.

Blipfoto has given me the opportunity to see. On a basic level life in Cairo and Angola is not that different from life in Oslo and Lahore, India and Iran. We are all here to love. And to do this we need food, clothes, a roof over our heads, a safe ground beneath our feet. And someone to share that love with.

And we need to be seen.

Connecting people is about seeing, as well as to be seen. Connecting people is in fact the very story of sharing.

In this I have also had my part. Through posting images of immediate family, of friends, of people in the park, the beach, the sea I have received the most kind, funny, generous, uplifting comments. Even on a ´flock´of bras.

I come from Oslo, Norway, the home of the Nobel Peace Prize. As such I feel a tiny tiny tiny bit part of the whole thing and therefore eligible to issue my own little peace prize. And the prize for 2010 goes to....*woman in long, black silk gown fiddles with envelope*.....blipfoto.com.........

For through connecting people the world becomes that much smaller, that less threatening, that much more beautiful. Through connecting I understand that - No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main -. We all belong to each other, and as such, we strive for peace.

Thanks everyone, for making my first hundred photo days such an enlarging, enriching experience!

*woman bows, then leaves the room slowly, her black, silk gown rustling while the sound of bells can be heard in the distance....*


A HUGE Thank You to sons Mathias and William and mates Martin, Lucien and Audun from The Oslo School of Architecture and Design for generously giving their time and creativity!