From the Nikon Nordic Tour... / by Bill Frakes

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Five cities.  Five countries. Five days. Crisscrossed Scandinavia this week talking photography to groups in Estonia, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden as part of the Nikon Nordic Tour.

It was an ambitious schedule, but the Nikon Nordic team was on top of everything.

Joe McNally‘s flight was late.  He flew from DC to NYC to Prague and into Tallinn — overnight.  He landed, sans luggage, and came immediately to the Museum of Art and gave a perfect speech to a  full house.  He never missed a beat — total respect.

Joe over Finland.

It’s a real pleasure working with Joe.  We’ve been friends for a long time . Not only is he a terrific colleague, wonderful photographer, and excellent teacher, but even better, he is flat out fun to be around.

Joe in Oslo.

We had tremendous audiences at every stop.

I can be pretty talkative. It may come from growing up in a small Nebraska town, where I was happy to find anyone to talk to... So many of our stops were exceptional. In Tallinn, I was onstage an extra hour.

Peter Brodin kept giving me the “stretch” sign, which of course I loved.  The audience was engaged and challenging me, which just solidifies how much I love teaching — thanks Mom.

Our venue in Copenhagen, the Royal Library.

Responsive, invigorated crowds were capped by a standing room only crowd in Stockholm at Fotografiska — one of my favorite galleries in the world.

I'm so thankful to everyone who came out. This tour was a great chance for me to learn from some very talented folks.

Me, Peter Brodin, and Joe McNally.

I rolled onto the plane this morning more in love with photography than ever.

Time to make some images.