Oslo-Beirut
These are the four projects I worked on while hitchhiking from Oslo to Beirut from September to December 2012.
I did this project to document that the world we live in is quite different than the world depicted in mass media; by hitchhiking and “improcouching” I come with a sort of proof that 1) it’s possible, 2) wherever you go you will meet caring people 3) you don’t have to be afraid of your neighbour (no matter if it’s your next-door neighbour or people from neighbouring countries). By removing money from the “transaction” it would all be about people’s hospitality and friendliness.
"Passengers": Hitchhiking the 10,000km that separate Oslo and Beirut took me 3 months. In every car I mounted a GoPro camera to the windshield with a suction cup. These are 112 pictures from the 112 vehicles that brought me from Oslo to Beirut. Only one person did not want to have his picture taken in the car (outside was ok).
In the series "portraits from the road", I tried to take the best possible portrait in the environment and time I had, always including a hint that these are people who gave me lifts (car keys, part of the car visible, parking place, etc..).
10 000 kilometers on the road and always a piece of asphalt in the bottom of the viewfinder; this is "right side window". It's my take at showing how the landscape evolves between Northern Europe and West Asia, from the perspective of a hitchhiker.
On my first solo travels I stayed in youth hostels, later I couchsurfed for some years, and one day I decided to simply ask random people on the street to host me. The first time I did this was in 2009. I call this "improcouching" (improvised couchsurfing). Below are pictures of some of the places I slept between Oslo and Beirut. During the 3 months I was on the road I stayed in a hotel room only once.
