Profile of Thomas Russ Arnestad

Thomas Russ Arnestad

I am 27 year old photographer living in Ski, a small town outside of Oslo, Norway. I started taking photos as a 5-year old when my mom gave me my first camera, a compact Kodak 35mm.

Ever since that day I have had a growing passion for photography. The passion evolved over the years as I got better and realised all the possibilities a camera gives you, not to talk about, when the digital cameras revolutionized the photography industry in the late 90's.

It was when I got my first digital compact camera, a Hewlett Packard 215, my interest for photography really boosted. Shooting digital gave me unlimited possibilities to get the shot right and walk home happily. You did not have to wonder "if" you got the shot right, you could just see for yourself instantly and make the required adjustments. After a while I wanted to explore more within the art of photography and bought a Canon Powershot G5, which is a hybrid camera, not compact and not dSLR.

This camera gave me the opportunity to explore more of the techniques behind a photo, and also how to make certain adjustments. Up until the day I got this camera I didn't know what a shutter was, and certainly had no clue as to what aperture was referring to. I brought my camera with when I moved to Australia to study for a few years.

I went to Griffith University on the Gold Coast of Queensland, 80 kilometres south of Brisbane on the east coast. While living "down under" I often dreamed about starting up my own photography business one day, and was constantly on the lookout for new objects to capture. I graduated in November 2004 with a Bachelor of Business, majoring in marketing and management. By the time I went home to Norway I was sure; I was going to devote as much time as possible to photography and follow my dream.

All the photography I did while studying helped develop a better understanding for many photographic techniques. I felt like I was mastering my camera well and even started to see that I might had outgrown this camera. This summer (July 2006) I invested in a new camera, the Nikon D200, which has all the features I'm currently looking for in a camera. This is a beautiful piece of work and is a camera I can use for a long time to come.

Besides running this site and shooting a lot of photos, I also have a full time job as a marketing assistant with one of the major travel agencies in Norway.