The Monolith is the centerpiece of Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway. The collection of over 200 sculptures in Frogner Park represents Gustav Vigeland‘s life work. An absolute must-see for your first, if not every, trip to Oslo.
For an unexpectedly short period – six months? – Northwest Airlines provided non-stop service from MSP to OSL, so my wife, our son and I took the flight in August 1999. It was a pre-internet, seat-of-our-pants trip with no pre-planning but, fortunately, we did learn enough to know about the park and its sculptures.
My camera gear then was an Olympus OM-2 film camera with the expected accoutrement: lenses, flashes, filters, etc., lugged around in a overly-large, heavy camera bag. [Even then, my wife was concerned about its weight on my body: she was right, even today my right shoulder aches when a bag strap is over my shoulder, even when the bag is empty!]
We arrived after sunset so it was dusk and quickly getting more dark. I usually carried rolls or 3200 ASA black/white film, but still seemed too dark for handheld picture taking. Fortunately, a short circular wall surrounds the monolith, providing a steady platform to place the camera. I took multiple shots with extended exposures, 90 to 120 seconds, of which this stunning image was the best.
Though apparently empty, many people were walking on the steps during the shot; if you look closely you’ll see one or two ghost images, but most people moved too quickly to be captured.
